The Best Way To Cook Delicious And Healthy Kebabs In Your Sur la Table Air Fryer
Updated: Apr 13, 2023
Making kebabs in an air fryer is really easy. They cook super quick so dinner is ready to go in under a half hour. All of the equipment is included in the Sur la Table Air Fryer and you can make up to 8 skewers at a time.
I have included a marinade recipe to make a day ahead (recipe below). Just cut up your favorite meats & vegetables and slide them on to the skewers. Attach the skewers to the base, put in the oven and in less than 15 minutes dinner is on the table!
We moved into a new AirBnB townhouse for 2.5 months and it didn't have an oven! Ok, oversight on my part. I was kinda in a panic to get something for that long of time and it's over the Christmas holidays when AirBnB's are in the biggest demand here in Cabo.
I gotta have an oven, so we went to our friendly neighborhood Costco and what wouldya know, they had Air Fryers!
3 different kinds in fact - so us being us, selected the cheapest one
And, it turned out to be great! Perfect size for 2 people and doesn't take up too much room on the counter top. It's also more like an oven design than the rounder type that have limited function.
The brand is Sur la Table 13 quart and it comes with a bunch of different attachments, even a kebab thingy included. I haven't been a big kebab making fan, but decided to give it a go.
But First...
What is an air fryer?
It's a counter top kitchen appliance that works like a convection oven on steroids. It gets hot really fast and spins the air around to create heat to cook food. Because it heats up so fast it mimics deep frying... but without oil! You do have to spray or brush the food with a little bit of oil before cooking so it doesn't dry out or burn. It's best to use a high heat point oil such as avocado oil, coconut oil or a light olive oil. Stay away from the cheap industrial seed oils like canola (if fact, if you have this oil in your pantry - throw it out now!), vegetable oil (throw that out too, it's actually made from GMO grain) or any of these; corn, cottonseed, soy, sunflower, safflower, grapeseed, and rice bran. They're making you sick... more on that in another blog. š
Now on to making Kebabs....
Select Your Ingredients
With so many choices it may be hard to decide what to put on those skewers. The best part is that you can cook for picky eaters, different types of diets or load them up for big appetites!
Vegetables are the first thing to choose
Select ones that are easy to puncture as in
zucchini
sweet bell peppers - red, orange, yellow and green
mushrooms - white button, cremini (baby bellas) or portabellas
onions - sweet white and red
squash
cherry tomatoes
corn on the cob
eggplant
celery
You can even get creative and go for jalapeƱos, garlic cloves, pineapple, apples or wrap basil leaves around cherry tomatoes.
Avoid vegetables that are difficult to skewer such as carrots, broccoli and cauliflower may crumble apart but give it a go if you love it.
Baby potatoes would work well if you par-boil first (or they won't cook fast enough)
Now for the meat/protein
Chicken, lamb, pork, turkey, shrimp, scallops, firm white fish and of course beef. Because the kabobs cook so quickly in the air fryer, choose a type of beef that is very tender or marinate it at least overnight to soften it up.
Try these cuts of beef
Skirt Steak.
Top Sirloin Steak.
Round Steak.
Flank Steak.
T-Bone Steak.
Tenderloin Steak
I don't cook a lot with tofu, but I'm guessing that would work well with kabobs too.
Marinade Recipe
This marinade is a strong flavor and works best with beef, chicken, pork or shrimp.
I used cut up stewing beef - I think. The label was in Spanish and I'm still working on learning the language! It tasted good anyway.
1 lime, zest and juice
2 cloves of garlic, minced
Chipotle chili with adobe sauce. Ā¼ - Ā½ chili if you don't want it very spicy up to 2 whole for extreme heat
3 TBSP rough chop cilantro
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp brown sugar or dark monk fruit sweetener
salt & pepper to taste
1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)
Mix all ingredients in a large Zip Lock bag. Add cut up meat. Let sit at least 45 minutes to overnight in fridge.
Putting it all together
About 15 minutes before cooking, take meat from fridge and bring it to room temperature.
Cut up all your vegetables in good size chunks so they won't fall off the skewers, place in big bowl. The amount you use will depend on how many people you will be serving or if you are cooking enough for left overs. Keep in mind that you can only cook up to 8 skewers at a time.
Empty the meat and marinade into the bowl with all your cut up veg. Mix well to get the marinade evenly distributed.
Now the messy part. Carefully (like don't stab yourself careful) thread the cut up food onto the skewers. Be sure to include a variety of different pieces on each skewer. You can push the pieces tightly together or leave space, there's lot of flexibility and no set standard.
Once each skewer is full, place it on the rack and go onto the next one. Once they are all full, brush on the rest of the marinade and put the rack in the oven as per photo.
On the model I have, set it to the Chicken setting for 15 minutes. Check it at 8 minutes if you are cooking shrimp, about 10 minutes for chicken and 12 minutes for beef or pork.
Looks pretty yummy!
Carefully remove from oven when the meat is done to your liking. The veg will be cooked enough and a little under cooked is best for maintaining nutrients. Use the stand that comes with this model after you take it out of oven.
Serving it Up!
I plated with a side of Roasted Cauliflower Rice (I'll eventually post that recipe too) and we had a leafy green salad before this course.
buen provecho
If you are thinking of getting an Air Fryer and want to experiment with different cooking techniques, I recommend this brand and model. Sur la Table from Costco
It claims you can
Air Fry
Rotisserie
Bake
Roast
Broil
Reheat
and even Dehydrate!
For about $100 US$ (about $130 CDN, $2035 MXN) its a great appliance that I use nearly every day especially as a counter top oven that doesn't heat the place up!
And now to more cooking adventures! Until next time.....
