Crispy Chicken Cutlets are a delicious way to enjoy chicken breasts! Chicken is breaded with a light panko bread crumb coating and pan-fried until crisp and juicy!
Serve these cutlets on their own, with honey mustard sauce or in hamburger rolls for the perfect chicken sandwich recipe!
What Is A Chicken Cutlet?
A chicken cutlet is a thin piece of a chicken breast. Cutlets can be purchased but are easy to prepare with whole chicken breasts too. Since chicken cutlets are thinner and generally more even they cook quickly and evenly!
To prepare chicken cutlets, cut a chicken breast in half cross-wise (image below) and then pound it until it’s about 1/4″ thick with a meat mallet. That’s all there is to it!
Quick Chicken Hack Freezing chicken for 20 to 30 minutes before cutting it makes it so easy to slice, chop or dice for ANY recipe!
You can then slice it for stir fry, or create cutlets or even fillets so quickly. No more frustrating attempts, the knife cuts right through the chicken like nothing when it’s slightly frozen!
How To Make Chicken Cutlets
This easy chicken cutlet recipe is as easy as 1, 2, 3 and ready in under 30 mins!
- Cut the slightly frozen breasts in half lengthwise, then pound with a meat tenderizer or mallet to about 1/4″ thickness.
- Dredge chicken pieces first in beaten egg, then the breadcrumb mixture (per recipe below).
- Pan fry in oil until golden brown and crispy!
Serve with your favorite dipping sauces for a delicious appetizer or main course.
Add a slice of lemon on the side dresses them up for the grownups in the room, or serve them with buffalo sauce, or honey mustard dressing. For a similar baked-not-fried version try this crispy parmesan crusted chicken.
Oil for Frying
My choice of oil for pan-frying is a vegetable oil. It has a high smoke point and panfrying is usually a quick process. Vegetable oil can have an unpleasant smell if it is hot for too long so preheat your oil just before cooking.
Refined peanut oil is a great choice as well (and it is perfect for deep frying too).
What To Serve With Chicken Cutlets
The question should really be “What not to serve?” So many wonderful things go with these cutlets it’s hard to pick just a few.
- Serve baked corn on the cob with a side of garlic ranch mashed potatoes and just watch the kids clean their plates!
- Or keep it simple and make an overnight salad so that all you have to do is make the chicken the next day! Super delicious, and a time saver too!
- Turn them into sandwiches with fresh lettuce, tomatoes and mayonnaise.
Have an array of appetizers for a party or even for supper, and make everyone’s favorites! Include these tasty, crispy chicken cutlets in the mix and they’ll be the first thing to disappear off the plate!
Delicious Breaded Chicken Dishes
- Oven Fried Chicken– all the flavors of deep-fried chicken!
- Ginger Honey Garlic Chicken Tenders – made from scratch
- Easy Chicken Parmesan – baked with tomato sauce and cheese!
- Crispy Parmesan Crusted Chicken – full of flavor and crunch
- Dorito Chicken Tenders – just 4 simple ingredients!
Crispy Chicken Cutlets
Ingredients
- 2 large chicken breasts
- 1 ¼ cups panko bread crumbs
- ¼ cup parmesan cheese grated
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 egg
- salt & pepper to taste
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil
Instructions
- Freeze chicken breasts about 20 minutes or so.
- Cut chicken breasts in half horizontally and pound to ¼" thickness.
- Combine panko bread crumbs, parmesan cheese and garlic powder in a small shallow dish.
- Whisk egg in a separate bowl. Dip chicken in egg and then in the crumb mixture pressing to adhere.
- Preheat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Gently add chicken and cook 2-3 minutes per side or until golden brown and chicken reaches 165°F.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Chicken, Main Course
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This looks like a great, easy recipe. On an unrelated note, I love those breading trays in the third photo, they look so convenient. Where are they from, are you able to share?
Mine are from Pampered Chef but Amazon has lots to choose from!
I just got an air fryer. I Think I will try this recipe in the air fryer
Great recipes every time! Thank you.
You’re so very welcome Maria! Thank you!
can i use bread crumbs instead of Panko ? pleas & thank you Marilyn
Hi Marilyn, you can use bread crumbs if you prefer just keep in mind that panko tends to result in a crispier crunchier coating. Hope that helps!
Thank you
I have a couple of chicken breasts and plan to have them on two consecutive days. Should I (a) bread and cook both, refrigerating the second one and reheating it the next day or (b) bread them both at the same time but keep the second one refrigerated though uncooked overnight. Or maybe it’s (c), meaning I should just forget about preparing the second one ahead of time.
Thanks!
Hi Steve, with option a) your chicken breasts won’t be as crispy as the first day but still taste delicious. For crispy chicken cutlets both days I would prep the breadcrumb mixture (or save the extra) and use that the next day to speed prep up a little bit. But I wouldn’t pre-bread the chicken cutlet. If you do try pre-breading we would love to hear how it turns out!
I love cooking chicken breasts this way, it is a quick and easy way to add flavour to what can be a very bland piece of chicken. There is also a way to add even more flavour to this dish, simply replace the egg wash with mayonnaise before dredging in the breadcrumbs. It adds extra taste to the end result. You can also use something such as Miracle Whip or similar preparation. This is also a way out for times you plan to make this but discover you are out of eggs!