Classic Spiedini Recipe (Italian Style Kebabs)
Published September 4, 2020. This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
This delicious spiedini recipe is loaded up with breaded beef, Italian sausage, peppers, onions, and bay leaves for the best kebabs around!
I obviously cook quite a bit of Italian food and there’s always something from my family recipe vault, whether it’s gnudi or homemade pasta, there’s always lots of delicious things on our weekly family menu.
Spiedini
Spiedini translates from Italian to English simply as skewers. These are essentially fancy Italian meat kebabs that can be customized in just about any way you see fit. The one thing that is a necessity is that the main meat is breaded up, which is actually more Sicilian than Italian.
This specific recipe has been in my family for over 75 years. It’s incredibly delicious and isn’t all that hard to make either. I’ve tweaked some of the original procedures and ingredients, and added a dipping sauce, to make it more of my own, and wow is it tasty.
Ingredients and Substitutions
My family recipe is simply breaded beef or chicken, onions, and bay leaves, that’s it. I’ve taken the liberty to add Italian sausage and peppers to mine to help bring out more flavor. Here are a few things you could add to your spiedini:
- Beef
- Chicken
- Pork
- Bell Peppers
- Onions
- Zucchini
- Basil
- Bay Leaves
- Mushrooms
- Squash
Best Way to Cook It
My dad swears that grilling is the best way to make this. While it is delicious and you should definitely give it a try, I’m a huge fan of cooking it on a flat top or in a big cast-iron skillet. All those tasty juices from the meat and veggies all stay right there and continue to flavor up the skewers instead of dripping through the grill grates. I’ll leave the cooking method up to you and what you prefer most.
How to Make Beef Spiedini
Follow these easy instructions on how to make this amazing recipe:
Thinly slice an eye of round beef across the grain.
Coat each slice in olive oil and seasoned breadcrumbs.
Roll each breaded slice of beef up and if it is too big, slice it in half.
Skewer the breaded rolled-up beef with vegetables until full.
Cook on a flat top grill or in a cast-iron skillet for 2-4 minutes per side or until browned and cooked through.
Spiedini Sauce
While the skewers are delicious as is, the amogio sauce I made to dip it in just takes it to a whole new level. You can use a simple Pomodoro sauce, but amogio is where it’s at. It’s a tasty garlic-heavy tomato-based sauce that includes lemon and oregano. This could not be easier to make or have more of an impact on the final dish.
- Start by lightly cooking some finely minced garlic in olive oil in a medium-size saucepot over low heat.
- Add in some crushed tomatoes along with some lemon juice and a ½ lemon and cook over low heat for 20-30 minutes.
- Finish the sauce with oregano, sea salt, and pepper and serve.
Make-Ahead and Storage
Make-Ahead: If you want to serve these later in the day, my recommendation would be to skewer the spiedini and hold off on cooking them until you are ready to serve them. You can make these up to 1 hour ahead of time and keep warm in the oven covered with foil at 250°.
How to Reheat: Place the desired number of skewers on a cookie sheet tray and wrap in foil and bake in the oven at 375° until hot. You can also heat up on a microwave-safe plate until hot.
How to Store: Cover in plastic and keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. You can freeze these covered in plastic for up to 2 months. Thaw in the refrigerator for 1 day before reheating.
chef notes + tips
- The recipe for amogio makes quite a bit, but it freezes very well and would go excellent with steak, fish, chicken, pork, or in pasta as well.
- You can also use metal skewers in this recipe.
- When making the sauce do not toast the garlic, cook it until it becomes fragrant.
- If the rolled-up breaded beef is too big for a skewer, slice it in half.
- I used 12” skewers in the recipe.
More Italian Recipes
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Video
Classic Spiedini Recipe (Italian Style Kebabs)
Ingredients
For the Sauce:
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 10 each finely minced cloves of garlic
- 2 28 ounce cans whole peeled San Marzano tomatoes, blended until smooth
- Juice of 1 lemon
- ½ juiced lemon
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano
- sea salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
For the Spiedini:
- 1 1/2 pounds thinly sliced eye of round beef, about 40 slices
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil + more for cooking
- 1 1/2 cups breadcrumbs
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 20 each dried bay leaves, broken in half
- 1 peeled yellow onion cut into 1” squares
- 1 seeded red bell pepper cut into 1” squares
- 1 seeded green bell pepper cut into 1” squares
- 1 1/2 pounds lose mild Italian sausage
- sea salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
Instructions
- For the Sauce: Add the olive oil and garlic to a medium-size saucepot over low heat and cook for 2 to 3 minutes just until you smell it.
- Add in the crushed tomatoes, lemon juice, and ½ lemon and cook over low heat for 20-30 minutes. Finish with oregano, salt, and pepper.
- For the Spiedini: Add the olive oil to a bowl and set aside. In a separate bowl mix together the breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper until combined.
- Taking 1 slice of beef at a time, completely coat it in the olive oil, and then dredge it in the breadcrumbs until coated.
- Roll the beef up and set it aside on a cookie sheet tray. Slice it in half if it’s too big.
- To Skewer: Add on some of the breaded beef followed up with a ½ bay leaf, onion, peppers, and loose Italian sausage and repeat until the 12” skewer is full, and then repeat until all of the other skewers are full and all of the ingredients have been used. Set them on a cookie sheet tray.
- Add a small amount of olive oil to a flat top griddle or a large cast-iron skillet over medium heat and sear the skewers, in batches if need be, for 2-4 minutes per side or until browned and cooked throughout.
- Serve the spiedini alongside the amogio sauce and garnish with optional chopped fresh parsley.
Notes
- Make-Ahead: If you want to serve these later in the day, my recommendation would be to skewer the spiedini and hold off on cooking them until you are ready to serve them. You can make these up to 1 hour ahead of time and keep warm in the oven covered with foil at 250°.
- How to Reheat: Place the desired number of skewers on a cookie sheet tray and wrap in foil and bake in the oven at 375° until hot. You can also heat up on a microwave-safe plate until hot.
- How to Store: Cover in plastic and keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. You can freeze these covered in plastic for up to 2 months. Thaw in the refrigerator for 1 day before reheating.
- The recipe for amogio makes quite a bit, but it freezes very well and would go excellent with steak, fish, chicken, pork, or in pasta as well.
- You can also use metal skewers in this recipe.
- When making the sauce do not toast the garlic, cook it until it becomes fragrant.
- If the rolled-up breaded beef is too big for a skewer, slice it in half.
- I used 12” skewers in the recipe.
Delicious! What would you serve with this to complete your meal? I’d like to have a pasta side but not with a red sauce… something different like a baked dish (ravioli, tortellini?) with an Alfredo sauce? Or wouldn’t that be good?
nothin. as is.
Definitely will try this recipe this weekend. Thank you!
my pleasure!
Wondering what kind of olive oil do you use in the brand name? There’s so many to pick from I’m confused please let me know which one you use.
whatever’s cold pressed, organic, and on sale.
Omg. Chef this was fantastic. We have another eye of round in freezer and will make again. We ate leftovers for lunch with rice and it was delicious. Thanks for the recipe
Excellent!
Thanks for sharing this delicious recipe, I loved it very much. And I will try it, especially the sauce. And thank you again for the tips about omeprazole, the good medicinal tips.