Sicilian Spiedini Recipe - Beef, Chicken, Fish, Or Veggies

These authentic spiedini recipes are an assortment of rolled and breaded spiedini alla Siciliana, skewers filled with either meat, fish, or veggies. They are not only chicken skewers; in Sicily, they are made primarily with beef, but also different meats and vegetables like pork, swordfish, zucchini, or eggplants. The main ingredient is cut into thin slices, coated with breadcrumbs, and rolled. These tiny delicate bites are then baked in the oven or grilled.

They can be served on a buffet table to allow the guests to try each type.

Jump to:

• Ingredients
• Instructions
• How to serve Sicilian spiedini
• Substitutions
• Variations
• Equipment
• Storage
• Helpful tips
• 📋 Sicilian Spiedini Recipe - Beef, Chicken, Fish, Or Veggies

Spiedini is the Italian word for skewers (plural); they are the equivalent of Italian kebabs and can be flavored differently depending on the regional recipe.

These spiedini coated with Italian bread crumbs are very popular in Sicily around the Messina strait, especially during the Summer when the family gets together and you need to feed children and adults.

They can be served as Italian appetizers or as mains. Everyone like them!

They can be made with beef, chicken, pork, fish, eggplants or zucchini.

In Italy, they are called Braciolette, small braciole. They are very tender and full of flavor.

The breadcrumbs are seasoned with garlic, basil, and Parmesan.

When grilled, the spiedini remain tender inside, forming a crispy, cheesy crust on the outside.

They originate from the Sicilian Braciole without tomato sauce; this same recipe is used for baked swordfish spiedini Braciolette or Breaded chicken cutlets, a baked version of the Veal Milanese.

If you prefer a gluten-free you can check out these easy chicken spiedini recipe

You can serve them with a salad, microwaved baked potatoes, or fresh homemade couscous Tabbouleh.

For more appetizers with eggplants, check out the story: 15 Authentic Italian Eggplant Recipes

Ingredients

To flavor the breadcrumbs, you need:

• Plain breadcrumbs: I prefer to make them at home with leftover stale bread as it is less dry and has a mild flavor
• Basil or fresh parsley leaves: either one of these herbs is fine as long as they are fresh
• Garlic cloves: to give it an extra bite
• Parmesan cheese or Pecorino Romano cheese
• Extra virgin olive oil: good quality is very important
• Salt: for seasoning

Main ingredients:

• Long eggplants: do not buy very large eggplants are they are usually full of seeds. Long and thin are the best for this recipe
• Long zucchini: use medium size zucchini, not too large as they tend to be full of seeds and get too watery.

• Chicken spiedini: use skinless chicken breasts as it is easier to cut into thin slices.
• Beef spiedini: the best cut of beef to use is lean beef like rump cover or rump steak. You can ask your butcher to cut them very thin, like a carpaccio steak. If you have to carve them yourself, I recommend using an electric knife.

• Spiedini di Mare: they are usually made with the upper part of the swordfish as you can cut thin slices. Ask your fishmonger to cut them for you. You could also use salmon or tuna.

Hint: If you want to know how you recognize a fresh from a frozen swordfish, you can read the article: Swordfish Meat: Buying Fresh, Cooking Choices

See recipe card for quantities.

Instructions

Preparing the breadcrumb mixture

1. Blend with an electric blender a cup of shredded breadcrumbs with basil or parsley leaves and a garlic clove
2. Add the grated parmesan to the breadcrumbs
3. Stir with a fork to remove all the lumps

I usually prepare a large amount of flavored breadcrumbs and keep them in the freezer. It is so handy to have them ready; you can take and defrost only the amount of breadcrumbs you need as they do not solidify.

Here you can find out more about the food prep I keep in my freezer to speed up my cooking: Once a month freezer meal prep

Zucchini and eggplant spiedini

1. Remove the stalk, peel the eggplants, and cut them into slices lengthwise
2. Remove the stalk from the zucchini and cut them into slices lengthwise
3. With a brush, season a skillet pan with olive oil and bring to a very hot temperature
4. Grill the eggplants and the zucchini on both sides
5. They do not have to be thoroughly cooked as they will bake again in the oven
6. Season them with salt and let them cool down

7. Place the slices of zucchini and eggplants over a cutting board
8. Brush both sides with olive oil
9. Sprinkle some breadcrumbs
10. Add on top some grated parmesan

Hint: the vegetables are grilled to make them more flexible for rolling. If you prefer, you can also steam them.

11. Roll the eggplants and zucchini slices
12. Coat them in breadcrumbs
13. Insert them into the skewers

14. Bake in a hot oven at 350 F - 180 C for 20 minutes

Beef spiedini

1. Carve the beef into very thin slices
2. Hammer each slice with meat ponder until they are evenly flat
3. Cut them into small long stripes
4. Put them in a bowl and season them with salt and olive oil

Chicken spiedini

1. Cut the chicken breasts into long thin slices
2. Season these chicken strips with salt, black pepper and olive oil

Making the meat spiedini and baking them

Whether you are using beef, chicken, or pork, the procedure and cooking time are the same:

1. Pour 1 cup of the breadcrumbs into a plate and coat each strip of beef with the breadcrumbs. Once the breadcrumbs are finished, add some more (Leftover breadcrumbs cannot be stored and reused at a later date as they have been in contact with raw meat. Best to add gradually)
2. Turn the beef into a small roll. You can put a small piece of cheese inside if you like. Tight the roll into your fist
3. Lay all the rolls on a tray
4. Insert the meat into the skewers, from 5 to 6 rolls per skewer, depending on their length
5. Lay them on a baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes at 355 F - 180 C
6. Turn them and bake for another 10 minutes until golden brown

Hint: You can also cook them on a grill pan at medium-high heat but they will release a lot of smoke

Spiedini di Mare

1. To make the braciolette cut the slices of swordfish into strips and season with olive oil and salt.
2. Coat them with the breadcrumbs and roll them, putting a small amount of extra breadcrumbs inside each roll.
3. Insert into skewers.
4. Cook under the grill or in the oven at 355 F - 180 C to crispy perfection, turning them on each side. It will take about 10 minutes per side.

How to serve Sicilian spiedini

The advantage of cooking spiedini for a buffet or dinner party is that you can serve a variety of them and let guests choose which one they like best.

The other advantage is that they can be served removed from the skewers as finger food for a standing-up buffet. They can be eaten in one bite and do not need cutting.

These spiedini can be served with a simple, side salad seasoned with extra virgin olive oil. Because the bread crumb mixture is flavored with herbs, garlic, and cheese, you do not need to add extra sauce.

I like to serve them with a Tabbouleh salad, pasta with tomato pesto alla Trapanese or Trofie con pesto alla Genovese.

Not Italian

I read some recipes suggesting serving chicken spiedini with an Italian/Sicilian sauce called Amogio sauce.

Frankly, I had never heard of this sauce in Italy.

I did some research on Italian websites, and no one mentioned this sauce. It must be an American Italian sauce.

This sauce seems to combine tomato sauce with lemon juice which is a combination I cannot recall in any traditional Italian cuisine recipe.

Substitutions

You can substitute the beef with chicken, pork, veal or lamb as long as the slices are very thin.

The swordfish can be substituted with salmon, tuna or squid. You can use the same cut for sushi but ensure the slices are very thin.

You can also use red peppers, pumpkin, or large porcini mushrooms for the vegetarian version.

Variations

Because these spiedini recipes are very simple and made with very few ingredients, you can easily make some substitutions for the breadcrumbs to please every palate and food intolerance:

• Vegan - for a vegan spiedini, you can make the vegetable spiedini using breadcrumbs without the cheese.
• Gluten-free - for a gluten-free version, you can use grated almonds or rice crackers instead of breadcrumbs.
• Extra cheese - For extra cheesy spiedini, add some extra Parmesan or a small cube of mozzarella, scamorza or provola cheese in the middle of the roll
• Extra herbs - if you like basil or parsley, you can increase the herbs ratio vs the breadcrumbs. It will be less crunchy but full of flavor.

Equipment

To make the meat and fish spiedini, I recommend using an electric knife and a meat pounder to make the slices of meat as thin as possible.

I also recommend a braun blender to mix the breadcrumbs with the garlic and the herbs.

For the vegetable spiedini, I use a skillet pan and a brush to season the pan with olive oil slightly. I do not want the vegetables to fry and be too oily.

In Italy, we use double metal skewers to easily turn the meat, but you can also use a single skewer.

If you are using wooden skewers, steep them in water for a couple of hours so they do not burn in the oven.

If you are grilling your spiedini, I recommend using metal skewers.

Storage

You can make these spiedini ahead of time and bake them the next day.

Beef, chicken, pork, and fish spiedini can be frozen before cooking, as long as the meat or fish was not previously frozen.

The vegetable spiedini are not feasible for the freezer as they will become soggy and mushy.

Wrap each skewer with aluminum foil and place them into an airtight container or a plastic bag.

This way, you can defrost each spiedino separately based on the number of people you are cooking for.

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