Moroccan Chicken Skewers with Crazy Good Green Sauce

Easter weekend. Christine gets the kids for Easter Sunday — it's in the custody agreement, along with Christmas Eve and Mother's Day. I get Father's Day, Thanksgiving, and Fourth of July. We negotiated this like a treaty at Versailles, except with less land and more passive aggression. So Easter Saturday was my day with the kids. I don't do Easter eggs — they're too old for egg hunts and I'm too old to pretend I enjoy hiding eggs in the bushes — but I do an Easter cookout. Lamb. Because if you're going to celebrate a holiday about resurrection, you might as well eat something that's been resurrected from an ancient cooking method. I smoked a leg of lamb. This is not standard Texas BBQ and I know it. Brisket guys look at lamb the way cats look at water — suspicious and offended. But lamb on a smoker is extraordinary. I marinated it overnight in yogurt, cumin, coriander, garlic, lemon, and a hit of fish sauce (because I can't help myself). Then I smoked it for five hours over a mix of post oak and cherry wood. The yogurt marinade tenderizes the meat and creates a crust that's tangy and complex. The smoke doesn't overpower the lamb — it enhances it. Sliced it thin, served it with a mint-cilantro chutney (another fusion — mint sauce meets Vietnamese herb salad), rice, and a simple cucumber raita. Tyler said, "This doesn't taste like BBQ." I said, "It's not BBQ. It's smoked lamb." He said, "What's the difference?" I said, "About a thousand angry Texans." Emma helped me make the chutney. She's getting confident with the knife — her mince is tight and even now. She's been watching YouTube cooking videos on her phone, which I have mixed feelings about (the phone, not the cooking). She told me she wants to learn how to make Indian food. I said, "I don't know Indian food." She said, "Then we'll learn together." This kid. She's going to conquer the world and I'm just going to stand behind her holding a cutting board. Ma doesn't do Easter — it's a Christian holiday and she's Buddhist — but she came over for dinner anyway because food transcends religion. She tried the lamb and said, "The marinade is good but you should add lemongrass." She's probably right. She's always probably right. Next time: lemongrass.

Emma wanted to learn Indian food and Ma wanted lemongrass in everything — and somewhere between those two opinions, I realized my whole family had just quietly become obsessed with bold spice profiles and bright herb sauces. The lamb was a one-day event, but the flavors we built around it? Those are a weeknight. These Moroccan chicken skewers with their crazy good green sauce scratch exactly that itch: the cumin-and-coriander warmth of the marinade, the herb-forward punch of the sauce that hits like that mint-cilantro chutney Emma and I made together — it’s the same spirit, just faster and easier to pull off on a Tuesday. Next time Ma comes over, I’m already planning to sneak some lemongrass into that green sauce.

Prep Time: 20 minutes (plus 1 hour marinating) | Cook Time: 15 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour 35 minutes | Servings: 4–6

Ingredients

For the chicken skewers:
2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
1/4 cup olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons plain whole-milk yogurt
Juice of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
For the crazy good green sauce:
1 cup fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems, packed
1/2 cup fresh mint leaves, packed
2 cloves garlic
1 jalapeño, seeded and roughly chopped
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
2 tablespoons plain yogurt (optional, for creaminess)

Instructions

Marinate the chicken. In a large bowl, whisk together the olive oil, garlic, yogurt, lemon juice, cumin, coriander, smoked paprika, turmeric, cinnamon, cayenne, salt, and pepper. Add the chicken pieces and toss until well coated. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or up to overnight.
Make the green sauce. Combine cilantro, mint, garlic, jalapeño, lemon juice, olive oil, and salt in a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth, scraping down the sides as needed. Stir in yogurt if you want a creamier consistency. Taste and adjust salt and lemon. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Prep the skewers. If using wooden skewers, soak them in water for at least 30 minutes to prevent burning. Thread the marinated chicken pieces onto the skewers, leaving a small gap between each piece so they cook evenly.
Grill the skewers. Heat a grill or grill pan over medium-high heat and lightly oil the grates. Grill skewers for 6–7 minutes per side, until the chicken is cooked through and has good char marks. Internal temperature should reach 165°F.
Rest and serve. Let the skewers rest for 3–5 minutes before serving. Arrange on a platter and drizzle generously with the green sauce, with extra sauce on the side for dipping. Serve with rice, warm flatbread, or a simple cucumber salad.

Nutrition (per serving)

Moroccan Chicken Skewers with Crazy Good Green Sauce — The Spice Rub That Started Everything