Despite its name, city chicken is a misnomer that doesn't actually contain any chicken. The dish typically consists of cubes of pork, veal, or beef that are skewered (and sometimes breaded), then fried or baked. There are many variations of the dish throughout the United States, and city chicken is often served with brown gravy as an accompaniment.

Originally, the dish was invented in the Great Depression era, when chicken was very expensive and scarce, so meat cubes were skewered and breaded in order to resemble a drumstick.