Asian BBQ Pork Kabobs
On April 30, 2018 (Updated March 11, 2025)
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Asian BBQ Pork Kabobs are a perfect balance of Asian ingredients blended with classic BBQ flavor.
This simple Asian BBQ marinade comes together quickly with pantry ingredients and infuses melt in your mouth pork tenderloin with big flavors. The marinade is cooked down while the kebabs are being assembled and doubles as the perfect basting sauce! Pair with some jasmine rice and grilled vegetables, this will become a new go-to weeknight meal!
Grilled Pork Kabobs
You can assemble these Asian BBQ Pork Kabobs on whatever type of kabob skewers you have available. We love kabobs, so I invested in a set of metal skewers that will last a long time. If you’re using bamboo or other wood skewers, be sure to soak them in a shallow pan of water for a couple of hours prior to grilling so they don’t burn up on the grill.
You’ll notice this pork kabob recipe doesn’t call for vegetables placed on the skewers with the pork. This may not be traditional for that classic American kabob, but it is very intentional. The pork and vegetables will be done cooking at different times. Pork is done at 145 degrees F internal temperature and these skewers cook very quickly over direct heat. That direct heat also helps a lot with getting the edges of that slightly sweet marinade and sauce nice and caramelized on the exterior of the pork.
I prefer to grill my vegetables separately on their own skewers so that as the pork kabobs are finished and resting for a few minutes, the vegetables can finish cooking through. There is nothing worse than perfect meat and overly crunchy vegetables, or overdone meat and tender vegetables. Simply cook them separately and problem solved!
Pork Kabob Recipe
Asian BBQ Pork Kabobs
Ingredients
- 1 pork tenderloin
Asian BBQ Marinade
- ½ cup ketchup
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- ½ cup soy sauce
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
- ¼ cup sweet Thai red chili sauce
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 bunch (about 8) scallions sliced
- 2 teaspoons coarse black pepper
Instructions
- In a gallon size zip top bag, combine all of the ingredients for the marinade.
- Trim any excess silver skin or fat from the outside of the pork tenderloin. Cut the tenderloin into 1.5 inch cubes. Try to make them as equal in size as possible.
- Place the cubed pork into the marinade, seal the bag tightly, and toss to coat each piece of the meat with the marinade. Set the bag on a plate and refrigerate for at least 8 hours, or up to 24 hours.
- Remove the pork pieces from the bag, shaking off any large pieces of onion and excess marinade.
- Pour the remaining marinade into a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Cook at a rolling boil for 5-10 minutes while you assemble your skewers. Remove from the heat and divide into two bowls. One for basting your pork as it grills and one for serving with your pork when it is finished cooking.
- Slide the pieces of marinated pork onto 4 skewers.
- Preheat your grill to 400 degrees F. You will be grilling over direct heat, which means right over the flame on your grill.
- Place the kabobs onto the grill and cook for 10-12 minutes, basting with your reduced marinade sauce and turning every 3-4 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the meat reads 145 degrees F and the exterior edges of the pork are crispy and caramelized.
- Serve with the remaining sauce and enjoy!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Is the reason for boiling the used marinade to kill any bacteria that may have developed while soaking the Rae pork!
Yes.
The sauce is sooo yummy. Really interesting flavor and super easy to make.
Deeeelicious!! Great recipe! Great method!
Thanks!
Mike
You guys do such amazing food. I love it
Thank you so much!
Susie, where do I find flat skewers? LOVE this months kabob recipes!
I honestly don’t remember where I got these specific ones, but you can find them in most grocery stores if you look hard enough!
Steven Raichlen (the PBS grill program host) sells a set. You’ll probably have to search on line to find them. They work great.
Hi, Susie! Love your site and recipes! Use them often. I do a lot of grilling, but have never gotten interested in doing vegetables. I’m now very willing to try and experience. Can you suggest what veggies would be good (or that you use) with this recipe? Not sure I can tell all of them from the pictures. Thank you!!!!
I believe the veggies I used for these kabobs were mushrooms, zucchini squash, yellow squash and a red onion! Bell peppers also work great here!
These really look wonderful. My question is how do you get direct flame on the smoker grill?
I guess it depends on the brand of smoker you own. I can put mine on direct heat.
I am going to try this it looks so yummy