My Cookbook: Souk to Table 
20-Minute Chicken Kofta (Grilled or Pan-fried)
Turn your boring ground chicken into these flavourful and moist chicken kofta! Easy to make and only needs 20 minutes – these chicken koftas can be grilled or pan fried, flavoured with onions, parsley, and warm spices. Let’s walk through how to make them, step by step.
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5-Star Reader Review
“Doubled the recipe so that I could have extra to store in the freezer, and I am SO glad I did. They’re so easy to reheat and they taste just as fresh. Every time I popped them in the oven, it smelled up our house and it would get my husband super excited for dinner. Definitely will keep these on repeat.”
—Hakima
My “Beef” With Chicken Kofta
I am a beef kofta lover! In fact, I love it so much I make kofta meatballs too, and almost always have a bag of them in my freezer. But when it comes to ground chicken koftas, I am quite picky. This is simply because ground chicken is quite lean and therefore doesn’t have as much flavour as ground beef.
It can fall flat and not have the best texture if you’re not adding the right ingredients! So this chicken kofta recipe was tested many times before I finally nailed it. The secret? The chopped onions and parsley (essential in any great kofta if you ask me!), the breadcrumbs to improve the texture, and that bit of tomato paste (or ketchup) to balance the warm spices.
This is a recipe I make quite often because I can either pan fry or grill the koftas. I love using my stove top cast iron grill to get beautiful grill marks.
Or if I’m pan frying, I usually shape them into circular patties and fry them in a non stick skillet. This is a great kid-friendly way of serving them. You can make little chicken burgers or sliders.
Let’s Make Chicken Kofta
First – gather your ingredients. Here I use store-bought ground chicken, but you can certainly grind your own in a food processor (I mainly get too lazy to wash it afterwards).
Now: the warm spices I add are essential in my opinion. You really need them to amp up the flavour. You can also swap cilantro for the parsley.
Serve the kofta hot with vegetables, salad, or rice. My favourite way to enjoy them is in a pita wrap, along with sliced red onions, tomatoes, lettuce and drizzled with my quick yogurt shawarma sauce.
Freezer and Fridge Storage Directions (Cooked or Uncooked)
Fridge Instructions:
- If storing shaped chicken kofta uncooked: place in an air tight container and store for 1 day. When ready to cook, bring to room temperature and following cooking instructions.
- If storing cooked chicken kofta: place in an air tight container and store for 2-3 days. Heat through in a microwave, oven or in a pan over the stove top until warm.
Freezer Instructions:
- If freezing uncooked chicken kofta, only do this if you have used fresh ground chicken to make the kofta. Never re-freeze thawed out ground chicken. Place the shaped kofta on a lined tray and flash freeze for 1-2 hours. Once they are frozen solid, remove each kofta and place in a freezer bag. Freeze up to 3 months and cook directly from frozen, adjusting the cooking time as needed.
- If freezing cooked chicken kofta, simply place in a freezer bag. I typically portion out 4-5 koftas per bag so I can just pull out and thaw enough for 1 meal. Freeze for a few weeks and warm through in the oven or microwave.
Other Grilled Recipes You Will Love
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20-Minute Chicken Kofta Kebab (Grilled or Pan-Fried)
Ingredients
- 454 g ground chicken
- 1 yellow onion
- 1 cup parsley
- 3 cloves garlic
- 2 teaspoons onion powder
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon coriander powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, more per preference
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 cup breadcrumbs, panko or italian
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste or ketchup
Instructions
- Start by either finely chopping the 1 yellow onion and 1 cup parsley, or using a small food processor, chop to a fine consistency.
- In a large bowl, add the 454 g ground chicken, the parsley and onion mixture, along with the 3 cloves garlic, 2 teaspoons onion powder, 2 teaspoons garlic powder, 1 teaspoon paprika, 1 teaspoon coriander powder, 1/2 teaspoon cumin powder, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 cup breadcrumbs, 1 egg, and 1 tablespoon tomato paste or ketchup
- Shape the chicken into kofta shapes if desired, or shape into small circular patties, per preference. I usually use a patty shape if I am pan-frying and a log-like kofta shape if I am grilling them.
- Place 1-2 tablespoons of oil either on a cast iron grill pan, or in a non-stick frying pan and place on medium heat. Pan fry or grill the koftas for 2-3 minutes on each side, until they turn a lightly golden brown. Flip and cook 2-3 minutes on the other side. Cover with a lid and cook for 1-2 minutes to ensure the inside is cooked through (break a piece to test it out).
- Remove from the pan and serve with chopped vegetables like onions, parsley and tomato, in sandwiches or with a salad.
Notes
- You can shape these chicken koftas either as log shaped koftas for grilling, or circular patties for sliders or burgers.
- You can also bake these chicken koftas, but I prefer to pan fry in a bit of oil to add more fat and moisture.
- Store in an air tight container and in the fridge for a few days, or freeze them to use for later. Read the post instructions for how to freeze.
Took a little longer than 20 minutes to make but so very worth it! Very delicious on a wrap with red pepper, cucumber, pickled onions and feta cheese. Perfect for summer dinner!
Hi Crie! Your wrap looks wonderful – I’m so glad you enjoyed it! I’m going to be making it myself later this week, and I’ll definitely pay attention to the timing and update the recipe. Thanks so much for sharing a photo with us 🙂
Love so delicious. Glad I found you I love all this food so much!
I am so glad you loved it Barb, thanks for the review! 🙂
Another winner recipe! I have sampled many chicken kofta recipes in restaurants over the years and recently decided to master Mediterranean cooking. This is the best by far! Can’t wait to cook my way through all the recipes!
So glad you loved it Liz, thanks so much for the review!
Another absolute winner. This is my go to recipe for chicken burgers which is a quick evening meal for us.
yummyyyyyyyyy
Doubled the recipe so that I could have extra to store in the freezer, and I am SO glad I did. They’re so easy to reheat and they taste just as fresh. Every time I popped them in the oven, it smelled up our house and it would get my husband super excited for dinner. Definitely will keep these on repeat. So delicious and filled with flavor.
Thank you so much for the wonderful review Hakima!!
I love this recipe..its so simple but is packed with so much flavour. I cooked the koftas on the grill pan and they turned out so tender and flavourful.
I highly recommend this recipe.
Thanks so much for the feedback Shabibi!