Pork shish kebab with lemon and onion

Juicy and tender pork kebab marinated with onions and lemon is an indescribably delicious dish. It’s not at all difficult to prepare, the main thing is to know the secrets of production, which I’ll tell you about. In order for the kebab to come out juicy and savory, you need to choose the right meat - pork neck is perfect for this dish. The marinade is also important. A marinade with lemon and onion will make the pieces of pork juicy and fragrant. Prepare shish kebab according to this recipe and you will literally be satisfied with the result!

Ingredients

Manufacturing process

Rinse the pork neck with water and dry it with cardboard towels. Remove bones and films.

Cut the cooked meat into pieces of approximately equal size, for example, 4x4 cm (cutting the meat into pieces of a similar size will allow the upcoming barbecue to be moderately cooked).

Add salt, ground black pepper and spices to the chopped meat, mix thoroughly.

Peel the onions and cut them into thin rings. Cut half a lemon into slices. Squeeze the juice from the second half of the lemon directly into the bowl with the meat.

Lightly shake the onion and lemon slices with your hands so that they release the juice, and place them with the meat.

Mix the pork pieces with lemon and onion and leave to marinate for 5-8 hours at room temperature. You can leave the meat to marinate overnight (that is, in the dark) in the refrigerator.

We string the marinated pieces of pork onto skewers and fry them over hot coals (the fire should burn well beforehand, there will be no fire in it, and only very hot coals will remain). Turn the skewers with meat over a couple of times during the frying process so that the pieces of pork are fried on all sides. Make sure the meat doesn't burn. The pieces of pork skewers should be a beautiful golden brown color. (the internal environment of the human and animal body) will be released from it . The time for making shish kebab from pork marinated with lemon and onion will be different for everyone - it depends on the air temperature outside, on the number and heat of coals, the density of threading the meat on skewers, and on the size of the meat tenderloin. On average, it takes from 20 to 35 minutes to make shish kebab.

Remove the finished kebab from the skewers and serve hot. Pork shish kebab prepared according to this recipe comes out tasty, tender, very juicy and fragrant. Lemon and onion in the process of marinating meat give pieces of pork a unique taste!

I prefer skewers of pork marinated with lemon and onion, served with tomato sauce and cilantro. Very tasty, be sure to try it!

Pork kebab with lemon

Aspects of choice
Preparing for marinating
Practice-tested recipes

Nowadays it is unimaginable to make kebabs without marinating them. Marinating meat allows you to create kebabs that are extremely juicy, very fragrant and very soft. Today, a variety of marinade recipes for barbecue have been invented, and almost all of them have substantiated their right to exist.

There is a simple method of preparatory processing of kebabs, in other words, the so-called “dry marinating”. In this case, the kebabs are usually rubbed with peppers, spices, salt and immediately sent for frying. But this option is applicable only for perfect young meat.

In all other options, the most complex all-encompassing marinades and relatively long marinating are used. Almost all products are used for the base of marinades, from ordinary onion juice to the pulp of exotic kiwi. Particularly successful are marinades with a lemon juice base, which are amazing for pork. Cooked pork kebab with lemon always becomes the main dish at any picnic.

Aspects of choice

When choosing pork, you should pay attention to the following signs of the freshness of this product:

The entire cut simply must be completely unblemished and free of any blemishes, bruises or mucus.
The cuts should be smooth and shiny.
The color of the fat layers in high-quality pork is always snow-white. If they have other colors, then you should definitely avoid that product.
For kebabs, it is better to choose a piece of pork that has the following ratio of its composition: one part fat to any four parts meat.
You should absolutely not receive meat that has a suspicious smell or does not smell at all.
If there is skin on the cut, it must have only a beige color. Its pronounced yellowish color indicates that the meat is obviously stale.
A high-quality cut of pork always has an elastic and dense structure.
For kebabs, it is better to use pork neck, but good kebabs can also be made from ham, loin or pork shoulder.
The most successful kebabs can only be prepared from chilled meat. The statement that specifically steamed pork is unsurpassed for them is deeply incorrect. Meat for barbecue must certainly be aged to a certain extent.

After purchasing a high-quality cut of pork, it must be processed and prepared for the marinating process.

Preparing for marinating

Preliminary measures before marinating are as follows:

Before all this, you need to select dishes suitable for marinating. It must be quite deep and made of: glass, food-grade plastic, tableware or natural ceramics.
The meat must be cleaned of films, skin, veins, and other unnecessary items, washed and dried using cardboard napkins or naturally.
After this, the dried meat should be cut into pieces suitable for barbecue, which are placed in the previously prepared container.
Then you need to start processing the onions. It is much better to extract the juice from it and only use it in a marinade. To do this, the onions are crushed using any convenient method to a pulp, and then the juice is squeezed out of it.
This juice is poured over the kebab fragments placed in the vessel. A similar culinary trick allows you to saturate the meat with the onion smell in the most intense way. Onions must be taken in such quantity that its weight and the weight of meat are equivalent.
Next, you can safely add other components of the marinade to the meat in the onion juice.
You should not try to replace lemon with artificial citric acid. It is not an analogue of lemon juice, because it is a purely chemical product, although for culinary purposes.

The above manipulations must be done for each of the following recipes.

Practice-tested recipes

A small sample of more successful recipes would certainly start with the traditional version of the lemon marinade.

An unforgettable classic

The proposed recipe for pork kebab with lemon is simple to the point of outrageousness, but this does not at all interfere with preparing a real culinary masterpiece.

Products for the recipe:

Pork - kilogram.
Medium lemon fruits - four pieces.
Sweet onions – kilogram.
Garlic - three medium cloves.
Salt and seasonings are optional - according to preference.

The lemon is washed, cut into thin slices and added to the kebab pieces that were previously covered with onion juice. You can marinate with lemon juice alone, but the zest of the fruit will give future kebabs a pleasant citrus bitterness.
Grated garlic and selected seasonings follow the lemon.
Next - all the combined products must be mixed
Marinating must take place in a cold place.
You will need to marinate the pork kebab with lemon for min = 8 hours.
At the end of the marinating process, the pieces of shish kebab can already be salted and placed on skewers.
All that remains is to fry the kebab correctly and enjoy its wonderful taste with weightless sourness.

Kefir marinade

The proposed kefir marinade is guaranteed to produce a very tasty and maximally juicy dish.

Products for the recipe:

High quality pork - kilogram.
The drink is better with a fat content of 3.5% - half a liter.
Onion - kilogram.
Lemon is one big fruit.
Dill - one medium bunch.
Salt and seasonings are optional - according to preference.

The washed lemon is cut into thin halves of circles, and they are added to the kebab that was previously filled with onion juice.
The dill is crushed and, together with spices, also goes to the meat. Naturally, everything needs to be actively mixed.
All that remains is to pour kefir over everything, mix again and leave to marinate.
Marinating must take place in any cold place.
The actual marinating time is min = 10 hours, and a longer period wouldn’t hurt at all.
Next, the kebab pieces are removed from the marinade, salted, placed on skewers and fried.

Recipe with mineral water

For the marinade you will need mineral water with a low gas content.

Products for the recipe:

High-quality cut of pork - about a kilogram.
Mineral water and drink - one narrow glass each.
A bunch of dill.
Onion - kilogram.
Lemon is a big fruit.
Salt and seasonings of your choice - according to preference.

The lemon needs to be washed, cut into thin segments and added to the bowl where the pork, previously cut into pieces, was poured with onion juice.
Spices, chopped dill are sent next and everything is mixed.
The drink is mixed with mineral water and all the previously mixed products are poured into the mixture given to us.
All that remains is to mix everything completely and send it out to marinate.
The marinating time will only be about 5 hours and must be done in a cold place.
Later, the kebab can be removed from the marinade, salted, threaded onto skewers and sent to the grill.

If, unfortunately, the pork is slightly hard, then making the marinade with mineral water will be slightly different. The meat must be cut, placed in a container, filled with only mineral water and soaked in it for several hours. Later, this mineral water needs to be drained and further proceed according to the sequence indicated above.

A savory and incredibly fragrant pork kebab with lemon is always guaranteed to come out if you prepare it according to the following recipe.

Marinade with lemon, tomatoes and vinegar

Making such an excellent marinade does not pose any difficulties at all, and the future pork kebab will amaze everyone with its taste.

Products for the recipe:

Pork - kilogram.
Tomatoes are one big tomato.
Lemon juice - three tablespoons.
Onion - kilogram.
Soy sauce – 5 tablespoons.
Balsamic vinegar - one teaspoon.
Salt, Provençal herbs, peppers and seasonings of your choice - at your discretion.

First, you should follow all the tips from the section presented above - “Preparing for pickling.”
Then the tomato must be chopped and sent to a container with chopped meat, which was previously filled with onion juice.
Next, add Provençal herbs, peppers, and other spices to the meat and mix everything together.
Lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, and soy sauce are mixed, and this mixture is also poured into the bowl with the meat.
Everything is completely mixed and left to marinate.
Marinating the kebab according to this recipe takes only 4 hours.
Next, pieces of shish kebab are removed from the no longer needed marinade, shaken off any adhering components, salted, strung on skewers and fried.

It is recommended to serve the finished dish: with herbs, separately pickled onions or home-made tomato sauce.

Using these usual recipes, you can safely marinate pork kebab with lemon for your upcoming picnic. And any of the proposed options allows you to prepare amazingly tasty, breathtakingly juicy and stunningly tender pork kebab.

Marinade for shish kebab with lemon: 5 recipes

A successfully selected marinade is the key to success when making barbecue. If you prefer proven recipes, but at the same time want to find a unique version of the marinade that works just as well as vinegar, but much more gently, without adding excess acid to the meat, then you should pay attention to the kebab marinade with lemon. We have collected 5 recipes that will allow you to marinate not only all types of meat, but also fish for frying on the grill.

Culinary secrets

Before we share successful recipes for lemon-based barbecue marinade, we, according to tradition, hasten to reveal a few culinary secrets that almost all of our readers will probably need.

It all starts with the choice of meat or fish. For barbecue it is better to choose those that are fattier. The fish can be either fresh or frozen - it is quite easy to defrost it, but only meat that has not been frozen is suitable for barbecue. Also keep in mind that the meat of young animals produces shish kebab that is the softest and most tender.
In the second step, a recipe is selected that is very suitable for the type of meat that you decide to use to make kebab, and the products necessary for its production are purchased. They must be of high quality and not spoiled.
You can choose any type of vessel for marinating meat, not counting wood or duralumin. The first absorbs the marinade, preventing it from seeping into the meat, the second reacts with citric acid, releasing harmful substances.
Before marinating, the meat is carefully washed, dried, the membranes and veins are removed, and then cut into pieces the size of two matchboxes placed on top of each other. It is also rubbed with spices before dipping into the lemon marinade.
Beef is kept in a lemon marinade for at least 10 hours, lamb for 8-10 hours, for pork 6-8 hours is enough, and poultry will be ready for grilling over coals in 3-4 hours. The fish will marinate the fastest - it can be fried 30-60 minutes after immersion in the marinade with lemon.
The lemon marinade is quite mild; to enhance its effect, add other products, such as onions, sparkling mineral water, and wine. They not only allow you to soften the meat more quickly, but also improve its taste.
If you want to reduce the marinating time for shish kebab, it should be placed under a press. In this case, you can salt it only before it gets hot, otherwise the salt will draw out all the liquid from the meat, and the kebab will turn out dry.

You see, the rules for marinating shish kebab in lemon juice are not that complicated. Following them, even an inexperienced housewife can cope with the task.

Traditional marinade for shish kebab with lemon and onion

What is necessary:

pork – 1.5 kg;
lemons – 6 pcs.;
onion – 0.5 kg;
garlic – 3 cloves;
seasonings, salt - to your own taste.

How to cook:

Prepare the meat by washing it, drying it with napkins and cutting it into suitable size pieces.
Cut the onion into thick rings.
Add the onion along with the seasonings to the meat and stir it with your hands.
Add thinly sliced garlic to the meat and stir again.
Squeeze the juice out of the lemons and pour it into the bowl with the meat. Stir again with your hands.
Place a weight on a bowl, for example, a jar of water, and place it in the refrigerator overnight (that is, in the dark) .

If desired, you can add a little grated zest to the marinade, this will make it even more fragrant. This marinade with lemon is suitable for shashlik made from any type of meat, but it is most often used for pork.

Frisky marinade with lemon and mineral water

What is necessary:

meat – 1.5 kg;
lemons – 3 pcs.;
mineral water (carbonated) – 0.25 l;
onions – 0.5 kg;
hot pepper, dried marjoram, salt - to taste.

How to marinate:

Rinse the lemons. Squeeze juice from 2 fruits. It is better to do this not by hand, but with the help of a citrus juicer. If you do not have such a device, double the amount of lemons used.
Cut the remaining lemon into thin circles or semicircles.
Cut the peeled onion into thin half rings.
Sprinkle the meat, washed and cut into pieces suitable for barbecue, with spices and stir.
Squeeze the onion with your hands so that it releases the juice and send it to the meat.
Mix mineral water with lemon juice.
Place lemon slices on the meat, pour mineral water with lemon over everything.
Leave to marinate in the refrigerator under pressure.

This marinade allows you to marinate pork quite quickly - in 3-4 hours, but beef must be marinated for a long time even in it.

Special marinade for shish kebab with lemon

What is necessary:

poultry or pork – 1 kg;
onions – 0.2 kg;
lemon – 1 pc.;
reddish dry wine – 100 ml;
soy sauce – 50 ml;
sour cream – 50 ml;
honey – 20 ml;
curry – 1 tsp;
nutmeg - a pinch;
dried ginger – 1 tsp;
pepper - to your own taste.

How to cook:

Mix the chopped meat with spices.
Cut the onion into thin half rings, remember it and mix it with the meat, adding sour cream.
In a separate container, combine soy sauce, honey melted until watery, wine and lemon juice.
Grate the lemon zest and add to the marinade.
Pour the marinade over the meat, stir with your hands and place in a cool place.

Please note that salt is not added to the marinade made according to the above recipe, because it contains salty soy sauce. The marinating time depends on the type of meat. For pork it takes approximately 6 hours, for poultry - half as much.

Marinade for shish kebab with lemon and cognac

What is necessary:

meat – 2 kg;
onion – 0.5 kg;
lemon – 2 pcs.;
cognac – 100 ml;
soy sauce – 100 ml;
vegetable oil – 100 ml;
dried basil – 1 tbsp. l.;
nutmeg – 1 tsp;
ground coriander – 1 tsp;
ground dark pepper – 1 tsp..

How to cook:

Mix the spices with dried basil and rub the pieces of meat with the spicy consistency given to us.
Add the onion, cut into thin half rings, to the meat and stir with your hands.
Squeeze the juice from the lemons and combine with the remaining ingredients.
Pour the marinade over the meat and, after mixing, place in the refrigerator.

It is excellent to cook lamb and pork in a marinade with lemon and cognac. This recipe is also suitable for beef.

Marinade with lemon for fish kebab

What is necessary:

fish fillet – 1 kg;
lemons – 2 pcs.;
olive oil – 50 ml;
soy sauce – 50 ml;
snow-white pepper, herbs - to your own taste.

How to cook:

Cut the fish fillet into 4-5 cm pieces.
Squeeze lemon juice into a bowl and grate the zest separately.
Mix the zest with fragrant herbs and pepper, sprinkle on the fish, stir.
Combine lemon juice with soy sauce and oil.
Place the fish in this marinade, stir and leave for half an hour.

The same marinade can be created for meat, but for fish it is best suited.

Marina for shish kebab with lemon can be called universally suitable. You can marinate all types of meat and fish in it.

Marinade for shish kebab with lemon

The kebab will never turn out soft and juicy if the meat is not marinated in advance. The most famous product that allows you to marinate meat quickly is vinegar, but it is not one of the necessary ones. The marinade for kebab with lemon is much milder, giving any type of meat a gentle taste. It is no coincidence that more and more kebab lovers prefer this particular version of the marinade, especially since there are quite a lot of recipes for it, so you can choose it according to your own taste.

Individual manufacturing

Even if the marinade recipe seems ordinary, you need to know a few rules for making it and marinating meat in it. Otherwise, the result may not be what you expect.

First you need to choose the right meat for shish kebab. If you buy old meat, and what’s more, it was frozen, you shouldn’t expect that the kebab will turn out tasty, even if you prepare a perfect marinade. Preference should be given to the meat of young animals. A frozen product is not suitable for barbecue at all, because when defrosted, the structure of the meat is disrupted and it becomes less juicy.
You can marinate meat in lemon marinade in any container. Utensils made of aluminum are not suitable for this, because this material forms harmful substances when in contact with acid. It is necessary to use dishes made of glass, ceramics, stainless steel or enameled.
The length of time you should keep meat in a lemon marinade depends on various reasons. The main one is the type of meat. Beef is marinated for the longest time - at least 10 hours; a little less is required to marinate lamb - it is marinated for 7-9 hours. The pork will be ready for charcoal grilling after soaking in the lemon marinade for 6-8 hours. Poultry meat marinates the fastest - in just 3-4 hours. In any case, you need to put the meat in the marinade the day before the day when you plan to barbecue. It must stand in the refrigerator all this time.
In addition to lemon, the marinade recipe most often includes onions. In addition, various spices and other ingredients can be added. Some of them are designed to help soften the meat, while others are designed to give the future dish an inimitable taste and smell. The marinating time of meat may also depend on the composition of the marinade, because certain components speed up this process.
Salt is added to the marinade last. This is due to the fact that it is able to stretch the liquid from the goods, and if the meat is salted right away, the kebab from it will turn out to be the least juicy.
To speed up the marinating process, meat should be marinated under pressure.

Knowing these rules for marinating meat in a marinade with lemon will allow even an inexperienced cook to prepare delicious kebab.

Traditional marinade for shish kebab with lemon and onion

pork neck – 2 kg;
lemons – 8 pcs.;
onions – 0.5 kg;
garlic – 4 cloves;
barbecue seasoning, salt to taste.

Wash, dry with napkins and cut the meat. The best size of pieces for making shish kebab is 4–5 cm.
Peel the onion and cut into fairly wide rings (3-4 mm each).
Add spices to the meat and stir. Add onion and stir again.
Finely chop the garlic with a knife and place it in a container with meat. Mix everything again.
Wash the lemons and cut them in half. Squeeze the juice out of them, you can directly onto the meat. If desired, grate the zest and add a couple of teaspoons to the container with the meat - this will give the kebab an even more pleasant smell.
Stir the meat with your hands so that the lemon juice is distributed moderately.
Cover the container with the meat with a plate and place something heavy on top, for example a jar of water.
Put everything in the refrigerator overnight (that is, in the dark) .

The traditional recipe for marinade for shish kebab with lemon is simple, but this marinade not only copes with the task perfectly, but also gives the meat a pleasant smell. This will be especially noticeable if you add herbs to it.

Special marinade for shish kebab with lemon

meat (pork, chicken or turkey) – 2 kg;
onions – 0.3 kg;
lemon – 2 pcs.;
reddish dry wine – 0.2 l;
soy sauce – 100 ml;
sour cream – 100 ml;
honey – 40 ml;
curry – 5 g;
nutmeg - a pinch;
dried ginger – 5 g;
pepper - to taste.

Prepare the meat by washing it, patting it dry with a towel and cutting it into appropriate size pieces.
Mix the spices and sprinkle them on the meat, stir.
Squeeze the juice out of the lemons into a clean bowl and add the grated zest there.
Add wine and soy sauce, stir with a spoon.
Melt the honey and mix it with the purchased liquid.
Peel and cut the onion into thin half rings, squeeze it to release the juice. Transfer to meat.
Place the sour cream in a bowl with the meat, stir it with your hands so that the sour cream and onions are distributed moderately.
Pour the marinade over the meat and stir again.

It takes about 6 hours to marinate pork in a special marinade with lemon, and 3 hours for chicken. This marinade is perfect for pork and poultry; for other types of meat it is better to use regular or cognac, the recipe for which is given below.

Marinade for shish kebab with lemon and cognac

meat – 2 kg;
onions – 0.5 kg;
lemon – 2 pcs.;
cognac – 100 ml;
soy sauce – 80 ml;
vegetable oil – 100 ml;
dried basil – 20 g;
nutmeg – 5 g;
coriander – 5 g;
dark pepper (ground) - to taste.

Wash the meat well, cut into pieces suitable for barbecue.
Combine basil, nutmeg, coriander and pepper. Pour the spicy mixture into the meat, stir with your hands so that the seasonings are distributed moderately, covering any piece.
Peel and cut the onion into thin half rings. Remember it so that it lets out the juice, and put it with the meat. Stir it with your hands again.
Squeeze the juice from the lemons into a small bowl. Pour oil, cognac and soy sauce into it. Mix as thoroughly as possible.
Pour the marinade over the meat and, after mixing, put it in a cold place.

It is better to leave the meat to marinate overnight (that is, in the dark) . The marinade is suitable for both pork, beef and lamb.

Kebab marinade with lemon is a classic. It is no less famous than the usual marinade with vinegar, but it is the softest and most fragrant. You can marinate any type of meat in it.