Chicken Kiev

I love them little Barber chicken things, but you know, 2 to a box and $3.99? wow. That's expensive. Not to mention, the list of ingredients is a little frightening (AND Princess will eat TWO while holding a conversation with you). And they have served a time and a place in my life.

Ahhh....what a safe standby to have on hand

(need to try the cordon bleu recipe next!)

So when I saw this recipe (and CRAP I can't find my original link!) I said OH YEAH, I'm so putting that on the menu! Fortunately I have everything on hand (except fresh tarragon, not even sure if I have dried, but will improvise) since I've put myself on an extremely reduced grocery budget for the month of February.

So, here you have it, the way I did it in this neck of the woods! Just a note: it did not look pretty, my buttery goodness all leaked out because I sort of cheated by using big chicken breast and slicing in half then pounding. Ummm, yeah, you should just use FOUR breast and pound them out. Next time (and there will be a next time, the flavor was spot on) I will do that.

1 stick of butter, room temp
2 tbs of butter, melted and cooled
1 tsp parsley
1 tsp italian seasoning
1 tsp garlic powder, and a little extra for seasoning the bird
1 tsp salt, and a little extra for the bird
1/4 tsp ground black pepper, and, you guessed it, a little extra for the bird

4 b/s chicken breast, I had 2 large so I slice them in half horizontally to make 4 thinner halves for easier beating
2 eggs, beat with a tbs of water
2 cups panko (or if you must, bread crumbs)
1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese

Ready? Ready.

Combine butter, 3 herbs, salt and pepper in bowl of a mixer and whip up.Place this in a piece of plastic wrap and roll up in a log. Place in the freezer (can be made ahead of time, no kidding!) NOTE: make sure you don't get major creases in the plastic as this can cause issues when you go to remove it from the frozen butter and it stretches and tears.


I hate pounding out chicken, but I think this is a necessity for the recipe. I would normally just slice them thin, but they need to be rollable. So go ahead, place the thin slice chicken in a ziploc (or other plastic type bag or plastic wrap) add a little water to chicken and a little more water to outside of bag. Gently pound til 1/8 inch or so thick. Yeah. Thin. But watch. They will get too thin, causing the butter to leak out ::sob::

Take out the butter and slice in to 5 slices. Take 2 slices and set them aside in the fridge.

Lay out a piece of chicken and place 1 slice of butter with a tbs of panko in the middle. (Well crap, I just realized I did NOT put the tbs of panko with the chunk of butter!) Fold in sides and roll into a log, completely enclosing the butter, wrapping as tight as you can. Once all chicken is rolled, cover and put in fridge for 2 hours or even overnight (yeah!).


Add egg and water mix in a shallow dish.  Melt the 2 slices of butter and add with panko and parmesan cheese in another shallow dish. Mix well.

Dip chicken in eggs mix and the roll in the panko mix. Gently place baking sheet, seam side down and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes, til chicken is done (165 or so). Honestly, I cooked mine for 30 minutes as I could NOT get a 165 reading no matter what. The first time I cut one open and it was still pink. So really, watch the chicken and remove when its done, not 20 minutes.

::sniff:: the butter was leaking out, but I had it on some parchment paper

and was able to pour a little back over chicken when serving.

*This can be made ahead and frozen: Make all but do not bake. Freeze. When ready to serve, cook 35 minutes or so til done at 350 degrees.

Don't worry, I got more chicken!

Ummm, yeah. This is pretty damn good. Try it, you'll like it. Hello REAL Chicken Kiev, goodbye Barber Foods!

NOTE: (again) ... this is NOT a dinner you want to make after working 8 to 10 hours. It takes time so do like ME and prepare the steps on a Sunday and cook it up on Monday or Tuesday. I'm looking forward to doing it again only I will double it and freeze half ... and the house smells AWESOME!

Check out some of the cool blog hops I'm joining this week:
Your Recipe, My Kitchen, Mangia Mondays, Creative Mondays, Tempt My Tummy, Made From Scratch, Tasty Tidbits,  Tuesdays at the Table, Totally Tasty Tuesdays, Tasty Tuesdays, Whats Cooking Wednesday,