Functional foods are increasingly popular and consequently consumed more frequently by the population as a result of the greater concern for health and welfare. In this group of foods, dairy products containing probiotics stand out for being the most known among consumers. Kefir is a fermented dairy product with functional claims poorly consumed in Brazil, but which deserves further investigations and dissemination. On these grounds, the present study proposed to undertake a microbiological characterization of an antipasto containing a probiotic based on kefir. The new product was developed with chicken flavor in three replicates, and all analyses were performed in triplicate. These were subjected to microbiological-quality control, following Normative Instruction no. 62 of August 26, 2003, at the Laboratory of Food Microbiology at UFV - Florestal Campus, where we determined the presence, Most Probable Number Method (MPN/g), of total and thermotolerant coliforms; count (log CFU/g) of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and yeasts; and antagonistic activity for the following indicator microorganisms: Escherichia coli, Enterococcus faecalis, Listeria monocytogenes, Shigella flexneri, Staphylococcos aureus, and Salmonella typhimurium. Samples were found to be within the hygienic-sanitary standards required by the Brazilian legislation for having total and thermotolerant coliform values lower than 3.0 MPN/g. The same was true for the identity and quality patterns, which include the cellular concentration of LAB (8.52-8.89 log 10 CFU/g) and yeasts (5.17-5.40 log 10 CFU/g). This LAB concentration may exert some beneficial effect on the health of the consumer, characterizing the antipasto as a probiotic-containing dairy product with functional claims. With respect to the antagonistic ability, results were negative, indicating no antimicrobial activity in the developed product. The microbiological characterization of the kefir-based antipasto was thus satisfactory; this product is a probiotic-containing food with other likely functional properties.