Labor day is just around the corner and if you’re anything like me, you’ve been counting down the days to the three-day holiday. It’s the perfect time to enjoy the long sunny days with (slightly) cooler temperatures and grill out with family and friends.

Kabobs are my favorite things to grill – whether they’re shrimp or chicken or veggie skewers. They are so easy to throw together for large groups of people, plus they’re filling and nutritious. This grilled flank steak with veggies is no exception!

There are different theories on how long you should marinate flank steak. Some say that marinating it for a day or two makes for the most tender meat, while others say that it’s pointless because very little actually penetrates the surface.

I say, “Enough with your theories! You’re not the boss of me!” But in actuality, I’ve tried this both ways – I typically like to marinade overnight, but for this recipe, I marinated the meat around lunch time and grilled it after work. The meat was still tender, but the 6 hour marinade yielded slightly firmer results (still delicious though!). However, in my opinion, the amount of time you marinate is only a portion of having a good result. It’s also important to (1) have the right combination of marinade ingredients and to (2) know that the tenderness of your meat is a result of your cooking time. We like our meat medium rare, which means I leave it on the grill slightly longer than just searing the edges. A medium rare cut of meat will always be more tender than a well done cut of meat.

The essential ingredients for a good marinade should include: oil, salt (ex: kosher salt, soy sauce), acid (ex: vinegars, lemons/limes), herbs (ex: garlic, cumin, coriander), and sugars (ex: honey, brown sugar). This recipes uses a little of each for the marinade, then olive oil and salt and pepper are rubbed on the sliced vegetables, and everything is skewered on wooden sticks and grilled on high heat.

I grilled these on my indoor stove top grill (about 2-3 minutes per side) and served over warm rice. The meat was perfectly seared on the outside, but still tender and pink on the inside, and the vegetables were just starting to soften.

I hope you enjoy! And have a wonderful holiday weekend! 🙂