One of my absolute most favorite things about this time of year is all of the delicious smells that come from our grills. While mine was fired up last weekend, my dad, who lives out of town, was so excited to tell me about a food I just had to try on the grill...spiedies.

I chuckled as my dad told me all about his friend at the senior center who grew up in the Binghamton area and described our spiedies to my dad, who for the life of him couldn't remember the name. All my dad could remember was they were was made with marinated chunks of meat and were delicious sounding.

I gently reminded dad that I'd served him spiedies once when he visited and that's when the lightbulb went off. "Oh yeah, those are delicious," he said. Dad went on to tell me how his buddy told him that spiedies mean summertime in the Southern Tier (he's not wrong), but if you ask me, all of the time is spiedie time. At our house, we've been known to fire up the grill in the snow to feed our spiedie craving.

There's nothing quite like a good bottle of spiedie sauce, but I really do like to try to recreate recipes. So, if you happen to be looking for a homemade spiedie marinade, I'd love to invite you to try mine and then to honestly let me know what you think. I'm always up for improving my recipes!

You’ll Need:

  • 1 cup of olive oil
  • 4 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1 tablespoon of dried basil
  • 1 tablespoon of dried rosemary
  • 1 teaspoon of dried oregano
  • 1 tablespoon paprika, or 2 tablespoons if you like a kick
  • 3 teaspoons of lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon of salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper
  • 4 tablespoons of mayo (sounds ick, but trust me on this!)
  • 3 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar
  • 3-4 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into cubes

Directions:

  • Cut the chicken breasts into decently sized cubes and give them a stab or two with a fork, or a sharp knife so that the marinade can really seep inside. Don't worry if you have some chunks of chicken that aren't the same size, but do try to keep them as close to the same size as you can because it'll help them cook more evenly.
  • Mix all of the other ingredients together to make the marinade.
  • Add marinade and chicken together in a big covered container or zip lock bag and refrigerate at least overnight if not longer- I usually let mine marinate for about three days, giving the container a good shake every day or so to make sure everything is getting even marinade coverage.
  • When you're ready to make your spiedies, thread a couple of cubes of chicken onto skewers (if you're using wood skewers make sure to soak them in water before cooking or you could end up with a nasty charred mess) and grill for a couple of minutes, turning occasionally.  You won’t need to cook the chicken as long as you normally would because the vinegar will partially cook the chicken.
  • Serve on fresh Italian bread

More From KISS 104.1