We love shish kebabs, Sriracha Ranch bacon-wrapped chicken skewers, and just about any other kind of meat on a stick!

Usually we cube up pork, chicken, or beef into one-inch pieces and thread on a stainless steel skewer. But we recently spotted a new tool, the Easy Kabob, and were drawn in by the simple design and promise of making healthy pressed kabobs from ground beef or pork.

Here’s our unboxing and first look:

We gave the Easy Kabob its first trial on a Bowl Day, adapting a Greek bifteki recipe from Serious Eats for our main dish at the tailgate. The results were decent. Our recipe took a little bit of time to prep, cut up the herbs, mix up the beef, and roll it into balls right-sized for the tube. Re-loading was a bit messy as well. But once we got the hang of the pressing, the kabobs stacked up quickly. Including prep, it took us about 15 minutes to make 10 shorties from 1.3 lbs of Choice Angus Beef, with two monster patties in reserve.

Once on the grill (cooked over high heat on a cast iron griddle with olive oil), 9 of the 10 kabobs stayed perfectly together. Turned each skewer until brown on all sides. The bifteki recipe was well-suited to the Easy Kabob, and we look forward to trying others like pepper and onion pork sausage, and turkey, lab or chicken kefta. If the kabobs hold up well, we expect to try this in our Sunday meal prep rotation.

PROS:

• Easy to use, just as advertised! Goes quickly once you get the hang of it.
• Disassembles quickly, with very few moving parts or components.
• Sturdy construction and relatively easy to clean, made easier with included brush.

CONS:

• Somewhat bulky, will take up space on your accessories shelf.
• A bit limited to using bamboo or wood skewers. Small hole on back doesn’t accommodate skewers with handles (but you can press them in reverse, if the skewer will fit the diameter of the hole)
• Creates a bit of a meaty mess to clean-up; we got hamburger all over.

Overall Rendezvous Recommendation: 👍

Where to Buy: Amazon

Editor’s Note: Post contains affiliate links.