Chicken Kebabs and Panko Onion Rings

It’s getting hot here in AZ. It’s supposed to be 100 degrees today! It’s a sad day indeed. Either way, we were looking for something at least mildly healthy, low-carb, and grilled. Kebabs it was! I love kebabs and so do Dane and Kramer. This marinade was sweet and light, and the chicken was cooked perfectly. I made baked panko onion rings to go along with them, and while they definitely weren’t your typical onion rings, they were still good and had far, far fewer calories. Recipes after the jump, as always!

Your ingredients for the kebabs.

Whisk together your orange juice, olive oil, lime juice, soy sauce, garlic, cumin and pepper

Cut your chicken into cubes and place in tupperware or a Ziploc bag (I had no big Ziploc bags, so I used tupperware; a bag would have worked much better). Pour in half of your marinade and seal well.

Do the same thing with the chopped vegetables.

After marinating for a few hours (I marinated mine for about 3 hours, but you can do as little as 30 minutes or as long as overnight), place on skewers. If you’re using wooden skewers, make sure that you soak them in water for an hour or two so they don’t burn.

Heat the oven to medium-high. Grill the chicken kebabs until just cooked through and slightly charred, turning often, about 8 – 10 minutes.

Enjoy!

Now for the onion rings! I prepared them just before I grilled the kebabs and made them while the kebabs cooked.

Slice the onions to your preferred thickness (mine were pretty thin and I should have sliced them a bit bigger).

Place your flour in a bowl (I used whole wheat).

Place your milk and egg white in another bowl.

And finally, place the panko crumbs in yet another bowl (I also used whole wheat panko crumbs).

Dust the onion rings with flour until coated thoroughly. Then, dip in egg white mixture. Next, cover in Panko. The onions won’t be completely coated in the crumbs, but you’ll still have a nice crunch when you bake them. Heat the oven to 450 degree F and place the onion rings on a baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden and crisp.

Enjoy!

Chicken Kebabs
Print this recipe
from Vanilla Sugar

Marinade
½ cup orange juice
½ cup pineapple juice
½ cup olive oil
¼ cup freshly squeezed lime juice, (about 3 – 4 limes)
1/3 cup soy sauce
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 teaspoons honey
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground black pepper

For the kebabs
4 – 6 skewers, 10- to 12-inch
2 chicken breasts (at least 1 pound), cut into bite-sized pieces (remember, they still need to be big enough to put on skewers!)
2 zucchini squash (cubed, but big enough to put on the skewers)
1 yellow or white or red onion (chopped into large-ish pieces)
1 red bell pepper (chopped into large-ish pieces)

1. To prepare the marinade, whisk together the orange juice, olive oil, lime juice, soy sauce, garlic, cumin and pepper in a large bowl until well blended. Set aside.
2. Use heavy duty plastic bags for marinating. Place all of the chopped up vegetables into one or two bags, depending on how big the bags are. Marinate your chicken in a separate bag. Divide the marinade equally among the bags, seal, and marinate in the refrigerator, turning the bag occasionally, for about 3 hours, or overnight (you can do as little as 30 minutes if you’re really in a pinch).
3. Soak wooden skewers in water to cover for at least one hour before grilling.
4. Assemble the skewers as you like. I did a piece of chicken, 2 or 3 pieces of vegetables, then chicken, then 3 vegetables, etc.
5. Throw away the marinade. Wrap the ends of your wooden skewers with foil before placing them on the grill (I used metal skewers).
6. Preheat the grill to 375 degrees F (a medium-hot fire). Grill the chicken until just cooked through and slightly charred, turning often, about 8 – 10 minutes.
7. You can also make these in the oven by preheating the oven to 500 degrees F. Arrange the skewers on a large rimmed nonstick baking sheet in a single layer. (Vanilla Sugar used the actual oven rack with a pan underneath to collect drippings; the poultry cooks better with nothing underneath. She said that cleanup was not that bad as long as you used a pan to collect drippings.) Bake the chicken until just cooked through, about 10 – 15 minutes.
8. Transfer the skewers from the grill or the oven to a platter and serve. Serves 3-4.

Oven Baked Panko Onion Rings
from Le Petit Pierogi

1 onion, sliced into rings
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 egg white
2 tablespoons skim milk
1 cup whole wheat panko bread crumbs
salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F and spray a large baking sheet covered with foil with non-stick spray. Sprinkle onion rings with salt and pepper to taste.
2. In one bowl, place the flour. In another, whisk together the egg white and milk with a fork. In a third bowl, place the panko.
3. Dust the onion rings with the flour until coated thoroughly. Then, dip in the egg white mixture. Next, cover in panko, making sure there is a nice coating. Place in a single row on your baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes, or until golden brown (I overlapped mine and they were fine while they baked – I just had a really small baking sheet). *I doubled this to make enough for 3 people and we had a few left over.

Tagged as: chicken, kababs, kebabs, low-carb, low-fat, onion rings, panko, vegetables