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Lamb Shish Kebab is the ultimate summer meal–the grilled combination of lamb and onion is utterly mouth-watering. Skewer the lamb with colorful red onion and bell peppers for a beautiful centerpiece platter.
I was always someone who was bothered by the division of labor in our house growing up. Boys mowed the lawn. Girls changed the beds. But the gathering of men at the barbequeโthat one never bothered me. Instead it just beckoned me, and I followed. I understood from early on that when the grill was lit and the raw meats of all kinds laid out in their pan to be seasoned with copious salt and pepper, something important was happening. Was it kafta? Was it shish tawook? Something I did not want to miss.
Lamb shish kebab was my father’s all-time favorite thing to grill. This laham mishweh is tender meat, succulent and juicy, so delicious wrapped in a piece of flat bread or pita together with some fresh sweet onion. The thought of my father eating tender lamb this way is one of my very happiest memories!
Middle Eastern lamb skewers are such a nice centerpiece for gatherings of all kinds. The recipe scales up easily, and feels very special for hosting a dinner party and always a popular dish around here for family dinners. My lamb shish kebab recipe is very simple, using just olive oil, salt and pepper and allowing the lamb flavor to really shine through. You can easily change this up by marinating the cubed lamb ahead of time. Marinade ingredients would be simple too: the juice of 2 lemons, 2 garlic cloves cut in thin slices or 2 teaspoons garlic powder, 2 teaspoons of salt and a few grinds of black pepper. Toss to coat and allow to marinate for as little as 30 minutes and up to one day (refrigerated).
What You’ll Need
When you have great lamb, the lamb shish kebab recipe is very simple.
2 pounds leg of lamb, cut into smaller pieces, about 2-inch cubes
1 large sweet red onions, cut into 2-inch chunks
1-2 red, yellow, orange or green bell peppers, cut into 2-inch pieces
Kosher salt and black pepper, to taste
2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil. I love to use Lebanese extra virgin olive oil for lamb–find a wide selection in my shop.
How to Make Lamb Shish Kebabs on the Grill
Season the meat generously with salt and pepper, then let it rest and come to room temperature.
Brush the grill grates lightly with oil. Heat the gas grill or charcoal grill to medium high heat.
Prepare the skewers. My favorite skewers are flat metal skewers (stainless steel skewers); these hold up great to the heat of the grill and they are easy to thread. To use wooden skewers or bamboo skewers, soak them in water for 30 minutes to help prevent them from catching fire on the grill. Thread the skewers with a pattern of 2 lamb chunks, 1 chunk of onion, and one pepper, repeated. Or any pattern you like. Or no pattern at all. Just be sure not to thread the meat and vegetables too tightly, to give them room to cook fully and to enjoy more the grilled surface area.
Brush the cubes of meat and vegetables with olive oil and season liberally with salt and pepper. Place on the hot grill and for medium-rare meat, cook for 10 minutes with the top on, then flip with tongs and grill another 10 minutes, top on. Remove from the heat and let the skewers rest for 10 minutes.
Remove the hot meat and vegetables from the skewers by pushing them off with a fork or a piece of pita bread or flat bread. Best not to serve the meat on the skewers, even small onesโitโs awkward and difficult to remove the meat on the plate.
Serving Suggestions
Grilled lamb kabobs are so good with the grilled pieces of lamb laid on a bed of Lebanese Vermicelli Rice (or ramped up, my momโs Special Rice with mushrooms, garlic, and scallions).
Fresh, bright salads that include lemon juice pair beautifully with the richness of the lamb. Try Tabbouleh Salad, Cucumber Tomato Salad, Creamy Cucumber Salad, Lebanese Salata, or Fattoush. Or a couple of these. Also fabulous, Easy Cabbage Salad.
Grilled vegetables are a natural here, with their lemony mint vinaigrette over top.
The grilled lamb pieces are delicious in a wrap or as stuffed pitas, loaded with red onion, pink turnip pickles, yogurt sauce, and toum.
What cut of lamb is best to use?
My favorite cut of lamb for lamb kebabs is whole boneless leg of lamb. This makes for juicy, tender kebabs! Lamb shoulder, like any shoulder meat, requires longer cook times to get tender results.
Storage and Reheating
Like most grilled meats, grilled lamb tastes the best hot off the grill or even at room temperature shortly after grilling. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days or in the freezer for up to 1 month (but frozen grilled meat can lose a lot of tenderness and juiciness; not recommended!). Reheat the meat by bringing it to room temperature, then searing in a skillet with extra virgin olive oil at medium high very briefly, just a minute or two.
More Lamb Recipes to Try
Pomegranate Glazed Leg of Lamb is a showstopper roasted leg of lamb.
Try my Mint Sauce recipe to serve with lamb.
Lebanese Beef Kafta is delicious made with ground lamb in place of ground beef.
Change up your burger routine! Very easy and delicious to do with highly seasoned ground lamb as the meat for Lamb Kofta Burgers.
Grilled Lamb Shish Kebab
Ingredients
- 2 pounds leg of lamb, cut into 2-inch cubes
- 1 large sweet red onions, cut into 2-inch chunks
- 1 red, yellow, orange or green bell pepper, cut into 2-inch pieces
- Kosher salt and black pepper, to taste
- 2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Season the meat generously with salt and pepper, then let it rest and come to room temperature.
- Heat the gas or charcoal grill to a level of medium high heat. Thread the skewers, preferably stainless steel, with a pattern of 2 pieces of meat, 1 chunk of onion, and one pepper, repeated. Or any pattern you like. Or no pattern at all. Just be sure not to thread the meat and vegetables too tightly, to give them room to cook fully and to enjoy more the grilled surface area.
- Brush the meat and vegetables with olive oil. Place on the grill and for medium-rare meat, cook for 10 minutes with the top on, then flip with tongs and grill another 10 minutes, top on. Remove from the heat and let the skewers rest for 10 minutes.
- Remove the hot meat and vegetables from the skewers by pushing them off with a fork. Best not to serve the skewers, even small ones–it’s awkward and difficult to remove the meat on the plate.
Notes
Storage and Reheating
Like most grilled meats, grilled lamb tastes the best hot off the grill or even at room temperature shortly after grilling. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days or in the freezer for up to 1 month (but frozen grilled meat can lose a lot of tenderness and juiciness; not recommended!). Reheat the meat by bringing it to room temperature, then searing in a skillet with extra virgin olive oil at medium high very briefly, just a minute or two.Lamb Marinade Variation
You can easily change this up by marinating the cubed lamb ahead of time. Marinade ingredients would be simple too: the juice of 2 lemons, 2 garlic cloves cut in thin slicesย or 2 teaspoons garlic powder, 2 teaspoons of salt and a few grinds of black pepper. Toss to coat and allow to marinate for as little as 30 minutes and up to one day (refrigerated).Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I know l have said this in the past but I just have to repeat myself. You and your family are the perfect example of a warm and loving Lebanese/Syrian family. I shows in the tenderness you speak about each other.
God bless you and your family.
Bill you bring tears! Thank you so very much for sharing this. God bless you and your family too.
Maureen you are fantastic. Canโt tell you how much I enjoy your write ups, and your attention to the details. I only wish I paid more attention to my mother in how to cook this delicious food. You and my mom and Sitty seasoned their foods exactly as you do. God bless you and your beautiful family
Well Bill, YOU are fantastic! Thank you so very much for your kind notes. There are so many things I wish I could go back and learn from my mom and Sitto too. It means a lot to have such a wonderful community of so many of us wanting to preserve and pass on our traditions.
Dear Maureen,
My mother would marinate the lamb kabob the night before in the frig. Dont know what was its ingredients .
I see you dont do this. Did you hear aboth this? If so can you tell me what was the marinate? I twas the best kabob i ever had with roz ….the best.
Thank you.
Ohhh Fred that does sound delicious. The lamb marinade may well have been: lemon, garlic, olive oil, salt, dried mint. Does that sound right?
The best ever and it brings back many great memories!!!
The only thing we did differently was to remove the meat from the kabobs using Syrian bread. Also we would layout the meat on top of Syrian bread. The juices from the lamb made the Syrian bread almost as good as the meat itself!!!
The bread with the juices! How heavenly! Thank you Robert!
Best memories of our church festival – all the men bbqing the meat and eating it in khubz. Also great memories of my parents cutting the lamb into pieces. My parents had a family grocery store and dad was the butcher. Thanks for that!
How great is that! I want to go to that church festival of yesteryear!
Hi Maureen, oh my, brings back the best memories. Our church in Syracuse, NY would have a festival every summer and the men would bbq the laham mishweh and I can still smell and taste it wrapped in khubz. It’s been ages since I’ve made laham with lamb. Think I might have to try it again.
Love your website and your stories. Your recipes are very close to what my Sitto’s and mother made. My parents had a grocery store and my mom and dad would cut the leg of lamb together, making whatever they needed from the leg.
Thanks! Sharon
Thank you Sharon…oh you’ll so enjoy cooking with lamb again!
My mom would use a loaf of Syrian bread to push the meat off the skewers. That was the best piece of bread.
HEAVEN!
Just discovered your website and enjoying going through all your recipes. I am from Michigan as well, but live in Georgia now. I wish I knew of of the wonderful Lebanese restaurants in East Lansing back when I was at MSU in the 80’s! Will need to check some of them out when I’m back there for the holidays.
We always called this mishweh – and my syrian grandmother would take hours to cut a leg of lamb to prepare it. Still one of my favorite meals ever. Tata used to use a piece of syrian bread to push the meat of the skewers ๐
I love this, thank you!!
I love this, thank you!
Great story associated with your childhood memory of enjoying this grilled classic! There is a special magic that happens with outdoorBBQ grilling parties . Delicious recipes!
Thanks Maria!
I just bought a wonderful boneless leg of lamb and cannot wait to try this recipe! I am introducing my friends here in Southern Florida to your fabulous spices; and, I cannot wait to bring these spices to Boyne City next summer. Oh, how I WISH you would do a cooking class while you summer in Harbor Springs! I could definitely and easily ensure at least a class of 8-10 of our friends who frequently do cooking classes together at Fustiniโs in Petoskey. Wouldnโt that be fun?????
Ahhhh that’s so so nice and yes, that sure would be fun to cook and eat Lebanese with your crew! If cooking classes are on my agenda, I’ll be sure to let everyone know!
Ohhhh how i love lahem Mishweh or as my Aussie friends say kebabs. Its always the best bbqing that meat with all the sides of tabouli, hummus, garlic and dot forget the potatoe slices smeared with Toum. yummmm
I too have memories of my dad cooking lamb shish kebob (no authentic Lebanese names for us…we were too Americanized by then). I would always be there to help him season and cook as a young girl and would help cut the meat as I grew older. Just reading your story caused me to immediately be transported to our porch in my childhood home. Great memories and always, always great food.
Wonderful wonderful.
delicious
I loved it
Yes, ‘thread the skewers’ and ‘push off with a fork’–thank you Maureen for evoking so many wonderful, wonderful memories
Oh my Gosh… Those look so YUMMY!!!!
I just LOVE reading your daily blogs!!!!
And, your photo’s are amazing!!!!
Chat soon!!!!
xoxo’s…
๐
allison
Looks delicious and I’d love it if someone else did the grilling too!
Uncle Dick could not have said it any better Maureen. Nothing more to say on this subject.
Maureen:
Thank you so much for this recipe. I simply love lamb and finding different ways to prepare it is very welcoming.
Kiefick Maureen,
Your cooking tips are the closest thing to my Mother’s which I’ve yet to encounter. Her maiden name is also Abood. Her Mother came from Zahli and my Father’s from Fitzul (not far from there) My earliest recollections of lamb on the grill are so similar to yours it brought back many fond memories of Summer with my Father and “Uncles” around the grill. It was indeed, the only time my Father did any cooking yet somehow he always managed to get it just right. You’ve inspired me to get my grill out and cook in their memory. Love your site and look forward to future recipes.
This is so nastalgic for me. I remember attending many of these backyard “feasts” at my Lebanese friend’s house. The only difference is that I was a German-Dutch kid among all those “aunts and Uncles.” I can even smell it now! So wonderful!!!
Good Morning Sweetheart, my mouth is watering! I’ve been blessed with the taste of laham many times and am excited for the next time we have it. By the way, the same experience can be realized when grilling chops cut from rack of lamb. And you are so right, no marinating is necessary; in fact, doing so affects the overall taste, in my opinion, not for the better. Lots of love, Uncle Dick