Pesto Shrimp and Potato Kebabs

These Pesto Shrimp and Potato Kebabs are made with just a few ingredients and cook quickly on the grill for an easy summer dinner. 

Hi friends!

Let me tell you I had a long debate with myself about whether to call these kebabs or kabobs. I really don’t know which one is right. Either way, it’s dinner…on a skewer…and it really can’t get much easier than this recipe.

But first, let’s back up a little bit. A few weeks ago, Squish and I were in Costco, eating our way through the aisles. BTW, Monday at 4pm is a great time to go to Costco if you want samples. We tried a wide variety of things and let’s be real, he ate them all, but the one that actually surprised me the most was the tortellini with pesto. He’s not a huge pasta lover (unlike his mama) and isn’t always a fan of new sauces…but he gobbled up two entire tortellini and begged for more. And me being the sucker that I am, fell victim to their sample marketing and came home with a giant two pack of tortellini and an even bigger jar of pesto. Pesto tortellini with a Costco rotisserie chicken was actually our first meal in the new house!

Anyways….the moral of the story is that I now have a pesto surplus and I’ve been putting pesto on ALL THE THINGS lately! So that’s where the idea for these kebabs came from. (Side note – If you don’t happen to have a giant jar of pesto on hand, I’d highly suggest heading to the farmer’s market, grabbing some basil and making a batch of your own! It’s so easy to make and you can even freeze it in ice cube trays so you’ll have easy access to it all year long!)

Last weekend when I was at the grocery store, I picked up some of these Baby Boomer potatoes (not sponsored…I used my own money) from The Little Potato Company. I’m usually one to just buy a large potato and chop it up but these were the littlest potatoes I’d ever seen and they were so cute I just couldn’t resist. Plus they were on sale! I decided to pair them with some shrimp, coat everything in pesto and throw them on the grill for a quick dinner.

I’ve found that the trick to grilling potatoes is to cook them most or all of the way in the microwave beforehand and then just throw them on the grill for a little flavor. Otherwise, they seem to take forever and since shrimp cook so quickly, I knew that wouldn’t work. So I pre-cooked them and it worked out beautifully!

Here’s how you make these:

Pesto Shrimp and Potato Kebabs

These Pesto Shrimp and Potato Kebabs are made with just a few ingredients and cook quickly on the grill for an easy summer dinner.

• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 5 minutes
• Total Time: 15 minutes
• Yield: Serves 3-4 1x

Scale 1x2x3x

Ingredients

• 1 pound raw wild shrimp, peeled & devined
• 3/4 pound baby potatoes (or your favorite small potatoes chopped into quarters)
• 2–3 Tbsp pesto
• Salt and pepper + olive oil

Instructions

1. Pierce each baby potato with a knife and place them in a microwave safe bowl.
2. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and toss to coat.
3. Microwave for 3-4 minutes or until potatoes are soft when pierced with a fork.
4. Let potatoes cool until they can be easily handled.
5. Thread skewers with shrimp and potatoes.
6. Brush with pesto on both sides.
7. Grill on a medium-high grill for 2 minutes per side.

Pretty easy, right? Just don’t forget to turn off the grill when you’re done….like I did.

To make this dinner come together even faster, cook the potatoes in the microwave the night before and stick them in the fridge. Then just thread your skewers and throw them on the grill when you’re ready to eat!

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–