Mojo Steak Kabobs
Featuring a combination of citrus flavors and chopped fresh herbs, this Mojo Steak Kabobs recipe is a tasty option for dinner on the grill!
As I’ve said many times before, summers are made for kicking soccer balls, throwing frisbees and hitting homeruns in the backyard. Of course, summer brings along some chores, too – namely mowing the lawn. So what happens when the fun things intersect with the chores? I found out recently.
Robbie and I have been playing a lot of frisbee in the backyard lately, and we’re usually pretty good about cleaning up our toys after we finish playing. Key word: usually.
A couple of weeks ago, I raked out some dead leaves from under the bushes and then set about mowing the lawn. What I didn’t know at the time was there was a frisbee hiding under those dead leaves. So what happens when you mow over a frisbee?
The lawn mower wins the battle. I heard an awful crunching noise and I turned around to see pieces of blue plastic everywhere. I thought to myself, “What in the world was that?” Then it hit me. Oh. Robbie’s frisbee.
At first Robbie was distraught over the fate of his frisbee. However, we had another frisbee in the garage, so we recovered from this possible tragedy with relative ease. Now we just have one less frisbee in the house.
Mojo Steak Kabobs
In addition to frisbee throwing, mowing (and mowing over frisbees), summers are also made for grilling. On any given night in the summer, one of our grills is likely fired up. I recently made these Mojo Steak Kabobs, and they turned out quite well!
Mojo sauce is commonly used in Cuba and throughout the Caribbean islands. It typically involves garlic, olive oil and a citrus juice. Other additions include oregano, cumin, parsley and black pepper. However, instead of using it in sauce form, I employed the same flavors in a marinade. Talk about delicious!
Mojo sauces are often associated with pork and chicken, but I decided to give this a try with steak kabobs. Unlike other meats, steak doesn’t typically benefit from long marinating times. In fact, I now only marinate steak 1-2 hours at the most. I learned my lesson the hard way after I kept trying this Copycat Chili’s Fajitas recipe using steak – it always came out tough. The secret? Drop that marinating time way back. The steak will still be flavorful, but it’ll also be tender.
When it comes to kabobs, I always make sure to keep several sizes of wooden skewers in the pantry. However, I’ve become a huge fan of these stainless steel skewers. They’re 14″ long so you can fit a lot of meat and/or veggies on ’em. And since they’re stainless steel, they’re easy to clean. Just make sure to be careful when flipping the skewers over – metal gets hot on the grill!
All in all, I highly recommend these Mojo Steak Kabobs. They made for a great summer meal on the back porch! We followed up that meal with another round of frisbee…and this time we made sure to pick the frisbee up afterwards. Happy grilling!
Mojo Steak Kabobs
Ingredients
For the Marinade
- ¼ cup orange juice
- ¼ cup lime juice
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 3 Tbsp chopped fresh oregano
- 2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
- 1½ tsp minced garlic
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp black pepper
- ¾ tsp kosher salt
For the Kabobs
- 16 oz. top sirloin steak cut into 1” pieces
- 1 large red onion cut into 1” pieces
- 1 red bell pepper cut into 1” pieces
- 1 green bell pepper cut into 1” pieces
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes
- 1 lime
Instructions
For the Marinade
- Using a small bowl, add all of the marinade ingredients; whisk together until fully combined.
- Place the steak in a glass baking dish, add marinade, cover and refrigerate for 45-60 minutes. (Note: I do not recommend marinating the steak any longer or it may become tough.)
- If using wooden kabobs, make sure to soak them in water for at least 30 minutes first.
For the Kabobs
- Preheat grill to medium heat.
- Remove steak from marinade; save marinade.
- Thread steak, onions and red and green peppers onto skewers.
- Thread tomatoes onto separate skewers.
- Place tomato and steak kabobs on grill. Brush reserved marinade on top of kabobs. (Note: At this point, discard any excess marinade.)
- Grill tomato kabobs for 2-4 minutes, turning occasionally.
- Grill steak kabobs for 8-10 minutes, turning occasionally, or until steak is done to personal preference.
- Remove kabobs from grill and finish with a squeeze of lime before serving.
Looking for more tasty kabob recipes? Check out these other favorites, too:
cant wait to make this soon for me for the kabobs can i use mushrooms and spring onions and skip red and green bell peppers as am not a big fan of red and green bell peppers i never had mojo steak kabobs before perfect for hot days in Singapore and after office meals love your recipes as always brightens up my day everyday after work
Yes, you can definitely change up the kabob ingredients to match your tastes, Ramya! The mojo marinade is SO tasty, so definitely don’t leave that one out!
Cleaning up all those pieces left from the frisbee would take forever! Yikes!!! These kabobs look delicious. Loving the marinade and I really like that you did the tomatoes on their own skewer. They cook so quickly but taste so yummy when cooked on the grill. This is perfect for a summer dinner!
Yeah…there might be some more frisbee pieces still in the backyard. Haha! But these kabobs? No leftovers there! And, yes, the tomatoes on their own skewer is a new trick since tomatoes cook so quickly on the grill. Thanks, Kathy!
Time to break out the BBQ — these steak kabobs look so delicious in that marinade! Cannot wait for warmer temps and grilling season 🙂
Oh, I am so ready for warmer weather and grilling season! I might have been a little chilly out there grilling these kabobs, but that’s ok. At least it wasn’t snowing! 🙂
It is definitely that time of the year to fire up the grill and these kabobs will go perfectly on it. The marinade is lovely with the citrus flavors, the fresh herbs and the cumin. I can taste it now. What a simple and easy meal on a skewer but so flavorful. Throw it over a bed of brown rice and no mess, no fuss. BTW, sorry about the frisbee. Speaking of mess, boy that looked like one. Summer does come with its challenges. but ya gotta love it!!
This marinade adds SO much flavor, Kristy. Like you, I’m ready to declare grilling season open…even if it’s still a bit chilly outside. I do love kabobs on the grill, too. Simple, flavorful and cleanup is a piece of cake! Thanks so much!!
David, you won’t believe that – after years you’d basically begging me to get a grill, this happened! 🙂 So please be aware I might be visiting your blog quite often this summer to grab some ideas! This kebab idea is wonderful by the way, so tasty and colourful!
What! You got a grill!? Ben, this is a HUGE deal. I can’t wait to hear more about your grilling adventures. We literally use the grill 4-5 nights a week during the warmer months. 🙂 I do recommend starting with these kabobs. They’re delicious!
these look so colourful david. i love capsicums! (peppers). funny how we call these kebabs rather than kabobs:)
Yeah, that’s kebab vs. kabob spelling always throws me off, too. Fortunately it’s close enough that we all know what we’re referring to. Haha! Thanks, Sherry!
I’m on vacation, but you can bet I’ve saved this recipe! Fabulous flavors.
Oooo…I can’t wait to hear about your vacation adventures, Mimi! And when you get back home, definitely put these kabobs on the grill! That marinade is SO tasty. 🙂
I can feel that the warm weather is coming your way, love a nice kabobs freshly grabbed from the grill, definitely this one wont make its way to the dining table for me 😂
Haha – thanks, Raymund! It’s been a particularly cold winter, so I’m looking forward to the return of warm weather! And warm weather definitely means firing up the grill!
Very interesting, David. I didn’t realize there is a sauce that’s actually called “mojo.” Cool! Sorry about the frisbee. (But I secretly love running over things with the lawnmower.)
Haha – I have to admit that running over things with the lawnmower is quite fun. Of course, this one wasn’t planned…but random sticks and things? *thwomp* gone. 🙂 Definitely try mojo sauce sometime – I think it’s great for spring!
I’ve never run a lawnmower over a frisbee David. I have however run it over the rubber mat at the front of our house and what a mess! So I can appreciate the cleaning up you had to do. Also glad you had another one for Robbie. Just bought a fresh bag of BBQ coals this morning so your recipe could be getting grilled up soon. Thanks!
Hahaha – so you can identify with my problem when I heard a strange noise from under the lawnmower! I can’t imagine running over that rubber mat…wait, actually I can. 🙂 Fire up that grill, my friend. It’s grillin’ season, and grilled quesadillas are one of my favorite grill recipes!!