These simple-to-prepare Indian Spiced Lamb Kabobs are tender, juicy, and full of subtle, well-balanced flavors. The lamb is marinated in easy-to-find spices, olive oil, lemon, cilantro, and garlic. It only takes 15 minutes to prepare, and it cooks in 10 minutes on the grill!
Grilling season is my happy season. Yes, I love grilled foods – everything from vegetables, meat, to even fruit. (Have you ever tried placing a halved, ripe peach on the grill? It is ah-may-zing.) But, you wanna know the real reason I love it? It’s because it’s so darn easy. Prepping the food usually involves a bit of chopping, maybe throwing together a marinade, and that is it. Plus, there’s no clean up. No pots and pans to wash. No stove to clean. And in the end you still have a healthy, delicious, and well-balanced meal. These Indian Spiced Lamb Kabobs are the latest grilling obsession in our house. The meat is tender, juicy, and there’s just enough spice to give it flavor while not overwhelming the pallet. It’s a hit with the kids and my husband.
I hesitated to call this dish Indian Spiced Lamb Kabobs because I think that describing something as “Indian” can often lead people to believe that it’s full of heat or it’s laden with potent, over-powering spices. None of those things are true in this dish. Rather, these Indian Spiced Lamb Kabobs are imparted with traditional Indian spices like coriander, and while they are made with a combination of earthy spices, they are far from being hot. Their flavor is so well-balanced and subtle that you’d never guess that they were made with traditional Indian spices.
All the flavor in these Indian Spiced Lamb Kabobs comes from the marinade. The marinade has a combination of spices (all of which are available in the regular grocery store), cilantro, olive oil, garlic and raisins. I know the raisins sound strange, but they add a sweetness to the marinade while still imparting a bit of tartness. It’s actually a brilliant way to add sweetness.
The meat I use of the lamb kabobs is a boneless leg of lamb. You can purchase the entire leg and have the butcher remove the silver skin and access fat. An entire leg is a lot of meat, so what I do is I bag it in 1 or 2 pound batches and freeze it. Then I have pre-cut, cleaned, and portioned bags of lamb that are ready to go on the grill.
For the marinade, I throw everything into a food processor. I pulse it for a minute or two, and it is done. In a large zip-top bag, I mixed the marinade with the meat, and I let it sit in the fridge for 12 to 24 hours. About an hour before grilling, I take the meat out of the fridge to allow it to come to room temperature. While the grill heats up, I then cut the vegetables, and thread the meat and vegetables onto metal skewers.
Then they’re off to the grill. I cooked them over a medium-high heat on my gas grill for about 10 minutes. I turned the skewers every 2 to 3 minutes to ensure even cooking. Then I let them rest for about 10 minutes before eating them. It’s that simple, and it’s so good. You have to give these Indian Spiced Lamb Kabobs a try!
- For the Marinade:
- 1/2 cup fresh, packed cilantro leaves
- 3 medium garlic cloves, peeled
- 1/4 cup dark raisins
- 2 tsp ground coriander
- 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
- 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1 tsp sea salt
- For the Kabobs:
- 2 lbs boneless leg of lamb, trimmed of fat, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 3 bell peppers cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 large red onion cut into 3/4-inch pieces
- lemon wedges for serving
- Place all of the marinade ingredients in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Pulse until smooth, about 1 minute.
- Place the marinade and the lamb in a large, gallon-size zip-top plastic bag. Remove as much air as possible from the bag before sealing. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 24 hours.
- Heat up the gas grill on medium. Allow it to warm for about 10 minutes.
- While the grill warms, prepare the skewers.
- Thread the meat and vegetables on metal skewers. You can do them in any order you’d like. I alternated them.
- Grill for about 10 minutes, turning about every three minutes.
- Remove the meat from the grill and allow it to rest for about 10 minutes.
- Remove the meat and vegetables from the skewers and enjoy!
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I love the sound of this marinade! And leg of lamb is a big favorite around my house. Great summer recipe Aida!
Love these spiced kebobs. Indian food is one of my favourite cuisines, so I’d definitely love to try these out!
Thanks, Jess! Growing up on Indian food, i never realized just how great it is until I started to cook for my own family. I hope you give these a try!
Dear Aida, My brother and sister-in-law keep raving about a a cookout they recently attended with lamb shish-ja-bobs. Serious, they’ve mentioned it a couple times. So I’ve been on the lookout for a good recipe to try. Yours looks absolutely amazing, so this will be the recipe. I’d wondered what cut to use for kabobs, so glad to know!
I’m so glad the help, Allie! I hope you do give these a try, and let me know how they turn out 🙂
KABOB Is my favorite, but seriously, it truly truly is and these look like they would please the hell out of me! LOL!
Thanks GiGi! My family LOVES them. Plus, they go with just about any side dish 🙂
Mm I so want to start grilling. I’ve never had lamb, but it looks delicious. Thanks for sharing on Weekend bites
Adelina, you have to try lamb! It’s so delicious. My kids love it!
Hi Aida,
We’re doing a big family BBQ this weekend so I came to get your recipe. I have all those spices so this will be a snap and I know it will be a big hit – especially with all the men who love their lamb!
I love lamb too, especially in bite sizes like this. Thanks for a great recipe!
I’m also a huge lamb fan, Robyn! It’s so easy to make, and it tastes so darn good 🙂 I hope you have the recipe a try.