Crispy Chicken Schnitzel Recipe

Today I’m gonna show you how to make chicken schnitzel. This is actually the recipe that’s on the cover of my new cookbook. You’re gonna totally love it. It’s one of my kids’ favorite foods of all time, and there’s a really special way to finish these that just takes them over the top. And I’m craving chicken, so let’s get started

We’ll start by preparing the chicken, and you’ll need two large chicken breasts, which is about a pound and a 1/2. Sometimes chicken breast will still have the tenderloin attached. If it does, go ahead and remove it. And you can definitely bread and cook those as well. Once the tenders are removed,

set your chicken breast on your cutting board. Put your hand over the top of it, keeping your fingers upward, and slice horizontally. Repeat the process with the second chicken breast. You’ll end up with four roughly even size chicken cutlets. To ensure an even cooking time, it’s important to pound the chicken cutlets

into an even thickness. Pounding the chicken also breaks down the chicken fibers, making it more tender. You can pound the chicken between two sheets of plastic wrap, like we’re gonna do here. Or you can use a large zip bag, or even between parchment or wax paper. You’re gonna pound one or two cutlets at a time,

depending on how large your surface is. The cutlets will expand quite a bit as you pound them, so you do need to give them some breathing room. To pound chicken, my favorite tool is the flat side of a meat mallet. But if you don’t have one, you can also use a rolling pin or a heavy saucepan. Also, pound gently-ish.

You don’t wanna take it out on the chicken too much because it should just be at a 1/4-inch thickness. Also, you wanna be careful not to rip through the chicken. Now we have a perfect 1/4-inch thick chicken cutlet, which will cook evenly because it’s even thickness throughout. Now repeat the process with the remaining cutlets.

Once you have all of your cutlets pounded, I do like to cut them in 1/2 so that I end up with eight chicken pieces. I find it’s a little bit easier to fit them on a skillet and cook. And this last piece got a little bit scraggly. You can see I’ve put some holes in it. It’s definitely still usable. It just makes it a little bit harder to bread.

Now that our chicken is prepped and ready to go, we’re gonna set up our breading stations. In the first bowl, combine all purpose flour with some garlic salt, paprika, and freshly ground black pepper. Now I know this pepper grinder is completely ridiculous and impractical, but just in case someone was curious,

I will leave a link to this and all of our favorite tools in the recipe notes. Go ahead and whisk that together. And it is easier to dredge chicken in a shallow dish. So we’re gonna go ahead and transfer that to a shallower dish, which I should have done in the first place. In the second bowl, we’re going to beat together two large eggs.

You can use a whisk or a fork, and just beat until they’re well blended. Set that aside. Now in a third shallow dish, we’re gonna put 1 1/2 cups of panko breadcrumbs. I love these breadcrumbs because it gives the chicken a really crispy coating. Now we can set up our assembly line,

starting with the seasoned flour, then the eggs, then the breadcrumbs. Grab your first chicken cutlet. And I love using a pair of tongs to keep my hands clean as much as possible. Dip that chicken into the flour, turning to coat, and tapping off the excess. Then transfer it into the egg wash. Coat both sides,

and let the excess egg wash drip back into the bowl. Then transfer to the breadcrumbs, turning to coat, and making sure you have a nice, even coating of breadcrumbs. Transfer the breaded cutlet to a baking sheet, and let that rest. I find that if you let it rest for about 10 minutes before frying, the coating sticks much better to the chicken.

Repeat with the remaining cutlets. And you can even do a couple at a time if they aren’t too large. Once all of your cutlets are breaded, we’re ready to fire up the stove. Set a large skillet over medium heat, and add enough oil just to coat the bottom. A well-oiled skillet is key to ensuring a golden, crispy crust olive around.

I’m using extra light olive oil because that’s my go-to for most of my cooking. But you can use any high heat cooking oil, such as canola, vegetable oil, and even avocado oil works great here. Once your oil is hot, add the chicken cutlets in a single layer. Fit as many as you can without overlapping the chicken.

And this really depends on how big your skillet is. These chicken cutlets cook pretty quickly, about three minutes per side. If you find they’re frying up and browning too quickly, make sure to reduce the heat. Once they’re golden brown on the first side, flip the chicken cutlets over, and continue cooking

until both sides are beautifully golden brown. To check for doneness, you can use an instant read thermometer. Just insert it into the side of your chicken, and it should read 165 degrees Fahrenheit. You can also check for doneness by cutting into one of the cutlets, and you shouldn’t see any pink on the inside.

Once the cutlets are done frying, let them drain on paper towels. Here’s another great tip. Anytime you’re frying chicken, it’s important to salt the fried chicken right after it comes off the oil. It really elevates the flavor. I’m using a coarse salt here. You can use kosher salt, a flaky sea salt,

whatever coarse salt you prefer. Repeat the process, cooking the remaining chicken. Also, if you’re getting a lot of splatter on your stove, one thing that I love that contains the mess when you’re frying is a splatter guard. It keeps your kitchen cleaner. And I will leave a link to this in the notes.

Ta-da! All right, hitting it with a little bit of salt is the first secret. Anytime you’re frying anything, it just revs up the flavor. And then secret number two is adding a fresh squeeze of lemon juice. And I also like to add more lemon wedges to serve because my kids keep squeezing it on.

It’s so good. Chicken and lemon. Mm, mm, mm. All right, so just gonna add a little, little squeezey squeeze to get it started. Add as much or as little as you want. All right, and then we’re gonna transfer this to a serving platter because I cannot wait to eat this. I’m so hungry for this. It’s, like, literally my favorite way to fry some chicken.

Okay, so I just like to arrange it on a platter. Put it on our pretty blue platter to match the blue plate on the cover. (laughs) I’m so glad this was the cover recipe because it just kind of tells you what the cookbook’s about, right? Easy, approachable recipes the whole family’s gonna love, and things that you actually will cook

over, and over, and over. All right, and then some more lemon wedges here. Lots more lemon wedges. Let me cut a few more because I feel like every person at the table needs their own little lemon wedge. Some people need two. (laughs) All righty. Here we go, here we go. Okay, and then also, just to add that little bit of color,

I do like to top it off with a little bit of fresh parsley. It’s so pretty. Just add that little bit of green. It makes it look fresher. Almost like a salad. (laughs) Right? We got lemons, we got parsley. Salad. (laughs) Okay, and now I want to show you what’s inside of these. That’s why I left this little piece over here.

So let me show you, because the center, the center is so juicy. Okay, check this out. ‘Cause that crust really seals it into the center. All right, here we go. Ooh, I can already see it’s juicy. I can already see. And I love that crunchy coating. It is literally the best. And because these are, like, thin cutlets,

they cook up really fast. Look at that. Look at that. Look at that juiciness. Ooh. (laughs) You can serve these with whatever sauce you like. If it’s my kids, they’re gonna be using fry sauce, which is a little bit of ketchup, a little bit of mayo. It’s actually really good, but you can put whatever you want on this.

Ranch is another good option. We do have a really good ranch recipe, I’ll have, you know. Okay, I’m just gonna dive right into this. Let’s make this a little bit smaller so it can fit. (laughs) Okay, here we go. Oh, mm. Oh. I gotta say, more lemon. (laughs) It is just kind of the first thing that hits your taste buds is the lemon.

It’s so fresh, and vibrant, and mm. Oh, mm. (giggles) Mm. Crunchy crust, juicy center. This is everything chicken should be. So easy, and really a very inexpensive dinner. Also perfect for make ahead, ’cause you can bread the chicken ahead and then fry it later. You can completely finish cooking the chicken ahead

and reheat it in the air fryer, or the oven, or on another skillet. It’s such a versatile, family-friendly recipe. Great for the lunchbox, great for meal planning. All around amazing recipe. I hope you guys totally love it. Again, if you haven’t already gotten your hands on our brand new cookbook, I will leave links in the notes

so you can order your copy today and enjoy this recipe and so many, so many treasured family recipes in here, favorites that you’ll make over and over. And let me know where you spotted Sharky. I’d love to hear from you in the comments. And if you have any more recipe requests, if you’d love videos for something special, let me know.

 

CHICKEN SCHNITZEL INGREDIENTS:

►1 1/2 pounds (2 large) boneless, skinless chicken breasts
►1/4 cup all-purpose flour
►2 teaspoons garlic salt
►1/2 teaspoon paprika
►1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
►2 large eggs
►1½ cups panko breadcrumbs
►Extra-virgin olive oil, canola oil, or any high-heat cooking oil
►Sea salt, to taste
►Lemon wedges, for serving