Chicken and Bacon Shish Kabobs

I know my blog is titled Peace, Love, and Baked Goods.  I promise I will bake something soon! It's strange, I normally bake a lot more than I cook, but here is another recipe that you all should try out.  I made Chicken and Bacon Shish Kabobs for dinner tonight as my attempt at a summer-y dish now that it's getting back close to 100 degrees here in Tempe.  I love this recipe because it is relatively low in calories and is easily adjusted based on personal tastes.


Chicken and Bacon Shish Kabobs


Ingredients:
-Marinade
1/2 cup soy sauce (I love using low sodium soy sauce and it is right next to the regular soy sauce in the store)
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon freshly ground pepper
3 garlic cloves
1 large shallot
1 lime


-Kabobs
3 boneless chicken breasts
2 medium yellow onions
1 yellow bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
2 cans pineapple chunks
1 pint heirloom tomatoes (cherry, grape, etc.)
1 pound bacon (NOT thick cut bacon)


Directions:

First, start by cleaning the chicken.  I take the chicken out of the package, rinse it with water and dry with paper towels.  Then take a knife and carefully remove the excess fat off of each breast.  This step isn't necessary, I just prefer to remove the fat that I can.

Once you are done cleaning the chicken, cut it into cubes that are approximately 1 inch by 1 inch.  You can make the chicken pieces whatever size you want.  The main thing you want to pay attention to is that all the pieces are uniform.  With the chicken pieces being the same size it will take the same amount of time to cook them all.

Next, the marinade.  Like I said, I like this recipe because it is easy to change based on personal preferences.  The marinade I am making is somewhat Asian and tastes really good on chicken and shrimp.  For my marinade I put 1/2 cup of low sodium soy sauce, 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar, 2 tablespoons honey, 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, 2 tablespoons kosher salt, 1 tablespoon freshly ground pepper, 1/4 cup of pineapple juice, and the juice of one lime in a bowl.  After whisking all these together, roughly chop 3 garlic cloves and 1 large shallot and add to the marinade.  I have really started liking shallots lately.  The taste reminds me of a red onion except a little milder.  Once the marinade is complete, put all the chicken in a large plastic ziploc bag and pour all but 1 cup of the marinade over it.  Seal it and place in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

While the meat is marinading in the fridge, soak your skewers in about 1/2 inch of cold water.  This step will keep your skewers from burning, especially if you are cooking on an outdoor grill.

As I have said, this recipe is easily adaptable.  I chose to use bell peppers, onions, tomatoes, and pineapple for my kabobs.  I personally do NOT like green peppers (don't ask me why, I just never really liked the taste) but I love red and orange peppers.  I also specifically chose canned pineapple chunks because I wanted to use the juice for the marinade.  Fresh pineapple works too but the canned is super convenient and just as good.  Finally, I really like using cherry tomatoes because they are less messy than cutting normal tomatoes and they work really well on the grill.  These heirloom tomatoes were on sale at the store and I am so excited to use them!

Just like the chicken, cut the bell peppers and onions down to the same size as your chicken pieces.  The tomatoes and pineapple are already the correct size so now you're ready to put the kabobs together.  Have all your ingredients close together for easy assembly.  You are going to wrap the pieces of chicken in bacon so for my kabobs I cut each slice of bacon in half with kitchen shears so it fit well.

Obviously it is pretty self explanatory.  Wrap the bacon tightly around the piece of chicken and thread onto the skewer.  Alternate using the remaining ingredients but be sure not to push each ingredient to closely together.  By keeping them moderately spaced apart you will ensure that everything is cooked completely.

Here are my completed kabobs.  On the first pan there are a few with just vegetables because I wanted to use as much of my ingredients as possible.  Be sure to throw away any extra ingredients (tomatoes, pineapple chunks, onions, etc.) because they may be contaminated with the raw chicken.

Using a brush, brush the original cup of marinade you set aside earlier to lightly coat the raw kabobs.  This will give the vegetables/pineapple a nice flavor once you cook it.

Finally, heat a grill pan to high heat and place the kabobs on once hot (you can also do this on an outdoor grill as well or even in your broiler).  Rotate to make sure that the chicken and bacon are cooked on all sides.  Once the juices run clear you know that the chicken is cooked through and you can take them off the grill pan.


I started with three chicken breasts and it made a total of 16 kabobs.  If I were to do it again I would definitely use one or one and a half chicken breasts to make less.  The final product is very good though so I will have plenty to share.  I also chose to serve these kabobs with rice pilaf on the side.  Because I didn't want to sit around and make rice, I cheated using a box of Rice a Roni (thanks for the suggestion, Mom).  Again, please use whatever vegetables or meat you would like using this recipe.  I have done it with shrimp, scallops, and beef on three different occasions and they all turned out fantastic.


Enjoy!