KETO Italian Grilled Swordfish Skewers
Keto Italian Grilled Swordfish Skewers
No need to worry about Italian food being nothing but fattening! Not with these flavor-packed KETO Italian Grilled Swordfish Skewers !
Seriously this is one of those “you-won’t-believe-how-good-this-is” recipes!
The proof is when you have:
- a “meat and potatoes ONLY” husband, who is
- terribly picky and hard to please, and on top of that
- doesn’t even like to eat fish, but yet
- gobbled up two of these Keto Italian Grilled Swordfish Skewers in minutes!
I’ve been a cook on a mission: To prepare an Italian entree bursting with flavor that’s also great for those of us on the pound-blasting Keto lifestyle. No feeling of deprivation whatsoever with this recipe! My skinny husband, Mr. Super-Picky, nearly put me in a state of total shock when he told me how much he enjoyed this swordfish.
There it is . . . the endorsement!
This recipe is totally company-worthy . . . and SO EASY, that it is almost fool-proof!
The tangy salsa cruda of sun-dried tomatoes and olives adds an extra unexpected zing to your palate alongside the mild-flavored and delicate-textured swordfish. This recipe helps to really understand the true healthy flavors of the Mediterranean region: olives and olive oil, lemon and herbs, and sun-dried tomatoes, roasted peppers, and fresh fish!
There are hands-down no olives like the fresh green Castelvetrano Italian Olives to add the freshest olive flavor to any recipe! Once you plop one of these vivid green olives in your mouth, you’ll never eat another ‘regular’ green olive!
The flavors just swift you away to the sun-kissed landscapes of Italia and any part of the Mediterranean! Delicious AND healthy! A combination that is so difficult to find!
So it’s time to roll up your sleeves and get to work cooking. First, start by first setting out all of your ingredients. This way if you find that there’s an ingredient missing, you can run out and pick that item up before starting to cook.
The board below includes:
- the swordfish
- lemons
- greens to use for plating the final kabobs and for presentation
- lemon extra virgin olive oil
- herbs and seasonings
- cherry tomatoes
- salt and pepper
The board below includes:
- green pepper, yellow pepper, and sweet red pepper
- garlic
- sun-dried tomatoes
- red onions
- small portobello mushrooms
- cherry tomatoes
- pimento-stuffed green olives
- Castelvetrano Imported Italian green olives
- pimentos
- salt and pepper
Prepare the salsa cruda first, ahead of time since it can be in the rerfrigerator while you create the skewers and then to be able to spend time grilling them with your full attention. Plus this gives the salsa cruda time for all of the ingredients to marry well.
How to Grill Keto Italian Grilled Swordfish Skewers
Whether you choose meat, fish, seafood, vegetable skewers, or a combination, there are a few similarities, such as which skewers to use, how to thread the ingredients, and what coals to use.
Choose a meaty fish. Ideal fish for grilling include swordfish, salmon, tuna, or monkfish all work well. If you use a flakier fish, it will fall off the skewer and down into the grills of the barbeque and down into the coal.
Cut the swordfish filets into 1-1/2″ square cubes.
Should Wood or Metal Skewers Be Used?
- Either wood or metal skewers can be used. We prefer to use good quality metal skewers because they don’t burn and are the most reliable in preventing the fish and vegetables from spinning round each time you turn them on the grill. Plus you can re-use metal skewers, thus making them a more eco-friendly choice.
- On the other hand, wood skewers are very inexpensive, but they burn easily. With their throw-away nature, they aren’t kind to our environment. To reduce their flammability, an extra step of soaking them in water for a minimum of thirty minutes is necessary and a little bit more work.
How Do You “Thread” Skewers?
I prefer to have matching colors at both ends and in the middle of each skewer.
- Begin with brightly colored vegetables and then add the swordfish or meat of choice. Then place onions and another vegetable. Repeat this pattern until you reach the end of the skewer.
- Stay consistent and balanced on every skewer to ensure that the ingredients cook evenly and in the same amount of time.
- Add every ingredient so that they touch but are not squeezed tightly together.
- Putting vegetables between the fish pieces not only adds color, but also helps the fish cook more quickly, and produces a much more flavorful fish that is less dried out.
- Use fruits and vegetables that won’t get mushy and that will stay on the skewers during the grilling process. Plus use those that will cook in just about the same amount of time. Bell peppers, onions, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, zucchini, and yellow squash are great choices of vegetables. Pineapple, mango and peaches are nice choices for fruit.
- If you want to include vegetables that need more time to cook, parboil them first and then add them to the skewers. This includes corn on the cob and potatoes.
- Using vegetables and fruit that are in season will increase the flavor.
How To Cook Swordfish Skewers / Kabobs Indoors
There are several ways to cook swordfish skewers (and any skewer) indoors. Each method allows you to enjoy this recipe throughout the year:
- Use an indoor grill that is either portable and small or use the grill of a cooktop if you have one.
- My personal preference to prepare any fish is to cook fish on the stove using either a frying pan or a grilling pan. I like to use cooking spray with a little bit of butter to cook fish. This method results in the fish being moister along with having a beautiful, caramelized, and browned surface. I don’t recommend using olive oil because it can easily burn and that would ruin the skewers/kabobs. Place the swordfish kabobs in one layer in a large frying pan and cook on medium heat for 5 minutes, turn over the skewers/kabobs and cook for another 5 minutes or until you are happy with the level of doneness. To speed up the cooking process, place a lid on the pan while cooking the skewers/kabobs.
- I also like to bake fish in an oven. For these skewers/kabobs, use a baking sheet pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place the fish skewers/kabobs on the pan and bake for about 10 minutes, turn over, and bake for another 10 minutes. I like a caramelized surface on fish, so before baking the fish skewers/kabobs simply brush some melted butter all over the fish to achieve this delicious finish.
With fish that was fresh when purchased and grilled immediately, then grilled fish can be kept for 2 days in the refrigerator in a sealed container.
A great way to enjoy these the next day is to remove all of the ingredients off of the skewers and mix them in a fresh green salad! You’ve got an instant meal and one that’s perfect to pack for lunch too!
I hope that you’ll try this recipe for Keto Italian Grilled Swordfish Skewers and that you thoroughly enjoy them and the compliments you’ll receive from your guests. Remember, tweak all of my recipes to your preferred taste preferences! Need more lemon? More garlic? Less lemon or less garlic? Do what you enjoy and find the true joy of cooking!
Products that I use and highly recommend to help you prepare these grilled swordfish skewers:
Skewer Grilling Baskets (Set of 4)
12″ Metal Skewers with Storage Bags
PrintKeto Italian Grilled Swordfish Skewers
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Additional Time: 0 hours
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 4 – 6 skewers 1x
- Category: Fish
- Cuisine: Italian
- Diet: LowCalorieDiet
Ingredients
Olive Salsa Cruda
- 1/4 cup Italian parsley, chopped
- 4 Tbsp. Sun-Dried Tomato & Olive Bruschetta Topping
- 8 jumbo-sized pitted green olives with pimento, chopped
- 8 – 12 Castelvetrano olives, pits (manually) removed, chopped
- 1/4 cup chopped pimentos
- 4 Tbsp. sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
- 1 large clove of garlic, minced
- 2 Tbsp. Extra Virgin olive oil
- 1/2 tsp. grated lemon zest
- 2 Tbsp. lemon juice
- 1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
- Freshly ground sea salt and black pepper to taste
For the Swordfish Skewers
- 1 red onion, cut into quarters
- 1–1/2 pounds swordfish filets, skin removed, cut into 1-1/2″ chunks
- 1 – 2 of each: red, green, and yellow bell peppers
- 10 baby portobello mushrooms, wiped clean, stems removed
- 10 – 20 red cherry tomatoes
- Olive oil – to brush on (or spray on)
- Freshly ground sea salt and black pepper to taste
- Mrs. Dash Salt-Free Italian Seasoning
- Mrs. Dash Salt-Free Garlic and Herb Seasoning
- Lemon Pepper Seasoning
- Red-leaf lettuce for serving
- Sliced lemons
Instructions
- PREPARE the SALSA CRUDA FIRST: Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Set aside. Can be made ahead. If it is too tart for your preference, add sugar or Stevia to bring it to your preference. It can be tart.
- Heat outdoor grill to medium heat.
- PREPARE THE SKEWERS by alternately thread onto 12-inch metal the skewers: swordfish chunks with the vegetables.
- Once assembled, GENEROUSLY brush skewers with olive oil.
- Season the assembled skewers with your favorite seasonings on all sides (or use those recommended in the ingredient list above).
- Salt and pepper the skewers to your preference level.
- Grill skewers 10 – 15 minutes, turning every 3 – 4 minutes until swordfish is a bit golden on the edges and the vegetables are lightly charred.
- For presentation: Place grilled swordfish skewers on a bed of red and green leafy lettuce.
- Serve with salsa cruda and lemon slices.
- BUON APPETITO!
One seaffod I have never had is swordfish..The kabobs look fantastic sure hope your doing well and having a fantastic summer
Missed this the first time you posted it, but thrilled I didn’t miss it this time. Just the cruda alone is incredible. We love swordfish but don’t cook it much because it’s hard to find here. If I can find some, this is going on the menu for the first of grilling season. It’s a little chilly to grill right now. š The colors and textures and flavors are all mouth watering. Wonderful creation Roz!
This looks terrific — healthy, and loaded with flavor. And swordfish (along with salmon) is a fish that even people who don’t “like” fish like. Good stuff — thanks.
Days are getting longer and this is just perfect to make on the balcony for week dinner Roz ! Grazie milla !
I can’t believe I’ve never tried swordfish before! I love skewers, and yours look delicious! I really want to try swordfish, I don’t know how easy it is to get hold of in the UK though xo
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If this worked for your picky husband, maybe it would even make my family happy!
Have a great weekend.
We eat a lot of fish at my house. But swordfish is not one we have trued. This looks divine ā„
These skewers look divine! I don’t make swordfish very often, but I need to add it to my shopping list. The sun dried tomato olive salsa is the perfect addition to this dish.
We don’t prepare swordfish often either, Isabel, but this recipe has convinced me that we can’t miss this fish as we have done in the past. What a great flavor swordfish has! Thank you for having me in this wonderful Sunday Supper group!
xo
Roz
Your kabobs look fabulous Roz! I haven’t cooked swordfish in ages. Love all the olives and the sun-dried tomatoes. So packed with flavor!
Thank you Christin, I can tell you that after grilling these, we’ll definitely have more swordfish in our meals! What a great fish!
Roz
What wonderfully beautiful food. My hussssbadn adores swordfish, yet I rarely makei it. I think I’ll have to try this one, Roz! Thanks!
Adri, However you prepare it, adding your own magic tricks, I KNOW it will be superb and make BOTH your husband and you smile!
xo
Roz
All of your recipes are so beautiful, Roz! I guess I’m not the only one with a husband that doesn’t care for fish too much. Hopefully, this one will change his mind. The salsa looks incredible. I can’t wait to try it!
You are so sweet and understanding Shari, regarding the challenge of preparing recipes to that please our guys!
Roz
Beautiful looking entree Roz!
Thank you Cindy for both your visit and you gracious comment!
i love the olive salsa Roz! It looks like the perfect addition to not only these skewers but anything really. I can see me putting it on pasta and using it in a shrimp dish! Love it
Oh yes, Jessica, adding it to pasta is a great idea! Leave it to you to help me with some creativity!
xoxo
Roz
Your dish couldn’t possibly be any more beautiful.
Oh thank you Beth. I took the left-overs to work and everyone couldn’t get over the aroma in my office! Thanks for your comment and visit!
Roz
Yum, these look amazing. And I’ll take extra salsa please!
The salsa cruda truly makes a difference in a “wow” factor Kim! Thanks for stopping by!
Roz
I love swordfish! These kabobs look great!
Thank you so much Laura, for your kind comment! If you do decide to prepare these, please let me know what you think!
Roz
With that endorsement, this is a must try. Pinned. Have a wonderful holiday “day off” and thanks for a another great recipe.
Lea Ann, with your cooking expertise, I know that you could even improve on this deliciousness! Happy Labor Day, dear friend!
xoxo
Roz
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Yum! I am so impressed. I’ve never tried cooking swordfish before, but I like to order it in restaurants. Sounds like a great recipe!
Courtney, it’s our first time preparing swordfish at home too. You’ll LOVE this! Thanks for your visit and kind comment!
xo
Roz
What amazing flavors! Love it. Yum!
Thank you Shannon for your visit and kind comment! Happy Labor Day!
Roz
Whether I’m sailing on the Mediterranean or strolling the cobble stone streets of South Carolina, I’d choose your swordfish kabobs for Sunday Supper! The fish is one of the tastiest, but your presentation is pretty, too =)
Thank you so much Kim . . . and if you ever do get here to stroll the cobblestone streets of SC, you make sure you stop by and I’ll fix you whatever your heart desires!
xo
Roz
What a beautiful presentation, and lovely combination of flavors. Perfection for today’s theme!!! š
Awe, you’re so sweet Diana! Thank you for your visit and compliment!
Happy Labor Day!
Roz
I have a meat and potatoes loving husband too (who also doesn’t like seafood unless it is battered and fried). So since your hubby gives the seal of approval I’ll have to try them and see how my hubby like them. If not, well, that’s okay – more for me. I know I would love them!
Oh Renee, you reminded me that my husband likes only fried fish too! What is it? Oh well, more for me! Happy Labor Day!
xo
Roz
LOVE that salsa that you’ve served up with the fish! LOVE the flavors!
Thank you Jen! We both made skewers and I love your Teriyaki Chicken Skewer recipe too!
Roz
I haven’t has swordfish in so long, I’ve forgotten how good it is!
Me too, Sarah. I’m never going to go so long again without having swordfish in our home! Such a delightful fish! Thanks for stopping by!
Roz
Wow, Roz! Sumptuous! There is a lot of flavour happening here … just wonderful. The fact that it’s easy, healthy, and lower in calories helps, but the finished flavours are what recommend it!
Thank you Susan, and it really does have a power play of flavors going on! My mom wants me to fix these for her the next time that she visits us!
xo
Roz
We heart quick to make dinners like this which are absolutely bursting with fresh flavors….olive salsa cruda is a great chunky twist on the tapenade,loved everything about this yummy combination of goodies,beautiful food clicks š
Yes, Kumar, you’re right in that this side salsa is very much like a tapenade! If you like tapenade, than I think you’ll enjoy this salsa crura! Thank you for your sweet comments!
Roz
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Your skewers look phenomenal, Roz! Maybe there’s hope for my Mr. Picky, too…I must try these š So glad you’re back for another Sunday Supper!!! xo
Oh thanks Liz, it’s not easy to cook with a picky eater. When my Mr. Picky is on the road for something, I always make something that I love and he won’t eat! LOL!
xoxo,
Roz
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Mmmm. Swordfish is so good, and I love all of the beautiful colors and flavors you have packed into that salsa! So fresh!
Thank you Conni! And the thing is, if you have someone who DOESN’T like alot of flavor, they can just nosh on the swordfish and be perfectly happy! This satisfies many palates!
Roz
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Beautiful, Roz. I What a colorful and delicious meal. I love all the wonderful flavors in the salsa and know it is fantastic with the grilled swordfish. Eating healthy is easy with great redcipes like this.
Oh you are so sweet Cathy! I just wish all healthy foods had flavor . . . if so, I’d be a thin woman! Thank you for your kind visit and comment!
xo
Roz
Roz what a great combo! We love swordfish ! And this in a kabob with a sundried tomato and olive salsa on the side is truly fantastic! You gave me some ideas on what to make today and for tomorrow Labor Day! Thanks again! I love your blog.. I need to check out the Sunday Supper Family network.
Warmly, Anna
Anna, I need to prepare swordfish more often. It is such a great-flavored fish! Hope you’re enjoying your Labor Day holiday weekend! It’s really hot up here! I’ll be right over to visit your beautiful blog, dear friend!
xoxo
Roz
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This is definitely packed with flavour Roz with heart heathy and calorie-wise in the mix.
Knowing how well you watch what you eat to stay so trim and fit, I think this is a recipe that you’d enjoy Val!
xo
Roz
What a great weekend dinner! Those swordfish skewers look particularly tempting!
Thank you so much Angie! I always appreciate your visits and comments!
Roz
Thank you for participating this week and I’m glad you found a dish that your spouse enjoyed!
Hi DB – Thank YOU for all of the work that you put in for another successful Sunday Supper! I enjoyed this theme!
Roz