The Greater Binghamton area of New York is proud of its spies. They play such a significant role in daily life there that they are honored at the greatest celebration of the year. Every summer, thousands of people visit the area for the Spiedie Festival and Balloon Rally. Pork, chicken, lamb, or deer chunks are marinated in a mixture of oil, vinegar, and herbs for one to three days before being skewered, grilled, and served on Italian bread with no additional sauces.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 15 mins |
| Additional Time: | 1 day |
| Total Time: | 1 day 30 mins |
| Servings: | 16 |
Ingredients
- 2 cups olive oil
- 1 cup white vinegar
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon garlic salt
- 3 tablespoons crushed dried mint
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 tablespoons dried basil
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
- 4 pounds chicken, cubed
- wooden skewers, soaked in water for 30 minutes
Instructions
- Whisk oil, vinegar, garlic, lemon juice, garlic salt, mint, salt, basil, oregano, and pepper together in a bowl; pour into a resealable plastic bag. Add chicken, coat with marinade, squeeze out excess air, and seal the bag. Marinate in the refrigerator for 24 hours, shaking to redistribute chicken every 6 to 8 hours.
- When ready to cook, preheat an outdoor grill for medium-high heat and lightly oil the grate. When you are ready to cook, remove meat from the marinade and place on skewers.
- Remove chicken from marinade, shake off excess, and thread onto skewers. Discard remaining marinade.
- Cook skewers on the preheated grill, turning every 3 minutes, until no longer pink in the center and the juices run clear, about 15 minutes. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read at least 165 degrees F (74 degrees C).
- Nutrition data for this recipe includes the full amount of marinade ingredients. The actual amount consumed will vary.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 376 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 2 g |
| Cholesterol | 108 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 40 g |
| Saturated Fat | 4 g |
| Sodium | 937 mg |
| Sugars | 0 g |
| Fat | 23 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I had a family recipe that used wine instead of vinegar, and it was boiled for five minutes, cooled, and then lamb was used as the meat. I have looked all over for that recipe but just can’t find it! This one seems to come the closest. I didn’t make this recipe, so my rating is just on it being close to the one I am looking for.
I have made marinated chicken countless times. Family recipes and all. But this one supercedes them all. You don’t require condiments. But on other speidies people do use barbecue sauce as a condiment. And it won’t disappoint. Mint doesn’t have to be added. From the Binghamton area. Lupos still reigns supreme. But anywhere in this area they have different spins on them.
I love fresh, but I also like easy. For the marinade, start with a base of Italian Salad Dressing, then tweak with your favorite flavors, i.e.; Pepper flakes if you like hot (I use fairy dust), or basil and mint (Great combination). Use a simple Italian loaf white bread, cut diagonally, and toasted with butter (put butter on before you toast slices in the oven). White bread from a local bakery is cheap.
You’ve got the basics down, I use a splash of white wine like Chardonnay or whatever your preference may be; fresh basil, fresh oregano and fresh mint. Never use wood skewers. The metal skewers assist cooking from the inside; creating a rapid serve, so to speak. Must be over charcoal which I consider to be the final flavor ‘ingredient.’ I prefer Pork Tenderloin. Cubes are like a sponge with the marinade; very lean. I use red wine like Chianti and Chianti vinegar. It’s the closest to what the Italians on the North Side of Endicott, NY, actual home of Spiedies, used with their homemade wine/vinegar.
i wasn’t impressed by this recipe at all, tastes nothing like the spiedies we always got from Sharky’s and there was way too much mint
We followed the recipe exactly. These were excellent. No one really cared about bread though. My husband is not a chicken guy. No matter how I season chicken, he has to put some kind of sauce on it. Well, this is his favorite chicken now, he will even eat it cold for lunch. He is actually in the kitchen making it as I type. We have decided instead of cubes, we’ll make strips to grill without skewers. We all enjoyed the chicken, but my husband says it’s the best chicken ever, and is telling everyone. I have mint growing in my garden, he has even resorted to giving it away to promote spiedies. LOL
It was very yummy and tender!!
Exactly how the recipe works. 3 day marinade. Delicious.
I made this recipe as closely as I could (substituted the olive oil for vegetable oil, and the lemon juice was replaced by lime juice.) That said, this was absolutely delicious. I shared with a friend from the Binghamton area and he loved it! Thanks for the recipe!
I have made this 3x now. It is delicious!! I used only 1 teaspoon of salt, omitted the garlic salt and used garlic powder instead. I also increased the cloves of garlic to 7. (no Dracula in this house!) I also used fresh mint from my garden. I put the most recent batch in the freezer and will use in a few days to see if the flavor and meat consistently is the same. I read that it should last up to 9 months in the freezer….we shall see.
This was excellent! I only marinated for 3 hours but chicken was super tender, the tang from the vinegar came through and blended well with all the seasonings. I did reduce all the ingredients by half for 2.5 pounds of chicken. Had to do the cooking in broiler as my gas grill ran out of gas. Would have been fantastic grilled.
I can see where someone might say these were no big deal but for us they were different than any chicken I have put on the grill before. The ingredients are things I usually have on hand which is a bonus. The marinade makes tangy little grilled bites of goodness. I will definitely be putting these in our chicken rotation.
Delicious! Way better than the bottle stuff. I skipped the mint – didn’t have any. Flavor is awesome!
Very tasty blend of spices but tons of olive oil – more than seemed necessary.
The written down version of stuff we like to do always surprises me. This is one of those things we do often and is a familiar friend on the weekends. I made this according to the recipe and added a cut up fresh serrano pepper to the marinade. It came out well and was a tasty addition to the pork ribs an smoked fish we enjoyed that day. Thanks. Nice recipe!
Very good chicken or pork or venison recipe; just don’t burn your hand like the guy did in the photo!
The one thing i miss about living in owego lol
I love love love spiedies and worked in Binghamton for a number of years. Thank you for this awesome recipe.
This is a pretty good recipe for spiedie. The next time I make my own, I’ll post my recipe.
Delicious. Added in 1 tablespoon of sugar since I used more lemon. Did not use basil or mint just 1 tablespoon of Italian seasoning with lots of oregano and fresh minced garlic. Salt and pepper with red pepper too which gave it a zing! Cooked it up stove top. Put it in a whole wheat wrap and sprinkled garlic salt on top then diced cucumbers and onions. Spectacular. Ate 3 in one day so yummy. A nice lemony garlicky yogurt sour cream mayo sauce would have been nice on top too but I kept it simple. Thinking of making it again so yummy! Thanks for the recipe!
I have made them 3 times now (chicken) each time they seem to get better. i will continue to make them every chance i get. thinking about giving out the sauce as a Christmas gift!!!