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Serve up a succulent, juicy, and golden-crusted feast quite like no other with our Chicken Kyiv recipe, and treat family, friends, and dinner guests to a heavenly serving of Ukraine’s most iconic dish.
Chicken Kyiv Recipe
A dish of such epic proportions they named it after the capital city, Ukrainian Chicken Kyiv is an absolute showstopper of a main dish that brings together several layers of different flavors and textures in one truly mind-blowing mouthful.
What is Chicken Kyiv?
Chicken Kyiv is a classic dish in Ukrainian cuisine, consisting of chicken breast or fillet, pounded until flat, filled with butter and various herbs, and coated in flour, eggs, and breadcrumbs before being cooked, either by being baked in an oven or fried in a pan.
Crunchy, buttery, tender, and aromatic, all at the same time, Chicken Kyiv is arguably Ukraine’s most well-traveled dish, and can be found in restaurants and supermarkets all over Europe and across the world.
However, as with any traditional dish, the purest, most delicious way to enjoy this mouthwatering classic is to make it from scratch at home!
While the classical version of this dish involves cooking the chicken on the bone, we’ll do the modern, boneless version of Chicken Kyiv.
Ingredients
To make 4 portions of our Chicken Kyiv recipe, you’ll first need to assemble the following ingredients:
- Chicken breasts – 2 large chicken breasts
- Butter – 100 grams (7 tbsp or 3.5 oz)
- Herbs – a handful of parsley
- Garlic – 3 garlic cloves, minced
- White breadcrumbs – 1 and 1/2 cup
- Eggs – 3 medium eggs, whisked
- Flour– 5 heaped tbsp of plain (all-purpose) flour
- Salt – 1 tsp
- Black pepper – 1/2 tsp
- Sunflower oil – up to 1 bottle of 1 liter (34 fl.oz), depending on the size of the pot you use
Notes:
- It’s traditional to use parsley, but you can use a combination of fresh herbs you prefer.
- For the white breadcrumbs, we used panko breadcrumbs, but you can use any white breadcrumbs you have on hand.
- While sunflower oil is preferable, you can use any neutral-tasting oil, such as vegetable oil.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1 – Mix the softened butter with the chopped fresh herbs/parsley and minced garlic.
Step 2 – Take the softened butter and roll it into a log, using cling film to cover it. Place it in the freezer for about 15-20 minutes.
Step 3 – Take each large chicken breast and slice it in half horizontally so you get two thinner pieces.
Step 4 – Take each of the four resulting chicken pieces and put a layer of cling film under and over it and pound them to a 2-3 mm thinness. You can use a meat pounder or a rolling pin.
Step 5 – Remove the butter from the freezer and cut into half lengthwise and half in the middle, so you have 4 equal pieces of butter. Sprinkle salt and pepper on the chicken, and take a piece of the butter, place it in the middle of the pounded chicken slice, and roll it as shown below.
Step 6 – Cover the rolled pieces in cling film/saran wrap, and place them in the freezer for 5-10 minutes.
Step 7 – Remove the chicken rolls from the freezer and remove the saran wrap/cling film. Now, roll each chicken through:
- flour
- egg
- breadcrumbs
- egg for the second time
- breadcrumbs for the second time.
The steps are illustrated below:
1 – Rolling through flour.
2 – Rolling through the whisked eggs.
3 – Rolling through the white breadcrumbs.
4 – Rolling through the whisked eggs for the second time.
5 – Rolling through the second layer of breadcrumbs.
Step 8 – Now, place them all on a plate, cover with some cling film (saran wrap) and place them in the freezer while you get the oil for frying ready and the oven preheated to 360°F (180°C).
Step 9 – In a small pot, add enough sunflower oil to cover the thickness of the chicken Kyiv when we place it inside. We use a narrow pot, so we only needed about 500 ml (about 2 cups) of sunflower oil. But, if you’re using a larger pot, you may need up to 1 liter (or about 4 cups).
Bring the oil up to about 350°F (or 175°C). If you don’t have a cooking thermometer, we have a tip for you. We used a wooden spoon to check the oil is ready. You can place the end of the wooden spoon in the oil, and when bubbles form around it, you’ll know the oil is ready.
Cook the chicken in the oil for about 2 minutes until you achieve a golden crust.
Step 10 – Transfer the chicken to a baking dish and bake for approximately 12-15 minutes at 360°F (180°C) until the chicken is cooked through. When they’re ready, you’ll start seeing butter bubbles on the top surface of the chicken.
Take out of the oven and serve while warm.
Each and every mouthful gives you so much to savor. It starts with the crispy breadcrumbs, then in comes the tender chicken, and finally, that gloriously buttery garlic sauce oozes from within its chicken and breadcrumb coating, caressing the taste buds as it seeps out and coating everything in a layer of hot, buttery juice.
Chicken Kyiv truly is a dish for the senses. To watch those juices cascade out when you cut in is so satisfying, as you feel the crispiness of the breadcrumbs and the tenderness of the chicken. Its intense aroma lures you in with its boundless charm and moistens the lips. Then you bite in and are treated to crunch, tenderness, and oozing juiciness, one by one.
It might take a little time to prepare this layered dish, but at the end of it all, your hard work will very much pay off. Chicken Kyiv is a dish of incredible textural and flavor combinations, and marries so many wonderful ingredients and techniques all into one golden-crusted portion – utterly fabulous!
Chicken Kyiv Recipe Card
Chicken Kyiv
Ingredients
- 2 large chicken breasts
- 100 grams (7 tbsp or 3.5 oz) butter
- a handful of parsley
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 and 1/2 cup of white breadcrumbs
- 3 medium eggs, whisked
- 5 heaped tbsp plain (all-purpose) flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 liter (34 fl.oz or 4 and1/2 cups) sunflower oil
Instructions
- Mix the softened butter with the chopped fresh parsley and minced garlic.
- Take the softened butter and roll it into a log, using cling film (saran wrap) to cover it. Place it in the freezer for about 15-20 minutes.
- Take each large chicken breast and slice it in half horizontally, so you get two thinner pieces.
- Take each of the four resulting chicken pieces and put a layer of cling film under and over it and pound them to a 2-3 mm thinness. You can use a meat pounder or a rolling pin.
- Remove the butter from the freezer and cut into half lengthwise and half in the middle, so you have 4 equal pieces of butter. Now take a piece of the butter, place it in the middle of the pounded chicken slice, and roll it as shown below.
- Cover the rolled pieces in cling film/saran wrap, and place them in the freezer for 5-10 minutes.
- Remove the chicken rolls from the freezer and remove the saran wrap/cling film. Now, roll each chicken through flour, egg, breadcrumbs, egg for the second time, and breadcrumbs for the second time (steps are illustrated in the article above).
- Now, place them all on a plate, cover with some cling film (saran wrap) and place them in the freezer while you get the oil for frying ready and the oven preheated to 360°F (180°C).
- In a small pot, add enough sunflower oil to cover the thickness of the chicken Kyiv when we place it inside. We use a small, narrower pot, so we only needed about 500 ml (about 2 cups) of sunflower oil. But, if you’re using a larger pot, you may need up to 1 liter (or about 4 cups).
Bring the oil up to about 350°F (or 175°C). If you don’t have a cooking thermometer, we have a tip for you. We used a wooden spoon to check the oil is ready. You can place the end of the wooden spoon in the oil, and when bubbles form around it, you’ll know the oil is ready.
Cook the chicken for 2 minutes in the oil until golden. - Transfer the chicken to a baking dish and bake for approximately 12-15 minutes at 360°F (180°C) until the chicken is cooked through. When they're ready, you'll start seeing butter bubbles on the top surface of the chicken. Take out of the oven and serve while warm.
Notes
- It’s traditional to use parsley, but you can use a combination of fresh herbs you prefer. We have before also used a delicious combination of parsley and basil.
- For the white breadcrumbs, we used panko breadcrumbs, but you can use any white breadcrumbs you have on hand.
- While sunflower oil is preferable, you can use any neutral-tasting oil, such as vegetable oil or canola oil
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Contributor: Efimia is a Moldovan home cook and retired teacher, who has been feeding friends, family, and loved ones with recipes from across Eastern Europe and the Balkans for four decades and counting.