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Chicken Cakes cook up moist and flavorful. These can be made ahead, then cooked quickly for an easy family meal.
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
Chicken Cakes cook up moist and flavorful. These can be made ahead, then cooked quickly for an easy family meal.
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
- 1/2 cup crushed Ritz crackers
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup fresh Italian flat leaf parsley chopped fine
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 4 shakes Tabasco sauce (optional)
- 1/2 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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Notes
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.
I like this theory. I will try a baked version very soon. I need a late night snack without the ultra processing frozen with chemicals..
Hope you enjoy the recipe!
your chicken cakes are the best. I prepare ahead and freeze for unexpected guests. always lots of compliments. Thanks!!
So glad you are enjoying the chicken cakes Barbara!
Recipe is interesting. I am wondering if you make a dipping sauce to go with this? Between the ground chicken and crackers they could be a bit dry.
Hi Jodi – As long as you are using a mix of breast and thigh meat and the same proportions of ingredients as written in the recipe, these cakes should not be dry. You can definitely serve with a dipping sauce if you’d like – we have a number of sauce recipes on our site. (Type in dipping sauce in the search bar and you’ll see some options.)
I made the chicken cakes last night and they were absolutely delicious!!! So full of flavor!! I’m always so happy when I find a new recipe that I love. Thanks so much!
Glad you enjoyed the recipe Laureen!
Easy and delicious
Thank you!
w/ the chicken patties could a person use ground turkey… Thanks looking forward to browsing more recipes…will try the zucchini bread..
Sure Linda – ground turkey will work as well. Hope you enjoy the recipes!
Why do you use part raw chicken and part precooked chicken in this recipe?
Hi Melanie – We actually spoke to that a bit in our blog post…We found that using a mix of cooked and precooked helped avoid having the outer edges over-cooked while the inner chicken was still undercooked. Hope you enjoy the recipe!
These looks so delicious 🙂 I see you said not to over process, so do you think a meat grinder would not be a good idea? I have one that my mom gave me and I feel bad because I haven’t used it yet (we won’t mention how long ago I got it!) If not, I can use my food processor as well.
Hi Dawn – As long as you use the large holes on your meat grinder attachment, you should be good! Hope you enjoy the recipe (and get some use out of your nice gift!)
This recipe is great. I do so many different things with it, like parm sandwiches and I take them on picnics and serve them cold with salads and melon. My grandbaby loves it!!
I do have a question for anyone out there?? Can they be frozen and would it best to freeze them raw or cooked?
Would love to double the recipe and have them for the ready in the freezer!
Hi – Glad you are enjoying the recipe. Yes – you can freeze them. I’d suggest forming the patties and freezing them flat on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Once they are frozen through you can place them in a bag. I’d suggest thawing them for a short time before cooking. Hope that helps!
Love the idea. looks yummy. one question, just for my culinary curiosity: what is the reason for partly precooking half of the chicken?
Hi Tal – We actually spoke to that a bit in our blog post…We found that using a mix of cooked and precooked helped avoid having the outer edges over-cooked while the inner chicken was still undercooked. Hope you enjoy the recipe!