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I’ve never had Persian food until making these kebabs, and wow have I officially been converted!
2024 is still young and if you’ve had the goal to explore new cuisines, then preparing this Joojeh Kebab recipe is the perfect opportunity for you to do that! These chicken skewers are super juicy and tender and can be made from nearly any home kitchen! Iran no longer has to be a destination unseen if you prepare these chicken kebabs as part of your Live to Cook one-month challenge! Get started for free by signing up to my free email newsletter, plus all of my latest dinner recipes will be sent straight to your inbox so you’ve never got a dinner dilemma again!
If you’re new to making skewers at home and you’re a little intimidated, then don’t worry! I’ll walk you through the entire step by step with the video recipe, so be sure to follow along! If you have not already, it would mean a lot to me if you would please subscribe to my YouTube channel, and be sure to press the bell button so you’re notified when all of my new video recipes are live! Let’s get cooking!
What is Joojeh Kebab?▼
This is a Persian chicken kabob recipe.
- Joojeh meaning: “Joojeh” (جوجه) is a Persian word meaning chicken or young chicken. Therefore, the meaning of “joojeh kabab” is grilled chicken kebab in Persian cuisine.
The main components of the marinade are yogurt and saffron. Typically, these Persian chicken skewers are grilled, but I wanted to make this recipe accessible to everyone! As a result, all you need here is an oven with the Broil setting to whip up tender chicken skewers with a wonderful char that will crave you having more!
Why You Need to Try This Persian Chicken Kebab Recipe!
- Incredibly flavorful marinade: All the ingredients used in this marinade all come together to
- Easy preparation: Really the only work here is making the marinade, skewering, then broiling! Skewers may seem daunting if you’ve never made them before, but I’ll break this Iranian chicken kebab recipe down step by step so you’re set up for success!
- Few ingredients: You’ll see soon how we don’t have many ingredients required to make wonderfully juicy and flavorful Persian kebab! Most likely you already have everything on hand!
- Home kitchen friendly: You CAN indeed achieve wonderful skewers at home without a fancy grill! Of course if you have access to an outdoor grill or barbecue, then be sure to use it!
- Variety of servings: Enjoy with bread, rice, vegetables or potatoes! The possibilities are very wide! Check out just a handful of ideas later on in this post.
What Is The Difference between Kebabs and Shawarma?▼
Kebabs are grilled, broiled, or fried meat that is cooked on skewers. On the other hand, shawarma meat is slow-cooked on a rotating vertical spick next to heat. Then, you will shave the meat off to serve, whereas with kebabs, you can either leave them on the skewers to eat or shave them off.
How Long Do I Marinate the Chicken For?▼
For the most amount of flavour and to allow the onions to infuse their juices within the chicken I would suggest to marinate for at least 6-8 hours. Preferably you would want to marinate the chicken overnight overnight.
While technically a quick 30 minute marinade can result in a passable dish, if you avoid rushing it, I’d suggest to take at least 6 hours for the marination.
What Do I Do with the Onions?▼
Sadly, the sole purpose of the onions is to add flavour the marinade. While technically you don’t need the onions while skewering the chicken, you can sauté them on a pan and serve along with the kebabs. Otherwise, you can discard the onions along with any leftover marinade.
Tools Needed to Make Persian Joojeh Kebab
- Mixing bowl
- Chef’s knife
- Garlic press
- Mortar and pestle
- Spatula
- Tongs
- Ramekins
- Metal skewers
- Basting brush
- Measuring spoons
- Baking tray
- Aluminum foil
- Plastic wrap
Ingredients to Make Saffron Chicken Skewers
Scroll to the bottom of this post or press the “Jump to Recipe” button to see the FULL PRINTABLE RECIPE CARD for the full ingredient list and their quantities and to save the recipe. You can also scale the recipe based on how many skewers you’re looking to make, so that you know exactly how much chicken you’ll need to fill everyone up! By default, the recipe will make 7 skewers.
- Chicken: For these skewers, I’m using chicken thighs. I find they are the best choice for skewers because you’ll get the juiciest results. Opt for boneless, skinless chicken thighs.
- Yogurt: Full fat plain yogurt to really add lots of body and flavor to the marinade. You could use yogurt with a lower fat content if desired, but you may not get the same results in terms of taste and texture. Furthermore, I would not recommend using Greek yogurt here due to the slight sourness in taste and because of how thick it is.
- Garlic cloves: We’ll mince garlic cloves into the marinade.
- Lemon juice: A little bit to add tang to the marinade and freshen it up. Alternatively, feel free to use lime juice. As I mention in my free motivational guide to get inspired to cook new recipes, Make Cooking Fun!, if there is a suitable substitute that you already have, feel free to use it! If you’ve got limes that are older in your fridge or you just have limes instead of lemons, don’t let THIS be the reason why you rush to the grocery store! Either or will give you delicious results!
- Olive oil: A bit of oil to add flavor to the marinade. I always recommend using the best quality extra virgin olive oil when cooking.
- Saffron: Saffron is the main spice here, which essentially defines this chicken skewer recipe! You really can’t make this dish without it! You could use either saffron threads and grind them to a powder, or use a saffron powder, depending on what you have on hand.
- Boiling water: Used to “bloom” the saffron for the marinade. This hydrates the water with the saffron flavour and colour and this really will give the marinade its bold attractive colour, and result in the main source of flavour!
- Turmeric: I added a touch of this to get a vibrant yellow colour on the skewers.
- Salt and pepper: Essential seasonings to enhance the excellent flavors here!
- Onions: Onion slices will be added to the marinate so that the onions give off their strong flavour. Red onions are my favourite and have the boldest flavour, but feel free to use whatever onions you like.
How to Make Oven-Broiled Persian Kebabs
Bloom the saffron by first grinding saffron strands, if that's what you have on hand into a powder. A mortar and pestle can assist with this. Once you have 1/2 tsp of ground saffron, add it to a bowl and pour in 1/3 Cup of boiling water. Allow the saffron to bloom for 15-20 minutes.
For the first marinade, transfer the chicken pieces to a large bowl and pour the saffron infused water. Marinade for 30 minutes.
For the second marinade, add the yogurt, lime juice, onions, garlic, turmeric, salt and pepper to the chicken and mix well. Marinate for 6-8 hours or preferably overnight.
Thread the chicken onto metal skewers, making sure not to pack the chicken too close together. Place the chicken over a baking sheet, hang the ends of the skewers over the rim of the baking sheet to add a gap between the surface of the baking sheet and the skewers.
Slice 1-2 tomatoes in half and skewer those separately as well to cooking with the chicken.
Turn the oven to broil mode (top-most broiler if your oven has multiple broil modes). Adjust the oven rack to the second highest position and then place the baking sheet in the oven.
Reserve about 1/2 Cup of the marinade for basting later. Optionally, add 1-2 Tbsp of molten butter to the marinade and mix well.
After about 5-7 minutes or when the chicken starts to brown lightly, remove the baking sheet from the oven, brush with the marinade and continue cooking until that first side has well browned to your liking. If one side of the tomato is charred, turn and continue cooking the other side.
Turn the skewers after about 5-8 minutes, baste with the marinade, rotate the pan 180 degrees and cook other side. This should take another 7-10 minutes. You can brush with more marinade as you desire.
Serve fresh with saffron rice and enjoy
How Do I Know the Chicken is Cooked?▼
Whenever I need to check if chicken is cooked, my favourite method is to poke it with my index finger. Once poked, the chicken should have a slight spring back, similarly to the spring back when you poke the tip of your nose. Another method is to slice a piece of chicken in half to check if it is white and juicy inside.
Tips to Have Mouthwatering Persian Chicken Kebab
- If you’re using a combination of dark and white meat, take special care to make sure that each piece is roughly the same size. This will allow you to cook the chicken evenly and at around the same time.
- For the best flavour, marinate for at least 6 to 8 hours or overnight to really get that saffron flavour infused.
- You can pan-grill the skewers as well, make sure to keep a close eye on the heat on the pan to achieve a nice char and control the heat if the chicken is browning too quickly. Keep in mind to lower the heat once both sides are brown and cook the chicken covered until it is completely white inside.
What to Serve with Joojeh
- Rice: Plain Basmati Rice, Turmeric Rice, Cilantro-Lemon Rice, or you could make the saffron rice I made pictured here!
- Bread: Pita bread would be a great option here, but a variety of flatbreads would also work! For a fusion meal with an Indian charm, you could bake up some Oven-Baked Tandoori Naan or even Rotis or Parathas would be excellent!
- Roasted or grilled veggies: As you saw, I also skewered tomatoes and broiled them so that they would get a nice char! Feel free to do this with a variety of vegetables of your choice, such as zucchinis, onions, or peppers. You could alternatively grill them, but since you’re already broiling the chicken on skewers, might as well do the same with the vegetables!
- Potatoes: Lemon potatoes or even Air Fryer French Fries. For some extra fun, I recommend Air Fryer Greek-Style Feta Fries or Air Fryer Garlic Parmesan Fries!
Can I make Persian Chicken Kebabs in Advance?▼
You can most certainly marinate the chicken in advance, but what’s the fun of cooking the chicken and leaving it for later? No matter what, I really would recommend you cook your kebabs hot and fresh for best results! If you want to marinate in advance, I would not leave your chicken in the marinade for longer than 3 to 4 days in the fridge. If you really wanted to get ahead, you could make the marinade itself and store in a plastic bag in the freezer without the chicken. Then, defrost the marinade overnight and add the chicken when you’re ready to cook the dish the next day.
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