Bite sized choux pastry, filled with a creamy, cheesy chicken filling. These are the perfect party appetizer!
I grew up calling these chicken bouchees, some call them chicken puffs. Either way, these bad boys should come with a warning label. These are always a hit at parties, and you’d be surprised at how many of these you could put away without breaking a sweat.
These are DELICIOUS and very easy to make. I love these as an appetizer, and even more as a treat yo self snack for whenever. A savory choux pastry is not just a delectable idea, but also a unique idea.
Components for chicken bouchees pastries
Choux pastry puffs Cream cheese chicken filling
Choux pastry
Choux pastry is not difficult to make. It’s one of those things I can make with my eyes closed, and I have a comprehensive choux pastry (pâte à choux) recipe and troubleshooting guide where you can find everything you’ll ever need to know about making these! The choux pastry puffs need to be small for this recipe. Chicken bouchees are meant to be eaten in one or two bites, so you don’t want to make them too big.
Tips for making perfect choux pastries
Getting the right consistency for the dough is the most important step. Adding too much egg can lead to flat, sad choux pastries. Too little eggs can lead to heavy, dense pastries. The pastries puff up as they bake, so pipe smaller dough mounds and provide enough space for them to puff up. Bake them for the correct amount of time. If you remove the choux puffs earlier than needed, they will deflate. So let them bake till they turn a beautiful golden brown in color first. Then quickly poke holes in each of the puffs and bake further until they start to darken a little. To get smooth choux puffs (not poop emoji like puffs), make sure the tip of your pastry bag is always just under the surface of the dough when you pipe. And remember to slowly draw the piping tip up as you pipe to get rounded pastry mounds. These tips will give you beautiful, round pastry cases. Since these will be used for a savory choux pastry recipe, I sprinkle the tops with maldon sea flakes. This adds a little salty crunch to each puff.
For all the detailed tips and tricks, see my post on how to make choux pastry.
Cream cheese chicken filling for the bouchees
This cream cheese and chicken filling is super flavorful. The cream cheese not only adds a wonderful creaminess, but a little tang too. You could also just make a creamy chicken pot pie filling, or even a chicken salad filling with mayonnaise instead. However, this filling is pipeable, and has a cheesy creaminess that makes these chicken bouchees irresistible. For this filling, you can use any kind of chicken you like. So it’s quite flexible.
Poach some chicken with your favorite aromatics, Pan fry boneless chicken pieces, Or for the easiest option – buy a rotisserie chicken and use that meat instead.
I prefer to use chicken breast because it breaks down easier with the cream cheese. But you can use the dark meat too, just make sure to chop it a little more finely.
Secret ingredient for the filling
Caramelized onion! Yes, it’s an extra step that requires you to slowly cook down the onions until caramelized. But boy, does it add a ton of flavor! Use chopped onions which will caramelize a little faster, than if you were to use larger pieces of onion. If you wanted to skip this step however, I recommend using shallots instead of raw onions for the filling. Shallots have a sweeter flavor that won’t overwhelm the chicken flavor.
Assembling chicken bouchees
The chicken bouchees that I’ve had in the past were always choux puffs that had the chicken filling piped in. So you can’t really see the filling from the outside. But to make these look prettier and festive, I decided to slice each puff in half and fill the cases with a swirl of chicken filling (using a piping tip), and then re-place the sliced half on top. But feel free to fill the choux pastry puffs however you like.
Make ahead tips
You can make the chicken filling about 2 days ahead of time. The choux pastry puffs can also be made the day before, but they will need to be stored in an air-tight container. Remember, choux pastry doesn’t remain crisp for long, so it’s normal for them to get soft quickly. And even more quickly, once filled. However, you can “freshen up” your unfilled choux pastry puffs in the oven. Just warm them up slightly and they are good to go. Chicken bouchees should only be filled before serving. At most, 1 or 2 hours before serving.
Final recipe notes
I’m always thrilled to see this appetizer whenever I see them at a dinner party or birthday party. These are the perfect little appetizers for gatherings. Bite-sized, creamy, cheesy, delicious, and most importantly, easy and impressive. Once you’ve popped one in your mouth, it’s easy to lose count quickly! I hope you guys love these chicken puffs just as much as we do! 🙂
More choux pastry recipes you’ll love
Homemade cream puffs Chocolate choux pastry (chocolate cream puffs) Chocolate profiteroles Classic chocolate eclairs Choux au craquelin Earl grey eclairs Chouquettes (French sugar puffs) Strawberry cream puffs Paris-brest recipe
