I live in Kansas City, which just so happens to be the home of Garozzo's Ristorante, a place that's legendary around here. If you Google "chicken spiedini," you'll likely see that it's widely credited as being invented at Garozzo's. And honestly, that wouldn't surprise me one bit-it's certainly the first place I ever heard of this delicious Italian dish.

Now, whether they truly invented chicken spiedini is probably up for debate (as with most great food origin stories). But what I can tell you for sure is that they make an absolutely killer Spiedini – That flavor is what inspired this recipe, with all the juicy chicken, herby breading, and that unmistakable garlicky punch.

Listen to the Recipe

You can also listen to a podcast episode sharing all the tips and tricks for making amazing chicken spiedini, plus the full audio recipe. There is a convenient audio player in the recipe card below!

What is Chicken Spiedini?

Pronounced “Spee-dee-nee” or “Spah-dee-nee”.

Spiedini is a traditional Italian dish made of marinated meat, rolled in fine Italian bread crumbs, skewered, and baked or grilled.

It was traditionally made with veal or beef (eye of round).

Chicken Spiedini at Garozzo’s

I live in Kansas City where Garozzo’s Ristorante is located. If you search “chicken spiedini” on Google, it comes up that Chicken Spiedini was actually invented at Garozzo’s.

It definitely is the first place I ever heard of this Italian dish.

However, whether this is true or not is up for debate. But I will say they make some damn good Spiedini.

Ingredients

Here are the things that you need to make this Chicken Spiedini Recipe and Amogio Sauce, plus some helpful tips on a few ingredients:

Chicken – buy good quality boneless skinless chicken breasts. I like to buy Smart Chicken. If you can find chicken that has been “air chilled” you are on the right track to having really good chicken.

Garlic – for this recipe you just want to crush the garlic cloves to release thier flavors into the marinade. If you chop or mince the garlic it will stick to the chicken and you risk it burning in the oven.

Italian Bread Crumbs – make sure you use fine/traditional bread crumbs. Now is not the time for the coarser panko bread crumbs.

If you do not have “Italian” bread crumbs, just use traditional bread crumbs and mix in 1 tablespoon Italian Seasoning.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil – definitely use the “extra virgin” type of olive oil. It has a very distinct buttery flavor that you want, especially in the Amogio sauce.

White Wine

Did you know that you can actually freeze white wine to use in recipes.

I don’t drink a ton of white wine, but I love to use it in recipes like Shrimp Risotto or Shrimp Scampi Linguine.

I buy chardonnay in an aseptic container (looks like a small carton) and after I have used a little I will just pop the whole carton in the freezer.

You want to make sure you leave a little room for the container to expand when freezing. You can also pop the whole carton in a freezer safe bag to make sure there are no wine explosions in your freezer.

It will freeze like a slushy so you can scoop out what you need, when you need it.

How to Cook Chicken Spiedini

This is a 24 hour recipe, including marinating time, so make sure you leave time to make this the right way. It is FULL of flavor!

Marinating Prep

Start by cutting your chicken breast into 1 ½ inch chunks.

Grab a large zip lock baggie for marinating.

Add the chicken chunks to the bag, also add in the crushed garlic cloves, lemon zest, extra virgin olive oil, water, white wine, and kosher salt.

Now seal the bag and squish it around in your hands so that the marinade mixes and coats the chicken.

Pop in the fridge for 24 hours (24 hours preferred… can go up to 48 hours too).

Assembly and Baking

Grab 6-8 skewers.

If you are using wooden skewers you will want to soak them in water for about 15-20 minutes while you bread the chicken chunks. This will prevent them from burning up in the oven.

Set up an assembly:

• The bag of chicken in marinade.
• A plate or shallow bowl with the bread crumbs
• A plate lined with a paper towel
• Large rimmed baking sheet lined with foil and sprayed with non stick spray.

With tongs pull a couple chicken cubes out of the marinade, roll in the bread crumbs making sure the crumbs adhere to the chicken cubes. Place on the paper towel lined plate. Repeat until all the chicken pieces are breaded.

Skewer the chicken pieces, about 5 pieces per skewer. Then place on the prepared baking sheet.

Spray the tops of the skewers with the non-stick spray. Bake at 400 for 15 minutes, flip the skewers and bake another 10 minutes.

Amogio Sauce

While the skewers are baking prepare the Amogio Sauce.

Over low heat in a small sauce pan melt together the butter, evoo, salt and red pepper flakes. 

If you really love garlic you could add one minced garlic clove too.

Once the butter melts remove from the heat and stir in the lemon juice and parsley.

Give it a taste for additional seasoning- more lemon, salt or red pepper flakes.

Serving

These marinated chicken skewers are amazing served with pasta and a side salad (basil vinaigrette is a great dressing)! Here are some of our faves:

• Pesto Pasta (number one choice!)
• Pasta with Tomato Cream Sauce
• Instant Pot Spaghetti
• Make an alfredo pasta (or Instant Pot Alfredo), and replace the chicken in the recipe with this Spiedini.
• Pasta with Roasted Tomatoes (great for summer!!)

Other Delicious Italian Recipes

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