Pakistani Chicken Seekh Kabab Recipe

Pakistani chicken seekh kabab is spiced chicken mince pressed around a skewer and fried until browned outside and soft in the middle. This version leans on butter and cream rather than the yogurt most recipes use, and on a seekh kabab masala you roast and grind yourself. You do not need a barbecue or a metal seekh to make it – a frying pan and a greased pencil will do.

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Last updated 28 August 2026

Recipe

Pakistani Chicken Seekh Kabab

Prep

20 mins

Cook

15 mins

Total

1 hr 5 mins

Serves

12 kababs (serves 4)

Ingredients

For the kababs

• 500 g (1 lb) ground chicken, ideally thigh mince, with some fat in it
• 1/2 medium onion, very finely chopped and squeezed dry
• 1 tsp fresh ginger, finely grated
• 1 tsp garlic, crushed (3-4 cloves)
• 2-3 green chillies, finely chopped
• 3 tbsp fresh coriander (cilantro), chopped
• 2 tsp seekh kabab masala (below, or shop-bought)
• 1 tsp salt, or to taste
• 1/2 tsp red chilli powder (optional)
• 1 tbsp butter, melted
• 1 tbsp double cream
• 1 tbsp gram flour (besan), only if the mix is too wet
• 2 tbsp oil, for shallow frying

For the seekh kabab masala (makes about 6 tbsp)

• 1 tbsp coriander seeds
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 10 dried red chillies
• 25 cloves
• 1 tsp black peppercorns
• 4 star anise
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 cinnamon stick
• 2 black cardamom pods, seeds only
• 1 tbsp roasted chickpeas or chana dal
• 1 tsp salt

Method

1. Make the masala. Dry-roast the whole spices in a dry pan over medium heat for about a minute, until they smell toasted. Take them off before they darken. Cool completely, then grind to a fine powder with the salt.
2. Chop the onion as finely as you can, then squeeze it in your fist over the sink until it stops dripping. Grate the ginger and squeeze that too.
3. Put the chicken in a large bowl with the onion, ginger, garlic, coriander, green chillies, masala, salt, chilli powder, melted butter and cream. Mix with your hands just until it comes together – no longer.
4. Cover and chill for 30 minutes. If the mix still feels loose and sticky after chilling, work in the gram flour.
5. Fry a teaspoon of the mix in a little oil and taste it. Adjust the salt and masala now, before you shape the rest.
6. Oil your hands. Take a golf-ball of mix, press it around a greased skewer, pencil or chopstick, roll it into a log about 10 cm long, then slide it off onto a plate. Re-oil your hands between kababs.
7. Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Fry in batches for 2-3 minutes a side, turning so they colour all over, until golden and cooked through to 74C (165F) in the middle.
8. Optional: smoke them with charcoal for 5 minutes before serving, using the dhungar method below.

Step by step, in pictures

Six moves, from roasting the spices to smoking the finished kababs.

1. Dry-roast the whole spices, then cool and grind.
2. Squeeze the onion until it stops dripping.
3. Mix just until it comes together.
4. Roll a log around a greased pencil or skewer.
5. Shallow-fry, 2-3 minutes a side.
6. Optional: smoke under a tight lid.

What goes into a Pakistani chicken seekh kabab

Chicken mince with some fat in it, onion squeezed dry, ginger and garlic, fresh coriander and green chillies, a roasted spice blend, and a little butter and cream to keep it all soft. Amounts are in the card above; what follows is why each one is there. Seekh is the skewer itself, so the name describes how the kabab is cooked rather than what is in it.

The mince. Thigh mince beats breast. Lean breast mince goes dry and crumbly; thigh carries enough fat to hold the log together and stay soft.

The onion. Chop it very finely, then squeeze the liquid out properly, until it stops dripping. Wet onion is the usual reason a kabab slumps off the skewer or splits in the pan.

Ginger, garlic, coriander and chillies. Grate or crush the ginger and garlic fresh – jarred paste brings its own water. Chop the coriander and chillies by hand so they stay in visible flecks through the mix.

Butter and cream. Chicken mince is lean, and lean mince cooks dry. The butter and cream do the job that yogurt does in most other versions: they keep the inside soft while the outside takes colour.

Make your own seekh kabab masala

Dry-roast the whole spices in a pan over medium heat for about a minute, until they smell toasted and the seeds start to crackle. Take them off the heat before they darken. Let them cool right down – warm spices grind to a paste rather than a powder – then grind fine and stir in the salt.

Shop-bought seekh kabab masala works and the recipe is written so you can use it. A batch you roast yourself smells noticeably stronger, and the quantities in the card make enough for several batches of kababs. Keep it in a sealed jar out of the light.

How to shape kababs without a skewer

Use a pencil. Grease it lightly, take a golf-ball of the mix in oiled hands, press it around the pencil and roll until you have an even log about 10 cm long, then slide it straight off onto a plate. A chopstick works the same way, and so does the handle of a wooden spoon.

Re-oil your hands every couple of kababs. Sticky hands tear the surface, and a torn surface is where the kabab splits when it hits the pan.

How to smoke seekh kabab (the dhungar method)

Five minutes, one piece of charcoal, after the kababs are already cooked. Smoking is optional – it adds the flavour you get from a coal barbecue to kababs cooked on a hob.

Heat a piece of charcoal over a flame until it glows red. Sit it in a small metal bowl and put the bowl in the middle of the pan with the cooked kababs around it. Drizzle a few drops of oil onto the coal, and the moment it starts to smoke, cover the pan with a tight lid – a heavy object on top helps hold the smoke in. Leave it five minutes, then lift the lid, take the bowl out and serve. Open a window first; burning charcoal indoors needs ventilation.

Three things that catch people out

• Mince that was frozen and defrosted releases extra water as you work it, so expect to need the gram flour – or breadcrumbs, if you have no besan in the cupboard.
• Cook them in batches. A crowded pan drops the heat and the kababs colour unevenly.
• Serve them straight out of the pan. They firm up as they cool.

Chicken is cooked when the centre reaches 74C (165F) – the US Department of Agriculture safe minimum for all poultry. It is worth a thermometer the first time you make these.

What to serve with them

Green chutney and sliced onion is the standard, with naan or paratha to wrap them in. They also work as the kabab course alongside a chicken biryani, or on a mixed grill plate with Pakistani chicken tikka. If you have mince left over, it makes good ground chicken nuggets.

Chicken seekh kabab FAQ

What are the ingredients for Pakistani chicken kababs? Chicken mince, onion, ginger, garlic, green chillies, fresh coriander, a roasted spice blend, salt, and some fat – here butter and cream. The full list with amounts is in the recipe card above.

What do you marinate chicken in for kebabs? Seekh kabab is not marinated the way chicken tikka is. The mince is mixed with the aromatics and spices, then rested in the fridge for about half an hour, which firms it up enough to shape and lets the spices come through.

Why do my seekh kababs fall apart in the pan? Usually too much water in the mix – unsqueezed onion or ginger. After that, mince that is too lean, or a mix chilled too briefly to firm up. Gram flour will rescue a mix that is already too wet.

Can I cook these without a barbecue? Yes. They are shallow-fried in a frying pan here, which is how they are usually cooked at home. Smoke them afterwards with a coal if you want the barbecue flavour.

What is the difference between seekh kabab and kofta? Seekh kabab is minced meat shaped around a skewer and cooked dry. Kofta is usually shaped into balls and, in most versions, finished in a sauce.