These chicken turnovers are perfect served as an appetizer or alongside soup or salad. Follow my easy recipe and make extra since they freeze beautifully! In this recipe, you get 2 options: puff pastry or the homemade kourou dough. Kourou dough is a greek pastry that is made with basic ingredients such as yogurt, olive oil, flour, and some salt. Simple & delicious.
Watch the Video Tutorial Here:
Option 1: Puff Pastry:
I usually have a pack or two of puff pastry in my freezer most of the time. It thaws quickly and can be used to quickly whip up something sweet or savory.
To make these delightful turnovers using puff pastry, thaw it overnight in the refrigerator or on the counter for 30-40 minutes.
I like to make small turnovers but, you can also make these larger and serve them as a main course with a soup or salad. The mini ones are just so cute and easy to pop in your mouth. They’re the perfect party appetizer! Arrange them in a tray with a bowl of tzatziki and your guests will love every bite.
Roll the puff pastry about an inch on all sides. Do this on a lightly floured work surface. Cut the pastry into the desired size and fill with the chicken filling. Feel free to add veggies: green peas, corn, spinach, etc. to the filling. Feta cheese or even cream cheese is also delicious. However, this chicken filling has so much flavor that it really does not need anything else. Except for feta, haha! Feta makes everything extra yummy.
Seal them, place on a baking tray lined with parchment paper then either bake them or freeze them! Actually, before you bake them its a good idea to chill the turnovers in the refrigerator or freezer for at least 20 minutes. This will help them stay puffy during baking.
Freezer Instructions:
Place the tray of unbaked turnovers in the freezer until they freeze solid. Transfer them to a plastic freezer bag or a container and they will keep fresh up to 3 months. Once you’re ready to serve them, preheat the oven to 350 °F, brush the tops with egg wash and bake until golden and puffy. About 35-40 minutes.
For the Kourou Dough:
Kourou dough is the Greek version of pie crust. It is tender, flaky, and so delicious. Unlike traditional pie crust that is made with loads of butter, the Greek version is made with yogurt, olive oil, flour, and a few other very basic pantry ingredients. It is very simple to make and the result is so good! Use this dough to make sweet and savory recipes.
Make the dough and let it rest for 30 minutes so that it will be easier to work with. Grease your work surface with some olive oil instead of adding flour. Roll the pastry out into circles, add the filling and some crumbled feta cheese to the center, seal them and place on a baking tray that has been lined with parchment paper.
At this point, you can brush them with egg wash and bake. Or, freeze them for later use!.
Serve the turnovers with olives, tzatziki sauce, and salad.
Feta cheese goes so well with the chicken filling. Feel free to use your favorite cheese such as gouda, mozzarella, cream cheese, or Parmesan.
Chicken Turnovers - 2 Delicious Ways (Puff Pastry & Homemade Kourou Dough)
These chicken turnovers are perfect served as an appetizer
or alongside soup or salad. Follow my easy recipe and make extra since they freeze beautifully! In this recipe, you get 2 options: puff pastry or the homemade kourou dough. Kourou dough is a greek pastry that is made with basic ingredients such as yogurt, olive oil, flour, and some salt. Simple & delicious.
Ingredients
- 1 (1 lb/490g) package puff pastry
For the Kourou dough:
- • 4 cups all-purpose flour
- • 1 cup olive oil
- • 1 cup Greek Yogurt (strained yogurt) or sour cream
- • 1 egg
- • 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
- • 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- • 1/2 teaspoon salt
For the chicken filling:
- • 2 pounds boneless chicken breast or thighs
- • 1 large onion, finely chopped
- • ¼ cup olive oil, or more
- • Salt and black pepper, to taste
- • 3 garlic cloves, grated
- • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- • 1 (15-ounce) can tomatoes, pureed
- • ½ -1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- • 2 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley or 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- • Optional: crumbled feta cheese, frozen peas, cream cheese, mozzarella cheese
- For the egg wash: 3-4 egg yolks with ¼ cup milk whisked together until smooth
Instructions
Make the chicken filling:
- Cut the chicken into small (1-2 inch) pieces.
- Cook the onions with the olive oil over medium heat until soft and golden. About 10 minutes. A 12-inch cast-iron skillet works great for this. Add the garlic and warm through 20 seconds.
- Add the chicken pieces and season with salt and pepper. Cook for about 10 minutes or until golden. Add the Worcestershire sauce and mix.
- Add the tomato puree with a little sugar, if desired. Mix well and cook over medium heat until the sauce has reduced and thickened. About 10-15 minutes.
- Add the parsley or oregano and mix together. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed. Break up the chicken to even smaller pieces with a spatula and set aside to cool completely.
Make the kourou dough:
- Combine the flour, sugar, and salt in a bowl and whisk together.
- Combine the olive oil, yogurt, egg, and lemon juice together in a large bowl and whisk together until smooth. The mixture will look curdled but, that’s ok!!
- Slowly add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and whisk to combine. Once the mixture becomes too thick to use the whisk, switch to your hands and knead it until the dough comes together.
- Cover with plastic or with a kitchen towel and set aside at room temperature to rest for 30 minutes.
For the Puff Pastry filled Turnovers:
- The puff pastry can be thawed in the refrigerator overnight. It is much easier to work with when it is still cold but not frozen.
- Lightly flour your work surface and roll out each sheet of puff pastry about 1 inch larger on all sides.
- Cut each sheet into 9 pieces.
- Line 2 baking trays with parchment paper.
- Place a teaspoon full of the filling onto each piece of puff pastry.
- Lightly brush the edges with water and fold over to cover the filling.
- Press the 3 sides down with the tines of a fork to seal and to create a decorative pattern. Place onto the prepared baking trays.
- Brush the tops with egg wash and chill in the refrigerator or freezer for 15-20 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350 °F, 180 °F.
Bake the turnovers until golden and puffed. About 30-35 minutes.
For the Homemade Kourou Dough filled turnovers:
- Lightly grease your work surface with olive oil. This will help the pastry roll out very easily.
- Cut the dough into two equal portions. Cut each portion into 8 pieces.
- Roll each portion out into a ball.
- Gently roll out each ball into a 5-inch round circle. You can do this using your fingertips to press the dough gently out into a circle. Use a rolling pin if you prefer doing it that way but do not add any flour to the dough otherwise, it will become dry and tough.
- Place a tablespoon full of the filling onto the rolled-out circles.
- Add some crumbled feta or your favorite cheese, if desired.
- Fold over to cover the filling.
- Gently press the edges together to seal.
- Place the pies onto the prepared baking pan. 8 on each tray.
- Use a fork to press down the edges to create a decorative design.
- Brush the tops of the pies with the egg wash.
- Bake for about 30 minutes or until golden.
- Halfway through baking, rotate the trays. Place the bottom tray on the top rack and the top tray on the bottom for even baking.
Serve warm. Enjoy!
Notes
The turnovers can be stored in the freezer (before they are baked) for up to 3 months.
Place the filled pastries onto a baking tray and chill them in the freezer until they are hard. Transfer them into freezer-safe bags/containers. It is better to freeze them without the egg wash.
When ready to bake, place the frozen pastries onto a baking tray(s) lined with parchment paper, brush with egg wash and bake in a preheated 350 °F oven until golden. About 40 minutes. They do not have to be thawed. They can be baked frozen.
Hi Dimitra,
I am a subscriber of your youtube channel. Can you give me the metric measurement of your Kourou dough? Thanks
Hi Dimitra,
I am a subscriber from your youtube channel. Can you give me the metric measurements of your Kourou dough? Thanks.
Hi thanks for the recipe. I have just tried to print this but it is just blank pages. I’ve tried your link and manually from the page. Are you able to fix this? Also do you think can I use 2% fat Greek yoghurt in the pastry? Thank you
Hi Nina! So sorry about that. We’re working on updating the site and there have been a few annoying glitches along the way. I will fix it today. Thank you for your patience 🙂
And, yes, you can use the 2% yogurt. Enjoy!