Whip up this easy 15-minute marinade for beef kabobs, packed with bold flavors from garlic, parsley, lime, vinegar, and a kick of Creole seasoning, perfect for adding a punch to your grill in no time! This recipe is for outdoor and indoor grilling, making this the easiest marinade for beef kabobs.
Table of Contents
Jump to:
- Bold Marinade for Beef Kabobs
- Grilling Around the Work in 80 Days
- Breaking Meat Down
- Marinade for Beef Kabobs Challenges
- Different Types of Skewers
- Increasing Flavor When Grilling Kabobs
- Ingredients with Steps
- Beef Cut Comparison for Quick Marination
- Grilling Times Chart
- Tools for Tenderizing Meat
- Instructions with Pictures
- Substitutions
- Variations
- Equipment
- Storage
- Cooking Tip
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Red Meat Recipes
- Grilling Recipes
- 📖 Recipe
- Subscribe to my YouTube Channel
- Have a Comment or Question?
Bold Marinade for Beef Kabobs
Whip up this easy 15-minute marinade for beef kabobs, packed with bold flavors from garlic, parsley, lime, vinegar, and a kick of Creole seasoning, perfect for adding a punch to your grill in no time!
Whether you're grilling outdoors or inside on a grill pan, this quick marinade will deliver the best flavor to your beef cubes, making it an ideal option for weeknight dinners. It's a great way to bring bold, zesty notes to your kabobs, perfect for summer BBQs or when you're craving that grilled taste indoors.
Grilling Around the Work in 80 Days
Grilling has a rich history that stretches back to ancient times when cooking meat over an open flame was one of the earliest methods of preparing food. Today, grilling is a beloved tradition all over the world, with each culture adding its own flair.
In Argentina, "asado" is king, where entire animals are grilled slowly over wood fires, while in Japan, the delicate skewers of "yakitori" sizzle over charcoal. In South Africa, they love a good "braai," which is all about gathering friends for a fire-cooked feast.
It's all about throwing some "snags" (sausages) on the "barbie" in Australia and enjoying a cold one with mates. Using a charcoal grill for that classic smoky flavor or a gas grill for convenience, the techniques vary widely—just like the seasonings, marinades, and meats used.
Wherever you are in the world, the love of grilling connects us all with its irresistible, flame-kissed flavors!
Breaking Meat Down
Marinating meat has been around for centuries, born from the need to tenderize tougher cuts of meat and infuse them with flavor. From ancient vinegar-based marinades to modern spice rubs, marination helps break down the muscle fibers, making the meat more tender and flavorful.
There are various ways to marinate, like using acidic ingredients (vinegar, citrus), enzymatic marinades (papaya, pineapple), or a dry rub of herbs and spices. Timing is everything—too short, and the flavors don’t penetrate, too long, and the meat can turn mushy.
If you're like me, you'll love this quick 15-minute marinade when time isn’t on your side, but you still want a delicious steak marinade for grilling season!
Marinade for Beef Kabobs Challenges
When it comes to beef marination, these common challenges can happen; here is how to combat them:
- Inconsistent Flavor Penetration - Ensure the beef chunks are evenly cut to allow the marinade to penetrate uniformly, and massage the marinade into the cubed meat for better absorption.
- Timing Confusion - For the best flavor, marinate your beef cubes for at least 15 to 30 minutes. Any longer for this easy beef kabob marinade, and you risk over-marinating and breaking down the meat.
- Overpowering Ingredients - Balance your marinade by not letting any one ingredient, like vinegar or garlic, dominate. Always taste your marinade before using it!
- Messy Process - Use a large resealable plastic bag to minimize mess—this helps evenly coat the beef cubes while containing any potential spills.
- Texture Issues - Keep acidic ingredients in check—too much lime or vinegar, especially over a long marination time, can make the meat tough.
- Marinade Not Sticking - Pat the beef dry before adding it to the marinade. This helps the marinade stick and ensures your kabobs get that perfect char when grilling.
Different Types of Skewers
When it comes to choosing the right skewers for your kabobs, it’s all about personal preference, how many people you're serving, and how often you plan to make them.
- Metal skewers are a great long-term investment; they're reusable, easy to clean, and distribute heat evenly, making them ideal for regular use and larger gatherings. Plus! There's no need to soak them before use.
- Bamboo skewers (aka wooden skewers) are affordable and disposable, perfect for serving a crowd without worrying about cleanup, but just remember to soak them in water before grilling to prevent burning.
- Flat skewers are especially useful for keeping your meat and veggies in place as you turn them on the grill, making the process easier and more efficient. No matter which type you choose, it's all about what works best for your grilling style!
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Increasing Flavor When Grilling Kabobs
For maximum flavor, try grilling your kabobs over a charcoal grill. The smoky flavor from the charcoal enhances the taste of your marinated beef cubes, giving you that irresistible summer BBQ vibe. If you’re using a gas grill, consider adding wood chips to the grill to bring in some extra smoky flavor.
More Delicious Recipes
- Grilled Beef Skewers with Djon Djon (Black Mushroom) Rice
- Korean-Style Beef Short Ribs with Smashed Sweet Potato
- Beef Flavored Seaweed Ramyun with Egg, Gochujang
- Grilled Shrimp Garlic Jalapeno Butter and Cilantro Lime Rice
Ingredients with Steps
For the marinade for the beef kabobs, marinate the beef and thread the chunks onto skewers, leaving 1 inch of space on both ends. In a resealable bag, combine garlic, parsley, lime juice, vinegar, Creole seasoning, oil, salt, and pepper, then add the skewers, massaging to coat them evenly.
Refrigerate for 15 to 30 minutes. Preheat an outdoor grill or a grill pan to medium-high heat, oil the grates or pan, and cook the skewers for 3 to 4 minutes per side until nicely charred. Let the beef rest for 5 minutes before serving with your favorite sides.
Culinary Glossary
This section provides concise definitions of key ingredients and techniques to enhance understanding and improve cooking skills related to this recipe. See the marinated beef kabobs recipe card for quantities below.
- Creole Seasoning - A blend of spices, typically including paprika, cayenne, garlic powder, and herbs, used to add a bold, zesty flavor.
- Marination - The process of soaking food in a seasoned liquid to enhance flavor and tenderize the meat.
- Resting - Letting cooked beef rest before serving allows the juices to redistribute throughout the meat, ensuring a more tender and flavorful bite. [link video]
- Grill Pan - This is a stovetop pan with raised ridges that mimic the grates of an outdoor grill, perfect for searing and achieving grill marks on food indoors. I use the [Lodge Cast Iron Grill Pan]. It is a durable, versatile tool that delivers perfect grill marks and even heat distribution, making it a must-have for indoor grilling.
Grill indoors all year round! Learn more about Indoor Grilling Essentials.
Beef Cut Comparison for Quick Marination
Enhance your beef skewer experience by choosing your favorite cut, whether it's the rich marbling of ribeye or the lean tenderness of top sirloin, for perfectly flavorful and juicy kabobs.
- Sirloin - Tender, flavorful, and quick to marinate, ideal for kabobs.
- Tenderloin - Soft and buttery, though pricier, it soaks up marinade fast for tender steak.
- Ribeye - Rich in fat, adding extra flavor to your kabobs after a short marination.
- Flank Steak - Thinner and leaner, it requires less marinating time.
- Top Sirloin Steak - Lean, tender, and quick to absorb marinades, making it an excellent choice for kabobs. This is my go-to choice for price and flavor. 💖
- Ribeye Steak - Rich in marbling, this cut offers incredible flavor and stays juicy, even with a short marination time.
- New York Strip - Known for its perfect balance of tenderness and beefy flavor, it’s great for quick marination and holds up well on the grill.
What's your favorite beef cut? Leave a comment.
Grilling Times Chart
This chart provides a quick reference for grilling times and characteristics of popular steak cuts. Here, it is organized by grilling times minutes per side, with internal temperatures:
| Steak Cuts | Size and Texture | Medium-Rare 130°F | Medium 135°F | Well-Done 160°F |
| Churrasco (Skirt Steak) | Larger, thicker, and fibrous | 2-3 | 3-4 | 5-6 |
| Flank Steak | Thin and flavorful | 5-6 | 6-7 | 8-9 |
| Top Sirloin Steak | Larger, thicker, and fibrous | 4-5 | 5-6 °F | 7-8 °F |
| NY Strip Steak | Well-marbled and tender | 4-5 | 5-6 | 7-8 |
Tools for Tenderizing Meat
Tenderizing meat helps break down tough fibers, making it softer, more flavorful, and quicker to cook, so each bite is juicy and delicious.
Meat Mallet
Use the meat mallet's flat side of a meat mallet to pound beef evenly, breaking down tough muscle fibers to tenderize it.
Jaccard Meat Tenderizer
Press the Jaccard into the beef to create small punctures, allowing marinades to penetrate more deeply and tenderize faster.
Fork / Carving Fork
Source: Amazon
Lightly pierce the beef all over with a fork to tenderize and help the marinade absorb into the meat.
Rolling Pin
Source: Amazon
Gently roll a rolling pin over thicker cuts of beef to flatten and tenderize them for quicker, more even cooking.
Instructions with Pictures
Follow the instructions and cooking tips below using the step-by-step picture guide.
Cutting the beef into uniform chunks ensures even cooking, so all pieces grill at the same rate, and you avoid some being overcooked while others are underdone.
The best way to fill a bag, if it's not a fancy Standing Ziploc Bag, is to use a measuring cup.
This helps prevent spills.
Marinating in a bag allows the marinade to coat the meat evenly while minimizing mess and making it easy to massage the flavors into the beef for better absorption.
Massaging the marinade into the meat helps the flavors penetrate deeper, ensuring that every bite is well-seasoned and tender.
For beef kabobs, it's best to marinate for at least 15 to 30 minutes, but no more than 2 hours, to achieve optimal flavor without over-tenderizing the meat.
My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Purchased: 06/07/2022
Update: 08/19/24
My Review: These Fotouzy Cutting Board Mats are fantastic! They adhere well to granite, and I often use the “yellow chicken,” “green banana,” and “red cow” mats to prevent cross-contamination. The color coding helps me keep raw poultry, fruit, and red meat separate, protecting my wooden board from raw juices. They're flexible, easy to clean, and store, and a damp paper towel underneath keeps them in place. You can see them in action in my Chicken Prepping post in Cook's Notebook.
These BPA-free, non-porous mats are dishwasher-safe and feature anti-skid backing for secure use, making them a must-have for any kitchen.
Update 08/19/24: I still have these but prefer the cutting boards over the mats. And the mats are not steady. But they are dishwasher safe and wide enough to cover my wooden cutting board and great for when I zest and need to transfer them instead of scraping them off my board. So, I gave this a 3 out of 5.
Substitutions
Dairy-Free
- Yay! This recipe is dairy-free.
Gluten-Free
- Bonus! It is also gluten-free.
Vegetarian
- Beef Chunks - To make this vegetarian, swap out the beef cubes for plant-based meat substitutes like tofu or seitan, and follow the same marination process for a delicious, meat-free option. Even cubed portobello, fresh shitake or oyster mushrooms will work.
Convenience
- Garlic Gloves - Use garlic powder if fresh isn’t available.
- Fresh Lime Juice - Lemon juice or even bottled lime juice works in a pinch.
- Creole Seasoning: A mix of paprika, cayenne, and garlic powder can mimic the flavors.
- White Vinegar - Apple cider or white wine vinegar are great alternatives.
- Beef Chunks - Make chicken kabobs or use pork or shrimp.
Creole Seasoning Recipe
Here’s a quick recipe to make Creole seasoning if you do not have any in your pantry:
- 1 tablespoon of Creole seasoning
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ½ teaspoon of dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon of dried thyme
Change Heat Level - Modify the Marinade for Beef Kabobs recipe's heat level to your liking and learn more about the Scoville Scale and Chili Pairings.
Variations
- Add Your Favorite Vegetables- Add cherry tomatoes, red onion, bell pepper, jumbo asparagus, and zucchini between beef cubes for a burst of freshness and delicious flavor.
- Middle Eastern-Style Kabobs - Use spices like cumin, coriander, and turmeric for a different flavor profile.
- Asian-Style Kabobs - Add soy sauce, ginger, and sesame oil.
- Mediterranean-Style - Mix in olive oil, oregano, and lemon; and for
- West African-Style - incorporate peanut butter, ginger, and spicy chili powder.
Equipment
- Meat Thermometer - Ensures your beef reaches the right internal temperature (145°F for medium-rare).
- Skewers - Hold the beef and veggies together, making grilling easy, like simple 8-inch bamboo skewers.
- Grill Pan - A convenient indoor alternative to the outdoor grill, perfect for achieving those signature grill marks. I love using the Lodge Cast Iron Grill Pan to achieve this.
- Outdoor Grill - Provides that smoky, charred flavor that elevates your kabobs during grilling season.
- Tongs - Essential for flipping the skewers without burning your hands, I use the OXO Good Grip Grilling Tongs that come with a pair of turners and a silicone resting mat, which are perfect for outdoor grilling.
- Large Resealable Plastic Bag - Ideal for marinating the beef evenly while keeping the process mess-free, like the Ziploc Gallon Food Storage Bags.
Internal Temperature - The temperature inside the thickest part of the meat is crucial for ensuring food safety.
My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Purchased: 03/27/24
My Review: I finally used the ThermoWorks Square Dot®, and it's as great as my colleagues said. It's precise and easy to use, and America's Test Kitchen recommends it. ThermoWorks even provides helpful care and usage guides, so it's a 5 out of 5 for me.
The Square Dot® is perfect with dual temperature tracking and a clear display, making it easy to monitor both food and oven temperatures for accurate cooking.
Kitchen Must Haves - Find other tools I use here.
Storage
- Refrigerator - Store leftover kabobs in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
- Freezer - Freeze cooked kabobs in a sealed, freezer-safe container for up to 3 months.
- Reheating - Reheat kabobs in a preheated oven at 350°F for 10-12 minutes or until warmed through, or use the microwave for 1-2 minutes. My favorite way to reheat beef kabobs is in the air fryer for 3-5 minutes at 350°F, which keeps the outside crispy and juicy, and it's quick and easy without drying them out!
Airtight Food Containers
I interchange glass food storage containers with plastic clipping lids or wooden push-ins. I always suggest glass storage containers because they can be microwaved, they hold food without staining, and the glass keeps the food at a more stable temperature, keeping it fresher and longer.
Try the OXO Good Grips Smart Seal Glass Rectangle Food Storage Containers or the Pyrex Freshlock Glass Food Storage Containers.
Cooking Tip
Your Cooking Tips Resource Guide - Become a better home cook with tips to help you cook more efficiently on the Cook's Notebook tab.
- For the best flavor, ensure your grill or grill pan is preheated to medium-high heat before adding the kabobs to get a perfect sear on the cubed meat.
Frequently Asked Questions
It takes at least 15 minutes, but no longer than 30 minutes, for this quick marinade to avoid toughening the meat.
Sirloin is a great choice as it’s tender and holds up well when cubed and grilled.
Use a meat thermometer to check the internal temperature—145°F for medium-rare.
Yes, you can use a grill pan indoors to achieve similar results with great flavor.
Absolutely! Just adjust the cooking time, as the chicken may take slightly longer to cook through.
Red Meat Recipes
Looking for other beef recipes like this? Try these:
- Jerk Fajita Trio: 3 Must-Try Recipes for a Spicy Weeknight Cook-Up
- Air Fryer Chicken and Pork Belly Tacos | Easy & Crispy
- Jerk Steak Fajitas | Super Easy 30 Minute Meal
- How to Make Easy Bacon Potato Leek Chowder | Creamy Comfort
Grilling Recipes
Looking for other grilling recipes like this? Try these:
- Grilled Beef Skewers with Djon Djon (Black Mushroom) Rice
- Lemongrass Marinated Grilled Chicken Spring Rolls
- Grilled Pork Chops with Tamarind Habanero Glaze and Coleslaw
- Grilled Shrimp Garlic Jalapeno Butter and Cilantro Lime Rice
📖 Recipe
Easy 15-Minute Marinade for Beef Kabobs
Ingredients
- 2 ½ pounds beef sirloin cut into bite-sized pieces
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley chopped
- 2 tablespoons lime juice fresh
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Creole seasoning
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
Equipment
- Outdoor Grill
Instructions
- Save time in the kitchen: Read the instructions thoroughly, then gather and prep all your ingredients before cooking! Learn Prepping Tips.
- Marinate the Beef: Place the beef chunks on skewers, leaving 1 inch of empty space on both ends. Then, in a large resealable bag, combine the minced garlic, chopped parsley, lime juice, vinegar, Creole seasoning, oil, salt, and pepper.
- Carefully add the beef skewers to the marinade, massaging to coat without poking the bag. Open and turn the skewers, close, and massage again. Refrigerate for at least 15 to 30 minutes.
- Grill Them on an Outdoor Grill: Preheat the outdoor grill to medium-high heat. Once heated, clean the grill grates with a wire brush and lightly oil them to prevent sticking. Arrange the skewers evenly across the grill, leaving space between each one to ensure even cooking. Close the grill lid and cook the skewers for about 3 to 4 minutes per side, turning them with tongs to achieve nice char and grill marks.
- Grill Them in a Grill Pan: Preheat a lightly greased cast iron grill pan over medium-high heat. Grill the skewers for 3 to 4 minutes for medium rare on each side or until cooked to your desired level of doneness.
- Serve: Remove them from the heat, rest for 5 minutes to redistribute the juice, and serve with your favorite sides.
Video
Nutrition
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