Chicken and Buckwheat Patties (Kotleti)
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These Chicken and buckwheat patties are a meal in themselves – loaded with grains, protein and even greens! It’s glorious if you can get your kids to eat them and our son did which made my heart go pitter-pat. He enjoyed these dipped in ranch.
My Mama-in-law shared this recipe with us. I love how she gets so creative in the kitchen. These are quite a healthy treat!
Ingredients for Buckwheat Chicken Katleti:
2 cups cooked buckwheat (click for cooking tutorial)
2 chicken breasts
5 oz fresh spinach
1 medium head of broccoli
1 small onion
1 large egg
1 Tbsp of Sour Cream or Mayo
1/4 cup Plain Bread Crumbs (we used Panko)
Salt and pepper to taste
For Breading & Sautéing:
1 cup Italian bread crumbs to coat finished patties
Oil to saute (we used Extra Light olive oil)
How to Make Chicken and Buckwheat Kotleti:
1. Cut broccoli into florets and pulse in a food processor until finely chopped then transfer to a large mixing bowl.
2. Chop and saute spinach on a hot skillet with 1 Tbsp oil for few minutes or just until soft, then add to mixing bowl.
3. In the bowl of a food processor (or using a meat grinder), grind together buckwheat and chicken breasts then transfer to the mixing bowl.
4. Finely dice/mince onion (a food processor makes it easy) and add to the rest of the ingredients. Finally, add 1/4 cup Panko bread crumbs, 1 egg, 1 Tbsp of Sour Cream or Mayo. Season with salt and pepper to taste (we used 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper) then thoroughly mix until combined.
5. Form oval patties, patties, dip them in Italian bread crumbs and cook on a well-oiled skillet over medium heat, flipping 4-5 times during the process until cooked through. Add more oil as needed with subsequent batches.
Enjoy these healthy patties with ranch, ketchup or however you love to eat Kotleti!
In other news, my nails and cuticles need some attention. Try to look past them. lol.
Chicken and Buckwheat Patties (Kotleti)
Ingredients
Ingredients for Patties:
- 2 cups cooked buckwheat click for cooking tutorial *Note: 1 cup raw buckwheat = 2 cups cooked
- 2 chicken breasts
- 5 oz fresh spinach
- 1 medium head of broccoli
- 1 small onion
- 1 large egg
- 1 Tbsp of Sour Cream or Mayo
- 1/4 cup Plain Bread Crumbs we used Panko
- Salt and pepper to taste
For Breading & Sautéing:
- 1 cup Italian bread crumbs to coat finished patties
- Oil to saute we used Extra Light olive oil
Instructions
-
Cut broccoli into florets and pulse in a food processor until finely chopped then transfer to a large mixing bowl.
-
Chop and saute spinach on a hot skillet with 1 Tbsp oil for few minutes or just until soft, then add to the same mixing bowl.
-
In the bowl of a food processor (or using a meat grinder), grind together buckwheat and chicken breasts then transfer to the mixing bowl.
-
Finely dice/mince onion (a food processor makes it easy) and add to the mixing bowl. Finally, add 1/4 cup panko bread crumbs, 1 egg, 1 Tbsp of Sour Cream or Mayo. Season with salt and pepper to taste (we used 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper) then thoroughly mix until combined.
-
Form oval patties, dip them on both sides in Italian bread crumbs and cook on a well-oiled skillet over medium heat, flipping 4-5 times during the process until cooked through.
♥ FAVORITE THINGS ♥
Shown in this post: (nope, no one paid us to write this; just stuff we love):
*A good food processor like this Cuisinart 11-cup pro can cut your prep time in half
*I’ve had my Circulon pans for about 10 yrs – with good care, they’re still non-stick
*Red Stand Mixer from KitchenAid: 6 Qt. Professional 600 Series in Empire Red
How do you like to eat Kotleti? Do you have a favorite dip? Maybe enjoying them as sliders in a sandwich?
natashaskitchen
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Here you'll find classic Ukrainian food and other favorite recipes with easy step-by-step photos and videos. 
These are fantastic! Used ground turkey instead of chicken and substituted broccoli with zucchini. Lightly fried them, then put in oven on 350 for about 40 minutes. Can’t wait to try the buckwheat and mushroom ones. Thank you Natasha!
You’re welcome! I’m so happy you enjoyed it!
I can use only one word to describe it. DELICIOUS !!!
YAY, I’m glad you think so Barbara! Thanks for sharing your excellent review!
Can I use 1 lb ground turkey instead of two chicken breasts???
Hi Dana, yes that will work well, just make sure you do not over-process it in the food processor. You may not need to process it at all if you are using ground turkey, just combine them in a bowl with your hands or a spoon.
Do you think I could bake these instead of frying? Have you ever tried it? Let me know what you think. Thanks!
Hi Michelle, I haven’t tried baking these so I’m not sure how they would hold together baked. I think it’s worth an experiment but you would probably lose the appealing color and crisp exterior that comes from sautéing.
Awesome! I just made it! So healthy! and I already had my buckwheat cooked 🙂
Thanks for the great recipe
You’re welcome Julia! I’m glad you enjoy the recipe! 🙂
Delicious! Didn’t have broccoli on hand, subbed in dill and a scallion. So tasty! Thanks for another great recipe!
Mmmm, that sounds good! Glad you enjoyed the recipe Sveta! 🙂
love it! thank you
These were soo good!
Most of the meals I make are from your site. Everything I’ve tried was very tasty. There are many food bloggers, but I keep coming back to yours. Love love all your recipes and the simplicity of them. Thank you so much.
Oksana, thank you for your sweet comment, it means a lot to me :).
Hi Natasha, I tried to make these today and they turned out very delicious. I used ground beef instead of chicken breasts and they were very tasty anyways. My husband approved them ;). Next time I’ll make them with chicken breasts. Thank you for your recipes! God bless you!
Thank you for the awesome review! I’m so happy you both enjoyed the recipe and your husband approved! 🙂
These look awesome! I know you said your son loved these so I’m sure kids would probably have no idea there’s buckwheat in these 😉 And personally, I’ve never had grechka in a kotleti recipe, just makes it taste slightly nutty? Trying to imagine the result although I’m sure it’s delicious. I’m thinking of shaping these into smaller ovals and making an awesome sandwich.
Vee, I love your sandwich idea and hope you’ll enjoy the recipe. Patties didn’t seem very nutty to me at all, but let me know what you think of them :).
Hi Natasha,
Im due with a baby in July and was wondering if you think these would be freezer friendly? want to cook up some food and freeze it for easy meals post delivery. What you think?
I think these would be freezer friendly and it’s very smart to stock up on ready to eat foods before baby comes. Congratulations on your baby!
Can We use beef instead chicken?
They will be more moist with chicken, but you can try beef if you prefer it.
Wow, this is different! Can’t wait to try it! I’m cooking grechaniki with either pork or chicken’s liver (ground), cooked buckwheat, egg, onion, salt and pepper.
It was my mother-in-law’s creative genius. I love unique recipes like this too.
I’ve been looking at the circulon pans you recommended and I would like more details on how you care for your pans so that they last longer (10 years is amazing). Do you have any tips? Also, this recipe was amazing! My husband loved these patties!
Sandra, thank you for the great review on the recipe :). As far as Circulon pans go, we never use metal utensils on the skillet (only silicone or plastic). When I store them, i stack them and keep a towel between them. We use them almost daily. Hope this helps 🙂
Okay so these might not make husbands go crazy, let’s face it – not enough meat.
You can add another chicken breast and use less buckwheat; just change the proportions and make it a little bit more meat lover friendly. 😉
These sound yummy! I’ve saved just about all of the Ukrainian/Russian recipes you posted. It’s nice to have real measurements instead of my grandma saying a bit of this and some of that.
Congrats on the new baby!! Hope the delivery is nice and easy for you =)
I’ve been following your blog for a very long time, i’m just not very good at commenting =(
I agree – it’s so much easier to cook when I don’t have to guesstimate or convert measurements. Thank you so much for your sweet comment and I’m so happy you are enjoying the blog 🙂
I should try this recipe; my husband doesn’t like buckwheat but when it mixed like that he ll be surprised how good kotleti are 🙂
I hope these make him change his mind about buckwheat :). It is a nice way to camouflage some very healthy ingredients 🙂
Awesome!! My non meat eating husband eats a similar kind of kotleti made with turkey meat and buckwheat that we call “grechyanniki”. I found it on some Ukrainian website, and they are bomb. They are formed into longer thin palochki like fish sticks and the cooked in a tomato sauce. The best thing is the texture!!! And good when eaten cold.
Mmmm in tomato sauce – that sounds really good. Is it like a marinara?
Hi!
I like the ingredients. Usually I just bake meat and fish kotleti in the muffins silicone pan. About 40 min a 350F, if I’m not mistaken. I even don’t brown them. Do you think it will work with this recipe?
I’ve never tried it but I think it could work. Now I’m very curious. If you do give these a try using your method do let me know how it worked out.
Thank you so much for the recipe. My family ate all the cutlets at once. My son doesnt like brocolli and spinach but they are “hidden” in this recipe so he was chewing one after another and saying – so yummy! Thank you (and your mother-in-law) for this wonderful trick)))
I’m so happy to hear that. I could just imagine that wonderful scene 🙂 Thank you for sharing that with me 🙂
By the way, when I don’t have bread crumbs I use semolina. And frankly speaking I like this way more because the cutlets are crunchy))
That is a great suggestion! I’ve never even thought to do that!
These patties look really crunchy and delicious! I love how unique this is!
My Mama-in-law is so creative. I’ve eaten so many different varieties of Kotleti (patties) in my life but these are probably the most unique of all 🙂
These look ridiculously good, Natasha! I’ve never used buckwheat in cooking so going to give this a try:)
Thanks Rookie, they turned out great. Let me know how they will work out :).
This recipe sounds amazing!
Two questions: Can ground chicken be substituted for the chicken breasts; if so how much should be used? Can the kotleti be browned for a bit and them baked in the oven, if so at what temperature and for how long?
Thanks for all the great recipes that you post!
Yes that would work great to substitute with ground chicken and you want to use at least 1 lb. If you want to brown them and then bake – It’s hard to guess-timate a baking time without testing it first, but I’ve done other kotleti at 400˚F for 10 minutes covered with foil and that worked well. It also depends on the thickness of your kotleti.
Hello comfort food healthified! Totally going to try this recipe. My whole family loves kotleti and surprisingly, buckwheat for dinner produces a few cheers as well. I must’ve done something right. 😉
Go Julia! It sounds like our families would definitely enjoy dinner together 🙂 Some day, right? That would be so fun!
Yummy!!! Can’t wait to make them!!! Thank you Natasha! :))))
You’re so welcome Ina. I hope you love them! 🙂
This is different from my mom’s recipe so I will have to try these soon. But I really enjoyed them in a sandwich when my mom made them, fresh tomatoes, pickles, mayo and bbq.
Mmmm that sounds so so good!
These look amazing! I usually do a them a different way,but I’ll have to try it this way also! Thanks Natasha!
Hi Diana, I’d love to know how you make them. I love to try new variations! 🙂