America's Test Kitchen Chicken Kiev

Recipe courtesy of Lishie0729

Herb Butter

8 TBSP unsalted butter, softened

1 shallot, minced (3 TBSPs)

1 TB minced Parsley

1/2 tsp minced fresh tarragon

1 TBSP fresh lemon juice

3/8 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

Chicken

4 slices high-quality sandwich bread, torn into quarters (I used plain breadcrumbs)

2 TBSP vegetable oil (I used canola)

salt & pepper

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (6 to 8 oz. Each) tenderloins removed, breasts halved horizontally & pounded to a 1/4” thickness

1 cup AP flour

3 large eggs, beaten

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1) for the herbed butter: Mix the butter, shallot, herbs, lemon juice, salt & pepper together in a medium bowl. Form the mixture into a 3” square, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, & refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.

2) For the chicken: Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position & heat oven to 300 degrees. Pulse the bread in a food processor to coarse crumbs, about 8 pulses (again, I used plain bread crumbs, lol.) Toss the bread crumbs w/ the oil & 1/8 tsp. Of salt & pepper until evenly coated. Bake the crumbs on a rimmed baking sheet until golden brown & dry, about 25 mins. Stirring twice during the baking time. Let the crumbs cool to room temp. (Should have 2 & 1/2 cups.)

3) Cut the butter into 4 rectangular pieces. Pat the chicken dry w/ paper towels, season w/ salt & pepper & place the breast side up on the work surface. Place I piece of the butter in the center of the bottom half of each breast. Roll the bottom half of the chicken over the butter, then fold in the sides and continue rolling to form a neat, tight package, pressing on the seam to seal. Refrigerate the chicken, uncovered, for about an hour.

4) Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the flour, eggs & breadcrumbs in separate shallow dishes. Season the flour w/ 1/4 tsp. Salt & 1/8 tsp pepper. Season the breadcrumbs w/ 1/2 tsp salt & 1/4 tsp pepper. Add the mustard to eggs and whisk to combine. Dredge each stuffed chicken breast in flour, shaking off the excess to drip off. Coat the chicken with the breadcrumbs, pressing gently so that the crumbs adhere. Place on a wired rack set over a rimmed baking sheet.

5) Bake until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of the chicken (from the top) registers 160 degrees, 40 to 45 minutes. Let the chicken rest for 5 minutes on the wire rack before serving.

Where things can go wrong:

Do not skip refrigerating the stuffed chicken breasts before breading them or the entire package will become less compact and the seam will open up, causing the butter leak out.

What you can do ahead of time:

Unbaked, breaded chicken kievs can be refrigerated overnight and baked the next day or frozen for up to one month. To cook, frozen chicken kievs, increase the baking time to 50-55 minutes (do not thaw chicken.)