Chicken Schnitzel Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the best oil for chicken schnitzel? ›

The oil needs to be hot enough (it should be shimmering but not smoking) so that the chicken will cook well and crisp up. If the oil is not hot enough, the chicken will absorb too much oil and give you soggy, oily schnitzel. I use quality extra virgin olive oil, which has a high enough smoke point to fry the schnitzel.

The best way to cook chicken schnitzel is to fry it. I like to use a combination of oil and butter for the best flavor/crispiness combination. When cooking chicken schnitzel, you need to heat the oil and butter in a frying pan until it is bubbling hot, then add the schnitzel. It should sizzle as it hits the pan.

For the uninitiated, chicken schnitzel is merely a chicken breast pounded thin, breaded, and fried. It's one of those foods that you can't help but love, which is probably why it's so prolific—versions of the recipe can be found in cultures around the world.

When pan-frying, the breading won't have enough time to achieve that desirable golden brown color before the chicken is fully cooked. This will result in undercooked breading or overcooked (tough) chicken.

Working in batches, carefully place chicken in the hot oil using tongs and cook until no longer pink in the center and browned on the outside, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Drain on paper towels and serve with lemon wedges.

Seasoning skinless chicken is as straightforward as with any other cut of meat. Lightly drizzle olive oil over the chicken to act as a binder, sprinkle your seasoning on top, then gently press it in and let your chicken dry-marinate for about 45 minutes.

Clark reckons the secret to great schnitzel is to "trap air in the crust when you cook the meat by moving and shaking the pan".

Over the past few years, I've absorbed her schnitzel recipe, which she'd learned from her mother, making one notable tweak: switching its cooking vessel from a stainless steel skillet to a cast iron pan, which helps the thin cutlets brown more evenly (cast iron cookware is far less prevalent in Israel… their loss).

schnitzel, a thin meat cutlet, pounded until tender and then breaded and fried, that is a culinary staple in German-speaking countries and communities. The Americanized version of the dish is chicken-fried steak.

The schnitzel tradition was brought from Europe to Israel by Ashkenazi Jews. During the early years of the state of Israel, veal was not obtainable, and chicken or turkey proved to be inexpensive and tasty substitutes. Packaged schnitzels are widely available in the frozen food section of most supermarkets.

How do you know when chicken schnitzel is cooked? ›

Drizzle more olive oil over each piece. Bake in the preheated oven for 5 to 6 minutes. Flip chicken and continue baking until no longer pink in the center and the breading is lightly browned, 5 to 6 minutes more. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read at least 165 degrees F (74 degrees C).

Place the breaded chicken on a cooling rack (or a platter) and chill in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes. This cooling time will help the layers of breading ingredients solidify and adhere better after the chicken cooks. Once you start cooking the chicken, be patient and don't flip it over too early.

Lightly coat each piece with all purpose flour. Dip each piece in the egg wash and then coat each piece with the herbed bread crumbs. Heat a pan to medium heat and sauté the chicken in olive oil for 2 – 3 minutes per side. Serve with a wedges of fresh lemon.

Fresh, raw chicken should have a pale pink, peachy color. As it begins to go bad, the color fades to a shade of grey. If the color of your raw chicken begins looking duller, cook it immediately and do not wait any longer to use it. Check to see if any fatty parts have turned yellow or bright yellow, too.

The absolutely best way to perfect schnitzel is to shallow-fry them in neutral-tasting cooking oil (Vegetable, Canola, Peanut, Sunflower). So you don't need to use a lot of oil, but you want to use enough oil so that the schnitzel will “float” in the oil as it cooks and not touch the bottom of the pan.

“Canola oil is the best all-around oil to use for frying chicken,” she says. “It has a high smoke point and will not impact the flavor of the chicken the way coconut, peanut or avocado oil will.”

Heart-healthy oils like safflower oil and rice bran oil are perfect because they can withstand frying temperatures of almost 500° F. You can also look to peanut oil and sunflower oil if you're frying at 450° F, or canola oil and vegetable oil to keep temperatures around 400° F.