What the hell is a cotoletta? It’s the Italian word for cutlet. It’s essentially a slice of meat, with or without bone, dredged in egg, breaded, and fried with oil or butter. It’s often made with veal, but I grew up eating it with chicken. And let me tell you, my dad makes a mean cotoletta. It’s kinda one of those things you make when you need to cook up something quick, so I have eaten a lot of these in my day. And every single one has been delicious.
The secret to a juicy chicken cutlet is cooking it on low heat. This allows the chicken to cook and the batter to crisp up simultaneously, so you have juicy chicken on the outside and a perfectly browned crust on the outside.
Another secret tip for these cutlets is cooking them in oil AND butter. Usually people pick one or the other, but this recipe works best if you use both. The oil gets the job done way better but the butter adds a nice richness of flavor that you would be missing out on if you skipped it.
Italian Cotoletta AKA Breaded Chicken Cutlet
Cotoletta is Italian for cutlet. Here's how to make the best chicken cutlet you've ever tried.
Ingredients
- 1 large chicken breast
- 4 eggs
- 2 cups bread crumbs
- 2 cups frying oil
- 1 tbsp butter
- salt and pepper, to taste
Directions
- With a sharp knife, slice chicken breast into thin cutlets.
- Using a meat tenderizer, tenderize each cutlet until they are 1/4 inch thin.
- In a bowl, whisk eggs, salt, and pepper. Add chicken to egg mixture and combine.
- Cover bowl and place in fridge for at least 15 minutes.
- Take chicken and egg mixture out of fridge. In a separate bowl, add bread crumbs.
- Pick up one cutlet from the egg mixture bowl and allow any excess egg to drip off. Drop chicken in bread crumbs and coat using hands, turning the cutlet over to make sure all sides are coated. Repeat for each cutlet.
- In a large pan over low heat, add frying oil and butter.
- Once the oil is hot, place the chicken in the pan and cook on both sides until golden brown. Enjoy!
Thank you for reading my recipe, if you decide to try it out tag me on instagram @breakthrukitchen. Be sure to subscribe down below to get notified when I post more recipes like this!