When it comes to outdoor cooking, nothing beats my Chicken Spiedini! These breaded chicken kebabs are stuffed with a simple pesto, skewered with fresh bay leaves and sliced onion, and grilled until juicy and tender. Perfect for summer!
This post may contain affiliate links. Our disclosure policy.
The chicken recipe my mother always talks about
My grandfather, Frank Leone, passed away when my mom was just a teenager, so sadly, I never had the honor of meeting him, though I feel completely connected to him when I make these chicken spiedini (also known as grilled chicken rolls). Some of my mom’s favorite memories of her dad included him making spiedini, whether they were made with beef, veal, or chicken.
I roll my chicken spiedini with a stuffing made with onions, herbs, pine nuts, and raisins, and skewer them with fresh bay leaves and sliced red onion for color, and of course, flavor. They’re similar to other rolled chicken dishes, such as chicken involtini, though these are skewered, hence the name “spiedini,” which is Italian for “skewer”.
Now that I’ve perfected my version of chicken spiedini and am sharing my recipe with you, I’m hoping I’ve done my grandpa proud.
Chicken spiedini are perfect alongside simple salads, like my orange and fennel salad or Via Carota salad. My grilled fennel salad would also be excellent with this dish!
Recipe Ingredients
All ingredients for this recipe are shown in the pic below and special notes are made in this bulleted list to assist you.
- Chicken. I’m using thin-sliced chicken cutlets. If you can’t find thin-sliced at the store, you can use whole breasts and fillet them into cutlets and pound them flat. You can also use veal, pork, or beef, if desired.
- Bay leaves. I love the look and flavor of fresh bay leaves for spiedini; the bright green is a great contrast to the red onion.
- Breadcrumbs. I’m using panko breadcrumbs because their texture works well with the spiedini, but you could also use regular breadcrumbs.
- Pesto. I use a combination of red onion, panko, fresh basil and parsley, raisins, pine nuts, and Pecorino Romano for the pesto filling.
- Raisins. We’re making a Sicilian dish, so raisins are a part of the stuffing. The flavor is not overpowing but adds a nice sweetness. If you really don’t like raisins, by all means omit them.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
Want To Save This Recipe?
Enter your email and we'll send it to you. Plus, get great new recipes from us every week!
How to make chicken spiedini
Each number corresponds to the numbered written steps below.
- Saute the onion and pine nuts.
- Blend the filling ingredients to form a paste, adding more olive oil if needed.
- Use a mallet to pound the cutlets flat and season with salt and pepper.
- Spread the filling onto the cutlets.
- Roll the chicken around the filling.
- Skewer the chicken with bay leaves and red onion slices with skewers that have been soaked in cold water.
- Brush the olive oil onto the chicken spiedini and dip into the breadcrumbs.
- Heat your grill to 350-375°F and cook the spiedini on both sides until the temperature of the chicken reaches 160°F. Note: You can also cook these in the oven or in a pan on the stovetop; see recipe notes for additional instructions.
Top tips
- Filling. The consistency of the filling shouldn’t be too thick, but also not so thin where it will ooze out of the spiedini when cooking. A paste-like consistency as shown in the pictures, is ideal. If your filling is too thick, add more extra virgin olive oil to loosen it up.
- Use a thermometer. Since everyone’s grill is different, the cooking time may vary, which is why I always suggest using an instant-read thermometer to check for accuracy. The chicken needs to reach 160°F so carry over temp can reach 165°F.
- Serving. You will likely have some filling leftover, so feel free to serve some on the side with the grilled chicken spiedini. These would also be great with the anchovy sauce I use in my other “skewer” recipe, spiedini alla Romana.
More warm-weather recipes
If you’ve already busted out the grill to make this recipe, give these other grilled recipes a try!
- Marinated London broil
- Grilled chicken thighs
- Lemon garlic grilled lamb chops
- Steak pinwheels
- Grilled pork chops
If you’ve enjoyed this Chicken Spiedini recipe, give it a 5-star rating.
Watch us on YouTube, follow along on our Facebook Page, and become a Patreon member to receive access to exclusive full-meal videos and content.
Chicken Spiedini
Equipment
- 4 wooden skewers soaked in cold water
Ingredients
Base ingredients
- 2 pounds (908g) thin-sliced chicken cutlets
- 1/2 cup (30g) panko breadcrumbs or more if needed
- 16 large fresh bay leaves
- 1 medium red onion cut into large chunks
- extra virgin olive oil for drizzling
For the filling
- 1/3 cup (80ml) extra virgin olive oil divided, plus more as needed
- 1 small red onion diced
- 1/4 cup pine nuts
- 1/4 cup (15g) panko breadcrumbs
- 2 tablespoons basil leaves
- 1/4 packed cup flat-leaf Italian parsley
- 1/4 cup (40g) raisins soaked until reconstituted then drained
- 1/2 cup (45g) grated pecorino romano
Want To Save This Recipe?
Enter your email and we’ll send it to you. Plus, get great new recipes from us every week!
Instructions
For the filling
- Heat a pan to medium heat with a 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Add the onion and cook until soft and translucent. Add the pine nuts and cook for another 3-4 minutes or until the pine nuts take on some color. Remove the pan from the heat.
- Place the cooked onion and pine nuts into a blender along with the panko, basil, parsley, raisins, and pecorino romano. Pulse and add more extra virgin olive oil if needed. The paste shouldn't bee too thick but not so thin that it will ooze out of the spiedini.
Roll and cook the spiedini
- Heat up a grill to 350-375°F. Note: See notes below for baking and pan searing methods.
- Place the thin sliced chicken cutlets out on a cutting board and season with salt and pepper on both sides. Divide and spread the filling out onto all of the chicken cutlets. Roll the cutlets then place them onto the skewers with a piece of red onion and 1 bay leaf between each chicken roll.
- Place a half cup of panko breadcrumbs in a dish or small baking sheet.
- Brush extra vigin olive oil onto all sides of the spiedini then dip each one into the breadcrumbs and coat on both sides. Place the coated spiedinis onto a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Cook the spiedini, flipping them as they brown, until the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 160°F. Total cooking time should be about 12-15 minutes but use an instant read thermometer for accuracy. Enjoy!
Notes
- Alternative cooking methods. Bake in a 375° oven, flipping at halfway point, until the internal temp reaches at least 160°F. Pan fry over medium heat in olive oil until the internal temp reaches 160°F.
- Cooking time. Depending of the thickness of the chicken and the cooking method, the cooking time will fluctuate. Use and instant-read thermometer for acccuracy.
- Raisins. If you don’t like raisins, feel free to omit.
- Different cuts of meat. Thin sliced beef, pork, and veal all work well for spiedini.
- Sauce. An anchovy sauce is excellent with this dish. Use this one in our spiedini alla romana recipe.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Follow Me
The chicken spiedini came out great, the filling was just the right amount. I used 2 chicken breasts and sliced them into 4 cutlets. I could not find my skewers, so pan fried them on medium fire with some oil on pan, and kept turning them to get them all nice and browned on all sides. Also , since I didn’t use skewers, the fresh bay leaves and the slices of red onion were just added to the pan with the rolls of chicken, I’d put them on top of the rolls and around them , I liked how they cooked , with a nice crunch yet cooked, it took the 12 min , my thermometer registered a bit higher temperature , so maybe the 10 min would have been fine.
I also did the anchovy sauce, recommended , from the Spiedini alla Romana. I had some Nam Bread in the freezer and toasted to dip into the sauce as well.
If my kids liked it, means they were good.
We’re so happy to hear that, Rae!
My partner can’t eat pine nuts, due to allergy to certain nuts.
Can sunflower seeds be substituted for the pine nuts?
Or something else?
Hi Jan, you can omit the pine nuts entirely. We haven’t tested the recipe with sunflower seeds but you could certainly give it a go!
No raisins… everything else is ok.
Allergy to pine nuts, salmon. Could not have a life pine tree in the house or nutmeg
Hi Kimber, you can definitely omit the pine nuts from the recipe if you can’t have them.
Wow.did that bring memories of mom making veal spiedini which we were all crazy about!! I Love your idea if using thin chicken cutlets which I can’t wait to make when family are here. That is so nice of you to share, thanks sooo much. Are you a professional chef?
Hi Lucille, thanks for the comment and so happy the recipe resonated with you. Jim has been cooking since he was a small child and has worked in various food establishments (delis, caterers, etc).
these sound delish!! are the fresh bay only for seasoning the chicken or are they to be eaten…and how many cutlets would you get from each chicken breast? Thank you!
Hi Leona, the bay leaves are for flavor/seasoning only and do not get consumed. It depends on the size of the breast and how thinly you’d slice it but typically you’d get 2-3 cutlets.
Hi. I’ve never seen fresh bay leaves in the grocery store. What can be substituted for them ? I’m looking forward to trying this recipe.
You can use dry too. Enjoy!