Crispy 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 some other chicken recipes? Try our PERFECT Cast Iron Chicken Breast or Pistachio Pea Pesto Stuffed Chicken!
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Monday Night Cutlets
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. One of the things it makes me wonder is what other people's staples are.
Something Marisa and I do is reminisce about the meals we enjoyed most as children growing up. Both of us love our parents' cooking and argue about the best ways to make these meals.
Cooking from scratch is something that we've always appreciated from our parents and want to raise our children to appreciate. It's not for everyone to spend time in the kitchen that could be spent with their family. Luckily it works for us and we want to make it easy enough to work for you. The kitchen was where our families spent the most time for better or for worse, and it's probably already where my son has spent a great percentage of his life.
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. What is that additive even for? 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.
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!
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Combine all of the breadcrumb ingredients on a plate.
Step 2: Slice your chicken breasts thin or cut them in half and pound them out. 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: Scramble the eggs in a bowl. Dip each cutlet into the egg mixture and then place them on the breadcrumb. Cover with breadcrumbs, flip them and cover them again. Pat the breadcrumbs onto the cutlet so that it sticks.
Step 4: 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. Allow them to rest on a paper-towel-lined plate or a wire rack. For best results, don't place on top of one another until completely cooled.
Pro-Tips
- Sprinkle a little salt over the cutlets after you fry them. The salt will stick to the fried cutlet 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.
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.
Please leave a comment and star rating below in the recipe card! I love to hear about what you think of our recipes. Feel free to tag us on Instagram @vindelgiudice.
More Delicious Chicken Recipes
📖 Recipe
Crispy 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.
- 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 bread crumbs and use your hand to coat the cutlets, pat it in, then flip over and repeat.
- Once all of your cutlets are breaded, heat oil in a large frying pan to medium heat. Carefully lay your cutlets flat. Do this in batches to not crowd the pan. Heat each side for 3 minutes and then flip. They should be golden brown before flipping. Place on a paper towel-lined plate or cooling rack to cool
Gloria LaRoche
Thank you for teaching me to make these. I’m getting pretty good at it!