Simple Mediterranean Beef Kebabs
Simple Mediterranean Beef Kebabs are a super fun and easy fun grilling recipe. The unique flavor profile of the Mediterranean makes this recipe one you’ll come back to time and time again for an easy weeknight dinner! This recipe uses simple ingredients for a big flavor that will surprise and delight you! Get your grill (Or oven!) ready and let’s get going!
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Beef kebabs are one of my favorite things to throw onto the grill. To me, grilled beef shish kabobs cooked over open flames are just pure magic. And so quick to cook! And steak kabobs are one of my favorite kinds of grilled foods! Make it a Mediterranean beef kebab and you have made me a super happy gal! These kebabs are always super popular when they hit our dinner table and are super kid-friendly!
If you love these kebabs, make sure to try our Lemonade BBQ Pork Chops and serve it with our Traditional Southen Baked Beans! Heck, while you are at it, round the meal out with our No-Bake Lemonade Cheesecake! Don’t forget to add in some Green Apple Summer Cole Slaw, too!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Simple Recipe – This recipe is so simple with easy instructions and common ingredients. That’s what I’m looking for in my weeknight dinners!
- Customization – Feel free to use your favorite marinade in this recipe! Or add/subtract from this marinade recipe! Make it your own with the flavors you like! Don’t like steak? Use chicken! The combinations are nearly endless!
Ingredients
We’ve got a two-parter here! First we make marinade and then we get the components together to grill!
Marinade
- Low-sodium soy sauce: I prefer lower sodium sauce. The flavor is the same either way, and this is just a bit healthier!
- Lemon juice: (you can toss in a little lemon zest if you’d like as well!). If you don’t have fresh, a few tablespoons of the bottled lemon juice will work just fine.
- Extra Virgin Olive oil: I like a good quality EVOO for marinades. It just makes a difference in the best way I think.
- Worcestershire sauce: This brings a great tang to the marinade and a depth of flavors!
- Garlic: Minced is best for the recipe. If you don’t love garlic, try leaving the cloves whole and you won’t get as much garlic flavor. But I really think you’ll miss it if you omit it.
- Italian Seasoning: Dried Italian seasoning works great here – and it’s got so many flavors of the Mediterranean already built in!
- Black pepper: Ground black pepper works great here!
- Salt: Kosher or Sea Salt works great here.
- Onion powder: It just gives the marinade the right flavor. Even though you’ll have grilled onions, the marinade really needs the onion powder, so don’t skip it!
Kebabs
- Lean Steak: I used top sirloin, but you can use any tender cut of meat like ribeye, tenderloin, or sirloin tips. I generally don’t use ground meat for kebabs.
- Onion: Yellow or red onions work beautifully, it doesn’t matter which, it’s totally up to your preference.)
- Bell Peppers: I like to use a green bell pepper and a sweet bell pepper that’s red, yellow, or orange. I like a green pepper mixed with the sweeter peppers.
Substitutions, Modifications, and Additions
There are so many ways to change up this recipe! The possibilities are endless!
Substitutions
- Meat – If you want an alternative for the beef, feel free to use chicken, pork, or shrimp! I love all these meats on the grill and all are delicious!
- Vegetables – I’ve chosen bell peppers and onions for my kabobs, but there are a ton of vegetables that are delicious on skewers! Think zucchini, summer squash, tomatoes, and mushrooms!
Modifications
- Gluten-Free – As always, I encourage you to check the labels and ingredients yourself! This recipe is already gluten-free, but it’s always best to double check!
- Dairy-Free – We are also dairy free in this recipe!
Additions
- Spices – Feel free to play around with the spices and add in some additional flavors or make it spicy with a little cayenne pepper or crushed red peppers!
- Vegetables – Add on extra veggies! Don’t just stop at bell peppers and onions! The sky is the limit!
Recommended Equipment
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- Kebab Skewers – Bamboo – I love the bamboo skewers because they are such easy clean up!
- Kebab Skewers – Stainless Steel – These are reusable and super sturdy! Threading the meat and veggies on these is so easy!
- Grilling Tongs – These tongs are great to turn your meat on the grill, and clean up so easily!
- Cutting Board – I’ve had these for years and I love them. Mine are red! They are the perfect sizes, easy to store, and have a little groove around the edges to stop juices from flowing all over. This is the cutting board I go to time and time again when I’m cooking.
Step by Step Instructions
We’ve got a two-parter for instructions. First we marinade, and then we assemble and grill!
Marinade Instructions
Mix: To make the marinade, in a large zip lock bag, combine soy sauce, lemon juice, olive oil, Worcestershire Sauce, garlic, Italian Seasoning, black pepper, salt and onion powder.
Cut: Cut up the steak into beef cubes and place in a zip lock bag with marinade.
Refrigerate: Refrigerate for 4-12 hours while marinating, turning bag of meat mixture every few hours.
Grilling and Assembly Instructions
Room Temperature: When ready to cook the kebabs, get the marinaded meat out of the refrigerator and let them come to room temperature, about 30 minutes.
Chop: While the meat comes to room temperature, chop your vegetables into large chunks.
Mix: Mix your vegetables with oil, salt, and pepper and stir to cover the veggies in all the mix.
Preheat: When ready to cook, preheat grill to 400*. Wait for the grill to reach this medium-high heat before placing the kabobs over the flames. The hot grill helps to achieve a nice sear on the beef and vegetables while keeping the inside tender and juicy.
Assemble: Place the meat and vegetables on skewers. After the meat has come to room temperature, place chunks of beef on skewers (Soaked in water if using bamboo wooden skewers) and place veggies on separate skewers. I keep them separate because sometimes the vegetable skewers need a few extra minutes to cook through. No one wants raw crunchy veggies with their kebabs!
Grill: Place on the grill and cook for 2-3 minutes on all sides for a medium finish. The cooking time will vary on how rare or well done you like your meat. Remember, the beef skewers are already cut into small chunks, so it will not take long at all on the grill to cook. Remember to use tongs when you are turning the meat on the grill. The skewers will be SUPER hot, especially if you are using metal skewers!
Serve: Serve immediately off the grill.
Tips and Notes
- Soak Skewers: Soaking skewers is key. If you are using wooden bamboo skewers, the secret to them not catching on fire while grilling is to soak them ahead of time in some warm water. Soaked skewers are wet and won’t catch on fire like dry wood skewers will! Personally, even though it’s a smidge of prep ahead of time, I like wooden skewers the best, they are durable and disposable, and make for easy clean up. For me that’s just the easiest way. It doesn’t take long, you need about a 30-minute soak to prep your skewers. Another good option is that you can certainly use metal or stainless steel skewers (they are usually wide skewers), just know that they are going to be ridiculously hot coming off the grill.
- Marinade: Marinade the meat for 4-12 hours. I found the best results with marinating at least 8 hours. You can marinade in a glass container with a lid, or a sealable plastic bag also works great!
- Prep Ahead: I like to prep ahead as much as I can for this meal. I cut up the veggies first and then store them in the fridge until I’m ready to cook. Then I cut up the meat. That way I’m only dirtying the cutting boards and knives the one time. It makes me feel like I’m on top of things when the meal is prepped ahead of time!
Serving Suggestions
- Side: I serve these kebabs with rice most of the time. They are also awesome with a delicious baked potato.
- Bread: I love to warm up a little pita bread or naan on the grill at the last minute to serve with this meal. I like to brush the bread on both sides with extra virgin olive oil, and then I sprinkle the bread with salt and garlic powder.
- Dessert: I love a nice cool pie for dessert with this meal, like our No Bake Lemonade Cheesecake.
Storage and Reheating Instructions
Storage
- Refrigerator – These leftovers keep well in the fridge for 3 days.
- Freezer – I have not frozen any leftover kebabs, but I have frozen the meat in the marinade and then just dethaw it and proceed making kebabs when it dethaws!
Reheating
- Microwave – I reheat my leftovers in the microwave and they are really good!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
You certainly can! I’ve got bell peppers and onions listed, but other veggies like cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes, zucchini, or eggplant would work and be delicious! Grilling some lemon wedges is also a nice addition to this dish!
I like to have the veggies all chopped up and the meat marinated well ahead of time. You could even put the kebabs together ahead of time if you want to. It’s totally up to you and it’s your choice!
For sure!!! Use whatever spice blend works best for you! This would pair wonderfully with Middle Eastern spices such as cumin, mint, or Za’tar spices!
Absolutely you can! You can either use a grill pan on your stove top, or you can bake/broil the kebabs in the oven. No problem at all!
Wrap-Up – Simple Mediterranean Beef Kebabs
Grilling season is back! We are frequent grillers so I’m so happy that it’s getting warmer! I hope you’ll try this recipe for simple Mediterranean beef kebabs! They are so tasty and smell just amazing while you’re grilling them!! The colorful vegetable skewers are so beautiful, too! This recipe is good for an everyday dinner and it’s also got a wow factor in the presentation for special occasions as well. I can’t wait to hear what you think about this great option for dinner! Let me know! Until then, happy grilling and as always, Just Keep Shuffling!
Printable Recipe Card – Simple Mediterranean Beef Kebabs
Simple Mediterranean Beef Kebabs
Equipment
- 16 skewers
Ingredients
Marinade
- ⅓ cup low-sodium soy sauce
- 1/3 cup lemon juice you can toss in a little lemon zest if you’d like as well!
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic this is about 2 chopped garlic cloves
- 1 Tablespoon Italian Seasoning
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon salt Kosher or Sea Salt works great here
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
Kebabs
- 2 pounds lean steak I used top sirloin, but you can use any tender cut of meat like ribeye, tenderloin, or sirloin tips. I generally don't use ground meat for kebabs, but you can. You can also use filet!
- 1 large onion yellow or red onions work beautifully, it doesn’t matter which, it’s totally up to your preference.
- 2 bell peppers I like to use a green bell pepper and a sweet bell pepper that’s red, yellow, or orange. I like a green pepper mixed with the sweeter peppers.
Instructions
Meat Prep
- To make the marinade, in a large zip lock bag, combine soy sauce, lemon juice, olive oil, Worcestershire Sauce, garlic, Italian Seasoning, black pepper, salt and onion powder.
- Cut up the steak into beef cubes and place in a zip lock bag with marinade.
- Refrigerate for 4-12 hours while marinating, turning bag of meat mixture every few hours.
Assembly & Grilling Instructions
- Take the meat out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature, about 30 minutes. After the meat has come to room temperature, place chunks of beef on skewers (Soak skewers in water if using bamboo wooden skewers) and place veggies on separate skewers. I keep them separate because sometimes the vegetable skewers need a few extra minutes to cook through. No one wants raw crunchy veggies with their kebabs!
- Chop vegetables into large chunks.
- Drizzle vegetables with a little oil, salt and pepper. Mix well.
- Place vegetables on skewers.
- When ready to cook, preheat grill to 400*. Wait for the grill to reach this medium-high heat before placing the kabobs over the flames. The hot grill helps to achieve a nice sear on the beef and vegetables while keeping the inside tender and juicy.
- Place on the grill and cook for 2-3 minutes on all sides for a medium finish. The cooking time will vary on how rare or well done you like your meat. Remember, the beef skewers are already cut into small chunks, so it will not take long at all on the grill to cook. Remember to use tongs when you are turning the meat on the grill. The skewers will be SUPER hot, especially if you are using metal skewers!
- The vegetables will likely take a few minutes longer than the steak.
- Remove from grill and serve immediately.
Nutrition
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