These tender and juicy kotleti are oval shaped chicken meatballs that are a favorite entree in Eastern European homes.
All Slavic children grow up with their mom's kotleti, just like Italians grow up with meatballs. Kotleti translate as meat "cutlets", and are small, individual meatball-type patties. Anytime I make these for dinner, I am guaranteed a huge smile from my husband and always an enthusiastic kiss too. He's so easy to please:).
Most of the time, kotleti are made with pork or beef, but I actually prefer chicken. I think the meat is much more tender and light. Adding fresh, toasted breadcrumbs gives the meat a porous, tender texture. I have also found that grating the onion on the smallest holes of a box grater incorporates the onion really well into the meat and using only a small amount will give just enough flavor without giving you kotleti aftertaste. Not a good thing:) For this reason also, I always omit garlic.
Kotleti are also on my list for company dinners too. I love watching guests happily gobbling up the plate of tender chicken patties. Since most Slavic people grew up eating them, no one ever gets too excited when they see them on the table. They're just a seemingly boring and uninteresting entree, but when they start eating them, they can't stop raving about how delicious they are and I rarely have any leftovers. I think it's the ground chicken and the fact that they are SO juicy and tender. I hope you love these as much as we do.
Ingredients:
- ground chicken
- panko breadcrumbs
- milk
- sour cream
- salt, ground black pepper
- egg
- onion
- dry herbs and spices
How to make Chicken Kotleti
- First, make the ground chicken mixture.
- Place the ground chicken in a large mixing bowl.
- Soak the breadcrumbs in the milk and set aside for a few minutes.
- Grate the onion on the medium or small holes of a box grater. You can also finely mince the onion instead.
- Add the soaked breadcrumbs, sour cream, egg, onion, salt, pepper and dry herbs and spices to the ground chicken. Mix to combine.
- The meat mixture should be very tender. It is much softer in consistency than regular meatloaf mixture.
- Shape the meat into oval patties.
- It really helps to use dampened hands.
- Pan fry the chicken kotleti.
- Heat some oil in a skillet on medium heat and add the kotleti to the skillet. Cover and cook until golden on both sides, about 5 minutes on the first side and 3 minutes on the second side.
- Covering the skillet and cooking it on medium heat with produce some steam, cooking the kotleti all the way through and injecting moisture and juiciness into the meat.
- Wipe out the skillet with a paper towel and add more oil before cooking the next batch.
- Serve the chicken kotleti hot.
- Store the leftovers in the refrigerator for 5-7 days. You can also freeze them for up to 3 months.
Make Ahead:
Chicken Kotleti are perfect to make ahead. They even freeze really well.
- You can make the raw chicken mixture and store it in the refrigerator for 1-2 days in advance, then shape and cook them. The raw chicken mixture can be frozen for up to 3 months. Simply thaw, then proceed with shaping the kotleti and cooking them.
- Another option is to cook the kotleti and store them in the refrigerator for 5-7 months.
- Freeze the cooked chicken kotleti for up to 3 months.
Helpful Tips and Frequently Asked Questions
Chicken Kotleti
Chicken Kotleti are Russian oval shaped meatballs. They are really juicy, tender and are always a big hit with the whole family, both children and adults.
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Total Time: 35 mins
- Yield: 20-22 small, 16 large kotleti 1x
- Category: Entree
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground chicken
- ¾ - 1 cup panko bread crumbs or 2 slices of bread
- ⅓ - ½ cup milk
- 2 tablespoons sour cream
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 1 egg
- 1 small onion, grated
- ½ cup flour, for dredging
Instructions
- If you're using bread, toast the bread and pulse in the food processor or use a box grater. Place the breadcrumbs or the panko breadcrumbs in a bowl and top with milk.The milk should just cover the bread. You may not need all the milk, depending on the size of your bread.
- Let it stand for a few minutes, just until the milk is absorbed by the bread.
- Combine all the ingredients, except the flour, in a bowl.
- The meat mixture should be very tender. It is much softer in consistency than regular meatloaf mixture.
- With moistened hands, shape into oval patties. Dredge in flour.
- In a nonstick skillet, heat 1 - 1 ½ Tablespoons of oil and add the kotleti to the skillet.
- Cover and cook until golden on both sides, about 5 minutes on the first side and 3 minutes on the second side.
- Wipe out the skillet with a paper towel before cooking the next batch.
Make Ahead:
- To make ahead, you can either make the meat mixture ahead of time and refrigerate or freeze until you're ready to cook or cook the kotleti and reheat later. When you re-heat the kotleti, add just enough water to a skillet or a small pot and cook, covered, on low heat. This will keep the kotleti moist even as leftovers.
Olga, please help! I really really want to make kotlety for my kids, but
I don't have store bought ground chicken, can I make my own?
What parts of chicken are better for this purpose?
Thank you
Absolutely, Uliana. I actually use ground chicken that I grind myself most of the time. The texture is much better and of course, you know exactly what kind of meat is going in.
I like to use both dark meat (thighs are the easiest) and some breast meat too. You can use only dark meat and that would be just fine, but if you use only white meat (breast) the meat may be too dry.
Olga,
I hope you and family staing warm. Thank you for advise.
We live in Florida, so we can't complain about the cold:).
You're welcome. I am happy to answer any questions.
I'm so glad I found your website, these were soooo good!!
Welcome, Natalie! I'm so glad you stopped by. I hope you find many other recipes to enjoy. These chicken kotleti are a personal favorites of my husband and I make them all the time. It's so awesome to hear that others are enjoying them too. Thanks for taking the time to write.
Another Olga hit in my household! I have to say the meat mixture was a bit hard to handle, since it was so wet, but they were so delicious! And moist! Will definitely make them regularly!
Thanks!
Susanna
You're right, the ground meat mixture IS tricky to work with, but I love how tender and moist the kotleti turn out to be:). Glad you enjoyed them, Susanna.
Hi Olga, I noticed that the recipe has a yield amount, but how many people would 16 large Kotleti serve?
The recipe looks great though, and I am looking forward to trying it!
That depends on how much people eat:). Some people may eat 2 kotleti, others will eat 4, and some might eat 6.
Some people eat more than others, so whenever I can, I like to add how much a recipe yields, not how many people it serves, since a serving size is different with everyone.
Hi Olga,
Do you drain the juice from the onions after grating them? The meat just seems too wet to handle, I can't even make an oval shape, it just falls apart. I don't know what i did wrong. I made sure I didn't have too much milk with the crumbs as well, just enough to get them all soggy 🙁
Hi Elena,
No I don't drain the onions. The meat mixture should be VERY soft. The trick is to use damp hands when shaping them. This is the secret to really moist and juicy kotleti. Add more breadcrumbs if you still can't work with it.
Thank you for the fast reply. I'll try to add a bit more breadcrumbs.
Hi Olga,
I'm Olga too 🙂 I just got done making these kotleti and they turned out sooo good!!! Thank you for this awesome recipe and I love you site!
May God Bless You!!!
your* not you lol
Glad to "meet you", Olga! I'm so happy to hear that you liked the kotleti:).
Hi Olga,
I made these and my husband said these were the most amazing ever! And he said to try making these patties for hamburgers instead of beef... I think we are hooked! :)) thanks for the recipe! I sure do love your site and visit it at least 3 times a week!
Yay! So happy to hear that you enjoyed this recipe. I like using chicken for hamburgers once in a while too.
Thanks for visiting my site and for taking the time to let me know.
Even my picky kids love these kotletki. Thanks this is really helpful for my kid's menu... God bless you, Olga.
How cool is that? I've noticed that most people really like these kotleti. Probably because chicken is a well liked protein.Thanks for letting me know, Helen.
Olga, I just made these wonderful kotletki and everyone loved them. I will definatly do them again, but I will triple the recipe because they are too good and my brothers just swollow them too fast. They turned out so soft with a really pretty korochka. Thank you very much for sharing these amazing recipes with.
Merry Christmas to you and your family 🙂
These are favorites for my husband and myself. We never get tired of eating the chicken kotleti. I'm so glad to hear that your family enjoyed them too:).
Hello Olga! Thank you so much for the recipe! It was seriously the best chicken kotleti I have ever made! 🙂
I made kotleti last night and they tasted so awesome !! Thank you for this great recipe !!
Yay! I'm so happy to hear that:). It's very rewarding when I hear of other people enjoying our family favorites.
I always use pork for my kotleti but after trying these I dont think I will go back.. Husband absolutely loved them.. Thanks for the recipe
Natasha, I used to use pork all the time before too. After trying kotleti with chicken once, my husband and I were won over and I only make it this way now. I'm so glad you liked it too.
These look so yummy! I am planning on whipping up a batch tomorrow. Quick question: what kind of bread do you typically use to make your breadcrumbs? Thanks!
I use hearty country bread or homemade sandwich bread. I always have some bread in the freezer and just take out a slice or two whenever I need it.
Olga, my hubby (Vadim) actually made these today and I'm eating one as I write. Soo wonderful! Thank you so much. It's just perfect!
Yay, Vadim!
I'm so glad you liked them, Natasha.
Hi, this is Natasha's husband. I love the pictures and probably will force Natasha to make some, unless I get to make them first. Great posts.
Thanks, Vadim.
Your wife is quite an amazing cook herself:)