Golden, crispy Italian chicken cutlets with a garlicky, herby crumb — a versatile base recipe you’ll want to make on repeat, ready in about 35 minutes.
Chicken Cutlets At A Glance
- ⏱ Ready In: 35 minutes (20 minutes prep, 15 minutes cook)
- 🍽 Serves: 4
- 🌱 Diet: High-Protein (gluten-free swap noted below)
- 💪 Nutrition Highlights: High in protein from the chicken, egg coating, and parmesan
- 🥕 Main Ingredients: Chicken breast, flour, egg, panko breadcrumbs, Italian seasoning
- 🔥 Flavor Profile: Crispy, garlicky, herby and cheesy
- 🧊 Meal-Prep Friendly: Leftovers keep well and reheat crispy in a pan, oven, or air fryer (or eat cold as a snack!)
- Best Served With: Salads, sandwiches, pasta, or dipped in marinara
This is my go-to method for crispy, golden Italian chicken cutlets, a base recipe I make on repeat because it’s so versatile. Two things make these taste like more than just “breaded chicken”: garlic powder seasoned right into the chicken itself, and Italian seasoning mixed through the crumb, so every layer has flavor, not just the coating. Frying in a mix of olive oil and butter also makes a real difference, as it gives you a noticeably richer, tastier crust than oil alone.
I love that this recipe isn’t locked into one meal — thinly pounded, breaded and pan-fried (or air fried, or baked), these cutlets work equally well sliced over a salad, tucked into a sandwich, or served the classic way with marinara and pasta. Once you’ve got the method down, you’ll find yourself reaching for it again and again.
👩🍳 You might also like these chicken recipes:
→ Pecan-crusted chicken with honey & garlic
→ Grilled chicken tenders (with herb and garlic sauce)
→ Garlic Parmesan chicken (and pasta)
→ High-protein chicken pasta salad
→ Chicken salad wraps
→ Chicken Milanese with Parmesan Caesar salad (uses the same cutlets but with a tasty side dish).
What You’ll Need
Here is what you’ll need for this Italian chicken cutlets recipe. Find the full measurements in the recipe card below.
For the chicken
- Chicken breasts — sliced into thinner cutlets so they cook quickly and evenly
- Salt, garlic powder, and pepper — seasons the chicken itself, not just the crumb, so every bite has flavor
For the crumbing station
- Flour — helps the egg stick
- Eggs — the “glue” layer between flour and crumbs
- Breadcrumbs (panko works great for extra crunch) — mixed with Italian seasoning and a little salt so the crust is seasoned, not just crispy
- Italian seasoning — this is the flavor secret here; it makes the crust taste like more than “just breaded chicken”
For cooking
- Olive oil and butter — cooking in a mix of the two (rather than oil alone) gives you a richer, tastier golden crust
How To Make Italian Chicken Cutlets
Find the full recipe and nutritional information below. Here’s the step-by-step for how to make Italian chicken cutlets.
- Cut away the chicken tenderloins and slice the main breast into two thinner pieces. Cover with clingwrap (optional) and pound with a meat hammer until thin and even. Season one side with salt, garlic powder and pepper, and the other side with a touch more salt.
- Set up your breading station: flour in one bowl, whisked eggs in a second, and breadcrumbs mixed with Italian seasoning and salt in a third.
- Dredge each cutlet in flour (shaking off the excess), then egg, then press firmly into the breadcrumb mixture, flipping a few times so it’s fully coated on both sides.
- To pan-fry: Heat a large skillet over high heat, then bring it down to medium-high. Add a tablespoon and a bit of olive oil and half a tablespoon of butter. Once sizzling, cook 2-3 cutlets at a time (don’t overcrowd the pan) for 2.5-3 minutes per side until golden and crispy, topping up oil and butter as needed between batches. Finish with a sprinkle of sea salt.
- To air fry: Preheat the air fryer to 200°C/400°F. Arrange the crumbed cutlets in a single layer, spray both sides generously with oil, and cook for about 10-12 minutes, flipping and spraying again halfway through, until golden and cooked through.
- To bake: Preheat the oven to 220°C/425°F. Place the cutlets on a wire rack set over a baking tray (this keeps the crumb crispy on both sides by letting air circulate underneath). Spray generously with oil and bake for 18-22 minutes, flipping halfway, until golden and cooked through.
- Rest for a couple of minutes, then serve however you like — sliced over a salad, in a sandwich, or alongside pasta and marinara.
Watch The Video
Recipe Tips
- Pound the chicken evenly. This is the single biggest thing that makes or breaks a cutlet — even thickness means even cooking, so you don’t end up with a dry thin end and an undercooked thick end.
- Don’t skip the oil-and-butter combo when pan-frying. It genuinely makes a noticeably tastier crust than oil alone.
- Air fryer and oven methods both work well if you want a lighter, less hands-on option — just make sure to spray generously with oil so the crumb crisps up properly, since there’s less fat than pan-frying.
- Gluten-free swap: use gluten-free flour and breadcrumbs (or crushed gluten-free crackers) in the crumbing station.
- Add Parmesan to crumbs: for a cheesy flavor, mix in finely grated Parmesan cheese directly into the breadcrumbs.
- Turn it into chicken parmesan: top a cooked cutlet with marinara and mozzarella and pop it under the broiler for a few minutes until melted and bubbly.
- Storage: Leftovers keep well in the fridge for a few days. Reheat in a skillet, oven or air fryer for the crispiest finish — or the oven alone if you’re not fussed about maximum crunch. I also love eating the leftover chicken cold, straight from the fridge, as a snack.
- Make-ahead: you can bread the cutlets a few hours ahead and keep them, uncooked, covered in the fridge until you’re ready to cook.
Serving Suggestions
These Italian chicken cutlets are built to be versatile, so don’t feel locked into one way of serving them. Slice one over a big green salad for an easy protein-packed lunch; layer it into a crusty roll with melted cheese and a swipe of mayo or marinara for a killer chicken sandwich; or serve it the classic way alongside spaghetti and marinara, or a simple buttered pasta. If you want the full composed-meal version, try my chicken milanese with Parmesan Caesar salad (same crispy cutlet, paired with a lighter, tangy Caesar-style salad and a crunchy breadcrumb topping).
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Video
Ingredients
For the chicken
- 2 large chicken breasts about 1.3 lbs / 600 grams
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon pepper
For the crumbing station
- 2 large eggs
- ⅔ cup flour 85 grams
- 1 cup breadcrumbs 100 grams
- 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
- ⅓ teaspoon salt
For cooking
- 3 tablespoons olive oil 45 ml
- 1 tablespoon butter 14 grams
Instructions
- Cut away the tenderloin from each chicken breast and slice the main piece into two thinner cutlets. Cover with clingwrap (optional) and pound with a meat hammer until thin and even. Season one side with the salt, garlic powder and pepper, and the other side with a touch more salt.
- Set up a breading station: flour in the first bowl, whisked eggs in the second, and breadcrumbs mixed with Italian seasoning and salt in the third.
- Dip each cutlet in flour (shaking off excess), then egg (shaking off excess), then press into the breadcrumbs, flipping a few times to coat evenly. Place on a plate and repeat with the remaining pieces.
- Pan-fry: Heat a large skillet over high heat, then reduce to medium-high. Add a tablespoon and a bit of olive oil and half a tablespoon of butter. Once sizzling, cook 2-3 cutlets at a time for 2.5-3 minutes per side until golden and crispy, adding more oil/butter between batches as needed. Sprinkle with a little sea salt to finish.
- Air fryer method: Preheat to 200°C/400°F. Arrange cutlets in a single layer, spray both sides with oil, and cook 10-12 minutes, flipping and re-spraying halfway, until golden and cooked through (internal temp 165°F/75°C).
- Oven method: Preheat to 220°C/425°F. Place cutlets on a wire rack over a baking tray, spray generously with oil, and bake 18-22 minutes, flipping halfway, until golden and cooked through.
- Serve however you like — sliced over a salad, in a sandwich, or alongside pasta and marinara.
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