Last night I had my parents over for the very first Russian dinner prepared by me!! I actually chose recipes from a Russian cookbook (Please To The Table) I recently purchased. The cookbook has over 400 recipes and no pictures so I was hoping my parents would know better what the food should look like… and more importantly – taste like.
So for my first meal, I decided to make chicken Kiev. Have you heard of it before? I feel like this is one of the most well-known Russian dishes among Americans, yet to be honest – I had no idea what it actually was. I was imagining chicken stuffed with cheese and maybe even ham (I think I was confusing it with chicken Cordon Blue… must have been). What I discovered was it was chicken stuffed with herbed butter. It should be served straight out of the fryer (oh yeah!) so that the melted butter inside oozes out as soon as you cut into it. Mmmm… 
So yeah, funny enough – I thought I was making the most traditional Russian dish of all but my parents informed me that this was more of an entree you’d see at fancy restaurants. After going through the steps of making the herbed butter, stuffing the breasts, waiting… and then finally frying these babies (from start to finish the process ideally takes 7 hours!!! <– I misread the recipe so it took me less time as I took shortcuts but it actually worked out, so I’ll share those with you), I can see why a regular homecook just wouldn’t bother. With that said, it was delicious and my very first time deep frying something (as terrified as I originally was) was surprisingly thrilling. I think it was all the oil bubbles dancing around the chicken! 
Onto the recipe…
Ingredients (serves 6):
- 4T unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1/2 cup lemon juice
- 1.5T chopped fresh dill
- 6 chicken breasts (about 8oz each)
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup of bread crumbs (homemade best –> they have larger chunks that fry up deliciously!)
- all-purpose flour for dipping the chicken
- canola oil for frying (get a large bottle!)
Equipment: toothpicks and either a deep fryer or just a regular pot (that’s all I had).
Note: make sure you leave plenty of time for this. There is a lot of refrigeration time. Make sure you make the herbed butter at least 4 hours before serving (ideally 7). Alternatively you can make the butter ahead of time, and then stuff the chicken breasts 1.5-4.5 hours prior to serving (see below). Still a long time so make sure you’re prepared!!
1. Combine room temperature butter, lemon juice, fresh dill and freshly ground pepper (to taste) in a mini food processor.
Voila, you’ve got herbed butter. Easy, right?
2. Shape butter into 12 little sticks, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours (this step can be done ahead of time).
3. Pound chicken breasts to an even thickness (I like doing that between some cling wrap to keep everything nice and clean).
4. Cut each breast in half, length-wise
4. Now time to stuff each chicken strip with a butter stick.
Roll the butter inside the chicken, make sure the butter is completely inside each chicken strip. Use toothpicks to hold it all together.
All done!
5. Prepare 3 bowls – one with flour, one with eggs, one with bread crumbs
Dip into each one (in that order), shaking excess flour/egg/crumbs off.
Refrigerate stuffed chicken strips for at least 4 hours (or if you’re low on time, place in the freezer for 1 hour <– that’s what I did and it worked well).
6. Now is the fun part. Let’s fry these babies!!
Preheat oil to 350*F (I used a candy thermometer to make sure the temperature stayed there). If your oil is too hot, the outside will burn and the inside will still be raw. If your oil is not hot enough, it will take longer for the chicken to cook through, thus absorbing a lot more oil. Greasy chicken is not what we’re after. Fried crispy chicken is the goal!
Do NOT overcrowd the pot.
Seriously, I was kind of scared doing this step but the oil bubbles made it so fun!!
Cook for about 8 minutes until the exterior is golden brown. Place on paper towels to soak up some of the excess oil.
7. Enjoy!!! Best step, right?
I forgot to take a picture of the gooey butter center, although the crispy chicken crust was definitely my favorite part. I served this with fried potatoes with wild mushrooms + a simple tomato/cucumber salad. These are the most classic Russian sides. I’ll do a quickie post on those next! 
Have you ever heard of chicken Kiev? Have you ever tried it? … and on another note…. Do you own a deep fryer? Have you ever fried anything?
:
I think I used to own a deep fryer but gave it away b/c I almost never used it. One time my friends from grad school and I decided to have a “fry party.” Overall, we made coconut shrimp and coconut fried smoked mozzarella, and tempura sweet potato, zucchini, and shark nuggets (with a shark my dad caught on a fishing trip and gave to me). We may have fried more stuff but my memory fails me at this point. All I know is that the evening ended when we tried to fry a girl scout cookie with disastrous results. We all also really enjoyed eating our meal but then laid around suffering from indigestion for like an hour afterward. We learned our lesson! A little fried food goes a long way!
Wow Shelly – you guys really went all out at that party
Haha- we regretted it to!
My mom used to make a baked version of chicken kiev… now I’m totally craving it!
The only time I tried to deep-fry something ended up not-so-well. I attempted to make fish & chips, but the oil didn’t get hot enough so it took a loooong time for the fish to cook through. I ended up tossing it into the oven, which resulted in a mushy – and basically inedible – “fried” fish.
I’ll keep the deep-frying to the pros… or you! Your chicken kiev looks great
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That looks so tasty! I’ve never had Chicken Kiev, so like you, I was under the impression it more like chicken Cordon Bleu.
I definitely don’t own a deep fryer, but I’m sure Kyle would love it if I did.
I’m really interested in the potato/mushroom side, though. Please post that recipe soon!
i can’t believe you own a deep fryer! so brave
We don’t own a deep fryer!
It was just a small sauce pan with a thermometer in to monitor the oil temp.
ahhhhhh ok, all better now
wouldn’t that be crazy?!?!
My husband’s favorite meal that his mom used to make is Chicken Kiev. Her recipe uses regular butter instead of herb butter and she bakes her Kiev in the oven. She is also not Russian. I look forward to trying your authentic recipe.
wow, i’m with you, i’d heard of it but never had it before… but i’m intrigued, it looks awesome
Those look really good. How did you do the wild mushrooms? The whole meal looks amazing.. thank you
Lew
I’ll post about the potato/mushroom side next
p.s thank you for stopping by our blog. I am glad we met
Lew
One more thing.. I couldn’t find you email so I figured I would just leave you a comment. How in the world did you get a Keurig coffee maker to give away.. WE would love to do giveaways but have no idea how.. Help us please
Lew
You’re brave. I never cook Brazilian food for my grandma. It’s never good enough.
I feel the same way about meeting you. It was so fun meeting you at Foodbuzz.
Chicken Kiev is a hugely popular dish in the UK and Ireland.It is always made with garlic butter and was very popular in the eighties. Every supermarket sells a frozen entree version of it.You can make it healthier by using panko breadcrumbs or homemade wholewheat for that matter and baking it in the oven.
Oh that’s so funny. I think I made the baked version from Cooking Light a while back but wanted to make sure I made the traditional version this time.
Confirmed: I need a deep fryer.
It was so nice to meet you too!!!!
How delicious!! I lived in Russia for a few months many years ago, and this was one of my favorite meals.
I’m so glad you showed us how to make this. Now I can replicate that lovely memory. 
Wow. Well done. I’m such a visual cook that I feel pretty nervous cooking recipes without an idea of what there meant to look like. Yes, I have had chicken kiev before, I didn’t realise it was a Russian dish either, its a pretty standard ‘frozen meal’ package here in Australia. I love the idea of serving this as a entree too, especially your version.
This is my first time visiting your blog. I’m loving it, so looking forward to connecting through the blogosphere.
Cheers Anna
[...] … and FRIED food? Say what? Hey it was for the blog! Chicken Kiev: [...]
It’s probably not as authentic, but Cook’s Illustrated has a great recipe for chicken Kiev — I made it a long time ago but I’m pretty sure it didn’t take 7 hours. You also bake the chicken instead of frying it, and the way you fold it avoids having to use toothpicks. I didn’t include the recipe, but here’s my experience making it: http://megan-deliciousdishings.blogspot.com/2009/06/chicken-kiev.html
I bet I would liked your fried version a whole lot!