Middle Eastern Recipe ‹ Turkish Chicken Kebabs

I'd like to think that all the chicken coming off American grills this summer will be as tasty, juicy, and tender as these Turkish chicken kebabs. By using a flavorful, yogurt-based marinade, like the one seen herein, even inexperienced grillers can produce impressive results. I'm not sure how 'Turkish' this is--it's loosely based on a lamb marinade I've used for a long time.

Ingredients

• 1 cup whole-milk Greek yogurt
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice, or more to taste
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons ketchup
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon Aleppo red pepper flakes
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1 ½ teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• ⅓ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 ½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, halved
• 4 long metal skewers

Cooking Directions

1. Whisk yogurt, lemon juice, olive oil, ketchup, garlic, red pepper flakes, salt, cumin, black pepper, paprika, and cinnamon together in a bowl.
2. Place chicken thigh halves into the yogurt marinade and coat them thoroughly on all sides. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate 2 to 8 hours.
3. Preheat an outdoor grill for medium-high heat and lightly oil the grate.
4. Using 2 skewers for each kebab, thread half of the chicken thighs onto each pair of skewers making a fairly thick "log" shape.
5. Place kebabs on grill. Do not try to turn them until they begin to unstick from the grill, 3 or 4 minutes. Turn kebabs and grill the other side 3 or 4 minutes; turn. Continue cooking and turning until chicken is no longer pink in the center and the juices run clear, about 6 minutes. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read at least 165 degrees F (74 degrees C).

Nutrition Facts

• calories538.9
• carbohydrateContent8.4 g
• cholesterolContent186.3 mg
• fatContent32.5 g
• fiberContent1.2 g
• proteinContent51.8 g
• saturatedFatContent9.1 g
• sodiumContent1721.6 mg
• sugarContent4.2 g