Our tried and true Italian Chicken Cutlets are crispy, crunchy and fried to golden deliciousness. Easy to make and perfect for dinner!
Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Reliable, kitchen-tested recipe. As long as you carefully follow the instructions and use the same ingredients I do, you can be sure that you'll have perfectly crunchy chicken cutlets.
- CRISPIEST chicken cutlets - I've eaten a lot of cutlets, these are the crispiest I've ever had!
- Breadcrumb recipe - Most people just use plain breadcrumbs, our recipe has Parmesan cheese which helps give the perfect crispy golden brown crust!
Ingredients
Important Note: Your chicken breasts should be THIN! If you buy thinly sliced chicken breasts from the store, they still might be too thick. Place the chicken between two slices of parchment paper or plastic wrap and use a meat mallet to pound them to ¼ -⅓ inch thickness.
Substitutions
- Chicken Cutlets: Chicken cutlets can often be found in the meat section in the grocery store. If you can't find them, you can easily make your own by butterflying chicken breasts. Slice the chicken breasts in half lengthwise (like a book!). Place in between plastic wrap and use a meat tenderizer to pound the chicken until it is about ¼ inch thick. This is important and skipping this step will result in undercooked, tough chicken.
- Bread Crumbs: We use unseasoned bread crumbs in our recipe so we can control the salt and flavor. You can use seasoned bread crumbs, but you might want to adjust the dried spices.
- Parmesan Cheese: We like Cello grated Parmesan cheese. I get it at Costco.
- Eggs & Flour: Do not skip the egg/flour step! It's important!
- Gluten Free: I haven't tried this recipe with gluten free flour or breadcrumbs so I'm not sure how it will work
- Baking: If you'd like to bake cutlets instead of frying them, check out this Baked Chicken Cutlet Recipe!
Instructions
Summary only. The complete recipe instructions are in the card at the bottom of this post ⬇️
- Set out 3 large shallow bowls.
- Take a chicken cutlet and cover in flour, then dip in egg, then dip in the bread crumb mixture.
- You can press gently to make sure the cutlets are coated with the bread crumbs.
- Step 4: Cook in oven for x minutes at 400 degrees
We like to fry the cutlets in our electric frying pan to make it quicker!
Storage
Chicken cutlets will stay fresh for about 3 days in the refrigerator.
I don't recommend freezing chicken cutlets. There are people who do it, but it changes the texture quite a bit, especially as it thaws out. We find that they never get quite as crispy when reheated
As for serving, I love chicken cutlets with Roasted Potatoes and Green Beans Almondine.
Reheating: It's best to reheat chicken cutlets in the oven or toaster oven. They will not be as crispy if you microwave them.
Serving Suggestions
We like to serve our chicken cutlets with crispy roasted potatoes and green beans almondine. They're also great over a caesar salad!
Homemade Chicken Cutlets
Ingredients
Chicken Cutlets
- 3 lbs thinly sliced chicken cutlets pounded to ¼ to ⅓ inch thickness, see notes
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 4 eggs
- 1 quart of olive oil for frying
Breading Mixture
- 2 ½ cups unseasoned bread crumbs
- 1 ¼ cups grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 tablespoon dried basil
- 1 tablespoon dried parsley
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Important Note: Your chicken breasts should be THIN! If you buy thinly sliced chicken breasts from the store, they still might be too thick. Place the chicken between two slices of parchment paper or plastic wrap and use a meat mallet to pound them to ¼ -⅓ inch thickness.
- Set out 3 large shallow bowls.
- In the first bowl add the flour.
- In the second bowl, crack and whisk the eggs.
- In the third bowl mix together bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, dried basil, dried parsley, pepper, and salt.
- Form an assembly line with the bowls. Take a chicken cutlet and cover in flour, then dip in egg, then dip in the bread crumb mixture. You can press gently to make sure the cutlets are coated with the bread crumbs. Repeat for all cutlets until all are breaded.
- In a large frying pan, heat the olive oil for 10 minutes or until it reaches 350 degrees F. Use an instant read thermometer to check the temperature.
- Place the chicken cutlet in the hot olive oil and fry for 4 minutes. Flip and cook for an additional 4 minutes or until golden brown.
- Season with salt to taste.
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