Some of my only memories from our first trip to Beijing (I was five years old at the time) were of standing in front of a roadside grill joint, waiting for a few of these amazing yangrou chuan or grilled lamb skewers.
Beijing was a different place back then—a lot more of the old and less of the new. I have no memory of shiny malls or enormous skyscrapers, but I do remember the smoke and the smell coming from that makeshift street barbecue.
Yangrou chuan, or lamb skewers, are a quintessential Beijing favorite—a favorite among many lamb-loving Northern Chinese, in fact.
Spicy, crispy, fatty lamb on a stick. That’s basically the gist of it. Many examples of which can be found in our Xi’an Street Food post here.
I decided to make my own at home. After all, it is grilling season.
Beijing Lamb Skewers: Recipe Instructions
We like to use the lamb shoulder chops because they’re a pretty marbled piece of meat, and they don’t cost a fortune.
Simply remove the meat from the bone and cut into small chunks. Don’t trim any of the fat from the lamb. This is what’s going to give you the flavor you’re looking for. Put the lamb in a mixing bowl.
In a mortar and pestle (or spice grinder), add the cumin seeds, dried chili flakes, and salt. Pound it all together, cracking the chili flakes and cumin seeds into smaller pieces (you want it to be coarse, not a fine powder).
Add about half of the spices (the other half will be used for sprinkling after the lamb finishes cooking) to the lamb along with the oil and mix everything together.
Put the lamb onto the bamboo skewers.
Heat your grill until searing hot. Place the lamb skewers on the hot grill…
And grill until they get a nice char on the outside. What they do in Beijing is continually sprinkle more spices on the skewers.
Transfer to a plate and serve your lamb skewers yangrou chuan and watch them disappear in a flash!
Check out our post on Beijinger Beach Weekend and you can see how lamb skewers yangrou chuan and other goodies are really done on the grill in Beijing!
BEIJING LAMB SKEWERS (Yangrou Chuan)
Ingredients
- 1 pound lamb shoulder chops (450g)
- 2 teaspoons cumin seeds
- 1 tablespoon dried chili flakes
- salt (to taste)
- 1 tablespoon oil
- bamboo skewers (soaked in water for at least an hour (to prevent them from burning on the grill)
Instructions
- Take your chops and simply remove the meat from the bone and cut into small chunks. Don't trim any of the fat from the lamb. This is what's going to give you the flavor you're looking for. Put the lamb in a mixing bowl.
- In a mortar and pestle (or spice grinder), add the cumin, cumin seeds, chili flakes, and salt. Pound it all together, cracking the chili flakes and cumin seeds into smaller pieces (you want it to be coarse, not a fine powder). Add about half of the spices (the other half will be used for sprinkling after the lamb finishes cooking) to the lamb along with the oil and mix everything together.
- Put the lamb onto the skewers. Heat your grill until searing hot. Grill the skewers until they get a nice char on the outside. Transfer to a plate and sprinkle on the extra spices. Serve!
Thank you for this recipe! Can we use pork belly slices and bake the slices in the oven? I don’t want to use the broiler and am wondering if I can cook this in the oven at 400 degrees F? How long would you recommend?
Love your website!
Hi Albert, so sorry to have missed your comment. Can’t say that I’ve tried this recipe in the oven, but it’s worth a try. Did you try our Cantonese Roast Pork Belly? It’s done in the oven.
Thank for this great recipe! Your website has helped me a lot on days where I just don’t know what to serve for dinner.
My kids can’t eat hot spice, can this recipe be non spicy? If it can, I’m not sure if I take out the chilli flakes or would I need to add more cumin or another ingredients.
Can I use the oven to cook the kebabs? If I can, can you please let me know on the oven temperature setting and for how long?
Thank you!
Hi Cynthia,
If your kids can’t take the spice, you can just leave the dried red chili flakes out or use just a pinch. I remember that Sarah and Kaitlin could not take spice when they were kids either, but they both grew to love it over time! You can use the oven to cook these, but I would suggest that you place them on a sheet pan that has been preheated in the oven at 500 degrees F for 3 to 5 minutes on each side or use the broiler. Happy cooking!
I lived in Beijing for a year and I miss the food the most! street food is so good, i wish i learned how to make it before i left. Have you ever tried kao mantou?its just as good and yangrou chuan.
Hi Kaitlyn, you make it sound so good, I need to try it myself the next time I go to Beijing ;-)
What is that plate of vegetable in the final picture?
Hey Diallo, it was just a plate of roasted red onions and tomatoes! A side of roasted veggies of any kind would go great with these skewers.
I made these, but I used a chili oil infused with chili peppers, garlic, onion and ginger, and I also added ground sichuan peppercorn to the grilling spice. I recommend adding these if you love spice! It turned out great and I’ll be making them again soon :)
Awesome Sarah! So glad you enjoyed the recipe––thanks for sharing your experience!
This is AMAZING. Made this at home, and it is better than anything I ever got at the restaurant. Also a very simple recipe – you just can’t mess this up
Hi Jane, so glad you enjoyed it!!! :)
We grilled up a batch of these tonight and they blew our minds.
The only change I made to your recipe was to marinate them for a few hours in a bit of oil plus the same spice mixture, and I also tried to alternate the meaty pieces with the fatty pieces on the skewers. They were seriously incredible — thanks so much for putting these on our radar :-) The crispy fat was perfect and I loved how aggressively spicy your cumin-chile mix was.
Ps I highly recommend throwing the trimmed lamb shoulder bones on the grill; we ended with succulent marrow/little ribs to nibble on.
Hi Kim, you did it PERFECTLY! The fat and lean mix is crucial. And yes, I feel like “aggressively spicy” is my MO (for better or worse!)
Also throwing lamb bones on the grill? Sounds like we can be friends. :)
Damn! This is amazing! Makes me want to A) invest in a mortar and pestle set B) GRILL.
-k
Hi Kayiu!! You should definitely make these like…now. ^^
Totally looks delicious! For only using basically three ingredients excluding the lamb they sure do look YUMskies! Always looking for a new way to prepare lamb for the BBQ , you guys ROCK!!
Thanks, Phyllis!