Chicken and pepper skewers

Chicken and pepper skewers are a sociable, tasty cutting dish: 40 g of protein for 333 kcal and 12 g of fat. Marinated chicken breast provides the lean protein, peppers and red onion colour, fibre and lovely caramelisation. Perfect on the barbecue, griddle or in the oven, they make cutting festive.

The secret to tender, tasty skewers is the marinade. Oil, lemon, garlic, paprika: 30 minutes is enough to tenderise and flavour the chicken, for very few calories. Be careful not to drown the skewers in oil — one spoon is enough to coat. When cutting, base the marinade on lemon, spices and herbs rather than oil.

Cut the chicken and vegetables into equal-sized pieces for even cooking, and alternate them on the skewers. Cook over high heat, turning regularly, for 12-15 minutes: the chicken should be cooked through (no longer pink) but not dried out, the vegetables lightly charred. Serve with rice or a salad for a complete meal.

The skewer is a format that invites play. Keep the chicken or swap it for lean beef, shrimp, cubed salmon or marinated firm tofu for a vegetarian version. For the vegetables, rotate peppers, red onion, zucchini, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes: those that grill well and hold on the stick. Cut everything the same size for even cooking.

The marinade sets the journey: lemon-herb for Mediterranean, soy-ginger-sesame for Asian, paprika-cumin-garlic for spicy, yogurt-spices tandoori-style for Indian. The same set of skewers completely changes character with the marinade — enough to turn every barbecue or griddle into a different meal, always protein-rich and moderate in calories.

The first mistake is packing the pieces tightly on the skewer. With no space between ingredients, heat circulates poorly: the outside burns while the centre of the chicken stays raw. Leave a few millimetres between each cube. The second mistake concerns wooden skewers: soak them for about twenty minutes in water before threading, otherwise they blacken and burn before cooking is done. Flat metal skewers also stop the pieces from spinning when you turn the skewer.

Third trap: food safety. Chicken must reach 74 °C at the centre; if you have no thermometer, cut a cube in the middle and check that the flesh is white and the juice clear. Never reuse marinade that touched raw chicken as a serving sauce unless you boil it for several minutes. Finally, do not thread vegetables too small: thin onion rings char in minutes, while large wedges grill gently and stay tender.

With 40 g of protein and 333 kcal, the skewer leaves room for sides that suit your goal. When cutting, pair it with a green salad, yogurt cucumber or roasted vegetables. At maintenance or when bulking, add 150 g of cooked basmati rice, bulgur, baby potatoes or a whole-grain flatbread: you easily reach 550-650 kcal with carbohydrates to fuel your training. A lemony yogurt and mint sauce brings freshness for almost nothing.

For organisation, skewers suit meal prep very well. Cut and marinate the chicken the evening before: the meat will be tastier and the time saving real. You can even thread the skewers and freeze them raw on a tray before bagging them: they cook straight from frozen, adding three to four minutes. Once cooked, they keep three days in the refrigerator and reheat in a pan or oven without drying out.