Colourful and juicy, these Beef Kebabs are made using marinated steak pieces to infuse with extra flavour and tenderise. Iโve used capsicum/peppers, red onion and mushroom here, but thereโs a plethora of other vegetables that could be used!
Marinated Beef Kebabs
I donโt know if itโs โnormalโ to marinate beef for kebabs, but the reason why I do it is because I reserve premium beef cuts for cooking as steaks or roasting to medium rare for special occasions. So I use better value beef cuts for kebabs and as a consequence, Iโve always marinated them to tenderise, add juiciness and a hint of flavour.
I donโt mean to talk down Beef Kebabs, because they are fabulously moorish, and if your budget stretches to using $50/kg beef fillet to make kebabs for a backyard barbie, I want your life!๐
The Beef Kebab Marinade
The marinade I use for these Beef Kebabs is my everydayย Steak Marinade. Itโs savoury with a hint of sweet, and made with pantry essentials โ soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, pepper and oil.
And yes, you read that right โ soy sauce is in the marinade. No, it doesnโt make it taste Asian-y in the slightest! Itโs basically the brine for the marinade, making it ultra juicy.
The art of Beef Kebab threading
Just kidding โ itโs not an art at all! ๐
Thereโs no science behind the order in which I thread the beef and vegetables onto the skewers. I always start it with every intention of making them look the same, but I lose focus very quickly.ย So as you can see below, my skewers are a hodgepodge of random order.
Having said that though, I do follow these Kebab-Threading-Rules:
1. Donโt smush everything together tightly. Thread pretty loosely so some heat can get in between โ this helps cook the vegetables more evenly (rather than charred edges and crunchy raw in the middle);
2. Cut your veggies so they are the same size as the meat to encourage even cooking (sometimes I even trim the veggies after threading); and
3. Two pieces of veggies between each piece of beef โ it just makes the beef go further so you get 8 big kebabs from 750g/1.5lb of beef, and a nice hit of veggies per serving.
Just to be clear, I totally made these rules up myself. In case it wasnโt obviousโฆ๐
Hands down, the best way to cook Beef Kebabs is on the barbie. But of course, when I went to do just that for the video, I found that I was out of gas. So I had to try to cook them on the stove โ but the skewers are too long for my skillets so I could only fit in 2 at a time on the diagonal.
They looked ridiculous.๐
But they were still just as tasty!! โ Nagi x
PS I donโt know for certain if itโs kebabs or kabobs. Iโve seen skewered meats on Turkish/Lebanese restaurants both ways, though here in Australia I fine โkebabโ is used more commonly for skewers and also for Doner Kebab wraps. So Iโve gone with Kebab!
Try these on the side for a summer grill out
Watch how to make it
As noted above, I had to cook these in a skillet because I ran out of BBQ gas. Because the skewers are so long, I could only fit 2 in at a time โ they look ridiculous!!
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Marinated Beef Kebabs
Ingredients
- 750g / 1.5 lb rump (picanha), beef tri-tip, sirloin steak or other steak cut suitable for quick cooking (Note 1)
- 3 capsicum / bell peppers (red, yellow green)
- 1 large red onion
- 16 small mushrooms , 3.25cm / 1.3โณ wide
Marinade:
- 1 tsp minced garlic (2 large garlic clove)
- 1 tsp onion powder (or sub with garlic powder)
- 2 1/2 tbsp soy sauce (Note 2)
- 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil (or other neutral flavoured oil)
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
Cooking:
- 16 flat metal skewers , 25 โ 30cm / 10 โ 12โณ (Note 3)
- Olive oil , for drizzling and cooking
- Finely chopped parsley , garnish (optional)
Optional sauce:
- Pink sauce , pictured in post โ Note 4
- Lemon Yogurt Sauce (this goes well with the flavours here)
Instructions
Marinade beef
- Cut the beef into 3.25cm / 1.3" wide cubes.
- Marinade โ Mix Marinade in a bowl. Add beef. Marinate for 3 โ 24 hours.
Making the kebab skewers
- Cut capsicum and onion into 3.25cm / 1.3" wide squares.
- Thread beef (reserve Marinade), vegetables and mushrooms on each skewer. I use 2 pieces of vegetables between each piece of beef. Thread loosely โ don't smush together tightly (helps even cooking).
- Brush kebabs lightly with Reserved Marinade (including vegetables), then drizzle with olive oil.
- Cook and baste โ Heat BBQ or large skillet over high heat. Add 1 tbsp oil, then when smoking, cook kebabs in batches for 2 minutes on each side until slightly charred (4 sides = 8 minutes in total), basting with Reserved Marinade as you go.
- Rest and serve โ Transfer to plate, cover loosely with foil and rest for 3 minutes before serving. Garnish with parsley if desired. See note for pictured Pink Dipping Sauce.
Recipe Notes:
- flank, skirt, hanger, bavette and other steaks that need to be sliced thinly against the grain (think โ South American grilling cuts);
- slow cooking cuts โ chuck, beef ribs, cheeks
Nutrition Information:
LIFE OF DOZER
Headed down south of Sydney to a country cabin on the weekend. Dozer spent the entire time gazing (like below) and grazing (on wallaby poo and all other manner of animal droppings littered all over the property ๐).
He managed to wiggle out of his collar once* and took off after something he heard rustling in the bushes. His pursuit led him to a tight shrub in which he got stuck, so I managed to catch up to him and had to literally haul him out by grabbing his tail, then his butt fur, then eventually grabbing his collar. He got in so much trouble!!!
* ย For those playing catch up: Dozer busted his knee a couple of months ago and had to undergo surgery. Weโre 8 weeks into a 12 โ 16 week post op recovery period, and he thinks he is 100% healed.
Oh wow! These kabobs have some much flavour.
Used beef eye fillet, which just happened to on sale at Coles!
So tender and delicious ๐
Fantastic! Thank you so much for sharing this awesome recipe that even a novice like me could make successfully!
Made this for my belovedโs dinner the other night. It was delicious! I used baby bella mushrooms and with the marinade they were excellent, even for this fellow who doesnโt much care for mushrooms. This will assuredly be in our rotation frequently.
Love this recipe. Huge hit with my fussy kids.
Wow! That was a fantastic marinade for tri-tip shish kebabs! I served these at my dadโs birthday party per his request! The meat was super flavorful after only 2hrs. of marinatingโฆ Even better after a 24hr soak in the sauce!
Very skeptical because our family is salt sensitive, not necessarily to amount but taste. And visually a little leary of anything pink. Made recipe to letter with the exception of a half teaspoon of oregano. Huge hit. I wish I could submit a picture. Our whole family loved this and my husband later on in the evening went back and found the left over pink sauce and ate a bowl of raw broccoli with it instead of ranch. That is his nightly movie snack. The pink sauce will now be a constant condiment in the refrigerator. Thank you for a wonderful new dinner to our rotation. Big win.
If I wanted to use the sauce over rice as a side, would I need to double the sauce and cook some of it over the stove?
Hi Nagi, loved this recipe, is there anyway we could incorporate coconut milk into this recipe? I love your massaman curry but was looking to do something similar to this using coconut milk. Many thanks for all your great recipes youโre amazing ๐.
This is such a great recipe. I used sirloin tip steak and marinated overnight. It was so tender and flavorful. Honestly, I am seriously considering buy more sirloin tip steak, using the marinate and grilling the marinated steak whole and serving with a baked potato and salad. Yum!!
Marinate was flavorful. Meat was cooked perfectly, but onions and peppers were a bit crunchy.
Marinade is five star. Made this today and it is soooo good. I added a bag of steamable small potatoes with the other veggies on the skewers. Made it more like a complete meal. Will do this again. Thank you for the great recipe.
I am making these kabobs for my dinner tonight .
Can I book them in the oven?
Excellent recipe!!! Grilled these last night and they were absolutely delicious. Thank you sharing it.
Made this last night, wow the aroma and the flavor was Delicious, another great recipe Nagi.
This is my favourite recipe of yours. I absolutely love your beef kebabs. I swaped the mushrooms with pineapple. I just wish I could cook these on my gas stove instead of tge bbq. I dont have a bbqโฆ well I do but it is a disposable bbq and I feel that the stove doesnt cook as well as the bbq.
I was looking for a marinated beef kebab recipe. I have tried many, but this one is a keeper.
Made these for dinner tonight and my husband couldnโt stop raving about them. Easy recipe, juicy and flavorful. Thanks, Nagi for yet another great recipe.
Had to laugh at the visual of you trying to pull Dozer out. We have 7-pounds of trouble. He thinks chase is the best game ever when he manages to find an escape path from the fence. My advice is a harness, not a collar. More secure and avoids harm to the throat when they pull like a train locomotive. More important for small dogs, but still good for the larger dogs too.
Iโm going to try the marinade on a Tri tip steak for grilling tomorrow evening.
Havenโt put these on skewers and cooked but even at the marinading stage the tastes are just great. Where has this flavour combination been all my life. I canโt wait to grill it!
And, now grilled and great, very popular with the hungry masses.
So delicious! The only thing I did differently was add cumin to the marinade. Thanks!