I don’t know about you, but I love summertime and fall since we’re able to enjoy being outside and cooking on the grill! I wanted to create a new recipe that combined the flavors of caprese salad (which I love very much), without the mozzarella cheese, because dairy and I really don’t mix. So I came up with these Whole30 “Caprese” Chicken Kabobs, that combined all the flavors that I love, and didn’t leave me feeling crappy. Win, win.

Ok, now lets get to the recipe!

Italian Chicken Marinade:

So first you’ll want to cut up your chicken into bite sized kabob pieces (Just try to make them universal for cooking purposes-I try to cut them into a cube shape). The amount of chicken you use will depend on how many kabobs you want. I used slightly more than 1.5lbs of chicken (3 decent sized breasts) and it yielded about 9 kabobs.

Then, Mix all of the following marinade ingredients together and pour over the chicken in a bowl

• 3/4 Cup Avocado Oil
• 1/4 Cup Red Wine Vinegar
• 1.5 tsp Garlic Powder
• 1 tsp Kosher Salt
• 1 tsp Oregano
• 1/2 tsp Ground Black Pepper
• 1/2 Bay Leaf
• Juice of 1/2 a lemon

Once you’ve mixed and poured the marinade over your chicken, cover and refrigerate. I like to let the chicken marinate for 24 hours, but if you don’t have that much time, you can obviously do less. I would say no less than 6-8 hours though so those flavors can really infuse your chicken and tenderize it as well. Stir the marinating chicken occasionally and return to the refrigerator.

Assembling the Kabobs

Next you’ll want to gather everything you need to assemble the kabobs. If you’re using wooden kabob sticks, I would recommend soaking them in water so about 3 hours ahead of time, so they don’t char really badly. I also spray the kabobs with some olive oil prior to loading them up, so that the meat and vegetables don’t stick to them.

          Here’s what you’ll need:

• About 10 metal or wood kabob sticks (I used 9″ ones)
• 2 red onions- Chopped into large pieces
• About 20 grape or cherry tomatoes, the bigger the better!
• Marinated Chicken breast cubes

Start by loading a piece of the marinated chicken on the kabob stick, followed by a grape/cherry tomato, and then a chunk of red onion. Then repeat once so you end up with 2 pieces of chicken, 2 tomatoes, and 2 pieces of onion on each kabob

Continue loading all your kabob sticks until you’ve used up all of your marinated chicken. Once the kabobs are loaded, set them aside for a few minutes and make your balsamic reduction.

Balsamic Reduction:

Follow the recipe found here for the date paste used in several of my recipes. Once you have that made, heres what you’ll need:

• 1.5 Tbsp Date Paste
• 1 Cup of balsamic vinegar

Place the balsamic vinegar and date paste in a saucepan and turn the heat to high (you want it to boil). While its heating up, stir the date paste around in the vinegar to break it up into smaller pieces so it will continue to cook down and into the vinegar.

Once it boils, turn the heat down to a simmer and stir frequently while the vinegar reduces. You’ll end up with a thick consistency that is easy to drizzle over the kabobs and coats the back of a spoon.

Cook the Kabobs:

Throw those kabobs on a preheated grill and grill until chicken is cooked through.

(Suggested grilling instructions:)

• Preheat grill to medium heat (Approx 375 degrees)
• Place kabobs on grill and turn heat down to low
• Cook for approximately 12 minutes (or until chicken reaches 165 degree internal temperature. Time will vary depending on grill), turning halfway through.
• If you want a more charred effect on vegetables, at 10 minutes, turn heat up to high and cook at that temperature for 1 minute on each side
• Remove from grill and cover. Allow meat to rest for 5 minutes

Garnish and Serve

Gather about 7-8 basil leaves and cut into ribbons. Sprinkle over the top of the kabobs. Drizzle balsamic reduction over kabobs and serve.

ENJOY!

I really hope you enjoy these! We all LOVED them. Don’t forget, if you make any of my recipes and post about them, please tag me (@lindsey_van_cleave). I just love to see/hear how my recipes turn out for you!

I hope you all have a happy and safe 4th of July!

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