Okay, so this isn’t chicken kiev. But it’s not chicken cordon bleu either. It’s…really good. And I’ve for some reason always called it Chicken Kiev. So that’s what we’ll call it. And you won’t care about the technicallity of the name once you try it. And it’s multi-purpose! You can use the breading to do Chicken Strips or Nuggets at the same time, in case you have kiddos who want it simple.
This is something we make for special occasions, as it is very rich.
CHICKEN KIEV
3 chicken breasts, boneless skinless
Buttermilk
6 T garden vegetable cream cheese (or make your own with herbs & cream cheese)
6 slices Ham, thinly sliced
mozzarella or swiss cheese-cut into matchsticks
about 1/2 cup melted butter or milk, for dipping
*coating mix: 1 1/2 cups cornflake crumbs
3/4 cup flour
dash salt & pepper
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp garlic powder
All right, let’s get to it! You can do the chicken breasts one of two ways.
1. with chicken breast flat on a cutting board, Lay your hand on top, holding it flat down. Pierce a large knife in at the fattest end and cut in half horizontally.
2. Don’t cut all the way through, just butterfly it open.
(Way #1 will give you 3 larger portions, #2 gives you 6 smaller)
Now cover the chicken with wax paper or a couple layers of plastic wrap and using a mallet, pound them out thin, trying not to break through. (A good tip-put the skin side down-pounding on the non-skin side- or where the skin would be if it was chicken with skin left on)
Now soak in buttermilk for a couple of hours. You can skip this step if you want-I don’t notice a huge difference when I do.
Now get organized. Get everything you’ll need ready:
Butter or milk for dipping, coating all mixed together, all your ham and cheeses ready. I like to use a bread loaf pan for baking since it holds the ends of the chicken rolls tight so not so much can ooze out. 3 of the smaller rolls fit perfect in a loaf pan. So spray your loaf pan with PAM and set aside.
Lay out all your chicken flat. Spread each one with about 1 T of cream cheese.
Next, lay 1-2 pieces of ham on top. I use the really thin budding ham usually, but this last time I had some ham leftover from Christmas, and even though it was thicker, it still rolled fine-and was REALLY good!
Next, top in the middle with 1-2 cheese matchsticks.
Now, get ready to get messy!
Roll each one up, tucking the cheese inside as you go.
Now, we could secure with toothpicks, but I find that it’s fine to just put it straight in the loaf pan after breading, so I don’t.
Next, dip in the melted butter or milk, then in the coating. I told you it would be messy!
Now, place in loaf pan and repeat.
Bake at 400 degrees for about 35 minutes, or until cheese is oozy and chicken is cooked through.
If it looks dry on top, you can always brush with melted butter or spray with PAM before it’s done cooking.
*You can play around with the seasonings in the coating mix, sometimes I use a garlic seasoning mix. Have some fun with it!
Ingredients
- 3 chicken breasts, boneless skinless
- Buttermilk
- 6 T garden vegetable cream cheese (or make your own with herbs & cream cheese)
- 6 slices Ham, thinly sliced
- mozzarella or swiss cheese-cut into matchsticks
- about 1/2 cup melted butter or milk, for dipping
coating mix:
- 1 1/2 cups cornflake crumbs
- 3/4 cup flour
- dash salt & pepper
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp garlic powder
Instructions
- All right, let's get to it! You can do the chicken breasts one of two ways.
- 1. with chicken breast flat on a cutting board, Lay your hand on top, holding it flat down. Pierce a large knife in at the fattest end and cut in half horizontally.
- 2. Don't cut all the way through, just butterfly it open.
- (Way #1 will give you 3 larger portions, #2 gives you 6 smaller)
- Now cover the chicken with wax paper or a couple layers of plastic wrap and using a mallet, pound them out thin, trying not to break through. (A good tip-put the skin side down-pounding on the non-skin side- or where the skin would be if it was chicken with skin left on)
- Now soak in buttermilk for a couple of hours. You can skip this step if you want-I don't notice a huge difference when I do.
- Now get organized. Get everything you'll need ready:
- Butter or milk for dipping, coating all mixed together, all your ham and cheeses ready. I like to use a bread loaf pan for baking since it holds the ends of the chicken rolls tight so not so much can ooze out. 3 of the smaller rolls fit perfect in a loaf pan. So spray your loaf pan with PAM and set aside.
- Lay out all your chicken flat. Spread each one with about 1 T of cream cheese.
- Next, lay 1-2 pieces of ham on top. I use the really thin budding ham usually, but this last time I had some ham leftover from Christmas, and even though it was thicker, it still rolled fine-and was REALLY good!
- Next, top in the middle with 1-2 cheese matchsticks.
- Now, get ready to get messy!
- Roll each one up, tucking the cheese inside as you go.
- Now, we could secure with toothpicks, but I find that it's fine to just put it straight in the loaf pan after breading, so I don't.
- Next, dip in the melted butter or milk, then in the coating. I told you it would be messy!
- Now, place in loaf pan and repeat.
- Bake at 400 degrees for about 35 minutes, or until cheese is oozy and chicken is cooked through.
- If it looks dry on top, you can always brush with melted butter or spray with PAM before it's done cooking.
You can play around with the seasonings in the coating mix, sometimes I use a garlic seasoning mix. Have some fun with it!
