chicken marinaded skewers with lemon and veg

With barbecue season upon us, having a good marinade recipe up your sleeve will set you up for success.

Marinades are a great way to pack meat, fish and veggies with flavour and achieve delicious, tender results, whether you’re quick cooking chicken kebabs or slow roasting a leg of lamb. Just make sure you leave your ingredients marinating for at least the time stated to really allow the flavours to soak in – it’ll make all the difference.  

This chicken marinade recipe is bursting with zingy, fresh and exciting Asian flavours, and only needs an hour of marinating to give you super-succulent, flavour-packed meat. We’ve shown you how to make lovely chicken kebabs here, but this marinade will work just as well with other chicken cuts, too. If you have any leftover marinade, use it to baste and brush the meat as it cooks for an extra gnarly crust.

HOW TO MAKE CHICKEN MARINADE

Image of marinade ingredients including lemon, oil, spring onion, chilli, garlic, olive oil, coriander and mint

  1. Peel 3 cloves of garlic, trim 6 spring onions and 1 fresh red chilli, then place into a food processor.
    Birdseye view of chilli, spring onion and garlic in a belnder
  2. Add 1 handful each of fresh coriander and mint leaves. Finely grate in the zest from 1 lemon and squeeze in the juice.
    Image of lemon being squeezed into blender with other ingredients
  3. Blitz until finely chopped.
    Image of ingredients being blitzed
  4. Loosen to a paste with a little olive oil, then season with a pinch of sea salt and black pepper.
    Image of olive oil being added to belnder
  5. Place into a large bowl.
    Image of the marinade being moved from the blender to a bowl
  6. Cut 500g of free-range boneless chicken breast into 2.5cm chunks, then add it to the marinade and stir until well coated. Cover and place in the fridge to marinate for at least 1 hour.
    Image of raw chicken being mixed with marinade
  7. Thread the marinated chicken between 6 to 8 skewers – you can use soaked wooden skewers or sturdy rosemary stalks with the leaves removed. Add strips of very thinly sliced courgettes too, if you like.
    Image of kebabs on skewers with strips of courgette woven between the meat
  8. Grill for around 5 minutes on the barbecue, turning regularly, until cooked.
    Image of marinaded kebabs cooking on a BBQ
  9. Serve immediately with charred lemon for squeezing over.
    Image of cooked, marinated chicken kebabs on a blue plate

For more brilliant ideas to get you mixing and marinating, check out these tandoor-style chicken kebabs or these epic lamb kebabs.