Margherita Chicken Skewers Recipe

If you are looking for an appetizer that's easy to make and easier to eat, but still visually striking, then you have come to the right place. These Margherita chicken skewers feature tender, balsamic-glazed chicken breast flanked on either side by the traditional vibrant flavors and colors of Margherita pizza: verdant basil, bright white mozzarella, and scarlet tomatoes. Full of fresh flavors and beautiful to look at, they fit equally well as a pre-dinner snack, a springtime brunch offering, and a cocktail party hors d'oeuvres.

Perhaps the best part of these Margherita chicken skewers? They're incredibly easy to make. When your guests bite into the tender, juicy pieces of chicken breast and taste the complex melange of sweet, salty, savory, and tangy ingredients, they'll swear that you've been in the kitchen for ages, but you can actually get these skewers from fridge to plate in just 20 minutes. All you have to do is fry up the chicken (you even spice it in the pan to save time) and then make a simple glaze with sugar and balsamic vinegar. Once the chicken is finished, you pop it all onto a skewer and you're done. Buon appetito!

For the balsamic-glazed chicken in this recipe, you will need olive oil, cubed chicken breast, salt, garlic powder, onion powder, Italian herb mix, sugar, and balsamic vinegar. To complete the skewers you will need grape tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and basil leaves. Once you have these ingredients together, you are ready to begin cooking.

Bring a skillet to medium-high heat and add the oil and then the chicken.

Sprinkle the salt, garlic powder, onion powder, and Italian herb mix over the chicken and toss to coat.

Cook the chicken, tossing occasionally, for around 8 minutes, or until cooked through.

Add the balsamic vinegar and sugar to the skillet.

Cook for around 2 minutes, stirring and tossing often, until the glaze is thick and the chicken is well-coated. Remove from the heat.

Assemble the skewers with a mozzarella ball followed by a basil leaf, then a piece of chicken, another basil leaf, and finally a tomato. Serve immediately.

Anyone who knows their way around a pizza surely knows the Margherita. It is, in many ways, the prototypical pizza (as well as the inspiration for these skewers). With a thin crust topped simply with tomato sauce, mozzarella, and basil leaves, it is Italian cooking at its finest, displaying the reserve that is such an integral part of the cuisine. But how did this now world-renowned pizza come by that name?

As it turns out, the Margherita pizza was actually named after a queen. In the late 19th century, King Umberto I and Queen Margherita visited Naples, where they dined on the local delicacies, which in this case included pizza. Rafaelle Esposito, a famous pizza chef at the time, prepared several pizzas for the royals (and delivered them, in what may be the first-ever pizza delivery). One was a stand-out favorite: the Margherita. Bearing the name of the queen as well as the colors of the Italian flag (green, white, and red), it was bound to be a hit.

Now, as with many food origin stories, some of this may be a bit embellished. Pizzas featuring those same ingredients have been recorded since at least the 1830s. But regardless of the veracity of the origin story, the name and the popularity of Margherita pizza have certainly stood the test of time.

To stay true to the Margherita moniker on these chicken skewers, you can't deviate too far from the current formula. At the very least you need to stick to red tomatoes, white mozzarella, and green basil. But that doesn't mean that there isn't a bit of room for customization. One simple way to add some depth of flavor to the recipe would be to substitute the plain mozzarella balls for marinated mozzarella. You can pick up a tub at the store, but it is also very easy to make your own marinated mozzarella balls at home.

Another way to add your own touch to the recipe would be to mix up the tomatoes. You could try blistering them under the broiler for a few minutes to add some roasted depth, though it will make the skewers a bit harder to assemble and eat. Or you could try substituting heirloom tomatoes to change up the flavor a bit.

The third place you could make these your own is with the basil. While basil leaves are a hallmark of Margherita dishes, there's no reason you couldn't substitute a bit of pesto to maintain the green color and basil flavor while also adding layers of additional flavor: Just drizzle a bit of pesto down the whole thing. Homemade basil pesto is again pretty simple, but there are plenty of options at the grocery store that will make this whole dish come together in a flash.