This Chicken Kiev is an inside-out revision of the traditional banquet hall dish that is modern and distinctive. Instead of being concealed inside, the buttery filling is exposed as the coating on the outside. The finest chicken you’ve ever eaten is made with bread crumbs, gobs of butter, garlic, and parsley. Serve with fresh arugula, tomato and Feta salsa, and baked potatoes. The ideal weeknight supper that is yet elegant enough for dinner guests.
| Servings: | 4 |
| Yield: | 4 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds baby Yukon Gold potatoes
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- Salt and pepper
- 4 slices white bread
- 3 cloves garlic
- ¼ cup fresh flat-leaf parsley
- ½ cup butter, melted
- 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, butterflied
- ½ pint cherry tomatoes
- ¼ cup black olives
- 1 lemon, zested
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ cup feta cheese
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
- 1 (7 ounce) bag arugula
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Toss potatoes with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Roast for 20 to 25 minutes before adding chicken (follow next steps to prepare chicken before roasting).
- Add the bread to a food processor. Pulse until it turns into crumbs. Take the breadcrumbs out, and set aside. Pulse the garlic and parsley until finely chopped. Add the breadcrumbs back, and pour in melted butter. Pulse again until it coats all of the breadcrumbs.
- Press the bread mixture onto the chicken breasts. Put the chicken into the oven with the potatoes and bake until cooked through, about 15-20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, halve the tomatoes, toss with olives, lemon zest, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, salt, pepper and parsley. Stir in Feta. Set aside.
- Layer arugula on the bottom of the plate. Add the chicken breasts, top with tomato and feta salsa. Serve with roasted potatoes.
- Cook’s Note: To make life easy, start by roasting the potatoes first. Get a head start on them before adding the chicken to the oven. It will all cook together at the same temperature. To test the doneness of the potatoes, stick a fork into one of the larger potatoes. When the fork comes out easily, they are finished. If they should finish before the chicken, just cover with aluminum foil to keep warm.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 769 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 50 g |
| Cholesterol | 154 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 5 g |
| Protein | 36 g |
| Saturated Fat | 22 g |
| Sodium | 850 mg |
| Sugars | 4 g |
| Fat | 48 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
This was colorful, easy, different from our usual chicken dishes, and the feta salsa on the buttery chicken had such a great flavor profile. I can’t wait to make it again. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
I made this and the only changes were spinach instead of arugala and goat cheese in place of feta as those were items I had on hand. I thought this dish was splendid! It will go in my favorites and I will make it again and again. Will try with feta and arugala next time!
We really didn’t like this as much as I thought we would, considering all the favorable reviews. Most definitely will NOT make again. Very disappointed!
I thought this was delicious. The breadcrumb mixture was a little off putting because when I blended everything together is turned green. I might blend all and then just mix parsley in next time. I loved the crisp taste of the lemon and tomatoes against the richer taste of the chicken.
Very delicious, easy, and just a beautiful dish to look at! The chicken came out juicy and the salsa on top just made it perfect! I used baby spinach leaves in place of the arugula. Will make this again!
Loved this recipe! Restaruant quality for sure. I followed the recipe excactly except that I pounded the chicken breast to an even thickness and it took about 10 additional minutes to cook. Everyone in my family loved it.
This is such a nice dish! Fresh ingredients, colorful, beautiful presentation, representative of all the nutritious food groups, and delicious. Your finished dish can only be as good as the quality of the ingredients you use and this recipe’s ingredients guarantee success. I did not butterfly the chicken breasts, used a good quality Italian bread and, because I had it on hand, fresh baby spinach (didn’t cook it) instead of arugula. I couldn’t pay Hubs to eat feta so I didn’t use it, but I think it’s a better dish without it anyway. Huge culinary pay-off for little effort. Bonus: very little clean up, especially if you line your pan (I used a cookie sheet) with foil!
This was excellent! I used 2 1/2 pounds of small Yukon golds and halved them. I also covered the pan while roasting the potatoes to speed the cooking process along. Turned out great!
This was awesome. By far the best chicken recipe I’ve ever made. I really enjoyed this more than having all of the butter and parsley welled up in the middle. Much more evenly distributed. Excellent topping as well.
I loved this recipe. It was simple, yet so tasty. It would be a good dish to serve to guests as it looks so pretty!
I made this with a few modifications. I used 1/2 cup of panko for the white bread, and added the garlic, parsley and butter, cutting the butter to just 2 T. I dipped the chicken into beaten egg hoping it would make the crumb mixture adhere a little better, and I think it did. I only coated the top side of the chicken to avoid any sogginess, and sprinkled the remaining crumbs over the top. I used baby redskin potatoes, and instead of arugula, I made sautéed spinach. I just eyeballed the ingredients for the salsa, using a lot less lemon zest and oil than called for. I baked this as directed and the timing was perfect for both the potatoes and chicken. This was very good and a great way to use some cherry tomatoes from Hubs’ garden.
The first thing out of my husband’s mouth was, “This is my favorite chicken recipe you’ve ever cooked.” That’s saying a lot after 24 years of cooking for him. This was much easier than trying to stuff a chicken breast.
Wonderful. Very tasty. Substituted sweet potatoes and pre-packaged bread crumbs and it turned out great.
The family loved it! I used homemade bread for the breadcrumbs, so it probably turned out a little softer than store bought. The potatoes were perfectly cooked, and the presentation is gorgeous with the array of colors. The cooking times on everything worked fabulously.
I strayed ever so slightly but I think my changes were on target w/ the goal of the recipe. While the recipe initially called for some white bread to be pulsed in a food processor I figured there was no need to use white bread, and I substituted a mixture of panko bread crumbs and Italian seasoned bread crumbs using a 2:1 ratio. This caused it to develop a crusty buttery effect – it was delicious! I also elected to use spinach instead of the arugula.
VERY delicious! I used idaho potaotes b/c that’s what I had on hand, nd I roasted them w/ evoo, salt, pepper, a little garlic powder and whole cloves of garlic (LOVE roasted garlic w/ potaotes). I think I used like 7 slices of bread, but I had more chicken than called for. I thought this would stick riht to the chicken, but you actually have to press it on. Once baked, it’s beautifully golden brown and buttery delicious! I also added a little of the juice from the zested lemon to the feta ‘salsa’ b/c I felt that it needed it. This was our first time trying arugula, and personally we weren’t fans (don’t know if it was the brand I bought or what), but I’ll give it a try again sometime. Other than that, I will def be making this dish again…It was wonderful! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Delicious and so very easy to look at. I’d definitely serve this dish to anyone. It tastes wonderful and looks very elegant.
We were surprised how much we liked it. I loved the coolness of the tomato and feta salsa with the warm flavorful chicken. The roasted potatoes seemed like an odd side dish for this but it was a yummy dinner! Will make again.