Chili-Lime Chicken Skewers with Spicy Green Pepper Sauce

~ Chil-Lime Chicken Skewers with Spicy Green Pepper Sauce ~

A pedicure was the inspiration for this recipe. I rarely sit and thumb through a stack of fashion and lifestyle magazines – except when I am captive in a chair for a pedicure. As I picked up a well-read issue of O, I did what I always to with a magazine: I began at the back in search of recipes. And there I spied  an article with a recipe by Cat Cora for chicken kebabs.  Since my next stop was at the market to buy ingredients for a dinner, I immediately knew what I would make. With the image of the kebabs in mind, I came up with this recipe. Thanks to Cat and Oprah for the inspiration!

Chili-Lime Chicken Skewers with Spicy Green Sauce

There is big flavor and little effort in this recipe for Chili-Lime Chicken Skewers, which makes it a perfect weeknight meal. If you can, marinate the chicken for several hours or overnight and let the chili, lime and sriracha marinade do the flavoring work for you. While the chicken sits in the refrigerator, all you need is a few extra minutes to blitz the ingredients for the green sauce. Weeknight dining doesn’t get better than this. Serves 4-6.

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon Sriracha or hot sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut in 1 inch chunks
Bamboo skewers, soaked in warm water 30 minutes

Whisk all of the marinade ingredients together. Place chicken in a bowl and toss with marinade. Refrigerate at least one hour or up to 24 hours. Prepare grill for high heat. Skewer chicken on pre-soaked bamboo sticks; discard marinade. Grill over direct high heat until nicely charred on all sides and thoroughly cooked through, about 8 minutes. Serve with Spicy Green Pepper Sauce.

Spicy Green Pepper Sauce

The beauty of this sauce is that you may use whatever fresh green herbs you have on hand and tinker with the flavor. It always tastes great. Try to make it a few hours before serving to let the flavors develop. Makes about 1 cup.

2 garlic cloves
1 small poblano pepper, coarsely chopped
1-2 jalapeno peppers, to taste, coarsely chopped
1 handful fresh mint leaves
1 handful fresh oregano leaves
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Pulse all of the ingredients in a bowl of a food processor to achieve a chunky sauce. Taste for seasoning. (May be prepared up to 6 hours in advance. Cover and refrigerate).

This post and recipe from TasteFood was featured in Women’s Health Blog: What We’re Reading.

 

28 thoughts on “Chili-Lime Chicken Skewers with Spicy Green Pepper Sauce

  1. Maybe you should be getting pedicures more regularly? Looks divine. I myself just left the pedicure chair, which inspired me to learn how to make paletas (Mexican ice pops). Funny how the bubbling hot water and polish fumes can wake up the creative parts of the brain. 🙂

  2. Thanks, Lynda, I’m really making an effort to expand our summer grilling recipes. LOL – I do the same when I get my hair done or have a pedicure, although I confess to being a secret “People” magazine reader as well.

  3. I don’t read anything doing pedicure, cannot relax, I’m extremely ticklish…. but I do get magazines in airports to read during the flight. And a Sudoku booklet too 😉

    Loved this recipe, very healthy, light, and I’m sure full of flavor! I’m bookmarking it for sure

  4. I wish I had time to make all of the recipes on your blog! These sounds pretty easy though and I LOVE anything with lime (even more than lemon!). Maybe we’ll fire up the grill for the 4th and make these.

  5. I love my magazine time in the pedicure chair. 🙂 And I just love your photos. They always make me want to reach out and grab the food…truly your recipes always look so fresh and sound so inspiring!

  6. I love the story behind this. Perfect! I’m so into skewered and BBQed anything right now that I want to make a 20-course feast dedicated to it. Where to begin?

    1. Hi, Kimberley…

      not sure if you’ve seen a cookbook called “On a Stick” by Matt Armendariz – amazon.com has it.

      It seems like a very cool cookbook for those into “skewered” food. It’s been on my wish list 😉

  7. I love tasty kabobs with dipping sauces, so fresh and light. Need to get Matt’s book, it sounds fabulous. – S

  8. I made these last week for my husband and I. I live in Japan so we don’t have most of the ingredients in the sauce but they were great without it! Def. a keeper! Thanks so much for a wonderful meal!

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