Chicken Shish Kebab Rolls
These Chicken Shish Kebab Rolls are easy to make, and perfect for summer lunches and dinners or anytime of the year! Chicken is marinated in a flavor-packed yogurt-based marinade with spices, herbs, and more, then seared in a skillet until perfectly charred and juicy and served in a kebab shop style roll!
Confession. My favorite late night post drinking snack is a chicken shish roll with juicy grilled spiced chicken chunks, crisp lettuce, sliced onion, tomatoes, and lashings of garlic sauce, chili-mayo yogurt sauce, and mint-yogurt sauce.😍 But to be honest, I love a good chicken shish roll any time of any day, sober or not! 😉
What is Chicken Shish?
Shish (Şiş in Turkish) means skewers. Traditionally, marinated cubed pieces of meat are threaded on skewers and cooked over an open fire. But in kebab shops today, the marinated meat is commonly grilled (either on skewers or not) on a hot flat-faced grill before being piled onto a tortilla with salad toppings and sauces. It’s usually made with chicken breasts or lamb.
Chicken shish can be served with rice, french fries (chips), or salad in addition to rolls/wraps – which are commonly (and mistakenly) referred to as ‘kebabs’. Kebab in Turkish cuisine, refers to any grilled or broiled meat dish. What they serve the meat in is called a wrap or roll (‘dürüm’), not a kebab.
Easy Skillet Method
For this chicken shish recipe, I decided to mimic the way the folks at my favorite kebab shop – 27 Kebab House – make their magnificent chicken shish roll. They sear the marinated whole chicken breasts on a flat-faced grill and cut up the meat into bite-sized pieces as it cooks. This method ensures that the chicken stays juicy, and doesn’t overcook or dry out in spite of using breasts instead of thighs.
I’ve used a nonstick skillet to achieve the same meat texture and the result is incredibly delicious! Just like my Spicy Indian Pan-fried Salmon, you don’t need a grill to get the lovely char marks on the meat because of the yogurt based marinade. Yogurt tends to “burn” while cooking, so all you need is a nonstick skillet and you’re all set to get juicy and tender, perfectly charred pan-grilled chicken.
Bonus? Using a nonstick skillet means you don’t have to spend time scraping or fuss with cleaning up a griddle pan or grill grates. 🙌
Why This Recipe Works
- It’s straightforward and easy to make. The lengthiest part – marinating the chicken – is inactive.
- Marinating the chicken with garlic, spices and herbs, and lemon juice in a yogurt-based marinade ensures that the chicken will be incredibly flavorful, but also wonderfully tender and juicy once cooked since the yogurt acts as a meat tenderizer.
- Using a meat mallet to flatten the chicken breasts guarantees that they will cook evenly and the end tip won’t dry out.
- Searing/pan-grilling the chicken in a nonstick skillet as opposed to a grill or griddle pan means easier cleanup.
- You can customize the rolls with any salad toppings and type of flatbread you like.
