This Turkish Lamb Shish Kebab Recipe is a big hit on special occasions. The lamb kebabs are tender and juicy thanks to an easy yogurt marinade. Fancy yet simple and easy! Perfect for weeknight dinners too!
Lamb is a very special meat in Turkish cuisine. We make this shish lamb kebab, lamb kofta kebab or ground lamb Adana kebabs on special occasions.
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Who doesn’t love Turkish kebabs, one of the most popular Turkish foods? They are always a hit at occasions. These yogurt marinated Turkish lamb kebabs are family favorite. It’s a fun way to have dinner.
Everyone is happier when they have kabobs accompanied by grilled vegetables and yogurt dip cacik or piyaz salad for dinner. We either make chicken kabobs or lamb skewers using almost the same marinade and have the same tasty and tender result each time.
What we love most about these lamb shish kebabs is that they can be prepared ahead of time. Super time saving! And if you love cooking with lamb meat, you can check out our simple lamb stew too, which is perfect for colder seasons.
Lamb Kebab Marinade
For an easy lamb shish recipe, we prepare the marinade first and let lamb pieces rest in it overnight. This is very similar to the step we follow when making homemade tavuk döner (chicken doner kebab).
This kebab marinade is a simple combination of yogurt, olive oil and spices. If you don't have yogurt, you can use milk instead as we do when making Turkish chicken kebabs. We use cumin, black pepper, dried oregano and a little chili powder but you can add extra spices that you think go well with lamb.
In addition to spices, you can flavor your marinade with garlic. That’s what mom always does. It works great with chicken or beef too.
If you don’t have time for an overnight marinating, refrigerate the meat in the marinade for at least 1 hour. This will still change things a lot.
How To Make The Recipe
- Put chopped lamb meat in the marinade and refrigerate overnight or at least for 1 hour.
- Thread the lamb cubes and pepper pieces on skewers.
- Light a grill and place the skewers and throw some fresh rosemary leaves over them. Grill the skewers over high heat, turning every 1 minute to cook all sides. They are done within 7 minutes. You can use a grill pan too.
- Serve with more grilled vegetables or fresh salad.
Serving Suggestions
Besides roasted vegetables, you can serve these lamb shish kebabs with several side dishes. Our favorites are as follows:
- Turkish salsa acili ezme
- Sumac onion salad
- Shepherd salad (coban salad)
- Haydari meze
- Mediterranean Eggplant Salad
Also, you can put the kebabs on some Turkish breads like lavash, pide bread or flatbread bazlama.
Vegetables To Pair With Lamb Shish
Another thing we love about making lamb kebabs is that you can pair them with whatever vegetable you like. You can just thread them together on skewers or place some extra veggies on the grill and cook them altogether.
We love grilled peppers, so we always pair kabobs with them. Our son’s favorite is grilled onions, so we always put some onions on the grill too. Oh and we add some fresh rosemary on the grill when making this lamb shish recipe. They all smell so good!
Roasted lemon garlic potatoes, tomatoes, garlic, mushrooms would all work fine. You can even prepare some vegetable kebabs and grill them altogether.
More Turkish Recipes
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📖 Recipe
Lamb Shish Kebab Recipe
INGREDIENTS
- 2 pounds boneless leg of lamb trimmed o fat, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 4 bell peppers 2 red and 2 yellow, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 2 sprigs Fresh rosemary
For the Marinade
- 1 cup plain yogurt
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
INSTRUCTIONS
- In a large bowl, whisk all ingredients for the marinade. Add in the lamb pieces and toss to coat. Refrigerate overnight or at least for 1 hour.
- Thread the lamb cubes and pepper pieces on skewers.
- Light a grill and place the skewers and throw some fresh rosemary leaves over them. Grill the skewers over high heat, turning every 1 minute to cook all sides. They are done within 7 minutes.
- Serve with grilled vegetables or fresh salad.
NOTES
- If you are planning to grill vegetables to serve with these kabobs, grill them first.
- You can cook these skewers in a cast iron pan as well.
NUTRITION
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Frank says
The best meal we've had so far! Thanks for the recipe!
Mary Knights says
Hi I have just discovered your wonderful recipes but each time i click on doner kebab recipe the shish recipe here comes up how do I get the recipe thankyou