Picture this: It’s summer, you’re at the beach with your friends and there’s a beautiful smell of food grilling on the barbecue. Once you’re done soaking up some sun, you head on over to the grill and grab your delicious lamb and feta skewers (or grilled vegetable ones if you don’t eat meat). There’s nothing like the smoky, charred taste of food cooked on a grill.
You don’t just have to have sausages and steaks on your barbecue. If you’re at home cooking a weekend dinner on your little hibachi grill, or you’re hosting a garden party, you can serve up some delicious food cooked on skewers. Not only will it cook faster, but you can make an entire meal on a single skewer. You could have chicken with different vegetables, or some tofu. The options are endless.
To avoid burning your food, having it fall off into the grill grate or not settling on the grill in the first place, you need to get the right grill skewers.
What to Look for in Your Grill Skewers
When you’re at the store or shopping online, you won’t just buy the first set of skewers you see. There are a number of things to consider before making your decision.
The Blade
A flat blade is ideal if you want to grill your meat evenly on all sides without worrying about your skewers rolling out of control. You may be enticed to get those smooth, rounded skewers. Don’t do it. You’ll keep moving them around to get the right position and your food won’t be cooked evenly and may be raw in some places and overcooked in others. Flexible skewers are just as bad. Flat skewers are your best choice if you don’t want to look like an idiot fumbling around with your skewers.
The Handle
The best skewers have a small loop or something similar to make them easy to rotate and get off the grill. You might find skewers with handles (which may be made of wood, plastic or even metal). Avoid getting them because the wood and plastic ones will not be able to withstand the heat, and the metal ones will heat up so fast, you won’t be able to touch them and you’ll end up burning your food.
The Coating
As long as you have a decent metal grill skewer, you don’t need to fuss around with non-stick coatings and such because your food will slide off easily anyway. These coatings don’t last very long and they get easily ruined with the heat.
The Food Pusher
This mechanism is used to assist you in sliding your food off the skewer. It may be made of plastic or metal. Food pushers are more of a cosmetic variation to a standard skewer without any added benefit. Not only do they add more weight to your skewer (which will make rotating and moving it around more difficult), but you can do the same job with your hands, or forks, or even a pair of tongs.
The Double-Pronged Skewers
These ones might feel more comfortable when your skewering your food and rotating it, because there’s more space for the meat (or anything else) to rest on and they won’t roll out of place when rotated. However, it’ll take you a lot more time and effort to skewer your food onto these, and you’ll be restricted in how big or small you want to keep your food. Individual-sized serves and appetizer skewers will no longer be an option. It’s better to go for the single-pronged one because you can choose the size of the food and skewer it easily.
Our Top Picks for Best Grill Skewers
Here is our list of the top 5 grill skewers which will make your grilling experience easy and make your food taste delicious.
The #1- BearMoo Kabob Skewers
These ones are for all the serious barbecuers out there. The BearMoo Skewers are our favorite because they have all the right features at a great price. Here’s what great about these skewers:
- The skewers are flat and wide, so you can grill your food evenly on all sides without the skewers rolling around in all directions.
- They’re long enough for use on a big, outdoor barbecue but they’ll also be fine on your small indoor kitchen grill.
- The handle is curved to fit your hand which is much more comfortable to use than the traditional looped grips and you’ll have more control when handling the skewers.
- They’re even dishwasher friendly!
Just be careful when handling them because the edges can be a bit sharp. Once you’re done using them, you can store them in the pouch that comes with your purchase.
The Runner up- UNICOOK Heavy Duty Stainless Steel Barbecue Skewer
Call everyone and get the fire started because you’re going to want to have a barbecue party once you get your hands on these ultimate grill skewers. They even come with a rack so storage will be easy. Here’s why you need these skewers:
- These stainless steel skewers are great for any type of grill and have a loop at the end to move them around easily.
- They’re dishwasher safe so cleanup will be a breeze.
- The grill rack that comes with them allows for more control when moving the skewers around on the grill, plus you won’t have to worry about cleaning your messy grill afterwards.
Why they didn’t make it to #1
You’re probably wondering why, despite all these fantastic features, these skewers didn’t make it to #1. The main reasons included the fact that the individual skewers are rounded, so if you use them without the rack, you might run into the problem of your skewers turning on their own and not letting the food cook properly. The looped handle is great, but still not as good as the curved one of the BearMoo Skewers.
The Best Budget Skewers – MojiDecor BBQ Skewers
These skewers are pretty light on the pocket, but at the same time offer the same functions as some of the more premium skewer options. They serve all the basic functions you need when you’re grilling up some delicious cherry tomatoes or some thin slices of hangar steak.
- They have a flat blade to allow you to cook your food more evenly and with more control.
- They’re long enough for an outdoor grill, but still easy to use on a smaller, indoor grill.
- The looped grip makes them easy to handle.
- They can be cleaned in the dishwasher.
What We Didn’t Love About Them
- The sharp, pointy end of the skewer will prick your finger so fast, you won’t even realize what happened, so you’ll have to be extra careful when handling these skewers.
- They’re not as sturdy as some of our other recommended options so there’s a risk of bending them while skewering your food.
The Basic Buy- NorPro 1934 Stainless Steel Skewers
Consider these to be the training wheels of barbecue skewers. If you’ve recently developed an interest in grilling and barbecuing, then these basic, ultra-low priced skewers are perfect for you. It doesn’t matter if you’re a first-time griller because these skewers are easy to use.
- They have a flat blade which makes it easy to rotate them and grill your food evenly on all sides.
- The handle has a round hook so you can grip the skewers comfortably when moving them around.
- They’re long enough for you to handle them when they’re on the barbecue without burning your fingers.
- The tip is rounded so you don’t have to worry about accidentally pricking your finger and hurting yourself.
An Extra Bit of Advice
These skewers are pocket-friendly for a reason: they don’t last very long. The metal may rust overtime and after a little use, the blade might start bending as you skewer your food. Just like you eventually remove the training wheels from your bike, once you’ve become a master griller, switch to a better set of grill skewers. So get grilling over the weekend and serve up some delicious meat and veg skewers at the dinner table!
The Double-Pronged Option- Premium Barbecue Skewers
We couldn’t resist adding an option of double-pronged skewers to the list. If you love spending time in front of your barbecue grill and you feel like eating barbecue 3 times a day, 7 days a week, then these are the perfect grill skewers for you. They require a little bit of an initial investment, but they’re worth it.
- They have a long, oval gripping loop so you can hold on to them easily.
- They’re made of premium quality steel so they’ll last you a lifetime.
- They’re very long (13 inches to be exact) so you can cook up a feast for the family without having to grill the food in countless batches.
What We Didn’t Love About Them
- They’re double-pronged, and as we already mentioned those can really limit your options. Apart from taking more time to skewer, you also have to be careful about the size of the food. Imagine trying to grill some tiny prawns on these!
- Thinner foods will tear before they even make it to the grill. If you’re grilling up some delicious, charred vegetables, these skewers won’t work for you.
When to Use Bamboo Skewers
If you’ve rented a barbecue grill for one-time use or you’re having a big party where everyone’s just grabbing their skewers hot off the grill, you can even opt to use some basic bamboo skewers. That way your guests can take their skewers on-the-go and there’ll be no cleanup afterwards! Dish up the skewers and everyone can use their fingers or a knife to slide the food off the stick.
Just remember that when using bamboo skewers, you need to soak them in water beforehand to avoid burning them. If you’ve forgotten to soak them, they’ll catch fire once they hit the grill and your entire meal will be ruined as the bamboo disintegrates in front of your eyes.
Get Skewering!
Now that you have a complete guide on getting the ideal grill skewers suited for your use, it’s time to get grilling. Buy your preferred barbecue skewers, text your friends and have a barbecue feast. Serve up some delicious jumbo prawns, mini beef steak bites, teriyaki chicken, grilled greens and so much more! Just make sure to clean your skewers properly when you’re done. You don’t want to taste some dried, dead lamb crust with your freshly grilled meal.
