Name: Chicken Cakes with Cilantro Garlic Mayo
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 25 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 1 egg (beaten); ¼ cup low-fat mayonnaise; 1 Tablespoon basil chopped (1 teaspoon dried); 1 teaspoon garlic (pressed or minced); 1 cup seasoned breadcrumbs (whole wheat or gluten-free, if desired); ⅓ cup red onion (diced); 3 cups cooked chicken (shredded); 1 Tablespoon olive oil; ½ cup low-fat mayonnaise; 1 Tablespoon cilantro (chopped); 1 teaspoon garlic (pressed or minced)

Chicken Cakes with Cilantro Garlic Mayo

Festive Chicken Cakes topped with cilantro garlic mayonnaise are easy to make and just plain fun to eat. What’s even more amazing is that they’re made with leftover chicken.

It’s a cook once, eat twice meal, where the second day is equally as good the first. Use rotisserie chicken, baked lemon pepper chicken or whatever you have on hand.

Top these tasty little chicken patties off with cilantro garlic mayonnaise. And, make a large batch of that too. Because it brightens up whatever it’s added to.

Tips for Making Chicken Cakes with Cilantro Garlic Mayo

If you’ve made crab cakes or black bean cakes, then you’ll be right at home making chicken cakes. It’s the same process. You simply combine the ingredients, form patties and fry them on the stove-top. Follow these tips so they come out perfectly every time:

Shredding chicken

Shred enough chicken to fill 3 cups. Leftover chicken? Use it! Rotisserie chicken will work too. Otherwise, cook chicken in a pressure cooker or poach it.

To poach boneless, skinless chicken breasts, place 3-4 chicken breasts in a pot and cover with water. Bring water to a boil and then reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook for about 10-12 minutes or until the chicken is no longer pink. After the chicken cools, shred it with a fork or dice it.

Use two forks or beaters to shred the chicken into small pieces.

Mixing it together

Mix together egg, mayonnaise, seasoned breadcrumbs, diced red onion, chopped basil and minced garlic. Use whole wheat breadcrumbs or gluten-free breadcrumbs if desired.

Next, add shredded chicken to the bowl and mix. Keep stirring until it’s well-combined and the ingredients start to stick together.

At first, it might seem like this is not going to happen…it will. Just keep stirring. And, if you absolutely feel like it just isn’t sticky enough add a little more mayonnaise.

Shaping into chicken patties

Make patties by compressing about 1/4 cup of the mixture into a patty shape. You should end up with 12 patties. We find that smaller patties usually work better!

Or, form the mixture into tablespoon-sized balls for 48 appetizer-sized cakes.

Freezing chicken cakes

You can stop right here and freeze these cakes. Yep. Place them in a pan and cover it. Place them in the freezer and go about your business.

When you are ready to cook the chicken cakes, remove them to the refrigerator and allow them to defrost overnight. You might want to re-compress them, but that’s about it.

Cooking chicken patties

To cook the chicken cakes, heat one tablespoon of olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the chicken cakes to the pan and cook for about 3 minutes on each side or until browned. Remove to a paper towel-lined plate and allow to cool.

As with all delicate cakes, try to limit how many times you flip the cakes. They should be thoroughly heated through since egg is used. But, the chicken is already cooked.

Cilantro Garlic Mayonnaise for Chicken Cakes

I am absolutely giddy about the mayo for these chicken cakes. Adding garlic and cilantro to mayonnaise gives it a whole new flavor! Use the right type of mayonnaise and the topping is Whole 30 and Paleo compliant.

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5 from 3 votes