While my household mostly ate vegetarian at home during my childhood and teenage years, my college years introduced me to how delicious Indian chicken dishes are, like Butter Chicken Garlic Naan Pizza and Chicken 65. In NYC, this area on Lexington street nicknamed Curry Hill was lined with desi restaurants. You could get quick meals after classes or for a quick meet up with friends. I especially loved Chicken Seekh Kebabs. They’re simple and spiced to absolute perfection. You could eat them plain with some chutney and rice, or wrap them up in a roti or paratha and enjoy them on-the-go style. Not to mention, they’re really affordable. We would buy several orders of kebabs and use them for our quick meal prep for the week. During the summers, they’re easy enough to prep to enjoy on the grill with Tandoori Chicken and Mango Iced Tea. They are so juicy and flavorful!
Why You’ll Love this Recipe
We could not stop saying “holy smokes this is GOOD” as we dug into our rice and chicken platters. Here’s why you’ll also love this recipe, besides being ridiculously delicious.
You can have this recipe ready in an hour for a large crowd-pleasing main dish for a cook out. Toss them in a roll or wrap with chutney and pickled onions to make a Chicken Kebab Wrap! It’s easy to scale and just needs half an hour in the fridge for the flavors to meld. You can also prep it up to 2 days in advance. It’s a great high protein, low carb recipe to meal prep. You can omit the cheese for even lower calories. You can serve these cheesy kebabs up as an appetizer with chutney or enjoy them as a full meal with rice or wrapped up in a naan.
What are Seekh Kebabs?
Seekh in Arabic means “skewer,” so seekh kebabs means grilled meat that is skewered. Seekh kebabs are shaped like long logs using lean chicken mince wrapped around a skewer. This is unlike the skewered chunks of marinated chicken breast or ground chicken with ridges that we see in Greek, Persian, and Middle Eastern cuisine. They’re traditionally cooked in a clay oven called a tandoor in North India and are a popular street food. Nowadays, they can be cooked in an outdoor grill or in a cast iron pan for much of the same effect. Indian-style seekh, or sheekh, kebabs add several spices and herbs into the mixture like garam masala or besan. They’re more commonly found in the frozen section of grocery stores, which makes them easy for a quick meal. They can be found at informal or meat-heavy Indian, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi restaurants. They’re also found made with lamb or beef.
Ingredients - Notes and Substitutions
Ground chicken - Use a blend of 80% lean 20% fat ground chicken for optimal succulence. If you’re making your own ground chicken mixture, use equal amounts of chicken breast and chicken thighs. You can also use minced lamb, turkey, or beef. Just note that the cook times may vary with other meats. Cheese - Use a block of mozzarella cheese to cut into even sizes to be skewered onto the stick. Mozzarella melts really well, but you can use your favorite mild melty cheese. Cilantro - Fresh cilantro is used for garnish and in the ground chicken mixture. Onion - A small yellow onion is all you need. Red onion is also totally fine. If the onion is especially juicy, you’ll need to wring out the excess juice so that the chicken mixture isn’t too watery. Green Chili - A small Indian green chili or serrano pepper is best, but half of a large jalapeño works as well. Remove the seeds if it’s too spicy. Ginger Garlic Paste - Or as I call it, gigi paste! This is simply a 50/50 mix of ginger and garlic that’s blended into a paste. You can easily make ginger garlic paste at home in a mortar and pestle or blender, or purchase it readymade. Mint - Completely optional, but dried crushed mint is a delicious addition. Spices - We are using black pepper, salt, ground cumin, ground coriander, ground turmeric, chili powder, garam masala, and kala namak (black salt). Substitute black salt with Himalayan pink salt or more salt. Ghee - Use ghee to cook these kebabs to a lovely golden brown. You can also use neutral oil or olive oil.
It’s also easy enough to add in grated carrots or finely diced green bell pepper to sneak more vegetables into your family’s diet.
How to make Chicken Seekh Kebabs
Add the onion, green chili, lemon juice, and ginger garlic paste into a food processor and pulse until it looks like a minced paste texture. Be careful not to puree it otherwise it’ll add too much water into the mixture. Finely chop the fresh cilantro. If the onion is really juicy, you may need to strain the water content out first before mixing it with other ingredients so that the ground chicken mixture isn’t too sticky. Add the contents of the food processor - the green chili, onion, lemon juice, and ginger garlic paste - into a large mixing bowl with the ground chicken. Add the spices, dried mint, and chopped fresh cilantro as well. Vigorously mix and knead the ground chicken mixture with your hands, a stand mixer, or a small rubber spatula for 4-5 minutes. Everything should be well combined and the ground chicken will stick together almost like a dough. Cover the bowl with cling wrap and let the flavors mingle in the refrigerator for up to an hour. While the chicken is marinating, you’ll want to soak the wooden skewers in water for 30 minutes if you’re not using metal skewers. If you forget to, wrap the edges in a bit of aluminum foil. In the meantime, prep your cheese by cutting 12 blocks of cheese that are 1 inch wide and 3 inches long. Once your skewers are soaked, string the mozzarella through to the center of the skewer. Portion out the ground chicken mixture into 12 equal-sized balls. Push the skewer through the center of the ball. Once it hits the top of the mozzarella, start pressing it downwards with your hands into a thin log shape. You’ll want to get them as even as possible so they cook evenly. Pro Tip: If the ground chicken mixture is too sticky, dip your hands in ice cold water and then work with the meat. If you’re not cooking them immediately, place them in a single row on a half sheet tray and cover it with cling wrap for up to 2 days on the bottom shelf in the refrigerator. Pro Tip: You can take a small piece of the ground chicken mixture and cook it in a the hot pan if you’re not sure about the seasoning. Taste it, and make adjustments as necessary. Melt ghee in a cast iron pan on medium heat. Cook each seekh kebab for 2-3 minutes on each side, or until golden brown. It’s totally fine if the cheese oozes out a little. I love snacking on the crispy cheese bits! Remove them from the pan and let them rest 5 minutes for the juices to redistribute. Then they’re ready to serve.
Air Fryer and Oven Instructions
For the airfryer - Preheat air fryer at 400°F for 5 minutes. Place the skewers in a lined fryer basket, leaving a bit of a gap between each skewer so they don’t stick together. You may need to cook in batches. Cook for 6 minutes on one side, then flip and cook for another 6 minutes until they turn a light brown. Check the internal temperature for 165°F using a food thermometer to ensure it’s suitable to consume. For the oven - If cooking in the oven, we’re going to try and emulate a tandoor. Turn the oven on to a High Broil mode and allow the oven to preheat. Place a rack on top of a sheet tray. Line the tray with the prepared skewers. Place the sheet tray into the oven for 6 minutes. Once golden brown, flip them and cook for another 6 minutes. Check the internal temperature for 165°F using a food thermometer to ensure it’s suitable to consume. Rest them for 5 minutes before enjoying.
Serving Suggestions
These chicken seekh kebabs are the perfect recipe to grill up for large gatherings during the summer season! They can be cooked in a cast iron pan or on a grill. You can serve them on skewers on a platter so guests can easily grab one. Serve them with a side of saffron rice, raita, and cilantro mint chutney. Garnish them with raw or pickled red onions, lemon wedges, and chopped fresh cilantro or mint. Alternatively, you can wrap them up in roti, paratha, or naan with chutney, onions, tomatoes, and cucumbers for a delicious on-the-go style Chicken Kebab Wrap. For meal prepping, these kebabs go amazingly well served on a bed of rice with raita and cilantro mint chutney on the side. You can also add onion slices and lemon wedges. The spices give the kebabs a ton of flavor so you can eat them alone with chutney and squeezed lemon juice if you’re looking for a high protein meal. For more volume, add cauliflower rice. Also, just remember they don’t have to be perfectly shaped! They are homemade after all. However, they should be uniform in width to get an even sear in the pan.
Working with a sticky mixture. Don’t worry too much if your ground chicken mixture is sticky. A good trick is to dip your hands in ice cold water and then work with the chicken. If it’s still too sticky, mix in 1-2 tablespoons of besan to soak up the moisture. Uniform skewers. Measure and divide the chicken so you get uniform results. I used about a handful and was able to peel off any excess. This also helps with getting similar cook times to ensure the chicken is cooked through. Oozey cheese. It’s totally fine if a bit of cheese oozes out and gets crispy while cooking. Freeze the cheese on the skewers for 15-30 minutes if the cheese oozes out a little too much. Tightly pack the chicken on the skewers. Tightly press the chicken on to the skewer and close it on both sides. This way the mozzarella doesn’t ooze out of crevices. Wooden vs. Metal Skewers. Flat or round metal skewers conducts heat better than wooden skewers. Metal skewers also help the meat stay in place. If you’re using wooden skewers, be sure to soak them in water for 30 minutes before using them. This will prevent them from burning on the grill. Work fast! The faster you work with putting the chicken on the skewers, the better. After each one is ready, add it to the pan immediately so it doesn’t melt off the skewer.
Storage and Reheating Instructions
These Chicken Seekh Kebabs should be enjoyed within 4-5 days of cooking them. Store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator. They can also be kept raw and assembled in the refrigerator for 1-2 days before cooking (USDA). The cooked chicken skewers can be frozen in the freezer for up to 4 months for the best flavor (USDA). To reheat the kebabs:
More Indian Chicken Recipes to try
Recipe
This recipe was reworked on 1/14/2024. The blog post was completely rewritten with updated photos. I’d love to know what you thought of this recipe! Don’t forget to leave a comment and ⭐️ star rating below! Thinking about making this recipe? Enter your email and I’ll send it straight to your inbox to save for later. Plus, get new recipe inspiration from me every week! By submitting this form, you consent to receive emails from Masala and Chai.
