Chopped Chicken Breast and Thigh Patties

Name: Chopped Chicken Patties (Breast and Thigh) – Easy Recipe
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 30 min
Cuisine: European
Ingredients: Large chicken breast fillet 1; Chicken thigh 1–2; Butter 1 tbsp; Salt or soy sauce to taste (1–2 tsp of soy sauce); Black pepper to taste; Paprika to taste; Curry powder a pinch; Stale white bread or breadcrumbs a little, optional

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30 mins

Chopped chicken patties from breast and thigh meat: the chicken is cut into small cubes with a knife — no mincer, flour or eggs — and fried in butter with paprika and curry. Under a lid the patties finish cooking in 10 minutes; 30 minutes in total.

What I love about chopped chicken patties is that you need no kitchen gadgets to make them – no meat grinder, no food processor, nothing of the kind. All it takes is a knife and a cutting board. And a frying pan, of course. By the way, chopping chicken for patties is quite an absorbing process – I feel like a mountain man in the Caucasus cutting meat for khinkali with a dagger on a stone.

For myself, I draw a line between ground meat and chopped meat, although in the vast majority of cases the two terms are used as synonyms. Home meat grinders mince meat fairly finely. That said, there are grinder plates with fairly large holes that leave bigger pieces of meat in the mince. Chopping chicken with a knife is simple, quick and gives a great result. And an important bonus – you don’t have to take apart and wash the grinder afterwards.

Chicken breast is soft, tender meat. Ground chicken doesn’t need any binders – flour, eggs or white bread crumb. As an exception, when I want a firmer mixture, I add a little cracker crumbs or really good breadcrumbs. I also prefer to fry chopped chicken patties without any breading.

The patties we are used to calling cutlets aren’t really cutlets, strictly speaking. A cutlet traditionally means a whole piece of meat with a rib bone. Dishes made from ground or chopped meat are closer to croquettes, meatballs or rissoles. The most famous chicken cutlets are Pozharsky cutlets, made from chopped chicken and fried in breading. In the USA, chopped chicken patties are often grilled to be used in burgers.

Ideally, buy a fresh farm chicken, then cut off the breast and some of the dark meat. You can also buy chilled chicken breasts and thighs. A mix of different meat makes excellent patties.

Chopped chicken needs no added binders. Thanks to its softness and high protein content, the patties hold together well and don’t fall apart. In Eastern countries, all kinds of poultry kebabs cooked on a grill rack or skewers are popular. Their chopped mixture often contains nothing but meat and spices – even onion is rarely added.

Chopped chicken patties are quick and easy to make. A dish of chicken meat with spices. A step-by-step recipe with photos of tasty chopped chicken patties.

Ingredients

2 servings

Large chicken breast fillet 1
Chicken thigh 1–2
Butter 1 tbsp
Salt or soy sauce to taste (1–2 tsp of soy sauce)
Black pepper to taste
Paprika to taste
Curry powder a pinch
Stale white bread or breadcrumbs a little, optional

Step-by-step recipe

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Preparing the meat

Trim the chicken breast of membranes and any bits of bone. If there is skin or visible fat, it’s best to cut it off. Clean the chicken thigh of fat and skin as well, cut out the bone and all the cartilage. Rinse the meat and pat it dry with paper towels.

Chopping the meat

Using a sharp knife, cut the chicken on a cutting board into cubes, trying to keep them as small as possible. Then chop the meat further to make the pieces even finer.
If you look closely, you can clearly see how the bits of meat are held together by the sticky part of the mixture, which is also chicken. I once read that you can cut the chicken fairly coarsely and then flatten the pieces a little with a meat mallet: part of the meat turns into a kind of meat paste that binds the larger pieces perfectly during cooking.
Put the chopped meat into a bowl. Add a little salt or 1–2 tsp of soy sauce: it’s pleasantly salty and goes well with chicken. Add a pinch of curry powder and paprika, and season the mixture with pepper. Mix the chopped meat thoroughly so that all the ingredients are evenly distributed.
If the chopped chicken is a bit runny and you’re worried the patties will fall apart, you can add a little grated stale white bread or really good breadcrumbs. Then mix the meat thoroughly once again.
The chopped meat mixture is ready for making patties.

Frying the patties

Heat the butter in a frying pan. By the way, vegetable oil works just as well if for some reason you’d rather not use butter. With wet hands, shape small oval patties, flatten them slightly and place them in the hot butter.
Fry the chopped patties over medium heat until a golden crust forms. Turn them over and fry the other side until it is browned too.
From here you have two options. You can turn down the heat and cover the pan with a lid: the patties will cook through in 10 mins. Or, which is better, keep frying them, turning often, until they are completely done.

Serving

Serve the chopped patties with mashed potatoes or a side of rice with vegetables. Or, the way I like it best, add sliced fresh tomatoes, cucumbers and herbs to the plate. You can serve tomato ketchup with the dish, but not a spicy one.

Calories and macros

485 kcal

Serving ≈ 210 g

Protein56 g48% of kcal
Fat27 g52% of kcal
Carbs0 g0% of kcal

100 g227 kcalProtein 26.4 gFat 12.6 gCarbs 0.1 g

Calculated from the recipe ingredients, excluding salt and spices. Data: USDA and Matvaretabellen.

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To Get It Right

A knife instead of a meat grinder

Chopped patties need no kitchen gadgets, just a sharp knife, a cutting board and a frying pan. The pieces of meat come out bigger than in grinder mince, and there’s no meat grinder to take apart and wash afterwards.

No breading

I prefer to fry chopped chicken patties without breading. Chopped chicken patties fried in breading are already Pozharsky cutlets.

Spices

Besides curry, paprika and pepper, readers add a little mustard to the mixture for a bit of kick and tenderness.

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Questions and answers

How long do you fry chopped chicken patties?

About 20 minutes in total: over medium heat until golden on one side and then the other, and then about 10 more minutes, either covered over low heat or uncovered, turning often.

What can you add to chopped patties so they don’t fall apart?

Usually nothing: chopped chicken is soft and high in protein, so the patties hold their shape without flour, eggs or bread. If the mixture turns out a bit runny, add a little grated stale white bread or good breadcrumbs.

How do you keep chopped chicken patties juicy?

Chop not only the breast but also the thigh meat: a mix of white and dark meat makes juicier patties than breast alone. And don’t overcook them in the pan: take them off as soon as they’re done.

Can you bake chopped chicken patties in the oven?

Yes: place the patties on a baking sheet lined with greased parchment and bake at 200°C for about 20–25 minutes. The crust will be less golden than in a frying pan.

Can you make chopped patties with cheese?

Yes, you can add grated hard cheese to the chopped mixture, about 50 g for this amount of meat. The cheese also helps the patties hold their shape.

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