It's the perfect recipe to use any left over chicken and if you are entertaining, you can prepare these delicious cakes ahead of time and cook them whenever you are ready. They can be baked or fried, either way they are super tasty and super easy to make.
Serves 4 (makes 4 cakes or 12-15 small cakes for appetizers)
Ingredients:
4 cups cooked chicken, boneless,skinless and finely chopped (about 1 1/2 pounds)
2 eggs
2 tablespoons garlic finely chopped
1/2 cup green onions, finely chopped
2-3 tablespoons fresh cilantro finely chopped.
1 cup Panko (Japanese bread crumbs or your favorite type of bread crumbs)
1/2 cup all purpose flour
3-4 tablespoons of mayonnaise
Chipotle in Adobo Sauce (as much as you want, I'm using about 2-3 tablespoons of the sauce)
Salt and Black pepper to taste
1/4 cup vegetable oil for frying (if baking, spray the cakes with cooking spray instead of the oil)
Note: I cooked the chicken in boiling salted water for about 15 minutes. To the water I added 2 bay leaves, 2 garlic cloves and a 1/4 of a small onion. You can cook the chicken any way you want. If you have left over chicken go ahead and use that instead.
Finely chop the chicken, add 1 egg, the garlic, green onions, cilantro and 1/2 cup of Panko. (the other half is for breading).Also add 2 tablespoon of Mayo, and 2 tablespoon of the Chipotle Sauce. (if you want the cakes to be super spicy, you can also add 2 chipotle peppers finely chopped. The heat of this dish depends on you, so add as much Chipotle sauce and peppers as you like. )
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Mix together, and if the chicken mix feels too dry, add another tablespoon of Mayo, we want the chicken mix to be moist but not completely wet, we want the chicken mix to be able to hold together during the cooking process, if it is too dry, it will come apart on your pan.
Once all the ingredients are combined, divide the chicken mix in 4 sections, start forming the cakes. (smaller cakes/sections for appetizers)
Beat the remaining egg with a little bit of water and set aside.
Flour the cakes (cover in flour), dip them in the egg wash and then onto the Panko. Make sure every cake is completely covered with the flour, egg and finally the Panko.
Keep on repeating this step until you are done.If you have time, I recommend to refrigerate this for about 10 minutes before cooking, just so the chicken can absorb all the flavors we just added to it. If you don't have time or if you don't want to, don't do it... the cakes will be just as good!
Heat 4 tablespoons of vegetable oil and cook the cakes for about 3 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Drain on paper towels and you are ready to serve.
(If you prefer, bake the cakes at 400° for 15 minutes or until golden brown.)Like I said this dish is very versatile. It can be served with rice, baked or refried beans, pasta, mash potatoes, corn on the cobb, salad, or anything else you can think of. You can even turn this cake into a burger!
Enjoy!
To watch this video recipe click HERE
