Chicken Kiev is crispy crumbed chicken stuffed with lemony garlic and herb butter. It’s crunchy outside, juicy inside, and so delicious! This chicken recipe is a classic dish with loads of flavor, and it’s super simple to make.
If you love the crunch of chicken Milanese and the extra flavor that comes from stuffed chicken, you’ll be head over heels for chicken Kiev!
As someone who cooks chicken often, chicken Kiev is one of those dishes that still makes me sit back and think “Whoa!” at first bite. It’s succulent inside, crunchy outside, and so full of flavor that it’s ridiculous. And it all comes down to a little effort and a whole whack of herb butter– my kind of meal!
Why I Love This Chicken Kiev Recipe
- Juicy and flavorful. Classic chicken Kiev is stuffed with a garlicky parsley compound butter. The butter melts into the chicken as it cooks, and the result is chicken that’s juicy, tender, and packed with flavor.
- Simple method. Filling and rolling the chicken follows a similar method as my stuffed pork loin and stuffed flank steak recipes. You don’t need to be a MasterChef to do it, and I’ll walk you through the steps.
- It’s baked AND fried. I lightly fry my chicken Kiev before baking it for the utmost crispiness. It’s an extra step, but totally worth it for that perfect, crispy, golden exterior.
- Perfect for a special occasion. Chicken Kiev is easy enough to make every day, but I especially love making it for Valentine’s Day or even a special occasion like Father’s Day. It’s fancy-looking but uncomplicated, and it goes with loads of different sides.
Ingredients You’ll Need
Chicken Kiev and other stuffed chicken dishes are popular in Eastern Europe, but there’s a chance it has origins in French cooking, too. It’s a bit of a mystery.
All I know is that it’s delicious, and the ingredients are super simple. I go over them below with some notes, and you’ll find the printable recipe card followed by a photo step-by-step at the bottom of the post.
- Chicken – I recommend skinless, boneless chicken breast fillets. You can find chicken breasts pre-trimmed in grocery stores or trim them yourself.
- Flour – All-purpose flour creates a light base coat that helps the rest of the breading adhere to the chicken. I haven’t tried other types of flours, but if you have, I’d love to hear your suggestions in the comments!
- Eggs – Beaten for an egg wash.
- Breadcrumbs – I like to use panko breadcrumbs since they’re larger and crunchier. However, any breadcrumbs will work. They can be seasoned or unseasoned.
For the Compound Butter
- Butter – Take your butter out of the fridge ahead of time so that it can soften. Butter is MUCH easier to mix when it’s at room temperature.
- Garlic – Freshly minced. You could substitute ¼-½ teaspoon of garlic powder per clove, but I’d only do this in a pinch.
- Parsley – Chopped fresh parsley is the classic choice for chicken Kiev. Feel free to give your butter different flavors with more herbs like basil, thyme, and oregano.
- Lemon Zest – My personal touch to this classic recipe. Lemon zest isn’t traditionally used in chicken Kiev recipes, but I love how fresh lemon zest brightens up the herby butter. Try it, you’ll see!
Tips and Variations
- Chill the butter long enough. It’s important to refrigerate the compound butter until it’s completely firm again. This way, the butter stays intact while you roll it up inside the chicken, and it’s less likely to leak.
- Don’t skip the freezing step. Chilling the chicken Kiev in the freezer gives the butter and chicken a chance to firm up, making it easier to coat with the breading.
- Check that the chicken is done. Use an instant-read thermometer to make sure the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165ºF.
- Rest the chicken. Just like you’d rest a steak after cooking, resting chicken gives the juices inside a chance to redistribute and makes the chicken super tender.
Frequently Asked Questions
Since I deep-fry the chicken first, this chicken Kiev needs only about 15-20 minutes in the oven at 350ºF. If you skip the deep-frying step, it’ll need slightly longer to bake. The chicken is cooked when the internal temperature reaches 165ºF.
A common problem when making chicken Kiev is that butter may leak out the sides while it cooks. Freezing the chicken before cooking helps hold everything in place. I’ve also heard of chefs baking chicken on top of a slice of bread so that the bread absorbs any leaking garlic butter. The idea is that it avoids a mess, and you have garlic bread as a side, which sounds GENIUS, though I haven’t tried it yet.
Chicken Kiev, or chicken Kyiv, is named after the Ukrainian city of Kyiv. The story goes that a chef from there refined the recipe as we know it today. So, technically, it’s the chef who’s from Kyiv, not the dish!
Storing and Reheating Leftovers
- Refrigerate. Store any leftover chicken Kiev airtight in the fridge for up to 3 days. The crispy breading loses a bit of its texture after a while, but it still reheats well enough; see the next point.
- Reheat. I like to reheat chicken Kiev in the oven, once again on a wire rack with a baking sheet. Warm the chicken at 400ºF until it’s hot throughout. You could also use your air fryer.
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Combine the butter ingredients. Add softened butter, garlic, and parsley in a bowl. Stir well until combined. If you are using lemon zest, now is the time to add it.
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Chill. Place the butter on a piece of plastic wrap. Roll it into a log shape and twist the ends of the plastic wrap. Refrigerate the butter until firm.
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Pound the chicken. Place chicken breasts between two pieces of plastic wrap (one at a time) and pound with a meat mallet to ¼-inch thickness. Season the chicken to taste with salt and pepper.
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Roll the chicken. Cut the butter into four equal pieces. Place one piece of butter in the center of the pounded chicken. Fold the sides of the chicken breasts over the butter and roll from the narrower side until you have a log shape. Repeat with the remaining butter and chicken breasts. Wrap the prepared chicken with plastic wrap and freeze for 30 minutes. In the meantime, prepare the breading station.
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Prepare the breading station. Add flour in a shallow wide bowl, with a pinch of salt and pepper. Stir to combine. Whisk the eggs with a pinch of salt and pepper in a separate bowl and add the panko breadcrumbs into the third bowl.
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Coat the chicken. Carefully remove plastic wrap from the chicken. Coat the chicken with flour, then eggs, shaking off the excess eggs. Finally, coat the chicken with panko breadcrumbs.
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Fry the chicken. Heat oil in a deep fryer to 375ºF. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350ºF. Fry the chicken for 1-2 minutes per side or until golden.
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Bake the chicken. Place a wire rack on top of the baking sheet. Add the fried chicken breasts to the wire rack and bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until the inner temperature reaches 165ºF. Allow the chicken to rest for 5 minutes before serving and cutting.
- Mixing the butter: You can use a mortar and pestle to combine the butter with garlic and herbs.
- Breadcrumbs options: If you do not have panko breadcrumbs, classic plain breadcrumbs will also work.
- Freeze the chicken: Do not skip the freezing step – this is important as the chicken will become firmer, and you can coat it nicely with the breading ingredients.
- Adding flavor: Lemon zest is not traditionally used in chicken Kyiv but will give an amazing twist to this classic dish.
Calories: 611kcal | Carbohydrates: 46g | Protein: 46g | Fat: 25g | Saturated Fat: 13g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 7g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 236mg | Sodium: 452mg | Potassium: 774mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 863IU | Vitamin C: 5mg | Calcium: 91mg | Iron: 4mg
Nutritional info is an estimate and provided as courtesy. Values may vary according to the ingredients and tools used. Please use your preferred nutritional calculator for more detailed info.
How to Make Chicken Kiev
This easy chicken Kiev recipe starts similarly to chicken paillard, where you’ll pound the chicken fillets so that they’re thin enough to roll. Meanwhile, we’ll make the quick and easy compound butter the same way I make cowboy butter and the finishing butter I use for my tomahawk steaks. Let’s get started:
- Prepare the butter. Mix softened butter with garlic, parsley, and lemon zest. You can combine the ingredients using a spatula and elbow grease, or a mortar and pestle also works well here.
- Wrap and chill. Afterward, transfer the butter to a sheet of plastic wrap or parchment paper, then roll it up into a log and twist the ends closed. Chill the butter in the fridge until it’s firm again.
- Pound the chicken thin. One at a time, use a rolling pin or meat mallet to pound the chicken fillets between two sheets of plastic wrap. Flatten the chicken to about ¼” thickness. Afterward, season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Fill and roll the chicken. Next, take out your compound butter and cut it into four pieces. Place a piece of butter in the center of each flattened chicken fillet. Then, roll the chicken up around the butter by folding the sides in first, then rolling it into a log shape (similar to a burrito).
- Freeze. Once you’ve rolled all of your chicken, wrap it in plastic wrap and place it into the freezer for 30 minutes. This lets the chicken firm up before you bread it.
- Prep the breading station. Meanwhile, add the flour to a shallow bowl, along with salt and pepper. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, and fill a third bowl with panko breadcrumbs.
- Coat the chicken. When you’re ready to bread and cook the chicken, unwrap it, and dip each chicken roll-up in flour, then the egg, and finally into the breadcrumbs.
- Fry. Next, heat oil in a deep fryer or a large Dutch oven with tall sides. Once the oil reaches 375ºF, add the chicken. Cook for 1-2 minutes per side until the outside is golden and crispy.
- Bake. Lastly, arrange the fried chicken on top of a wire rack set over a baking sheet. Bake in a 350ºF oven for 15-20 minutes or until the chicken cooks through. Afterward, let your chicken Kiev rest for 5 minutes, then serve!
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