BBQ Chicken on a Stick

I love the summer. I love to barbecue and one of my favorite things is kebabs. You can do meat, veggies, or fruits and the possibilities are endless. It's also a fun finger food meal for the kids. My kids love eating "off the tree" as my three year old puts it. Plus it's less dishes and it doesn't heat up the house. I let my little girl help me and make her own sometimes by handing me what she wants. 

I was looking for a good chicken recipe and came across this from Cooks Illustrated. I was so excited- chicken and bacon- two of my favorites and it didn't let me down. It was fabulous. A tiny bit of prep work and it had amazing flavor. For the barbecue sauce I used Sweet Baby Rays. You can make you own but it was recently on sale so we have tons of it. Make these tonight for your Fourth of July BBQ and have a great Independence Day!

Barbecue Chicken Kebabs

adapted from Cook's Illustrated

*Chicken thighs are best but you use chicken breasts and decrease the cooking time by 1-2 minutes because it dries out quicker. Just don't combine dark and white meat on the same skewer because they cook at different rates.

2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs or breasts, trimmed of excess fat and cut into 1-inch cubes

2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 1/2 tablespoons sweet paprika
4 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
2 slices bacon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
4 12-inch metal skewers or 6 wooden skewers, soaked in water for an hour
1 cup BBQ sauce

Take the chicken and salt and combine and let sit in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to an hour.

Turn all your burners on to high and close lid. Let it heat up for 12-15 minutes and then only leave on the burner you'll be cooking on. (Mine is a four burner and I turned of the two outside and cooked in the middle.) 

In separate bowl combine sweet paprika, sugar, and smoked paprika and stir to combine. Take the bacon and mix in a food processor or blender. In my food processor I pulsed it for about 45 second to a minute and I scraped down the sides at least 2 times, until it is a smooth paste.

Take the chicken out of the fridge and pour the seasoning mix and the bacon paste over it and mix it with your fingers or a rubber spatula until thoroughly coated and mixed.

Thread the chicken onto the skewer, folding and rolling to maintain 1 inch pieces. The chicken should be touching.

Place the chicken kebabs over the burner that is onand grill, covered, turning one-quarter turn every 2 to 2 1/2 minutes until well browned and slightly charred, 8 minutes for breasts or 10 minutes for thighs. Brush the top surface of kebabs with BBQ sauce; flip and cook until sauce is brown in spots, about 1 minute. Brush second side with remaining ¼ cup sauce; flip and continue to cook until brown in spots about 1 minute longer and until the chicken is cooked completely through. Remove the kebabs from the grill and let rest for 5 minutes. Serve, passing additional BBQ sauce, if desired.