Lime and Chile Butter Chicken Skewers

These chicken skewers cook up on the grill in less time than it would take your oven to preheat and are flavored with the most delicious chile lime butter marinade.

Please, please, please! Say it ain’t so! But yes, it’s true, we’re headlong into the wind down of summer. Sniffle here and sob there, I’m harboring some serious resentment at the fact that summer is quickly fading into fall. This is mostly due to the fact that in mid-July I broke my wrist and the elbow of my other arm (of which I’ve lamented about my gimpness on the blog and you’re sick of hearing about since it happened) and that the wrist required surgery to give me a fancy new metal plate and 10 screws surgically inserted into my limp old wrist. Yep, I’ll be the one setting off the alarms, bells and whistles at the airport security line.

It also turned most of my summer of bar-b-ques on the deck and hostessing of summer fun into a self-imposed 3 week marathon of feeling-sorry -for-myself-BRAVO-watching-reality-show-obsession because I couldn’t chop, cook or even pull my hair into a top knot. And if any of you know me in person, the top knot is what really put me under.

But, I gave myself ’til this week to finish my sulk and now I’m back at ‘em, working the wrist so it doesn’t turn into a stiff log of a limb and I even took off my bandages all by my-freak-out-at-any-medical-condition-that-may-result-in-blood-self. I was happy and surprised to see a completely healed 3-inch scar.

Friends, I’m back.

And it’s a good thing too, because yesterday, when Smudge asked me why we haven’t had any parties with and of our friends who are parents of her friends who we would usually have summertime parties with, I knew I wasn’t the only one feeling the lack of party pain. Remedy solved, we’re having a party tonight and putting our summer party slump to bed.

This recipe doesn’t require a party to make it special. In fact, if you’re in need of a fast dinner with minimal effort but big flavor, this chicken skewer recipe is a keeper.

Thanks to a quick flattening of the chicken, these skewers cook up on the grill in less time than it would take your oven to preheat.

I make a chile lime butter and keep it in the refrigerator to use on meats, chicken and veggies. I’ve used it here to flavor the chicken marinade.

About the recipe:

I cut boneless chicken breasts into strips and pound them to flatten them lengthwise. You could buy chicken strips to do this if you’d like, but sometimes they turn out to be more expensive that way. Or, if you like whole chicken breasts, you could certainly do the same treatment, but allow an extra 20 minutes of marinade time and follow the cooking directions in my Best Grilled Chicken Breast Recipe. http://www.foodiecrush.com/2014/06/the-best-grilled-chicken-breast-recipe-and-a-giveaway/

I marinade the chicken and pop it into the fridge for about a half hour. Then, after I remove the chicken, I boil the marinade until it’s reduced by half. This cooks out any remnants of the chicken.

If using wooden skewers, always remember to soak them for at least 20-30 minutes so they don’t burn into a crisp.

As the chicken cooks on the grill, I baste it with the reduced marinade with the added flavored butter. It keeps the meat tender and juicy.

I like a few grilled veggies to eat with the skewers. This time around I used tomatoes and green onions, but you should experiment with other veggies like zucchini and mushrooms or whatever you have on hand. Grilling the limes make them extra juicy and help release the juice when you squeeze them onto the skewers.  And if you’d like, go ahead and dabe a bit more of that flavored butter on all of it again.

If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment below or take a photo and tag me on Instagram or Twitter with #foodiecrusheats.  

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5 from 1 vote

Lime and Chile Butter Chicken Skewers

Prep Time 25 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 40 minutes minutes

Ingredients

For the chile lime butter:

• ½ cup salted butter 2 cubes, at room temperature
• 2 tablespoons lime zest about 2 medium limes
• 2 tablespoons lime juice from 1 lime
• 1 ½ teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon chipotle chile powder

For the chicken skewers:

• 2 skinless boneless chicken breasts
• ¾ cup lemon flavored ponzu
• ¼ cup light brown sugar
• ¼ teaspoon red chili pepper flakes
• freshly ground black pepper
• 4-6 cocktail tomatoes halved
• 3-4 limes halved
• 4-6 whole green onions

Instructions

• In small bowl, combine butter, lime zest, lime juice, chili and chipotle powders until well mixed. Lay out large piece of plastic wrap on clean counter. Spoon butter mixture onto bottom third of plastic wrap and roll into log. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until firm.
• Slice chicken breasts lengthwise into ½-inch slices, about 6 slices per breast. Gently pound out chicken to flatten. Mix ponzu, brown sugar, red chili pepper flakes and freshly ground black pepper in large bowl. Add chicken to bowl and marinate for at least 30 minutes or up to 3 hours in refrigerator.
• If using wooden skewers, soak them in water for 30 minutes so they don’t burn on the grill.
• Thread chicken slices onto wooden skewers. Reserve marinade and boil until reduced by half. Add half of chile lime butter log to marinade and mix to combine. Set aside.
• Bring grill to high heat and oil it lightly. Place chicken skewers on grill along with tomato halves, lime halves and green onions. Cook chicken and vegetables for about 2 minutes, then turn. Brush chicken with chile lime butter marinade and turn again after about 2 minutes. Remove vegetables from grill when cooked and top with thin slices of chile lime butter. Remove chicken from grill, brush with more marinade and a squeeze of grilled limes if desired and serve.

And because there’s more than one way to skewer a meat (or cheese), check out these skewer recipes from a few blogging faves:

Spiced Chicken Skewers with Avocado Chile Coconut Sauce

Light coconut milk adds an extra spot of creaminess to this already creamy avocado sauce. It hits the grill and doesn’t stop delivering. Recipe here. 

Steak Skewers with Chimichurri Sauce

Garlicky chimichurri sauce adds a wickedly delicious punch to these skewers. And what a good tip: Separate your veggies from the meat so you get just the right cooking time for each. Recipe here. 

Grilled Jerk Chicken and Peach Skewers

This Caribbean inspired marinade may look heavy on the ingredient list, but don’t be daunted. The flavor is worth the effort and pairs perfectly with seasonal sweet peaches. Recipe here. 

Grilled Peach and Halloumi Skewers with Basil-Jalapeño Sauce

All hail the peach! This time with my favorite salty grilled cheese: Halloumi! The addition of the spicy sauce to the sweet peaches and salty cheese…roll me out, I’m done. Recipe here.

Sweet and Sour Meatball Skewers

Another weeknight dinner ala the grill, these sweet meatball skewers have the combo of BBQ sauce and jam to thank for their addictiveness. Recipe here. 

This recipe is part of my partnership with Go Bold With Butter. As always, thank you for reading and supporting companies I partner with, which allows me to create more unique content and recipes for you. This post contains affiliate links. As always, all opinions are my own.  

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