Chicken Milanese - Breaded Chicken Cutlets
Chicken Milanese (literally, chicken in the style of Milan) is a chicken breast that has been butterflied and lightly flattened out, dipped in beaten egg, then into a breadcrumb-Parmesan mixture and fried in butter. This superb dish is super-easy to make and packed with flavor. The breading is so light and so melt in your mouth good, the meat is moist and tender. It's one of my favorite quick meals for a weeknight. These crispy cutlets not only make an exceptional main dish for dinner, but are equally delightful in a sandwich. I often serve these over pasta, drizzling Alfredo sauce over everything. My father likes them topped with fried eggs and covered with Hollandaise sauce and cheddar cheese...the possibilities for this versatile dish are endless.
Chicken Milanese (literally, chicken in the style of Milan) is a chicken breast that has been butterflied and lightly flattened out, dipped in beaten egg, then into a breadcrumb-Parmesan mixture and fried in butter. This superb dish is super-easy to make and packed with flavor. The breading is so light and so melt in your mouth good, the meat is moist and tender. It's one of my favorite quick meals for a weeknight. These crispy cutlets not only make an exceptional main dish for dinner, but are equally delightful in a sandwich. I often serve these over pasta, drizzling Alfredo sauce over everything. My father likes them topped with fried eggs and covered with Hollandaise sauce and cheddar cheese...the possibilities for this versatile dish are endless.
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- salt and fresh ground black pepper
- 2 cups panko, fresh, or dried bread crumbs (*see note)
- 1/2 cup parmesan or pecorino cheese (or a combination of both), freshly grated
- 2 tablespoons fresh italian parsley finely minced (or, 1/2 tsp. dried italian herbs)
- 4 chicken breasts butterflied and lightly pounded
- 1 each lemon sliced into wedges
- 4 each fresh parsley sprigs (for garnish)
- -- lemon-butter sauce (optional) --
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice fresh squeezed
- Carbohydrate 63.2902087515793 g
- Cholesterol 745.3225 mg
- Fat 51.9962371875 g
- Fiber 4.51901245973129 g
- Protein 85.4236237500695 g
- Saturated Fat 24.3278148362344 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (540g)
- Sodium 960.242750000183 mg
- Sugar 58.771196291848 g
- Trans Fat 5.64426255484688 g
- Calories 1067 calories
Step-by-step
- Spread flour in shallow baking dish. Beat eggs with 1 tablespoon oil in second shallow baking dish. Mix bread crumbs, cheese and minced parsley in third shallow baking dish. Season each with salt and pepper.
- Prepare chicken breast: Remove tenderloins (reserving for another use) and trim away any cartilage or visible fat. Place breast on cutting board with tip facing you and thinner side opposite your cutting hand. Hold breast firmly with palm of your free hand on top. Holding a knife parallel to board, carefully slice into thickest part of breast, drawing knife almost but not all the way through breast (take care to keep breast attached on one side). Open breast like a book, set between two sheets of heavy plastic wrap that have been lightly spritzed with water and gently pound to an even thickness, about 1/4- to 3/8-inch, with a meat mallet or rolling pin.
- Season cutlets on both sides with salt and pepper, pressing seasonings into meat with your fingers. Bread cutlets one at a time. Dredge cutlets in flour, coating both sides and shaking off the excess. Then, using tongs, dip both sides of cutlets in egg mixture, letting excess drip back into baking dish to ensure very thin coating. Finally, dip both sides of cutlet in bread crumbs, pressing crumbs with fingers to form an even, cohesive coating. Place cutlets in single layer on wire rack set over baking sheet, allow coating to dry for about 5 minutes. (The recipe can be done ahead to this point; cover cutlets loosely with wax paper and refrigerate for up to one hour, or freeze for up to 1 month.)
- Preheat two large nonstick saute pans over high heat, add 3 tablespoons of butter and 1 tablespoon of oil to each pan. Heat until butter is melted and sizzling. Place 2 cutlets in each pan and cook until golden brown and crisp, about 2-1/2 minutes. Flip over, reduce heat to medium, and continue cooking until golden brown and chicken is cooked through, 2-1/2 to 3 minutes longer. Drain on rack set over a baking sheet, then transfer to a warm serving platter. Serve with lemon wedges and garnish with parsley sprigs.
- For Lemon-Butter Sauce: Melt butter in pan, when foaming subsides, add lemon juice, swirlling to combine, and pour over cutlets, if desired.
- Use stale (but not moldy) bread, or bake bread slices in a slow oven (200 degrees F) until slightly dry (for fresh bread crumbs) or very dry (for dry bread crumbs), and allow to cool. Process the slices in a food processor, using a steel blade to make coarse crumbs, or a grating blade to make fine crumbs. Season with salt, herbs, garlic powder, onion powder, and/or lemon zest, if desired.
Standard recipes rarely account for moisture. When you use fresh bread crumbs instead of dried ones, the internal vapor barrier changes entirely; fresh crumbs yield a softer, more absorbent coating, whereas panko or dry fine crumbs create a brittle, shatteringly crisp exterior that resists absorbing frying fats. Achieving an even quarter-inch thickness through careful butterflying and mallet work guarantees that the poultry cooks through in precisely five minutes without scorching the dairy solids in your pan. If you substitute pecorino for parmesan, expect a sharper, saltier profile that demands less added sodium in the flour station.
Allowing the breaded cutlets to rest on a wire rack for five minutes before cooking permits the hydration of the egg wash and flour to form a cohesive, tenacious bond that refuses to slip off during the thermal shock of hot oil and butter. Combining vegetable oil with unsalted butter raises the smoke point significantly higher than butter alone, allowing the milk solids to toast to a deep golden amber without burning into acrid bitterness. When the second side hits the pan, reducing the heat to medium prevents the cheese embedded in the crust from carbonizing before the interior reaches a safe temperature.
While this protein pairs traditionally with a simple squeeze of fresh citrus, home cooks frequently interchange serving bases like pasta or heavy cream sauces with varying structural outcomes. A pan-sauce modification utilizing fresh squeezed lemon juice emulsified into residual warm butter cuts through the rich lipid coating of the fried crust, providing an essential acidic counterweight.
