Honey BBQ Beer Chicken Skewers

August approaches and with it the annual transformation of my household from summer mode to school mode. Alexander will be a senior. Sophia will start high school — ninth grade, a new building, new people, new everything. The house is full of back-to-school shopping and schedule printing and the low-grade anxiety that accompanies every transition, even the expected ones.

I took Sophia shopping for school supplies and she turned it into a three-hour expedition that covered two stores and resulted in a pencil case she described as essential and I described as expensive. She also bought a lab notebook for biology because high school biology is, in her words, going to be incredible. I love her optimism. I love that she approaches high school biology the way other kids approach a new video game — with excitement, anticipation, and the belief that she is going to be very good at it.

Alexander spent the last week of his summer job organizing the office filing system, which nobody asked him to do but which he did anyway because Alexander cannot see disorder without fixing it. His boss gave him an additional recommendation letter and a gift card to a restaurant. Alexander came home and said he is going to miss the job. This is the first time my son has expressed attachment to anything outside of family and food, and it made me both proud and a little sad because missing things is the first step toward leaving things, and leaving is coming soon.

I made a late-summer feast this week: grilled chicken souvlaki, spanakopita triangles, hummus, a massive Greek salad, and for dessert, fresh peaches sliced and served with Greek yogurt and honey and a sprinkle of pistachios. The peaches were from a roadside stand on the way to Tarpon Springs and they were perfect — ripe, fragrant, the kind of peach that makes you understand why the Greeks thought the gods ate fruit and called it ambrosia.

Sunday dinner at Mama's was the usual controlled chaos. Mama made her signature pastitsio. Despina tasted it and said acceptable. Mama said thank you as though accepting a Nobel Prize. Dimitri returned from Key West tanned and relaxed and Mama looked at his tan with suspicion, as if relaxation were a contagious disease she did not want in her bakery. The family argued. The family ate. The family loved. In that order, always.

That late-summer dinner — the souvlaki, the salad, the peaches still warm from the roadside stand — felt like something worth holding onto, a meal that knew what it was doing even when the rest of us were still figuring it out. Every August, when the house fills with backpack tags and biology notebooks and the particular quiet that comes before a big change, I reach for the grill the way other people reach for comfort food, because for me, fire and skewers and a good honey glaze is the comfort. These honey BBQ beer chicken skewers are my answer to transitions: something to gather around, something sticky and smoky and worth sitting down for, while there is still time to sit.

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

Ingredients

2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1 1/2-inch chunks
1/2 cup your favorite BBQ sauce
1/3 cup honey
1/2 cup lager or pale ale beer
3 tablespoons olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
1 red bell pepper, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
1 yellow bell pepper, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
1 large red onion, cut into wedges
Wooden or metal skewers (if wooden, soak in water 30 minutes)
Fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped, for garnish
Lemon wedges, for serving

Instructions

Make the marinade. In a medium bowl, whisk together the BBQ sauce, honey, beer, olive oil, garlic, smoked paprika, oregano, salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes (if using) until fully combined.
Marinate the chicken. Place the chicken pieces in a large zip-top bag or shallow dish. Pour about two-thirds of the marinade over the chicken, reserving the rest for glazing. Seal and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or up to 8 hours. Keep the reserved marinade covered in the refrigerator.
Preheat the grill. Heat an outdoor grill or grill pan to medium-high heat (about 400°F). Lightly oil the grates.
Assemble the skewers. Thread the marinated chicken pieces alternately with the bell pepper chunks and red onion wedges onto the skewers, leaving a small gap between each piece for even cooking.
Grill the skewers. Place skewers on the hot grill and cook for 5–6 minutes per side, turning once, until the chicken is cooked through and shows good grill marks. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest piece should read 165°F.
Glaze and finish. In the final 2 minutes of cooking, brush the skewers generously with the reserved marinade, turning once to caramelize the glaze on all sides. Watch carefully to avoid burning the honey.
Rest and serve. Remove skewers from the grill and let rest 3–4 minutes. Scatter chopped parsley over the top and serve immediately with lemon wedges on the side.

Nutrition (per serving)

Honey BBQ Beer Chicken Skewers — A Late-Summer Feast Before the Season Turns