Today I’m showing you how to make shish kebab at home with real charcoal a great, easy homemade Turkish cuisine shish kebap recipe that gives you true smoky, juicy, real-grill flavor right in your oven.
It’s super easy, ready in 15 minutes, and so delicious that you’ll want to share it with everyone you love.
Tarsus Kebabı
Coal Infused Oven Kebab
500 g single-grind beef(rib), or you can use lamb
100 g beef fat, very finely chopped, use less if using lamb
1 small onion, grated (use the paste, not the juice)
½ red pepper, finely chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1 heaped teaspoon red pepper powder
7–8 small pieces of charcoal
For serving:
1 Turkish pide or lavash, or any flat bread
Parsley
Onions with sumac, Slice the onion, rub with a pinch of salt and mix with sumac, chopped parsley and olive oil
* Preheat the oven to 250°C / grill mode only, no fan. Place your metal skewers in the freezer — cold skewers help the meat cling better. İf you are using wooden skewers soak them in water. Meanwhile, heat the charcoal pieces directly on the stovetop flame, turning occasionally until they turn red-hot/ashy grey.
* Add the single-grind(coarsely ground) beef and finely chopped fat onto your counter or a wide tray. Grate the onion, strain out the excess liquid, and add only the onion paste to the meat. Mix in the finely chopped red pepper, salt, and red pepper powder. Knead for about 5 minutes until the mixture starts to become one. If making smaller portions, knead less.
* Divide the mixture into 4 equal portions. Take the cold skewers from the freezer. Wet your hands with cold water and shape each portion around a skewer: press, pull downward, press again — keeping the kebab evenly thick from top to bottom.
* Finish each skewer with the traditional “nakış” (stitching) technique: pinch gently with your palm and middle finger along the length to create shallow indentations. Chill the kebabs for 20–30 minutes if you have time.
* Spread the hot charcoal pieces onto a baking tray. Carefully crack larger pieces into smaller ones. Lay the kebabs across the tray so that the meat sits above the coals, not touching them. Place the tray on the top oven rack.
* Cook for 4 minutes, then carefully open the oven (step aside from the initial smoke). Lift each kebab briefly and brush your pide with the melted kebab fat. Flip the skewers and return to the oven for another 4 minutes. As the kebab cooks, the fat drips onto the coals, creating smoke that gives the kebab its signature charcoal aroma.
* Remove from the oven. Slide the kebab off the skewer onto the warm pide or lavash. Add onion with sumac and parsley if you like, wrap tightly, and serve immediately.
Notes & Tips
* Charcoal in the oven? Yes — this method works because the coal is already fully lit on the stovetop. There is minimal smoke once transferred.
* If using wooden skewers, soak them in water first so they don’t burn.
* Single-grind meat is essential — coarse texture gives proper kebab structure.
* Fat is flavour. It melts, drops onto the coal, and creates the smoke that seasons the kebab.
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45 Comments
Refika my dear you are amazing
Refika, I love your recipes, they are always so delicious and easy to make at home. You are always so creative! I love how you don’t even need a grill to make charcoal kebab, please keep up the good work
Lookkkkkksss soooooo Yummy will try sooon
Amazing Refika ❤❤❤ It made me hungry watching you eat that😂😂😂
Yaratıcılık süper!❤
My fire alarm went off as soon as she opened oven door
I watched other viral videos of shish ,but yours are the best and my favourite,well done to all your recipes and good luck.i also tried them and everybody goes mad for them
That is not Lavash. Lavash is very thin. I don't know what it is called in Turkiye but in Iran Barbari bread looks very similar. Hard to bake at home (as oven temps are not hot enough) because at lower temps it dries out too much. That said, I make it at home and it turns out perfect.
I use 62% hydration, yeast and bread flour (very similar to pizza dough). And I use tangzhong method to make sure it doesn't dry out at 550f degree which is my oven's max temp. I also use a similar gelatinized water and flour cooked mixture instead of egg wash for a crunchy exterior. Eggwash decreases the shelf life so I prefer this method. Produces perfect color and texture. If I see any interest, I can write down the entire recipe and share it with you.
Kabab iraqi
Love your recipes , I have made most of them to my family, hugs 🤗 and best wishes for all of you guys on the new year 2026 🎉
Are you sure that the kebab made in the oven with this coal heating technique on the gas stove , tastes the same with the kebaps made on barbecue in open air? I wonder whether the char coal fumes collected inside the oven become poisonous or not. Otherwise in open air it is ok with barbecue and direct fire heat.
North Indians do this routinely. They place the burning charcoal into a plate of oil to maximize fume and close everything with foil for 10 minutes or so
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Why turkish womens are too much western even though they are muslim😢 they cross the all limit of Muslim
Love the recipe but I absolutely don't dare to use coal on my stove!
Tho I subscribed a while ago I this will be my first go at one of your recipes why? simple,I,m proper mad for kebabs..all types of kebabs!yum yum,I got a hole in my tum!and ready in 15minutes and with a coal fire flavour…and you make it so simple.thanks for the share.❤🎉
You're an amazing chef. All your recipes are delicious. Your hummus recipe is the best one ever! Im going to try this kebabs one next😅
❤❤💛💛💚💚💙💙💜💜❤❤
Carbon monoxide poisoning??? ! ☠️☠️☠️
Nice tip.. thanks
Ohhh how so inventive. Great chef!
Refika, I love you and all of your content, but this is not safe. This is a recipe for killing a family by carbon monoxide poisoning. Please take this down. It really is terribly dangerous.
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Teşekkürler Refika 🎉❤🎉
I’ve tried a lot of your recipes and I love them! Yesterday I made your viral kebab and it turned out great.
I’m a big BBQ fan, but since I live in an apartment, I can’t grill. So I heat a big piece of charcoal on the stove, place it in my marinated kebab mixture, add a couple of drops of oil, and cover it tightly. After 3–5 minutes, I mix everything and shape the kebabs. It gives the same smoky flavor. But now I will try this method as well.❤
Looks tasty i will definitely try it 😊
This looks amazing! Question, did it get very smoky when you were heating your charcoals? Don’t have good ventilation in my apartment so don’t want to accidentally set off the smoke detectors 😅
Very creative way to smoke the meat.
So much mess! I would just go to the kebab house around the corner.
❤amazing!great treat!❤
Appetizing😋
I didn't know you could turn off the oven fan. How do you do that? Is it a special feature in some ovens?
With all respect, you basically did a BBQ in the oven. It is hard to call it a new technique. I think it is better to do it outside in seperate grill and keep the oven clean. Nevertheless, nice recipe 🤌🏼
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It’s all very good but this is not Shish Kebab!!!
This is Kofteh Kebab.
Shish means six and Shish kebab refers to six pieces of meat on the skewers.
Kofteh , means mashed or menaced, so what you are making is Kofteh in Turkish or Kobideh in Iran.
And for this I’m going to subscribe. Oh I’m already subscribed 😂
This looks amazing!
Looks amazing! But I'll stick to using coals outside. 😅
The bread recipe please
Kebabı soğan ve maydanozla birlikte yemek, Kıbrıslı Türklerin bir kültürüdür.
Çok güzel görünüyor.
Elinize ve emeğinize sağlık.
Eating kebab together with onion and parsley is a Turkish Cypriot culture.
It looks very nice.
Thank you for sharing ❤
Refika is the Turkish aunty everybody needs. all your videos go into my food and recipes playlist – especially since Turkish cuisine is top3 in the world for me 🥳
Your channel is awesome!
Thinking of you today, Refika. I've done a few crazy things in my time, but coals in the kitchen in 2025 would get me locked up! However, your Shish Kebab looked amazing. Thank you for your inspiration.
Love u from Iran❤