By Christie Vanover | Published September 19, 2015 | Last Updated October 28, 2021
This grilled lemon chicken wrapped in pancetta is bursting with fresh citrus flavor and is super juicy.
This is the best summer chicken recipe I’ve ever created. It’s bursting with fresh citrus flavor and is super juicy thanks to the thin pancetta.
It starts with a quick marinade of olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper and rosemary. You don’t want to let the chicken marinate for more than 30 minutes because the acidity in lemon juice will begin to cook the chicken. Just toss it and begin wrapping.
Each chicken nugget is wrapped in pancetta – an Italian bacon. It has that bacon-like smokiness we all love and just the right pork belly mix of fat and meat. Because it’s sliced much thinner, it cooks up fast and crispy on the grill. The crispy smokiness punched with the citrus and a hint of rosemary just screams summer.
Slide each wrapped chicken piece onto skewers. If you use wooden skewers, soak them first, so they don’t burn too much.
For a quick, easy side dish, make a little extra marinade for eggplant, zucchini or asparagus. Toss the marinated veggies on the grill while you prepare the chicken. Super summery and delicious.
Grilled Lemon Chicken Wrapped in Pancetta
Ingredients
- 3 chicken breasts
- 1 lemon
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp course ground black pepper
- 1/2 tsp dried rosemary
- 4 ozs sliced pancetta
Instructions
- Cut the chicken into about 2-inch cubes. Place in a bowl. Zest and juice the lemon. Add the zest and juice to the chicken with the olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper and rosemary. Toss to coat.
- Tear each pancetta slice in half and wrap around a chicken cube.
- Skewer the wrapped chicken onto kabob sticks.
- Grill on medium heat for 14 minutes (7 minutes per side). Serve.
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