Memorial Day is right around the corner! This veggie side dish will go great with your other grilled goodies. The rainbow veggie kebabs can be made by your kid chef with grown-up help. Just be careful with the skewers! These veggies are colorful and yummy and the only thing that would make them better is if they were red white and blue! You'll be cooking rainbow veggie kabobs up all summer long, for sure.
Chopping all these veggies is great for fine motor skills and building hand muscles in little ones! However, if parents want to shorten the prep process on the day of, feel free to wash and chop the veggies a day in advance.
Rainbow Veggie Kabobs
Makes 12 skewers (about 6 servings) | Inspired by Damn Delicious
40 minutes cutting and skewering, 6-12 minutes grill/bake time (45-50 minutes total)
Collect your Ingredients
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 1 tsp herbes de Provence (if you don't have herbes de Provence, you can use a mixture of oregano and basil or experiment with whatever herbs you would like!)
- 3 cloves garlic
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 24 cherry tomatoes
- 5 small bell peppers or 2 large bell peppers (we used red and orange for our rainbow skewers, but any color pepper works here)
- 1/2 red onion
- 20 mushrooms (we used baby bella, white mushrooms would also be good)
- 2 zucchinis (we used 1 green and 1 yellow)
Collect your Tools
- 1 small bowl for olive oil mixture
- 1 whisk
- Pastry Brush
- Kid friendly knife or butter knife
- Grown-up chef knife
- Cutting board
- 6 small bowls to separate cut up veggies
- 12 skewers (if you're using wooden skewers, make sure to pre-soak them for 30 minutes)
- Baking tray
Recipe Steps
- Wash your hands.
- **Grown-up** Preheat oven to 400 degrees F if baking. If grilling, set to medium heat for gas grill or medium-hot over charcoal.
- Peel the garlic clove and mince using your knife OR use a garlic press if you have one (your kid chef will love using this!). Add to your small bowl.
- Then add olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and herbs to small bowl. Salt and pepper to taste and whisk together! Set aside olive oil mixture for later.
- Wash all vegetables.
- Using a kid friendly or butter knife and your cutting board, cut off ends of peppers and remove seeds. Then slice into 1 inch pieces. Try to chop all the veggies so that they’re roughly the same size to ensure everything cooks evenly and place in separate bowls.
- Slice both zucchinis lengthwise. You may need to cut the zucchinis in half to have semi-circle slices if your zucchini is too large.
- **Grown-ups** slice the onion into 1 inch pieces. If your kids are wondering why you're crying, you can tell them that the propanethiol S-oxide from the onion is mixing with the water in your tears to form sulfuric acid, causing your eyes to release more tears in an effort to wash it away.
- The mushrooms and cherry tomatoes don't need to be cut!
- Once all veggies are chopped and in separate bowls, thread veggies CAREFULLY onto skewers. You can make rainbow skewers like we did or practice creating your own pattern with the different colored veggies.
- Place skewers onto baking tray.
- Using your pastry brush, brush skewers with olive oil mixture you set aside before.
- **Grown-up** Transfer tray to oven and bake for 10-12 mins until veggies are tender. If grilling, grill for 6-12 minutes (time will vary) over medium heat on a gas grill or medium-hot heat on charcoal.
- While your delicious skewers are cooking, wash dishes and clean up your work station.
- **Grown-up** When veggies are cooked through, remove from oven/grill and transfer to a platter.
- Let cool for 5 minutes.
- Remove veggies from skewers.
- Time to nom the rainbow veggie kabobs!
Pro tips
- Be careful when threading veggies onto skewers. Be sure to place your fingers on either side of the skewer so that you don’t poke yourself. We found it was easier to twist the skewer into the veggie. Grown-ups, you may need to help your kid chefs with the onions and peppers.
- If using wooden skewers, be sure to first soak them in cold water for 30 mins before using to ensure that they don’t burn
