As the weather is heating up, it’s time to fire up that grill and whip up some yummy summer meals. Just in time for your summer barbecues, I present to you a delicious grilled turkey tenderloin recipe – Caribbean Jerk Turkey Kabobs!
I know many people’s grilling go-to’s are usually chicken or beef, but there are so many more possibilities. Think fish, fruit, veggies – and yes, turkey! I was super excited when the National Turkey Federation teamed up with me for this blog post so I could share a taste-tastic {yep, I just invented that word…} recipe.
{Disclosure – this post is sponsored.}
While turkey is usually topping the table at Thanksgiving, it’s actually a very versatile protein that can be used year round. It adapts really well to different flavor profiles, from Thai to Indian to Mexican. You can find tons of inspiration for different types of turkey recipes here. {Thai lemongrass turkey salad? Turkey chili with black beans? Grilled breakfast pizza with turkey sausage? That site has got all those recipes and more!}
With all the summer cookouts coming up, I wanted to create a better-for-you option that you can toss on the grill to share at your next get-together. And I also wanted to make sure that it was easy and quick. And of course, it has to taste good. And I’ve had these skewers lying around for a few months just begging to be used, so of course I had to break ‘em out for this too.
Once all those ideas meshed around in my head and I sat staring at those skewers for a bit, I came up with these Caribbean Jerk Grilled Turkey Tenderloin Kabobs. Ding ding – we have a winner!
These grilled turkey tenderloin kabobs are the stuff! {Fo’ real.}
Here’s the checklist I asked myself as I was brainstorming the recipe and testing it out.
Do the jerk turkey kabobs have…
- Lean protein? Check, thanks to that turkey. {Fellow runners & triathletes: this is great for muscle repair and recovery!}
- Lots of vitamins and minerals? Check. {The turkey and the additional kabob ingredients – mango, pineapple and red bell peppers – are all rich in different vitamins and minerals, from iron to potassium to Vitamins A and C.}
- Less than 10 ingredients? Check. {I know you fellow mamas are happy about that right now.}
- Easy for anyone to make? Check. {Even if you hate cooking, this recipe is seriously so easy to throw together.}
For that easy to make part, I’m talking seriously easy – you just mix the turkey with the spices, lime juice, soy sauce, honey, and a little olive oil. Let that baby sit in the fridge for about 30 minutes.
Then you pop the turkey, pepper, pineapple and mango on the skewers…
And then you cook it and eat ’em up!
It’s going to be a new summer staple for my family, and I hope you’ll try it out for yours too!
Caribbean Jerk Grilled Turkey Tenderloin Kabobs
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lbs turkey tenderloin (cut into approximately 1 inch pieces)
- 2 tsp Caribbean Jerk seasoning blend
- 1/2 lime, juiced
- 1/2 tbsp honey
- 1 tbsp lower sodium soy sauce
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 2 cups pineapple, chopped into 1 inch pieces
- 2 cups mango, chopped into 1 inch pieces
- 1 large red bell pepper, chopped into 1 inch pieces
Instructions
- Place turkey which has been cut into approximately 1 inch pieces in a bowl. Toss with jerk seasoning, lime juice, honey, soy sauce and olive oil. Place in the fridge for approximately 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, chop pineapple, mango and bell pepper, and prepare grill.
- Remove turkey from fridge. Alternate placing turkey on skewers with pineapple, mango, and bell pepper. {Note – I use metal reusable skewers, but if you use wood ones be sure to soak them ahead of time.}
- Grill kabobs for approximately 5 minutes, then turn over and continue grilling for another 4-8 minutes* or until turkey is cooked thoroughly to an internal temperature of 165 F.
Notes
Nutrition
Share with me: What’s your favorite way to cook turkey? Do you ever experiment with it outside of Thanksgiving? What’s your favorite type of grilled turkey tenderloin dish for the summer?
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Oh my goodness! Just seeing this made me very hungry for lunch! I MUST try this recipe.
I hope you give it a try and love em!
This looks fabulous! I love turkey breast. I have been known to smuggle it home in my carry on comign home from Thanksgiving
I’m a big fan of turkey too. I actually never realized how lean this tenderloin cut is. It’s definitely going to be a part of my regular cooking plans now.
Oh Man I have been wanting some grilled pineapple so dang bad! This looks wonderful and would surely give me my fix!
If you wanted to whip up some desert to go with this, try some extra grilled pineapple served on top of vanilla frozen Greek yogurt with some shredded coconut on top. It’s divine!
These sound so amazing! Totally making these this summer.
Yay! Hope you enjoy them Nicole.
The boys in my family would enjoy those!
Glad to hear that Deborah! My boys loved them too.
These look delicious! I’ve never had turkey kabobs but this looks so flavorful!
This was the first recipe I’ve done using turkey on the kabobs and I was so pleased with it!
These look so good! I would love to make a gluten-free version using Tamari sauce instead of soy. Pinning this for later!
Yes! Great suggestion for a gluten-free version! 🙂
I make a really yummy Jerk Chicken and this looks like a great variation on that.
If you’re a jerk chicken fan, I bet you’d like these!
This looks seriously delicious – thanks for sharing!!!
You’re welcome! Hope you enjoy them!
These look delicious! I love how colorful they are too. I’m of the belief that the more colorful a dish the more tasty it’ll be.
I know! They definitely make a pretty plate. 🙂
YUM!! I love food with a Caribbean flavor. These look amazing!
Thanks Natalie!!
Looks so good!! xo
Thanks Tiffany! 🙂
I’ve been to Jamaica once and one of my fondest memories is of me eating jerk chicken every single day, a couple times a day…with a Red Strip beer! YUM When I came home, I started roasting jerk chickens all the time. So good. Your recipe look great, I haven’t tried it on turkey.
Ah Red Stripe! Love those. That would sure taste good with these 🙂
These kabobs look so delicious! Loved the Caribbean flavors and that pineapple is making me drool! This goes on my to-try list!
Awesome! Hope you love em!
All these comments from people who have not yet made the recipe! And then, not 1 follow up! Makes me wonder why?
Maybe because these kabobs turned out tough, tasteless, or all of the above?
Me thinks that responses to a recipe should be actual experiences with the recipe and not just 1 or 2 sentences of fluff.
How about it people? Anybody actually make this?
Compare your experiences with mine- The turkey gets dried out. As you would expect by trying to get the mango and the pineapple to caramelize on a skewer. And the pepper remains raw and that is okay if you like raw pepper. Most do not!.
My remedy was to cut the turkey into 2 inch chunks and then grill them separately. Same with the mango and the pineapple. Do the pepper in a hot skillet with a little neutral oil and get good color on both sides. BTW, adding chunks of charred onions and 1 or 2 charred jalapeno peppers will add lots of textures and a few additional levels of flavor to this recipe.
Please let me know how you like this recipe after you actually make it! .
Hi Robin! I’m sorry to hear about your experience with this. I have made these kabobs many times and enjoy them, as do my family. I find the carribean jerk seasoning adds a ton of flavor, and find the texture of the pepper to be fine (though I do enjoy firmer peppers). But I certainly realize that we all have different taste and texture preferences, so thanks for sharing your adaptations to this recipe for others to see.
I made them and loved them! It sounds like your experience was really different, Robin. Maybe you made a mistake somewhere along the way.
So glad to hear that they worked out well for you Abby!
Not sure what happened, mine came out on point! I am sure there are so many different variations but these are great for company too!!
Thanks Greer! Glad you enjoyed them. Totally agree with you about different variations – kabobs are awesome like that because you can get creative 🙂
I think caramelizing is a low and slow process, so that might not work well on the grill. My family loves kababs but we do argue over how well the veggies should be cooked. We solve that by cooking out own to taste!
Great idea about cooking to taste! That’s super smart.
Do you have a recommendation for the brand of caribbean jerk seasoning?
I’ve used the McCormick Caribbean Jerk seasoning in the past with good results! I’m sure there are some more authentic blends out there though 🙂