Chicken Koobideh - Persian Ground Chicken Kabob
With tender, marinated chicken on long skewers, chicken koobideh is the pinnacle of Persian outdoor grilling. My foolproof method helps ensure you have the clingiest and stickiest chicken mix that cooks evenly on each skewer.
Servings: 4
Calories: 362kcal
Equipment
- 4 Skewers
Ingredients
- 1 yellow onion no more than 1/3 cup after grated and squeezed
- 1 lb. ground chicken light, dark, or mixed meat
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp salt plus more to taste
- ½ tsp pepper plus more to taste
- ½ tsp turmeric optional, for color
- 2 tsp oil flavorless, like canola, vegetable, avocado, etc.
- ½ tsp saffron optional, ground and bloomed in 1 tbsp hot water or over one ice cube
Instructions
- Grate the onion and squeeze out all the liquid, reserving the liquid. Add the ground chicken, 2 teaspoons lemon juice, the steeped saffron, salt, and pepper. Knead for a minimum of 5 minutes, but preferably 10 minutes until it is very sticky.
- Refrigerate overnight, uncovered to reduce water content.
- Mix together 2 teaspoons of oil, 1 teaspoon of lemon juice, and 1 tablespoon of the onion juice. This is for basting.
- Mix together the rest of the onion juice and some ice water. Skewer with cold, wet hands. It is helpful to taper the bottom and top of the kabob of each skewer. Use your pointer and middle finger in a scissor position press the classic indentations along the kabob. If it isn't sticking, see note below.
- Cook over high heat flipping every 30 seconds until cooked through, 8-10 minutes. Baste with the basting liquid when you have about 1 minute left.
Notes
Serve with bastmati rice, barbecued tomatoes, and sumac for seasoning the kabob and/or rice.
Make sure you have squeezed all the water out of the onion. Too much liquid will make the chicken mixture not sticky enough. Too much onion will also keep it from sticking, so stay with the ratio in the recipe.
If you allow the chicken to get warm, you're basically melting/breaking down the fat, and this causes it to fall off the skewer. If it takes you a long time to get the meat on the skewers, you can place the bowl of ground chicken in a larger bowl of ice water to help keep it cool or transfer them to the refrigerator as you make them.
If after all of this your chicken is still falling off the skewer, you can add ½ teaspoon of baking soda to help it stick on the skewer. Only use this if absolutely necessary, because this will change the texture of the final kabob to a slightly rubbery one.
Nutrition
Calories: 362kcal | Carbohydrates: 3g | Protein: 19g | Fat: 30g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 13g | Cholesterol: 83mg | Sodium: 650mg | Potassium: 296mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 2IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 26mg | Iron: 2mg
