  The present review gives a survey of recent developments and applications of
the Nambu--Jona-Lasinio model with $N_f=2$ and $N_f=3$ quark flavors for the
structure of baryons. The model is an effective chiral quark theory which
incorporates the SU(N$_f$)$_L\otimes$SU(N$_f$)$_R\otimes$U(1)$_V$ approximate
symmetry of Quantum chromodynamics. The approach describes the spontaneous
chiral symmetry breaking and dynamical quark mass generation. Mesons appear as
quark-antiquark excitations and baryons arise as non-topological solitons with
three valence quarks and a polarized Dirac sea. For the evaluation of the
baryon properties the present review concentrates on the non-linear
Nambu--Jona-Lasinio model with quark and Goldstone degrees of freedom which is
identical to the Chiral quark soliton model obtained from the instanton liquid
model of the QCD vacuum. In this non-linear model, a wide variety of
observables of baryons of the octet and decuplet is considered. These include,
in particular, electromagnetic, axial, pseudoscalar and pion nucleon form
factors and the related static properties like magnetic moments, radii and
coupling constants of the nucleon as well as the mass splittings and
electromagnetic form factors of hyperons. Predictions are given for the strange
form factors, the scalar form factor and the tensor charge of the nucleon.
