Crispy Italian Chicken Cutlets

Crispy Italian Chicken Cutlets are just chicken breast slices, breaded with eggs and breadcrumbs then fried in plenty of vegetable oil. Chicken Cutlets recipe is easy and quick to make.

The important thing for the best result (and we will never stop repeating it) are the ingredients, which must be of the highest quality, especially the chicken. Rely on your trusted butcher and buy a genuine and local chicken breast; if he already cuts it into thin slices, so much the better!

Homemade breadcrumbs is the secret to a crispy and tasty breading. Of course you can buy it (in stores you will find different qualities) but if you can make it by yourself at home, you will see (and taste) the difference. You can use for sure stale bread, but even breadsticks, saltine crackers, taralli or loaf bread as long as it is dry or toasted.

Breaded chicken cutlets are a good alternative to the classic Milanese veal cutlet, cheaper for sure, which like so much to adults and children. So let’s see how to make crispy chicken cutlets italian-syle step by step!

READ: Chicken with Bell Peppers, Onion and Olives

How to Make Crispy Italian Chicken Cutlets:

Ingredients 

Kitchen Tools and Equipment

The most important kitchen tool we used for this recipe is definitely the frying pan. We used a rather large non-stick frying pan #ad, convenient because you can fry many cutlets at the same time. Or you can opt for a deep fryer, which is always handy to have in a kitchen.
Very useful for taking hot cutlets are the kitchen tongs with silicon tips #ad; it has a nice grip and is handy, more comfortable than a simple fork.
Then you need a toaster with 2 slice wide slot #ad, in case you don’t have any stale bread at home. You need it to make fresh loaf bread crisp. 
Finally, a food processor to make breadcrumbs. We opted for a small but handy electric food chopper#ad, since the quantity of breadcrumbs was small.

Directions

Step 1) – In a bowl#ad, place the eggs, milk, fine salt and ground black pepper to taste. Beat with the help of a fork until the mixture is smooth and homogeneous. Set aside, even in the fridge. Now let’s make the chicken slices.

How to Cut Chicken Breasts into Cutlets

Step 2) – Place the Chicken breast on a wooden cutting board#ad. With a sharp knife, cut the chicken breast in half trying to remove the bones and the fat.

Step 3) – Once this is done, place the half boneless chicken breast on the cutting board and hold it flat with the palm of your hand. Then using a sharp knife#ad slice the chicken breast horizontally, trying to make a chicken slice as thin as possible. Go on like that, from top to bottom, until you get as many slices as possible (if you are good, 6/7 slices can come out for half a chicken breast so 12/14 for the whole chicken breast). 

Step 4) – Not all chicken slices are the same, some will be smaller, others irregular in shape. But that’s okay. The important thing is that they are SUPER once cooked! Now place the chicken slices in the bowl with the beaten eggs and milk and set them aside to flavor, possibly in the fridge.

How to Make Homemade Breadcrumbs for Chicken Cutlets

Now we are going to make the breadcrumbs. You can buy it already made but know that it will NEVER be as good and genuine and crispy as homemade breadcrumbs. That said, let’s see how to make homemade breadcrumbs Italian-style.

Step 5) – You can use stale bread to make breadcrumbs, maybe that delicious leftover crunchy bread that you made at home with our recipe. But if you do not have dry bread available, you can use even breadsticks, saltine crackers or taralli, or use slices of bread loaf as long as they are dry or toasted.

We, as you can see, have made a mix of stale bread, breadsticks, Italian taralli and bread loaf, to make the breadcrumbs even more tasty and crunchy. The slices of bread loaf was fresh so we toasted them for 4 minutes in the toaster.

Step 6) – Done that, place the ingredients you have chosen in a food processor and chop until you get a more or less fine mixture. 

Step 7) – We’ve choosen for a rather coarse breadcrumbs, but finer is fine. If the breadcrumbs are not uniform in consistency, it doesn’t matter: breaded and fried cutlets will be even more crunchy.

How to Bread Chicken Cutlets

Step 8) – Now let’s start breading the chicken cutlets. Place plenty of breadcrumbs on a plate then take a slice of chicken from the mix of eggs and milk and place it on the breadcrumbs.

Step 9) – Cover the slice with breadcrumbs, pressing well with your hand, so that it sticks to the chicken. Turn the slice and do the same to the other side.

Step 10) – Now the chicken cutlet is breaded. Place it on a plate and go on to bread ALL the other chicken cutlets. 

Step 11) – Frying Breaded Chicken Cutlets. When all the slices are ready to be cooked, get ready with the oil for frying. So in a large frying pan, pour all the vegetable oil. Once the oil has become hot (you see it by dipping a small piece of cutlet: if you see bubbles on the surfice, it means that the oil is at the right temperature), dip the breaded chicken cutlets.

Step 12) – After a few minutes, turn them on the other side using kitchen tongs. Once they are golden on both sides, take them out and dry them on a kitchen paper. If necessary, add salt on the cutlets.

Crispy Italian Chicken Cutlets are ready; hot, crunchy and tasty. Serve immediately with a mixed salad and fries.

How to Store Leftover Fried Chicken Cutlets

Any fried food, if not consumed immediately after cooking, loses crunchiness and takes on a mushy consistency. This happens at room temperature but the same happens if we decide to freeze it and then defrost it or if we keep it in the refrigerator.

The fried food should be eaten immediately, any storage alters its flavor and quality

That said, you can keep fried chicken cutlets in the refrigerator, in food containers#ad, for 3/4 days. It’s not recommended to freeze them.

How to Reheat Fried Chicken Cutlets (and Make Them Crispy Again)

IN THE OVEN – It’s possible to reheat fried chicken cutlets, although it is impossible to return them to being freshly cooked! These simple tips allow you to enjoy flavorful chicken even a few days after cooking.

So heat the oven to 200°C (390F) then remove the cutlets from the refrigerator and from the container. Arrange them well apart on a plate until they reach room temperature.

When the oven has reached the temperature, place the cutlets on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and put the pan in the oven on the central shelf ; heat for about 10/15 minutes (depending on the thickness and size of the cutlets).

IN FRYING PAN – Another perfect way to reheat fried chicken cutlets, restoring its delicious original texture, is to fry them again. Just like with the oven technique described above, you need to remove the leftovers from the refrigerator and place them on a plate before reheating them.

So get ready with the frying oil and bring it to temperature then go on frying all the cutlets for 2/3 minutes.