Grilled Lamb Skewers with Honey Mustard

Honey mustard hits the grill sizzling. That’s when you know it’s right.

Why You’ll Love These Lamb Skewers

Twenty minutes total of actual hands-on work. Grill does the heavy lifting. Granny Smith apples go soft and sweet but don’t collapse. The lamb stays pink inside while the edges get those charred bits. Honey caramelizes and gets sticky—you eat it like candy on the outside of each bite. Summer grilling that tastes like you’ve been doing it forever. Works cold the next day. Maybe better.

What You Need for Honey Dijon Mustard Lamb Skewers

Honey. Real honey. Three quarters of a cup. Dijon mustard—the grainy kind, not smooth. Two tablespoons. Apple cider vinegar. Not white. Five teaspoons. Salt and cracked black pepper. Not ground. Actual pepper corns cracked roughly.

Six hundred grams of boneless leg of lamb. Cut into cubes about the size of a dice. Two Granny Smith apples. Firm. Dice them the same size as the meat. You want them to cook at the same rate. Wooden skewers. Six of them. Soak them twenty minutes first or they char through before the food cooks. Fresh thyme. One teaspoon. Chopped fine.

How to Make Honey Dijon Mustard Lamb Skewers

Combine the honey, mustard, and apple cider vinegar in a small saucepan. Medium heat. Stir constantly. Don’t walk away. The mixture thickens gradually—after about twelve minutes it coats a spoon like actual syrup. That’s the signal. Pull it off the heat and let it cool for a minute. Not long. Just until you can touch the bottom of the pot without flinching.

Get the grill smoking hot. High heat. Clean the grates with a wire brush if there’s old debris. You want bare metal basically.

How to Get Grilled Lamb Skewers with Crispy Edges

Thread the lamb and apples tightly on the skewers. Alternate. Lamb. Apple. Lamb. Apple. Keep them snug or the apple pieces slide around and fall into the coals. Season generously with salt and a ton of cracked black pepper. The pepper matters. Regular ground pepper disappears. Cracked pepper stays visible and tastes sharper.

Grill marks form in about two to three minutes per side. Listen for the hiss and pop when you first set them down. That’s the marinade hitting the heat. Watch the honey marinade bubble and darken but don’t let it go black. After you flip, brush more marinade on. The lamb should still be pink when you cut into the center. The apples soften but hold their shape. They shouldn’t be mushy.

Remove to a plate. Scatter the fresh thyme over everything while it’s still hot. The heat releases the oils. The smell is immediate and kind of aggressive in the best way.

Lamb Skewers Tips and Common Mistakes

Soak the skewers or they burn through. Twenty minutes minimum. Dry wood catches fire before the food cooks. The apple cider vinegar matters more than you’d think. Tried it once with rice vinegar. Too mild. The acidity cuts through the richness of the lamb in a way other vinegars don’t quite do.

Don’t overcrowd the grill. Two or three skewers at a time, depending on your grill size. Space matters. The heat needs to circulate or you steam instead of sear. The honey mixture thickens faster than you expect. Watch it. A minute too long and it goes from glaze to toffee that hardens. Still tastes fine but harder to eat.

Granny Smith apples specifically. Red apples turn to mush. These hold up to the heat and stay slightly tart even after softening.

Grilled Lamb Skewers with Honey Mustard

By Emma

Prep:

20 min

Cook:

22 min

Total:

42 min

Servings:

4 servings

Ingredients

• Marine
• 100 ml honey
• 25 ml Dijon mustard grainy style
• 20 ml apple cider vinegar
• Salt and cracked black pepper
• Skewers
• 600 g boneless leg of lamb, cut into 30 cubes about 2 cm each
• 2 Granny Smith apples, diced to roughly 24 pieces 2 cm cubes
• 6 wooden skewers soaked for 20 minutes
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves finely chopped

Method

1. Marine
2. 1 Combine honey, Dijon mustard, apple cider vinegar, salt, and pepper in small saucepan. Heat medium, swirl constantly till thick and viscous. About 12 minutes. Should coat spoon like syrup. Remove from heat, leave to cool slightly.
3. 2 Preheat grill or barbecue high heat. Get grates smoking hot, clean with wire brush if needed.
4. Skewers
5. 3 Alternate lamb cubes and apple pieces tightly on skewers. Avoid loose threading so fruit doesn’t fall apart. Season with salt and tons of cracked black pepper.
6. 4 Place skewers on grill. Listen for hiss, pop. Cook each side roughly 2 to 3 minutes max, watch for honey caramel bubbling and dark grill marks forming. Don’t burn; edges will darken but not blacken. Use brush to glaze with marinade after flipping each side. Lamb should still hold pink in center, apples soften but keep firmness.
7. 5 When done, remove to plate. Sprinkle thyme leaves for fresh herbal punch; aroma hits you immediately.
8. 6 Serve alongside foil-wrapped potatoes roasted with garlic and rosemary or grilled seasonal veggies to cut richness.

Nutritional information

Calories

320

Protein

32g

Carbs

12g

Fat

15g

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Frequently Asked Questions About Honey Dijon Mustard Lamb Skewers

Can I prepare these ahead of time? Cube the lamb and apple the morning of. Thread them on skewers no more than two hours before grilling or the wood starts to absorb moisture and the fruit gets soggy. The marinade keeps for a week refrigerated.

What if I don’t have a grill? Broiler works. High setting. Same time roughly. Won’t get the same char but the honey marinade still caramelizes.

How do I know when the lamb is cooked through? Medium rare is pink center. Two to three minutes per side on a hot grill. If you want it more done, maybe four minutes. The apples tell you when they’re ready—they’ll look soft and slightly translucent at the edges.

Can I use a different mustard? Grainy Dijon specifically. Yellow mustard is too mild. Spicy brown mustard overpowers the apple. The graininess matters texture-wise too.

Does the marinade need to cool completely? Just enough that you can handle the brush without burning your hand. Cold marinade sitting on hot meat keeps it from charring properly. Slightly warm is the sweet spot.

What apple should I use instead of Granny Smith? Haven’t tried others. Pink Lady probably works. Honeycrisp would dissolve. Don’t bother experimenting here.