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Gluten-Free Chicken Kyiv – a nostalgic, classic Ukrainian dish!
Chicken Kyiv is a tenderised chicken breast stuffed with cold garlic & parsley butter. It’s coated in gluten-free flour, eggs, and either store-bought or homemade gluten-free breadcrumbs before being deep-fried and/or baked.
Kiev or Kyiv?
Many of us know this dish as chicken Kiev, but as the spelling of Kiev was changed and legally approved by the Ukrainian government to Kyiv in 1995, all that has changed is the pronunciation, the dish remains exactly the same.
Named after the Ukrainian capital, chicken Kyiv is known as Kotleta po-kyivsky by the locals. After doing an online Ukrainian cooking course, I notice there seems to be a pattern of stuffing meat, pastries, vegetables, potatoes, fruits and even bread with delicious flavour bombs. The chicken Kyiv is by far, my favourite stuffed meal. Who can resist that garlic and parsley butter oozing out of the crisp, crumbed chicken? Check out the video below to see this is in action!
Some important steps for the perfect fried chicken:
Preparing the chicken
As illustrated in the recipe card, following the steps to butterfly, tenderise, stuff and roll the chicken breast will guarantee an even cooked chicken without any holes or gaps. We want to keep the butter inside the chicken while it is cooking. The garlic and parsley butter will flavour the meat from the inside and eventually when cut open, flavour the mashed potatoes and vegetables.
Make sure you have a good supply of plastic wrap to encase the chickens in snugly before resting it in the freezer for 15 mins.
Timing
You need to plan your timing wisely. Once the chicken has rested for 15 mins, it needs to be crumbed and fried and/or oven-baked immediately. The reason is that the butter will start to melt if left out too long and once the cooking has finished, all the butter may disappear.
On the flip side, if left in the freezer for more than 15 mins, the chicken will start to completely freeze which could result in undercooked chicken, plus the danger of food poisoning.
Crumbing the chicken correctly
Follow these steps to crumb the chicken breasts successfully:
- FIRST STEP: Flour, salt & pepper mixture
- SECOND STEP: Egg mixture
- THIRD STEP: Breadcrumb mixture *
- FOURTH STEP: Back to the egg mixture
- FIFTH STEP: Back to the breadcrumb mixture. Double-dipping the chicken in the egg and breadcrumb mixtures gives it that extra crispiness.
- I used the breadcrumbs made from leftover mock rye bread slices
Deep-Fried versus Oven-Baked
Traditionally, chicken Kyiv is deep-fried in hot oil for 2 mins to get that cripsy coating, then finished off in the oven for 12 mins.
I have tested chicken Kyiv using the oven only and I was pleased with the results. The breadcrumbs were still crispy and tasty, but if you are after the real thing for that “extra” crispiness and fried flavours, then the traditional method is your best bet.
Using the oven-baked method takes 30 mins overall.
What to serve with chicken Kyiv?
As soon as the melted garlic and parsley butter oozes out of the chicken, it will spread around the plate flavouring any sides like steamed vegetables and mashed potatoes.
Mashed potatoes are a classic side for chicken Kyiv as it is great to mop up all garlic butter from the plate! With this in mind, reduce the amount of salt you normally add to mashed potatoes as the butter does most of the seasoning in this dish.
Gluten-Free Chicken Kyiv
Equipment
- Plastic wrap
Ingredients
- 4 chicken breasts, skin & bone removed
- 250 ml sunflower or vegetable oil, for frying
Garlic Butter (allow 30g per chicken)
- 125 g butter, at room temperature
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 heaped tbsp fresh parsley, chopped finely
- ¼ tsp salt (if butter is unsalted)
Crumbing ingredients
- 85 g store-bought or homemade gluten-free plain flour
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp white pepper
- 4 eggs
- 250 g store-bought or homemade gluten-free breadcrumbs
- or
- 250 g store-bought or homemade gluten-free Panko breadcrumbs
Instructions
Garlic Butter
- Mix all the garlic butter ingredients together in a glass or ceramic bowl.
- Place the garlic butter on plastic wrap and shape it into a log using a spatula.
- Roll the plastic over the butter log and twist the ends together.
- Freeze the butter until it is firm. The garlic butter can be made in advance and kept frozen for one month.
Chicken preparation
- Slice each chicken breast in the middle (as shown in the photos) without cutting completely through at the last couple of centimetres.
- Gently butterfly the chicken breast open.
- Using a meat mallet, flatten and tenderise the chicken until it has an even thickness.
- Lay the chicken breast on a sheet of plastic wrap.
- Remove the frozen butter from the freezer and cut them into equal sizes for each chicken.
- Place the garlic butter portion in the centre of the chicken.
- Start rolling the breast away from you, tucking in the sides until you reach the end, bringing the plastic with you as you roll.
- Twist the ends of the plastic wrap securely. Place on a freezer-sturdy tray.
- Freeze the rolled-up chicken for 15 mins. (It is important not to go beyond this time as the chicken may freeze too much and may result in undercooked chicken).
Crumbing preparation
- Prepare three separate containers to hold the combined flour, salt and pepper in one, the mixed eggs in the second and the breadcrumbs in the third.
Cooking
Deep-frying & oven-baking
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Heat up a deep-sided baking tray for 5 mins.
- While the chicken is being assembled, heat the oil in a deep frying pan. The oil is ready when the handle of a wooden spoon is dipped in the hot oil and bubbles start forming around the handle.
- Depending on the size of your frying pan, fry each chicken individually or in pairs for 2-3 mins, turning often and ladling the hot oil over the chicken.
- Remove each chicken and place it directly on the hot baking tray.
- Oven-bake for 12 mins.
Oven-baking only
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Heat up a deep-sided baking tray for 5 mins.
- Grease the baking tray with some oil and place the crumbed chicken breast on the tray.
- Oven-bake for 30 mins, turning the chicken over halfway.
Serving
- Serve immediately with mashed potatoes and an assortment of cooked vegetables like carrots and peas.
Video
Notes
- Best served immediately after cooking.
- Not suitable to freeze
- The garlic butter is suitable to freeze for one month.
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