These Portuguese Chicken Skewers use always moist boneless, skinless chicken thighs, grilled with Portuguese spices and served with a spiced cilantro yogurt dip and grilled lemons, for drizzling.
Food on sticks! It’s one of the best thing about summer, in my opinion. These Portuguese Chicken Skewers use always moist, boneless, skinless chicken thighs, that are tossed in a medley of Portuguese-inspired spices. Add to that a cilantro yogurt sauce and grilled lemons for drizzling and you have a quick, easy and delicious meal!
You can cook these skewers on the BBQ, in a grill pan on the stove-top or under the broiler in your oven. Be sure not to crowd the skewers too much, so that the chicken will cook both quickly and evenly. Don’t like cilantro? I don’t either. Simply substitute flat parsley for the cilantro leaves. Surprisingly, even though coriander comes from cilantro, I like it in spice form.
Ingredients and Substitutions
Chicken – I love to use boneless, skinless chicken thighs, as they are always moist. You could use boneless, skinless chicken breasts, but be careful not to over-cook, as they can be dry.
Smoked Paprika – Note that the recipe calls for smoked paprika, which adds bit of smokey flavour to the chicken rub. Look for it in little red cans in the spice section of your grocery store. It’s a great addition to your spice cabinet! If you can’t find it, you can use regular paprika.
Recipe Tips
I definitely suggest that you don’t skip the lemons. The warm lemon drizzle is such a nice note with the chicken. You could also use the juice in combination with some oil and seasoning for a great salad dressing to go with your skewers.
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Get the Recipe: Portuguese Chicken Skewers with a Cilantro Yogurt Dip
Ingredients
For the chicken rub:
- 1 Tablespoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, 1/2 tsp. for flavour or up to 1 tsp. for a bit of heat
- 2 teaspoons fresh oregano leaves, finely chopped (or 1/2 tsp. dried oregano leaves)
- 6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 8 boneless skinless chicken thighs, , trimmed of visible fat and cut into three pieces
- 12 oregano sprigs, halved
- 2 lemons, halved
Coriander Yogurt Sauce:
- 1 cup plain greek-style yogurt
- 1/2 cup cilantro leaves, chopped (or sub flat leaf parsley)
- 1/2 teaspoon coriander
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- For garnish: pinch of paprika, cayenne or smoked paprika
Instructions
- Preheat on high a BBQ grill, grill pan on the stove-top or oven broiler, with rack about 6-inches from heat. If using oven broiler, line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and set aside.
- In a large bowl, mix together the paprika, cayenne, oregano garlic salt, pepper and oil. Add prepared chicken and mix well to coat.
- Thread the chicken onto 3 or 4 long metal skewers and tuck 3 oregano sprigs onto each skewer between the chicken pieces. Be sure not to push the chicken together too much, so it cooks quickly and evenly.
- Cook the chicken on the BBQ for 3-4 minutes per side, in a grill pan for 4-5 minutes per side or under the broiler for 5-6 minutes per side (on aluminum foil lined baking pan), or until charred in spots and cooked through. When you turn the chicken over, place the lemon halves cut side down on the grill or grill pan or cut-side up under the broiler and allow them to cook until the chicken is done.
- Meanwhile, to make the coriander yogurt sauce, place the yoghurt, cilantro (or parsley) leaves, coriander, salt and pepper in a small food processor and process for 30 seconds to combine.
- Serve the skewers with the yogurt sauce, grilled lemon and micro greens or a salad, if you like.
Notes
More Portuguese Recipes to Love!
Hi! I’m Jennifer, a home cook schooled by trial and error and almost 40 years of getting dinner on the table! I love to share my favourite recipes, both old and new, together with lots of tips and tricks to hopefully help make your home cooking enjoyable, stress free, rewarding and of course, delicious!
Could you cook this dish in the oven if your winter days don’t allow grilling outside?
Hi Kathy and absolutely! We have too much snow to grill outside in the Winter here, too :) You can go either the really hot oven or the broiler route. For the hot oven, preheat oven to about 475F, lay the skewers on a baking sheet and bake in the centre of the oven until just cooked through. You can pop right under the broiler at the end if you want a little extra colour. For the straight broiler method, place a rack about 6-8 inches from the broiler (usually 2nd level from the top) and broil until browned and cooked through (it doesn’t take long :) In both cases, keep your chicken pieces on the smaller side and thread them loosely, so they will cook quickly, without drying out. Enjoy!
Pulled this one out of the depths of the three ring binder on Saturday…….oh my, why did we wait so long to cook it again? So GOOD! We had leftovers cold with salad and a baked potato the next night.
So glad to hear, Gillie :) Thanks so much!
Loved this recipe…So easy and delicious! Your weekly email is one i look forward to and I’ve bookmarked quite a few “must try” recipes! Keep up the great work!
Thanks so much, Karmen :)
Made this tonight. I had bone in thighs so I removed the bone and kept them whole. Turned out great. My wife isn’t big on heat but I was able to add a touch more cayenne with out her knowing. Served it with an arugula salad out of my garden and a chive vinaigrette. Love the recipe!!!!
So glad you enjoyed it! Thanks :)
As chicken thighs can vary in size so much, (particularly between organic and non organic chicken) it would be very helpful to have the weight required for this recipe provided as well.
Love your recipes.
Thanks
Thanks June and I will keep that in mind, going forward :)
Wow, the flavor is incredibly delicious. We made this recipe for the beach, followed the prep as written, however, left the boneless chicken thighs whole, grilled them up. Definitely will be in our rotation year round. Easy Peezy and full of flavor. Thanks for the recipe!!!!!!
So glad you enjoyed it :) Thanks for coming back to let me know!