Chicken Spiedini

You’re going to love this Chicken Spiedini recipe! The chicken is incredibly succulent after being marinated in olive oil, lemon, garlic, parsley and red pepper flakes. I’m warning you now, your family is going to request Chicken Spiedini a lot!

Just like my Sicilian Beef Spiedini, this recipe for Chicken Spiedini is a guaranteed crowd pleaser. These are succulent Italian chicken skewers that are marinated in lemon, garlic and parsley, breaded and topped with my Garlic Butter Sauce.  

You’ll love serving these chicken skewers alongside my Red Skinned Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans and Potatoes or my Cherry Tomato Caprese Salad. It is such an easy recipe that can be prepared in advance for festive entertaining or as a flavorful midweek meal.  

You won’t believe how tender these chicken skewers are! And the secret to an incredibly succulent chicken breast is my Italian marinade.  So what are you waiting for? It’s time to give this easy Chicken Spiedini recipe a go!

Why you’ll love this recipe

• You won’t believe how tender and juicy the chicken is!
• This recipe is packed with the classic Italian flavors, lemon, garlic and parsley.
• It’s exciting enough for entertaining, but also simple enough for a weeknight meal.
• These are a guaranteed crowd pleaser. I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t like them!

For complete ingredient quantities and full instructions, please scroll to the printable recipe card at the bottom of the page.

Ingredients

• Boneless skinless chicken breast – my preference is free range, organic chicken. 
• Olive oil – just regular olive oil is required here. If you only have extra virgin olive oil, that will be fine.
• Lemon juice – I prefer freshly squeezed lemon juice for this recipe.
• Garlic – look for garlic cloves that are plump, juicy and fragrant.
• Parsley –  for this recipe, I recommend using fresh Italian parsley. You could use the curly variety, but I don’t find it as flavorful.
• Salt – nothing fancy here. 
• Black pepper – I prefer freshly ground black pepper because it is so much more flavorful, but use whatever you have in the kitchen.
• Red pepper flakes – just a little touch of heat and spice is perfect.
• Egg – my preference is free range, organic eggs.
• Breadcrumbs – I always make my own Italian Bread Crumbs but you can use store bought panko bread crumbs instead.
• Parmesan Cheese – also known as Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. I always buy a block of Parmesan and grate it as I need. But if you’ve got a good delicatessen, you could ask them to grate it for you.

See recipe card for quantities.

Instructions

1. For the marinade, mix together olive oil, lemon juice, minced garlic, parsley, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper.
2. Chop chicken into pieces and combine with marinade. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
3. Mix the beaten egg into the marinated chicken.
4. Combine breadcrumbs with parmesan, salt and pepper.

5. Coat the chicken pieces in the seasoned breadcrumbs.
6. Thread Chicken onto skewers.
7. Arrange the chicken skewers on a baking tray and drizzle with olive oil before baking in a preheated oven. 
8. Or, shallow fry until golden brown and cooked through.

Hint: Don’t crowd the chicken when cooking. This will prevent it from cooking quickly and will end up dry and stringy.

Substitutions

• You can use bottled lemon juice if you don’t have access to fresh lemons.
• Try substituting Pecorino Romano cheese for Parmesan cheese.
• Instead of using boneless chicken breast, you could use boneless chicken thighs. Just be sure to adjust the cooking time, as chicken thighs take longer to cook than chicken breast.

Variations

• Kid friendly – omit the red pepper flakes for a more kid friendly option
• Gluten free – Omit the step of coating the marinated chicken in bread crumbs. Instead, cook grilled chicken spiedini on a well heated grill pan brushing with olive oil as needed. Serve with lemon wedges and garlic butter sauce.
• No chicken? – If you’re not a fan of chicken, then you need to try my Italian Beef Spiedini. 

Storage

If you don’t manage to eat all of these Chicken Spiedini in one sitting, they are still delicious as leftovers. I recommend reheating these gently in the microwave and then pouring the reheated garlic butter sauce over them to serve.

You can also make these spiedini with chicken a day in advance. Once you’ve threaded the chicken breast onto the skewers, just pop them in an airtight container and store them in the refrigerator. On the day of serving, complete the remaining steps.

Tips for Success

Be careful not to cut your chicken breast into pieces that are too small. Firstly, it will be much more time consuming to bread and then thread lots of little pieces of chicken onto the wooden skewers and secondly, the chicken could overcook.

If shallow frying, have the oil hot enough so that the chicken sizzles when you put it in but not so hot that the oil is smoking. It’s important when shallow frying that all the surface seals and browns quickly so the food doesn’t become oily and soggy.

When shallow frying, add more oil if necessary. Also, monitor the oil temperature adjusting the heat up or down. If too many crumbs come off and burn in the oil, you may need to wipe out the skillet with a large bunch of paper towels and start again with fresh oil. Be very careful when handling hot oil!

If oven baking, be sure to have the oven preheated to the correct temperature. This prevents overcooking and drying out the chicken breast similar to having the oil hot enough when shallow frying.

FAQ

Serving Suggestion

Chicken Spiedini are amazing with lemon wedges and garlic butter sauce. However, you could serve these with a Sicilian Amogio sauce which is a simple tomato sauce flavored with garlic, lemon juice, olive oil and herbs.

I love to serve Chicken Spiedini as part of a much larger meal. This could include my Pizza Fritta as an appetizer, followed by my Chicken Spiedini, Crispy Roast Potatoes and Italian Fried Peppers for the main. Finish the meal off with my Espresso Brownies. 

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Chicken Spiedini Recipe

This chicken is incredibly succulent. First marinated in olive oil, lemon, garlic, parsley and red pepper flakes. Then breaded and fried or baked until golden brown.

5 from 40 votes

Print Pin Rate

Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes minutes

Marinating Time: 30 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour 20 minutes minutes

Servings:4 people

Author: Marcellina

Equipment

• ▢
  12 Wooden skewers
• ▢
  Assorted bowls and dishes as required
• ▢
  Large skillet if shallow frying the spiedini
• ▢
  large baking sheet if oven baking the spiedini

Ingredients

• ▢ 2 pounds (1 kilogram) boneless skinless chicken breast
• ▢ ¼ cup (60 mls) olive oil
• ▢ 2 tablespoons (30 mls) lemon juice
• ▢ 2 garlic cloves
• ▢ 1 tablespoon fresh parsley
• ▢ 1 teaspoon salt
• ▢ ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• ▢ ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
• ▢ 1 egg
• ▢ 1 cup bread crumbs
• ▢ ¼ cup (1 ounce) grated Parmesan cheese Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
• ▢ 1 teaspoon salt
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• ▢ Olive oil for frying or to drizzle on chicken if baking

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Instructions

• Prepare the marinade by whisking together olive oil, lemon juice, minced garlic, parsley, and red pepper flakes in a small bowl. Set aside
• Cut the chicken breast into large 1-inch (2.5cm) pieces.
• In a non reactive shallow dish, combine the chicken with the marinade, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• Remove the marinated chicken from the fridge. Add the egg in and mix until well combined.
• Combine the bread crumbs, grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, salt and pepper on a wide plate.
• Add 4 to 5 pieces of chicken to the seasoned bread crumbs.
• Toss and press the bread crumbs on so that all sides are coated with the crumb mixture.
• Thread the coated chicken pieces onto wooden skewers (4-5 pieces of chicken on each skewer).
• Repeat with remaining chicken. You should make 12 skewers in total.
• These chicken spiedini can be cooked in two ways – shallow fry or bake in the oven.

To shallow fry

• Pour enough olive oil to cover the bottom of a large skillet to a depth of about ¼ inch (6 mm). Place the pan over medium high heat. The oil needs to be hot enough so that you hear the sizzle as soon as the chicken spiedini go in but not so hot that the oil smokes.
• Add 4 or 5 skewers to the hot oil. The number of skewers you can cook at one time will depend on the size of your skillet. Don’t crowd the pan.
• Turn the skewers over regularly as they brown and cook through which will be about 7-8 minutes.
• Repeat with remaining skewers adding more oil if necessary. It may also be necessary to wipe out the skillet with a thick bunch of paper towels if a lot of crumbs come off and burn in the oil.

To oven bake

• Preheat the oven to 350ºF/180ºC.
• Arrange the chicken spiedini on a large baking sheet with low sides. Don’t cram the spiedini on the baking sheet. If necessary use another baking sheet.
• Drizzle olive oil over the chicken. You’ll use about ¼ – ⅓ cup of olive oil to drizzle.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 20 – 30 minutes turning the skewers halfway through the cooking time.
• Serve with lemon wedges and my garlic butter sauce.

Notes

Tips for Success

• Cut large chunks of chicken so they remain juicy and succulent.
• When shallow frying, have the oil at the correct temperature. You should hear a sizzles when the chicken is lowered into the oil.
• When shallow frying, add more oil if necessary. Also, monitor the oil temperature adjusting the heat up or down. 
• If oven baking, be sure to have the oven preheated to the correct temperature. 
• Whichever way you choose to cook the chicken, never crowd it or cram it into the skillet or baking sheet.

 

Food Safety

• Cook to a minimum temperature of 165 °F (74 °C).
• Do not use the same utensils on cooked food, that previously touched raw chicken.
• Wash hands after touching raw chicken or any meat.
• Don’t leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods.
• Never leave cooking food unattended.
• Use oils with high smoking point to avoid harmful compounds.
• Always have good ventilation when using a gas stove.

See more guidelines at USDA.gov.

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Nutritional Estimate Per Serving

Calories: 652kcal | Carbohydrates: 22g | Protein: 55g | Fat: 37g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 23g | Trans Fat: 0.03g | Cholesterol: 192mg | Sodium: 1754mg | Potassium: 948mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 343IU | Vitamin C: 7mg | Calcium: 130mg | Iron: 3mg

Nutritional Disclaimer

Nutritional information is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. For accurate results, it is recommended that the nutritional information be calculated based on the ingredients and brands you use.