Panko Crusted Chicken Cutlets

Panko Crusted Chicken Cutlets

My niece Catriona always requests this chicken recipe when she stays with us, it’s her favorite meal.  She likes to have creamy mashed potatoes with fresh chives served with it and a vegetable, preferrably raw carrots.  She’s really into eating well balanced meals, considering she is only 12 years old.

Prep time:  15 minutes

Cooking time:  15 minutes

Serves:  3

Ingredients:

1/2 cup grapeseed oil or whatever oil you like to fry in- make sure you use enough oil, otherwise the chicken will stick to the pan and you will lose the coating of browned breadcrumbs, which is so tasty.

2 pounds of chicken breast(about 2 good sized breasts) – the breast need to be cut into about 4 pieces and then the pieces laid on a *plastic cutting board.  Lay a piece of saran wrap over top of the chicken and then use a tenderizer to pound out the pieces of chicken breast to about 1/4 inch even thickness. The saran wrap stops the chicken juices from spraying all over the place.  If you don’t have a tenderizer, then use a rolling pin, or unopened bottle of wine, anything with some weight to it.

3 cups of Panko Bread Crumbs, please use regular bread crumbs if you don’t have any Panko.

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

salt and pepper

Directions:

1.  Put bread crumbs in a container big enough to lay the chicken pieces in and coat them.  Mix together the egg and milk with a fork or whisk and put in another container or bowl big enough to place the chicken pieces in and coat them. Heat a large heavy bottomed frying pan to medium high heat.

2.  Add oil to the frying pan. Take the pounded chicken pieces and place them in the milk egg mixture.  Then take them out one at a time, shaking off excess egg and press them into the panko crumbs, making sure they are coated well on both sides.  Carefully add them to the frying pan, placing them down away from you, don’t splash yourself with oil. Put as many pieces as you can without crowding the chicken, just leave them, don’t fuss with them, let them become golden brown, which will take about 4-5 minutes.  If they are browned well in the hot oil, they should not stick to the pan.  Sometimes I just shake the pan a little, just to loosen them up a little and then turn them over with tongs or a spatula. Cook on the opposite side for 4-5 minutes.  Repeat with the rest of the chicken pieces.

3.  As you cook them, place them on a parchment or paper towel lined baking sheet and keep them warm in a 250 degree F oven.  

4.  Once you have finished cooking them all, serve with your favorite starch and vegetable and even Catriona’s Honey Dijon Mustard Sauce, it’s great for dipping the chicken in.

* Using a plastic cutting board for preparing meats and fish is a good idea because plastic is not porous, so the juices don’t soak into the board and plastic is easier to clean and sterilize with a bleach cleaner like Vim or just rinse it off and throw it in the dishwasher.  The heat in the dishwasher will sterilize it.