Sure, you've had grilled chicken. But have you ever had grilled chicken lollipops? The beauty of this recipe is that you skewer whole chicken breasts, making them really easy to turn over on the grill and simple to slice up for serving. The lemony couscous and pineapple-pepper salsa are also worth your while.

Ingredients

¾ cup whole wheat couscous
Olive oil
2 lemons
2 x 5-oz boneless, skinless chicken breasts
4 sprigs of rosemary (tied together with a piece of string)
1 teaspoon runny honey
1 red bell pepper
¼ of a small red onion
1 scant cup chopped fresh pineapple
Optional: ½ a bunch of soft herbs, such as mint or Italian parsley (about ½ oz)
¼ cup plain yogurt

Directions

  1. Soak 6 wooden skewers in cold water to prevent them from burning later on.
  2. Place the couscous in a bowl with ½ tablespoon of olive oil. Finely grate in the zest of ½ a lemon and squeeze in the juice, throwing the squeezed half into the bowl. Just cover the couscous with boiling water, then cover and set aside to fluff up.
  3. Carefully push 3 skewers horizontally into each chicken breast (trim the skewers, if needed), season with black pepper, squeeze on the juice of ½ a lemon and drizzle with ½ tablespoon of olive oil.
  4. You can cook the skewers on a hot grill or in a non-stick frying pan on the stove. Either way, cook them for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the chicken is golden and cooked through, turning regularly. For the final minute of cooking, use the rosemary sprigs to brush the honey over the chicken, giving it a lovely sticky glaze.
  5. Halve, seed and finely chop the pepper, then peel and finely chop the onion and finely chop the pineapple and scrape everything into a bowl. Add a squeeze of lemon juice and a drizzle of olive oil, then taste and season with sea salt and pepper, if needed. Pick and finely chop the herbs (if using), then add to the bowl and toss together.
  6. Fluff up the couscous with a fork, season to taste with salt and pepper, and divide between plates.
  7. Slice the chicken between the skewers, making sure it’s cooked through – if it’s not, cook it a little longer. Place 3 chicken lollipops on each plate and portion out the salsa. Serve with yogurt for dipping, and cut the remaining lemon into wedges for squeezing

Excerpted from Let’s Cook by Buddy Oliver published by Appetite © Jamie Oliver Enterprises Limited. Recipe photography © David Loftus & Paul Stuart, 2025. Published by Appetite by Random House®, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.