Easy tricks get chicken kebabs on the table in 30 minutes

Skewered chicken cooked over high heat and served straight on the stick is a dish that feels like summer. Add in corn on the cob and slabs of watermelon, and you’ve got a meal you can eat with your hands on the back porch without even really needing plates or utensils.

Although threading meat onto skewers does require a bit more hands-on work than many other 5:30 Challenge recipes, there are other shortcuts you can take to get these chicken kebabs on the table in half an hour.

Boneless, skinless chicken thighs are a great kebab meat

Easy to prep and hard to overcook, boneless, skinless chicken thighs are one of the best choices for chicken kebabs. The thighs just need to be sliced into large pieces (1½-2 inches is the sweet spot) before being threaded onto skewers. And unlike chicken breasts and other leaner cuts, they can take a blast of high heat without drying out.

Italian dressing offers a simple, potent marinade for chicken kebabs

Bottled salad dressings are useful for more than tossing with lettuce. Their combinations of oil, vinegar and seasonings make them an excellent marinade for meat. Bottled Italian dressing works particularly well with chicken — ingredients like red wine vinegar, garlic, oregano and crushed red pepper all play nicely with the mildly flavored meat. You can further amplify these flavors by adding a couple of fresh ingredients — lemon zest and finely chopped fresh parsley — to the mix.

Spiraled zucchini is a no-prep veggie addition to chicken kebabs

While threading vegetable pieces onto kebabs with the chicken is the typical technique, there is another, easier way to add a veggie to the dish. Spiraled vegetables, or vegetable noodles, are a common sight in the produce aisle in grocery stores, and, because they cook quickly and don’t require any knife work, they’re a useful weeknight ingredient beyond being a pasta substitute.

Zucchini spirals work especially well in this chicken kebab recipe. Simply toss them with the same seasonings as the chicken and loosely wrap them around the skewered meat. It’ll look a bit haphazard, but the zucchini will adhere to the chicken as it cooks and create a fun-looking kebab.

Broiling is a hands-free method for cooking kebabs

I’ve always found it challenging to grill kebabs. You have to rotate the skewers to ensure even cooking and make sure nothing slips and slides around the skewers themselves. It requires the kind of hands-on attention I don’t always want to commit to.

Instead, I prefer to broil kebabs. The chicken still cooks quickly and develops flavorful char, but you don’t need to stand next to a hot grill the entire time. The only trick is that the kebabs need to be elevated above their cooking vessel. Both the chicken and the zucchini give off liquid as they cook, and if the kebabs sit in this liquid, they’ll steam rather than brown.