Hilopites with chicken (Κοτόπουλο κοκκινιστό με χυλοπίτες)

Hilopites with chicken

Greek noodles and chicken prepared in a delicious tomato sauce

Have you ever had square pasta? Like small little squares of egg noodles that are delicate and full of flavour? If you’re Greek, or have ever visited a Greek home, we think that the answer might be (should be) Yes!

Hilopites are the small, square-shaped egg noodles that we grew up with. In fact, we have very vivid memories of our parents gathering with aunts and uncles and dear friends, spending the day making hilopites from scratch. Flour, water (or was it milk?), salt, eggs all worked together and transformed to make long strips of noodles that were then cut by hand into perfectly imperfect squares.

Once cut, the hilopites were laid out to dry on tablecloths and bed sheets reserved for this purpose. Because making hilopites was a group and all day affair, you can imagine that what was produced was more than a one-time serving; when one made hilopites, one made a LOT of hilopites. So, for hours our beds were off limits as they were the perfect spot to lay out the tablecloths and sheets, sprinkle them with some flour, and spread the hilopites out to dry. Our home looked a bit funny, but the drying pasta smelled delightful.

Hilopites with chicken

As kids we loved sneaking into the hilopita bedrooms to grab a few of the drying pastas and then pop them in our mouths. For some reason, we loved the taste and the texture and the way they tended to stick between our teeth. After our taste test, we would carefully rearrange the hilopites so that the adults wouldn’t realize we had eaten them raw; they were funny about that sort of thing.

Every once in a while, an errant hilopita would find itself in our bed, missed while the rest of the pasta was packaged in bags and stored in the cold room or refrigerator. So there we would be, lying in bed getting ready for sleep and a perfect little square noodle would be lying by our pillow. You can be sure that that ended up in our mouths too.

Hilopites with chicken

There are so many wonderful ways to enjoy hilopites. We have previously posted a recipe for a hilopites soup; a vegetarian way to enjoy this lovely little pasta. And now we are happy to share a very traditional dish of hilopites cooked with chicken in a tomato sauce, a classic kokkinisto dish that is comforting, satisfying and so very delicious.

Be sure to check out this round-up of the best Greek soup recipes for fall, or anytime. You will find much to love here!

Helpful hints

You can usually find hilopites in Greek or Mediterranean grocery stores, and even on-line.  However, if you happen to be visiting Greece, or know someone who is, you can always ask them to forget the souvenir keychain and bring back some hilopites instead.  Hilopites from Greece, especially when home-made, are a luxurious treat.

Although weirdly delicious raw (especially when they are homemade), it really is recommended that you cook your hilopites.

If you like cheese (who doesn’t?), this dish is delicious with a generous sprinkling of grated mizithra. If you can’t find mizithra, grated parmesan or romano cheese (or a combination of the two) could also be lovely.

If you would like us to write a post on how to make homemade hilopites, let us know in the comments below. Maybe if enough of you ask, our parents will show us all how it’s done! 🙂

Pin this recipe if you like it!

Hilopites with chicken
Hilopites with chicken

Do you love meals cooked in tomato sauce, that classic Greek technique called kokkinisto? If so, here are a few other recipes to try:

Chicken kokkinisto with pasta

Chicken kokkinisto with french fries

Veal kokkinisto with rice

We love hearing from you!  If you have made our recipes, or if you have a question or comment, or simply want to say Hi!,  please leave a comment below!

Hilopites with chicken
Hilopites with chicken

Hilopites with chicken (Κοτόπουλο κοκκινιστό με χυλοπίτες)

A delicious meal of Greek noodles and chicken cooked in tomato sauce.
4.84 from 6 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Main Course, Soup
Cuisine: Greek
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Resting time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 35 minutes
Servings: 6 people
Author: Mia Kouppa

Ingredients

  • 1 whole chicken
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • Vegetable oil, for frying
  • 2 1/2 cups tomato sauce
  • boiling water enough to cover the chicken
  • 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
  • 2 cups hilopites uncooked
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 cup mizithra cheese (optional)

Instructions

  • Butcher your chicken in order to end up with 8 serving pieces (2 breasts, 2 drumsticks, 2 thighs and 2 wings). Remove as much of the skin as possible, as well as any visible fat.
  • Sprinkle the chicken pieces with 1 tablespoon of salt.
  • Add the vegetable oil to a deep frying pan and heat over medium heat. Being careful not to over crowd the pan, add the chicken pieces a few at at time and brown them on all sides (about 5 minutes per side). Depending upon how large your pan is, you may have to do this in batches.
  • Transfer the browned chicken to a large pot. Add the tomato sauce and enough boiling water to cover the chicken.
  • Add the cinnamon and the pepper. Bring the pot to a boil and then reduce the heat back to medium and cook, covered, for 10-12 minutes.
  • Stir the hilopites into the pot This may be a bit difficult since your chicken is in the pot, so be sure to stir carefully.
  • Cook, uncovered, for an additional 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. It is important to stir well to avoid the hilopites from sticking to the bottom of your pot.
  • After the 20 minutes have passed, add a tablespoon of olive oil, a teaspoon of salt, stir and then turn off the stove. Cover the pot and let sit off the heat for 10-15 minutes. This will allow the soup to thicken up a bit.
  • Upon serving, sprinkle with grated mizithra cheese if desired.
  • Enjoy!

Notes

This recipe serves 6-8 people easily.  If desired, you can easily halve the recipe for 2-4 people.
The longer the soup sits, the thicker it will get.  
If you have leftovers, you may need to add some water before heating it up.
If you can't find Greek mizithra cheese, you can use Pecorino-Romano cheese; or a combination of parmesan and romano cheese.

Thanks for sharing!

17 Comments

  1. katinahughes2014 says:

    Recipe for Hilopitas? YES PLEASE!
    You have me in tears remembering those days in my yiayia’s kitchen. Marveling at how she wielded that skinny stick to turn that lump of dough into hilopitas. Then later, sneaking in to my aunts Georgette and Katherine’s room to graze on the semi-dried hilopitas. Remembering how they stuck in your teeth and were so delicious!
    Thanks for the memories and the recipes too!

    1. miakouppa says:

      Thank you so much Katina for your message. We’ll tell our folks that the two of us, and YOU, really want to learn to make homemade hilopites 🙂 Maybe they’ll agree 🙂 We love that you saw yourself in our post; we knew we couldn’t have been the only kids eating raw hilopites!! Hope you try the recipe, and love it! Have a great day!

      1. katinahughes2014K says:

        Looking forward to finding the hilopita recipe in the near(I hope) future.

  2. Another plea for the hilopita recipe! My kids are super pumped to try making them.

    1. miakouppa says:

      Oh boy!!! We really hate to disappoint kids. We will do our best! xoxo

  3. Leah Coulson Malelis says:

    Would love the recipe for homemade hilopitas. My mother-in-law and her sister would make pasta here in Canada. It was nice to watch and oh so delicious to eat. This was all new to me as I am not Greek, but soon became one with the desire to learn. Wonderful memories.

    1. miakouppa says:

      Thank you Leah! We would love to be able to share this recipe as well and plan to do so when we are finally able to cook with our parents again 🙂 We are so happy that you are enjoying our website! xoxo Helen & Billie

  4. Hi. For those of us who hunt birds, September 1st is opening day for dove season where I live. I used your recipe to prepare dove instead of chicken. I improvised a bit. I browned the birds in olive oil instead of vegetable oil in the same deep pot I used to prepare the dish. When browned, I removed the birds, then sautéed 1/2 a cup of scallions and a clove of coarsely chopped garlic in the remaining olive oil until soft. I then put the birds back in the pot and added the remaining ingredients, substituting a stick of cinnamon for ground cinnamon, and adding half a cup of chardonnay. As wild birds need more cooking time, I cooked them for 45 minutes before adding the hilopetes. It was an incredible dish, accompanied by a bottle of red wine. I immediately retired to my hammock afterward.
    Thanks!

    1. miakouppa says:

      HI John!! What a meal!! We are so happy that you were inspired by our recipe and made it your own. Sounds wonderful. xoxo Helen & Billie

    2. Jacqueline Kerhoulas says:

      Chicken and hilopites is a favourite at our house. My husband says it reminds him of his YiaYia when I make them and my daughter requested them the first time her boyfriend came for supper. I have always cooked the chicken in the liquid and then taken it out and done the hilopites till they are done. Then served them together. Your way would be quicker for sure. But it would be harder to stir with both in the pot. Will try it next time! Got to look through all your recipes now!5 stars

      1. miakouppa says:

        Hi Jaqueline! Your family has good taste 🙂 Chicken and hilopites is such a wonderful, rustic and amazing Greek meal! Give our method a try – we find that it works really well and is quite simple 🙂 Hope you find much to love here with us – we have over 450 recipes posting, with new recipes being posted every week!! xoxo Helen & Billie

  5. just bought hilopites imported from Greece at my local Greek grocery store. The bag doesn’t say how long to boil them in water. Anyone have a guess for me?

    1. miakouppa says:

      Hi Patra! Cooking time will definitely vary with the brand of hilopites; we suggest cooking them according to our recipe for about 20 minutes or so. xoxo Helen & Billie

      1. Just made χιλοποτες for dinner. Amazing! Omg. My name is Billie, and I have a sister named Helen. Imagine the look on my face when I read your comment 😯🤔😂5 stars

      2. miakouppa says:

        That is crazy!!! What a coincidence. Love it! xoxo

      3. Made χιλοποτες for dinner. One of my favorGreek meals. Thank you for sharing the story of how they are made. Brought back some great childhood memories of the process in Greece as a child with my Γιαγοα 🥰5 stars

      4. miakouppa says:

        Hi Billie! (love your name by the way!) So glad that you enjoyed the recipe, and the story! Hope you continue to find much to love here with us 🙂 xoxo Helen & Billie

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