Grilled Pork Skewers

This recipe took me by surprise. It seems simple and straight forward, and it is. But the flavor you get out of this using pantry staples…OH MY.

I marinated the pork overnight and it was incredibly moist and flavorful. Since the marinade contained oil, I just cleaned the grill grate and didn’t oil it, and this worked fine. The skewers grilled over high heat for 13 minutes, then rested for a good 20 minutes covered with foil.

I have family in town and I made this on the grill with Greek flat breads, quick pickled cabbage, and tzatziki. It was a huge hit with adults and children alike. It will definitely be entering my usual rotation!

This recipe has all the flavors of a typical Greek dish. It’s very easy to make and can be completed in less than 30 minutes (excluding the time needed for marinating), making it a perfect weeknight meal.

A little trick I use when I buy a package of bamboo skewers is to soak the entire amount right away for about 30 minutes, drain them a bit, and wrap them in plastic wrap. Then I place them in the freezer and whenever I need pre-soaked skewers, I have them on hand.

The next time I make this recipe, I think I’ll dice the pork in 1-inch pieces rather than 3/4-inch pieces. I feel they’ll hold up better on the grill and have less of a chance of becoming too dry. I did not have any pita to serve with the tzatziki, so I served my homemade focaccia, which worked very well. Also, a nice Greek salad would be a perfect complement to the dish.

This wins a place in the regular dinner rotation because it was quick, easy, used just a few ingredients that I usually have in the house, and was incredibly satisfying. I love the combination of garlic, oregano, and lemon zest—it’s light and summery and pairs so well with the pork, standing up to it without overwhelming it.

The recipe was very straightforward. The German pork cuts are a little bit different from the American ones. I used something called Schweinekamm, which comes from the neck and front part of the pork shoulder. Judging by the well-marbled meat, I think this was more from the neck part than from the shoulder.

I marinated the meat overnight and grilled the skewers for 15 minutes, the longer time indicated in the recipe, because I wanted them to be nice and crisp. They were beautifully browned and crisp-tender. We made wraps with them, adding a vegetable slaw, tomato, green onions, and a sprinkle of lime juice.

I will definitely make these again, though I will skip the skewers next time (pretty and a great way to serve them for company or when cooking them on the grill). I bet these would work equally well fried in their own fat (they rendered a lot of it) in a frying pan.

I think the flavors would partner well with a lot of accompaniments, and—this is important in our house—these pork skewers were also definitely kid-approved.

Easy and delicious–that’s really the bottom line on this recipe. The few ingredients in the marinade made me wonder if there would be enough flavor in the finished product–no problem there.

I marinated the pork for about 7 hours and it had a nice “tang,” as one of my testers said. Given the challenges of finding variety in meat cuts these days, I opted for pork loin. I worried that the lean cut might be tough after grilling–no problem there either.

I would happily make this again as the protein for Greek salads, pita sandwiches, rice bowls–really, this is a great recipe to have in the arsenal for a tasty add to any number of Mediterranean-flavored dishes. Thumbs up all around from my tasters, although they noted that having various accompaniments–in this case, homemade tzatziki, feta, tomatoes, red onion, and pita–made the dish work, they didn’t think this would be enough on its own with just a veggie side dish, for example, as I might do with chicken souvlaki.