Italian Chicken Cutlets are the gift that keeps on giving. A delicious crispy fried thin cutlet that will be Monday night dinner, next day lunch in a salad, and then dinner again repurposed as Chicken Parmesan.
Want to learn why we fry chicken cutlets in olive oil? Read about What Oil to Fry Chicken Cutlets?
Want some other chicken recipes? Try our PERFECT Cast Iron Chicken Breast or Pistachio Pea Pesto Stuffed Chicken!
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Monday Night Cutlets
Versatility. We eat them hot or cold, on sandwiches or salads, for dinner or lunch, whatever the occasional calls for. We make impromptu chicken cutlet parmigiana or feed our son with one. We can serve it as leftovers with Spiced Apple Chutney. It makes me wonder what other people's staples are. Another option instead of chicken is to try something like our Classic Pork Chop Milanese!
Meal prep. Italian Chicken Cutlets are an ideal Monday night meal because they can feed you the rest of the week. They are a perfect meal prep recipe because they can be utilized in so many different ways the rest of the week. Make your night easy and make this with 15-Minute Spaghetti with Garlic and Oil or Pasta with Peas and Pancetta.
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
- Breadcrumbs. Check your ingredients on the bag. Breadcrumbs should be made with bread. Not corn starch. Look at the back of Progresso Breadcrumbs, there is high fructose corn syrup. If you have a bakery near your house, they probably sell breadcrumbs. This is bar none the best option, but, not the realistic one. Trader Joe's has a very good breadcrumb with decent ingredients and that is the brand I've chosen to use over the past few years. If you're looking for more breaded chicken recipes, Chicken Spiedini is a great alternative to cutlets in the summer.
- Fresh Chopped Parsley. I don't understand chicken cutlets without parsley. Not for me. Not one bit. If it doesn't have a little green in it, it just doesn't seem right.
- Olive Oil. We choose to fry our cutlets in extra virgin olive oil. I'm aware people say that olive oil doesn't have a high enough smoke point but that's really not a problem unless you're heating the pan too high. Check out our research on the best oil to cook your cutlets in! Olive oil will get you the best Italian Chicken Cutlets
- Egg. If you have an egg allergy, check out our No Egg Chicken Cutlets for an analysis of different egg substitutes.
*Please see the recipe card for more information on the ingredients.
How to Make Italian Chicken Cutlets
Step 1: Combine breadcrumbs, parmigiana, garlic powder, parsley, and salt on a plate.
Step 2: Slice your chicken breasts thin. I like to get 3-4 slices with each breast to have a really thin cutlet. Slicing them too thick will result in a chewy piece of chicken that doesn't reheat well.
Step 3: If any of your chicken cutlets don't seem thin enough use a tenderizer (kitchen mallet) to beat them out nice and thin.
Step 4: Prepare your station for egging and breading. Preparation will make your life a lot easier while doing this.
Step 5: Scramble the eggs in a bowl. Dip each cutlet into the egg mixture and then place them on the breadcrumb.
Step 6: Dredge the chicken in breadcrumbs. To make them stick, cover with breadcrumbs, flip them, and cover them again. Pat the breadcrumbs onto the cutlet.
Step 7: Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Be patient to get the oil hot. Carefully lay the cutlets in the oil in batches to not crowd the pan.
Step 5: Fry them on each side for approximately 3 minutes or until golden brown. Give them an extra minute if you like them really crispy. Remove them from the pan and rest on a wire rack. For best results, don't place on top of one another until completely cooled.
Serve these cutlets with Authentic Fettuccine Alfredo and Garlic Parmesan Green Beans for a full meal!
Pro-Tips
- Sprinkle a little salt over the cutlets after you fry them. The salt will stick to the fried cutlets and will make them more tasty.
- Thinly sliced and pounded cutlets will cook the most evenly and will cook the quickest. It takes a sharp knife but you will get the best flavor.
- Use a fork to flip your chicken in the pan. It will be less likely to pull breadcrumbs off your chicken.
- If you're making large batches, you will need to change your oil if it starts looking really burnt. Best option is to pour the oil into an empty can and add more olive oil to the pan.
Making Chicken Cutlets in Advance
There are a couple of ways to do this. First, you can egg and bread your chicken cutlets a day in advance, store them in the refrigerator, and fry them the next day.
Doing this actually makes for a crispier cutlet because they will dry slightly in the refrigerator overnight.
If you decide to fry a day in advance, in order to reheat, lay out the cutlets on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Bake in the oven for 5-7 minutes on each side or until heated through.
Recipe FAQs
But if you'd prefer to stay a little on the healthier side, then chicken cutlets can also be baked in the oven at 375° for 15-25 minutes depending on the size of the cutlet. I always take the temperature of the chicken at 10 minutes and flip them over.
We believe high-quality extra virgin olive oil is the best! We actually went through a whole testing period to test canola, avocado, and olive oil. Although avocado oil was a close runner-up, the flavor from the EVOO was the best.
There is no difference in the way that the chicken is breaded or cooked. The only difference is typically restaurants will butterfly chicken instead of completely slicing and then pound out the chicken to get a really big chicken cutlet. Milanese is then typically served over some type of salad.
The best way to reheat cutlets is by placing them on a parchment-lined baking sheet and reheating them in the oven at 325 degrees Fahrenheit to maintain maximum crispiness.
What to Serve with Chicken Cutlets?
- Nothing goes better with cutlets than pasta. Serve cutlets with Sausage and Fennel Pasta, Creamy Red Pepper Pasta, or Creamy Mushroom Pasta. You could even use the leftover cutlets to make Creamy Chicken Parmesan Pasta!
- Cutlets go great with cold pasta and salads too like Caprese Tortellini Salad, Italian Pasta Salad, or Italian Red Potato Salad (No Mayo).
- Serve it alongside a vegetable like Italian Green Bean Salad, Italian Cabbage, or Italian Lacinato Kale Recipe (Tuscan).
- Make a delicious sandwich with Chicken cutlets and Sauteed Rapini with Garlic or make them into mini Chicken Parm Sliders.
More Delicious Chicken Recipes
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📖 Recipe
Italian Chicken Cutlets
Equipment
- 1 large frying pan
Ingredients
- 2 chicken breast, sliced thin
- ¾ cup breadcrumbs
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
- 2 tablespoon grated parmesan
- ½ cup olive oil
- 1 egg
Instructions
- Slice chicken breast thin. Two chicken breast should be big enough to make 6-8 cutlets. If any remaining cutlets look thick, pound them out with a meat tenderizer.
- Mix the breadcrumbs, salt, garlic powder, parsley, and parmesan together on a large plate. Then beat your egg in a bowl.
- Dip your cutlets into the egg and let the excess egg drip off. Then place flat on your breadcrumbs and use your hand to coat the cutlets, pat it in, then flip over and repeat.
- Once your cutlets are breaded, heat oil in a large frying pan to medium heat. Carefully lay your cutlets flat. Do this in batches so as to not crowd the pan. Heat each side for 3 minutes and then flip. They should be golden brown before flipping. Place on a cooling rack to cool.
Notes
- Sprinkle a little salt over the cutlets after you fry them. The salt will stick to the fried cutlets and will make them more tasty.
- Thinly sliced and pounded cutlets will cook the most evenly and will cook the quickest. It takes a sharp knife but you will get the best flavor.
- Use a fork to flip your chicken in the pan. It will be less likely to pull breadcrumbs off your chicken.
- If you're making large batches, you will need to change your oil if it starts looking really burnt. Best option is to pour the oil into an empty can and add more olive oil to the pan.
Gloria LaRoche
Thank you for teaching me to make these. I’m getting pretty good at it!