12 Italian Chicken Recipes

Breaded, fried, simmered, or grilled—there are so many ways to enjoy Italian chicken.

By
Mimi Young
Mimi Young
Mimi Young
Editor
Mimi Young is an editor and chef.
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Updated July 30, 2024
A white oval platter holding chicken cacciatore and a good amount of golden brown sauce. The platter is on a textured grey-blue surface.

Serious Eats / Mariel De La Cruz

Strangely enough, the first chicken dishes I learned to cook pre-culinary school were Italian—chicken cacciatore and chicken piccata—not soy sauce or Hainanese chicken. I chalk it up to watching a lot of non-Asian cooking shows on PBS, like Cucina Amore and Lidia's Kitchen. My parents never complained because, let's face it, it took cooking dinner off their backs. And, for the most part, they enjoyed my culinary experimentations.

This collection of tried-and-true Italian recipes with chicken includes classics like chicken Parmesan, chicken marsala, and chicken piccata that incorporate plenty of tips to improve upon standard methods. We also take a little creative license with some dishes, like chicken cacciatore and chicken scarpariello, both of which have always been open to interpretation. Whether you like it breaded, fried, simmered, or grilled, these recipes and technique will help you cook a better chicken, Italian style.

  • Chicken Marsala

    Closeup of a platter of chicken marsala

    Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

    To the pre-chef me, any dish with liquor in its name sounded grown-up and sophisticated—especially if there was potential flambéing involved. Though chicken marsala may sound fancy, it's essentially a chicken-with-pan-sauce dish that requires following a few fundamental rules: brown the chicken cutlets well; bloom some gelatin in stock and deglaze; and finish with butter and a little soy sauce to round out the savoriness of the sauce. No flambé involved!

  • Chicken Piccata

    An oval platter holding fried chicken cutlets topped with lemon-butter pan sauce containing capers. The platter is on a blue and white dish towel.

    Serious Eats / Julia Estrada

    While it's true you can make chicken piccata by sautéing plain chicken cutlets, if you can give them a golden fried crispy coating, why wouldn't you? I wholeheartedly agree with Daniel that skinless chicken breast requires an incredibly crisp and flavorful crust to be interesting. And a crust that consists of panko and grated Parmesan? Even better. Finishing the fried cutlets with a bright lemony butter sauce and capers makes this dish sublime.

  • Pollo al Mattone (Italian Roast Chicken Under a Brick)

    Hand lifting lid off of chicken mattone in a skillet

    Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

    I'd never heard of cooking chicken al mattone, or "under a brick," until I started working at an Italian trattoria in San Francisco, where every morning the chef would lay rows of spatchcocked birds on the flat-top grill and weigh them down with foil-covered bricks. This Italian method produces crispy, burnished skin in no time. In truth, you can use pretty much any heavy object, such as a barbell plate weight or pair of dumbbells on top of a frying pan, or even a cast iron skillet weighed down with a couple of cans of tomatoes.

  • Lemon-Marinated Tuscan-Jewish Fried Chicken

    Pieces of Tuscan-Jewish fried chicken on a cooling rack

    Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

    Fried chicken may not seem like a particularly Italian dish, but this golden, crispy lemon-marinated iteration can be traced back to Tuscan Jewish roots. A short marinade in a garlicky lemon juice brine keeps the chicken tender and juicy, while double-frying the battered chicken (simply dredged in flour and dipped in beaten egg) makes it extra crispy.

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  • Chicken Cacciatore With Red Peppers, Tomato, and Onion

    A white oval platter holding chicken cacciatore and a good amount of golden brown sauce

    Serious Eats / Mariel De La Cruz

    There are as many ways to make chicken cacciatore as there are Italian cooks...and cookbooks. "Cacciatore" just means "hunter-style," so there's no such thing as a true chicken cacciatore, which gave Daniel freedom to riff on other iterations to come up with this fairly quick-to-make version with red peppers, tomato, and onion. It has all the deep flavor and tenderness of a slow-cooked dish. For a more earthy rendition, try Daniel's chicken cacciatore with mushrooms.

  • Chicken Scarpariello (Braised Chicken With Sausage and Peppers)

    Chicken scarpariello in a round ceramic platter

    Serious Eats / Julia Estrada

    Chicken scarpariello is another easy one-pan Italian chicken dish full of loosey-goosey interpretations. This version starts with well-browned, seasoned whole chicken pieces and browned Italian sausage, peppers, and onions. Jarred pickled cherry peppers, pickling juice, sugar, and chicken stock form the basis of the sweet and sour sauce. To maintain its crispy exterior, the browned chicken sits skin-side up on top of the sauce and the vegetables while it finishes cooking in the oven.

  • Grilled Chicken and Peach Saltimbocca Skewers

    A wooden platte of chicken and peach saltimbocca skewers with lemon and dipping sauce

    Serious Eats / Morgan Eisenberg

    Here's a creative spin on the classic saltimbocca—white wine-marinated chicken skewered with peaches and salty, buttery prosciutto. For this recipe, you'll want to choose semi-firm peaches so they don't get mushy on the grill. Boiling the leftover marinade means you can use it again to glaze and sauce the finished skewers. How's that for upcycling?

  • The Best Chicken Parmesan

    Chicken Parmesan plated with knife and fork

    Serious Eats / J. Kenji López-Alt

    Chicken parm is one of the OG Italian-American dishes, found everywhere from chain restaurants like Olive Garden to more upscale eateries. But if you're going to make it at home, you might as well go all in with Kenji's version, which celebrates the dish in all its crispy, cheesy, sauce-smothered glory. It features a buttermilk brine, a flavorful breading, a slow-cooked red sauce...and, of course, lots of cheese.

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  • Spaghetti and Parmesan Chicken Meatballs

    Fork piercing a chicken parmesan meatball over bed of spaghetti in tomato sauce

    Serious Eats / Yvonne Ruperti

    The lighter characteristics of chicken make it a wonderful alternative to the red meat in traditional Italian meatballs. But given chicken's tendency to dry out, what's the secret to making a moist and tender chicken meatball? The answer is a bit of melted gelatin combined with panade. Also, not browning the meatballs before simmering in sauce prevents them from drying out and allows the meatballs to absorb more of the sauce's flavor.

  • Escarole and Parmesan Soup With Chicken Meatballs

    A bowl of escarole chicken meatball soup on a green placemat with soup

    Serious Eats / López-Alt

    Parmesan is front and center in this deeply savory and comforting soup. Parmesan rind enriches the chicken broth, while finely grated Parmesan and a single egg help to bind together the ground chicken for the meatballs. Because they meatballs are so tiny, you don't have to roll them individually by hand—simply pipe and snip the chicken mixture with kitchen shears directly into the simmering soup. The meatballs cook quickly into little bouncy, juicy morsels.

  • Chicken Risotto with Lemon, Asparagus and Peas

    A bowl of chicken risotto with peas and asparagus

    Serious Eats / Yvonne Ruperti

    Homemade chicken broth is the key to this creamy risotto, simmered for an hour until the chicken is fall-off-the-bone tender. Once the chicken is removed, the broth is quickly simmered again with the peas and asparagus until the vegetables are just barely tender. The chicken and vegetables are then mixed into the cooked risotto, along with plenty of cheese.

  • Chicken Spiedies (Lemon- and Herb-Marinated Grilled Chicken Sandwiches)

    Hand holding a chicken spiedies grilled hoagie

    Serious Eats / Joshua Bousel

    This regional specialty of Binghamton, New York can be traced back to Italian immigrants. Cubes of boneless, skinless chicken breast are marinated in a vinegary base with lemon and herbs, skewered, grilled, and served up in a toasty, soft Italian roll for one amazing sandwich.

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