You know me, I love sausage. Especially smoked sausage. It’s packed with SO MUCH flavor that you barely have to do anything to make a delicious meal out of it. And that’s why these sausage kebabs are ridiculously easy, super tasty, and are the perfect summertime meal. They feel as splurgy as going out to eat, except way less expensive. 😉 And don’t worry, if you don’t have a grill, you can still make them using a grill pan or your oven’s broiler!
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Ingredients for Sausage Kebabs
Okay, this recipe is so crazy easy, you’re going to love it! You only need to pick up a few simple ingredients at the store to make these awesome kebabs:
- Smoked Sausage: the sausage is bringing most of the flavor to this party with its herbs and spices and deliciously smoky flavor. You can use any type of smoked sausage that you’d like. Pork sausage, beef sausage, turkey sausage, andouille sausage, kielbasa, whatever you like!
- Vegetables: I like to go for a rainbow of color to make the kebabs visually enticing, but if you’re working with a very tight budget you can go with just green bell peppers and yellow onions. It’s still going to be delicious!
- Oil and Spices: A simple mix of smoked paprika, garlic powder, salt, and pepper gives everything on the kebabs a nice light coating of extra flavor. The oil helps the spices stick and keeps everything from drying out on the grill.
- BBQ Sauce: A final slather of BBQ sauce gives the kebabs a sticky sweet and tangy coating that is just to-die-for! You can use any flavor BBQ sauce you’d like. I vote for a hickory smoke or spicy BBQ.
No Grill? No Problem.
These sausage kebabs are perfect for tossing onto a hot grill, but if you don’t have a grill you can still whip them up with no problem using your oven’s broiler or a grill pan on the stove top. The broiler on an oven is very similar to a grill in that it provides close range high heat. If you have a gas stove it’s even closer to being just like the open flame of a grill.
To use a broiler: Adjust the oven’s rack so that it is about 5-6 inches away from the broiler. Turn the broiler on to high. Place a wire cooling rack on a baking sheet, then place the kebabs on top of the wire rack. Transfer the kebabs to the oven and cook under the broiler, watching very closely, until they are slightly charred on top. Flip the kebabs and brush a light coating of BBQ sauce over the cooked side. Continue to cook, flip, and brush with BBQ sauce until all sides are charred, coated in BBQ sauce, and the sauce has caramelized slightly.
To use a grill pan: Heat the grill pan over medium-high heat. Make sure to allow the pan to fully pre-heat for about 10 minutes. Place the kebabs on the grill pan and cook until charred on one side. Flip the kebabs and brush a light coating of BBQ sauce over the cooked side. Continue to cook, flip, and brush with BBQ sauce until all sides are charred, coated in BBQ sauce, and the sauce has caramelized slightly.
What to Serve with Sausage Kebabs
You’ll definitely want to serve these sassy little kebabs with other summertime classics like macaroni salad, vegetable pasta salad, sweet corn salsa, potato salad, three bean salad, and maybe some lemon cream pie for dessert!
Sausage Kebabs
Servings 4 two kebabs eachIngredients
- 14 oz. smoked sausage ($4.29)
- 1 red onion ($0.43)
- 3 bell peppers (any color) ($3.77)
- 2 Tbsp cooking oil ($0.08)
- 1 tsp smoked paprika ($0.10)
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder ($0.05)
- 1/4 tsp salt ($0.02)
- 1/4 tsp freshly cracked pepper ($0.02)
- 1/2 cup BBQ sauce ($0.33)
Instructions
- Slice the sausage into ½-inch thick rounds. Chop the onions and bell peppers into 1-inch pieces.
- Place the sausage and vegetables in a large bowl. Drizzle the cooking oil over top. Combine the smoked paprika, garlic powder, salt, and pepper in a small bowl, then sprinkle over the sausage and vegetables.
- Toss the sausage and vegetables until well coated in oil and spices.
- Build the kebabs by skewering the sausage and vegetables in an alternating sequence. You should get about eight kebabs, depending on the size of your skewers and vegetables.
- Cook the kebabs over a hot grill, on a hot cast iron grill pan (preheated well over medium-high heat), or under your oven's broiler (about 5-6 inches from the broiler) until the kebabs are slightly charred on one side.
- Flip the kebabs and continue to cook until charred on a second side. Brush a light coating of BBQ sauce over the side that has already been charred. Continue to cook, turn, and brush on BBQ sauce until the kebabs are charred on all sides and the BBQ sauce is slightly caramelized. Serve hot and enjoy!
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Equipment
Notes
Nutrition
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How to Make sausage kebabs – Step by Step Photos
Slice one 14oz. link of smoked sausage into ½-inch thick rounds. Chop one red onion, one green bell pepper, one yellow bell pepper, and one orange bell pepper into one-inch pieces. (You can use any color peppers or onions that fit your budget.)
Place the sausage and vegetables into a large bowl. Drizzle 2 Tbsp cooking oil over top. Combine 1 tsp smoked paprika, ½ tsp garlic powder, ¼ tsp salt, and ¼ tsp freshly cracked pepper in a bowl, then sprinkle it over the sausage and vegetables.
Toss the sausage and vegetables until everything is evenly coated in oil and spices.
Build the kebabs by skewering the sausage and vegetables in an alternating pattern. You should get about 8 kebabs, depending on the length of your skewers and size of your vegetables.
Cook the kebabs on a grill, under your oven’s broiler, or on a hot grill pan until lightly charred on one side. Flip the kebabs and brush a light coating of BBQ sauce over the cooked side. Continue to cook, flip, and brush with BBQ sauce until all sides are charred, coated in BBQ sauce, and the sauce has caramelized slightly.
Serve hot and enjoy with your favorite summer sides!
I don’t know why I’ve never thought to do smoked sausage on kabobs. I used a fancy bbq sauce to try and dress it up a bit more and it was great.
Loved this recipe! The sausage is already cooked, so you just have to focus on getting the vegetables cooked and caramelized to your liking! Coating the veggies and sausage in oil, then tossing with the spice blend, really kept the kebabs moist and seasoned. Then adding the barbecue sauce at the end and letting it grill on just a little bit really helped keep the kebabs from getting dried out and sealed in all the juicy spices and sauce! This recipe was great. I would never have thought of making kebabs with sausage. Soooo good and we will be making again! Thanks, Budget Bytes!
Simple to put together, different, and very well liked. Choose a barbecue sauce that you really like. For a patio or picnic lunch, you could slide them off the skewers into toasted buns. I think you would only need one skewer per person in that case. Thanks for a great recipe!
A little tip: soak your bamboo skewers in water to make sliding the veg smoother and easier. Courtesy of all the prep cooks where I worked who made thousands for catering!
I avoided this problem by using metal skewers, but…
they don’t flip. The food just spins around on them LOL
Looks so good, will be making it soon!