If you’ve never tried mini kievs before you’re in for a treat! Think classic kiev, but smaller, cuter, crisper and more garlic butter. You’re gonna love em’. Follow me…
Garlic Butter
The garlic butter is the star of the show and it couldn’t be easier to make. Here’s what you’ll need:
Garlic Butter Ingredients
Garlic – Fresh cloves and finely grated/minced. You only actually need two cloves, which I know doesn’t seem a lot, but raw grated garlic is very pungent! Butter – I use lightly salted butter, but you could use unsalted and adjust to taste if you wish. Parsley – Must be fresh and very finely diced.
Once you’ve combined the butter just grab a teaspoon and scoop out small chunks onto some parchment paper. At this point you’ll want to freeze the butter balls to firm it up. It’s important the butter is nice and firm so you can wrap the meat around it. Process shots: add butter, garlic & parsley to a bowl (photo 1), mash with fork to combine (photo 2), scoop onto parchment paper and freeze (photo 3).
How to Prepare Mini Chicken Kievs
Once you’ve frozen the butter you’re essentially just making stuffed chicken meatballs.
Ground Chicken
To make the meatballs you’ll want to use ground chicken (chicken mince in UK). If you can’t find it, you can pulse boneless skinless chicken thighs in a food processor. This works just as well! Alongside the chicken we’re going in with breadcrumbs to bind, parmesan for a punch of flavour, grated onion for moisture/flavour and an egg to bind.
Stuffed Meatballs
Once the garlic butter balls are nice and firm just scoop out chunks of meat, pop the butter in the centre and form the meat around the butter in the shape of a meatball. Process shots: add meatball ingredients to large mixing bowl (photo 1), use your hand to combine until everything is evenly distributed (photo 2), scoop out chunks of meat (photo 3), add garlic butter ball to the centre (photo 4), form meatball around butter (photo 5), repeat (photo 6).
How to Coat Mini Chicken Kievs
A chicken kiev ain’t a chicken kiev unless it’s got a golden crispy coating. It’s just the rules 🤷♂️
Panko Breadcrumbs
Panko breadcrumbs are great because they’re so big and airy, meaning they turn out ultra crisp & crunchy. You’ll find them in most stores, so definitely opt for these over fresh or regular dried breadcrumbs if you can.
Wet Hand Dry Hand
To reduce mess when dredging I recommend assigning a ‘wet hand’ to use when coating in the egg, and a ‘dry hand’ to coat in the flour/panko. Process shots: coat in flour (photo 1), coat in egg (photo 2), coat in breadcrumbs (photo 3), repeat (photo 4).
How to Cook Mini Chicken Kievs
Now, when testing these beauties I did try two different methods of cooking:
Baked Mini Chicken Kievs
Baking is great for obviously reducing oil and also requires less effort. But, I found that the longer length of cooking time meant the butter leaked out of nearly all the kievs. Whilst they did come out fairly crispy, the coating just didn’t compared to when they’re fried.
Fried Mini Chicken Kievs
The shorter blast of intense heat allowed for the outside to crisp up and the same rate the chicken cooked and the butter melted in the centre. By this point I’ve made quite a few batches of these kievs and they’ve come out perfectly every single time when frying. Look how golden they come out!! Process shots: add kievs to oil and deep fry (photo 1), scoop out with slotted spoon and repeat (photo 2), rest of wire rack (photo 3).
Serving Mini Chicken Kievs
You can either serve these as finger food or turn into a meal with a side. Growing up I always had these with fries and ketchup, so that’s exactly how I’ve served them today! Either way just give them a few mins to cool down or the butter will take the roof of your mouth off! If you love the combo of garlic and chicken check out my Garlic Butter Chicken! After another chicken kiev twist? Check out my Chicken Kiev Pasta! For more similar recipes check out these beauties:
Fried Finger Food Recipes
Deep Fried Bread Mushrooms Chicken Fried Potatoes Fried Cheese Balls Popcorn Chicken Fried Ravioli
Alrighty, let’s tuck into the full recipe for these mini chicken kievs shall we?!
How to make Mini Chicken Kievs (Full Recipe & Video)
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