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I can’t believe it – we only have one more week to go before the new school year begins! (I know for many of you living in other parts of the country – school already started weeks ago!)
It’s only a matter of time before the week is filled with all sorts work, school and after school activities – so easy and delicious meals like today’s Chicken Cakes will come very much in handy! They are made in advance, then chilled before cooking, so these delicious Chicken Cakes are perfect for those nights when you don’t have a lot of time to get dinner on the table.
Our Chicken Cakes are made in a similar style to a crab cake. We placed a mix of chicken breasts and thighs into the bowl of a food processor and processed the meat into small chunks. Then a mix of mayonnaise, eggs, cracker crumbs and lots of herbs and seasonings gives great flavor to the chicken mixture.
I will note that as my husband Jack developed this recipe, he tried a few different techniques to ensure that the recipe would result in the most flavorful and juicy Chicken Cakes. He found that the best method was to cook half the chicken mixture, then cool it before mixing with the rest of the uncooked chicken mixture. At that point, the mixture is formed into patties and chilled again before finally frying and serving. We found that this method was the best to avoid having outer edges over-cooked while the inner chicken was still undercooked.
This Chicken Cakes recipe makes a fairly big batch – so you’ll have enough to pack for lunch the next day, or for a dinner of leftovers. You could even freeze some of these Chicken Cakes to enjoy at a later date if you’d like.
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Chicken Cakes
We included both red pepper flakes and Tabasco sauce in the recipe which gives a gentle heat to the Chicken Cakes. If you don’t like the little bit of heat that these two add, feel free to eliminate one or both.
Ingredients
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 cup small diced red, yellow or orange bell pepper, but not green
- 1 cup small dice onions
- 1 pinch red pepper flakes (optional)
- 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning such as Bells
- 2 tablespoons fresh garlic, minced fine
- ½ cup crushed Ritz crackers
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- ¼ cup fresh Italian flat leaf parsley chopped fine
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 4 shakes Tabasco sauce (optional)
- ½ cup seasoned bread crumbs
- 2 whole eggs, beaten
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoons oil for frying, divided
- 2 tablespoons butter for frying, divided
Instructions
- Place breast meat and thigh meat in a food processor and process until the meat is ground down to about pea sized pieces. Try not to over process. Divide the mixture in half.
- In a large sauté pan, melt butter and over medium heat, sauté peppers, onions, pepper flakes and poultry seasoning for four minutes. Add garlic and cook for one more minute.
- Add half of the ground chicken meat and stir and cook until cooked through, about three minutes. Set aside to cool completely.
- In a large bowl place crackers, mayonnaise, parsley, salt, pepper Tabasco, bread crumbs, eggs and mustard. Mix to combine.
- Add raw chicken and cooled mixture from sauté pan and mix.
- Form the mixture into 18 balls and press to a disc shape and place on a tray lined with parchment paper. Place in the refrigerator to firm up for at least 30 minutes
- Heat a large flat griddle pan over medium heat and add half the oil and half the butter. Once melted, place half the chicken cakes into the pan. Fry for about 3-4 minutes per side. Since we are dealing with raw chicken, I inserted a probe thermometer into the side of one of the cooked cakes to make sure it was at least 160 degrees F before removing to a platter. Repeat for second batch, cover loosely and let sit for five minutes to set up. As the cooked patties sit, there will be carry over heat which will bring these up to the safe temperature of 165 degrees F, as recommended by the USDA. This goes for all poultry.
- Alternatively, if you have two griddle pans or a large griddle you can cook all at once.
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These look delicious, but I need to replace the crackers and breadcrumbs with cauliflower “rice.” This substitution works fine in my meatloaf and meatballs, so I see no reason why it wouldn’t work with your chicken cakes. I have several one pound bags of shredded rotisserie chicken in the freezer … good to go!
Hi Chris – Please let us know how it comes out with the cauliflower rice! Thanks!
I’d like to know how the cauliflower rice worked, too. watching carbs here
Hi Shafiqa – I’d suggest cooking the mixture within 24 hours. And, definitely chill it as soon as possible after mixing the ingredients together.
Can these be made ahead and frozen?
Hi Amy – Yes – freezing them before the final cooking step should work.
Martha, I’m making these next week! Drooling!
Hope you love them Ashley! 🙂 Happy New Year!
Hi there…. these look yummy. Do you know if you can use all breast instead of breast and thigh?
Hi Rainelle – Sure – but the thigh meat has more flavor so that’s why we included both. Hope you love the recipe!
I don’t usually buy crackers. Do you think I could omit the crackers and just double the bread crumbs/panko? Also, do you think this would work with precooked canned or rotisserie chicken?
Hi Nicola – Yes! You can swap in more panko for the crackers and precooked chicken/rotisserie can be mixed in with the raw chicken. Hope you enjoy the recipe!
These look delicious! What do you serve for a side dish with these? I have some ideas, but I was wondering if you have a go-to side dish that you frequently serve.
Hi Erin – Most days lately we end up serving our chicken cakes with a garden or Caesar salad or grilled vegetables on the side, but they also delicious with potatoes, coleslaw, or even served as a sandwich. Hope that helps!
I’m curious why you would cook half the chicken make the patties and then add the raw meat and cook till ready. Is it to save time or for texture?
Hi Cheryl – It was definitely for texture purposes…we find that when cooking ground chicken, the outside starts to overcook/over brown before the inside gets cooked enough. After testing a few different options, this half cooked/half raw resulted in the perfect chicken cake.
I use Purdue ground chicken as a sub for ground beef almost exclusively. Do you think it would work in this recipe?
It should work Cecille!
Do you think these would work if baked?
Hi Shoni – You can bake them but you won’t get the same golden and crispy outside that you see in our photos.
Gotcha. Thanks!