Chicken schnitzel
Thin, golden, shatteringly crisp chicken cutlets with a squeeze of lemon and buttery parsley potatoes, the German classic made for two.
- 45 min total
- 40 min hands-on
- A little more hands-on
- Serves 2
- About $3.92 a serving
- 910 calories
Dolly says: Read the steps once before you start. Everything goes smoother after that.
Ingredients
For 2 servings.
- ¾ lb baby potatoes, halved
- 2 chicken breasts
- 1 large egg
- 1 tbsp milk
- ¾ cup panko breadcrumbs
- 2 tbsp butter, divided
- 1 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
- 1 lemon, cut into wedges
From your pantry
- 1¼ tsp salt, divided
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
Each serving has about 910 calories, 61 g protein, 56 g carbs and 48 g fat, and costs about $3.92 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No baby potatoes? Red potatoes or Yukon Gold potatoes work.
- No chicken breasts? Boneless chicken thighs or chicken tenderloins work.
- No milk? Half-and-half works.
- No butter? Ghee works.
- No fresh parsley? Cilantro works.
- No lemons? Limes work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Put the potatoes in a , cover with cold water, add ½ teaspoon of salt, and over high heat.
Saucepan. A saucepan is a pot with tall, straight sides and one long handle. It’s for things that need depth, like rice, sauces or a few boiled eggs.
How you’ll know: The food fills it about halfway, leaving room to bubble without spilling over.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Turn the heat to medium and 12 to 15 minutes, until , while you make the schnitzel.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Fork-tender. Fork-tender means cooked until a fork slides in with almost no push. It’s how you know potatoes, carrots or slow-cooked meat are soft all the way through.
How you’ll know: The fork slides in and out easily, and meat pulls apart with very little effort.
Medium heatTimer: 13 min 30 sec
Lay the chicken between plastic wrap and pound it to ¼ inch thick. with ½ teaspoon of salt and the pepper, and wash your hands.
Season. Seasoning means adding salt, pepper or spices to bring out a food’s flavor. A little at a few stages tastes better than a lot all at the end.
How you’ll know: When you taste it, it tastes bright and like itself, not flat and not salty.
Dolly’s tip: Thin is the whole point of schnitzel. It should be about the thickness of a pencil.Food safety: Wash your hands, the board and the knife with hot soapy water after touching raw meat, and don’t rinse raw chicken in the sink.
Crush the panko into finer crumbs in a zip-top bag, then set out the flour, the egg beaten with the milk, and the crumbs in three shallow dishes.
Coat each cutlet in flour, then egg, then lay it in the crumbs and turn it over, without pressing.
Dolly’s tip: A light, loose coat puffs away from the chicken as it fries. Pressing it on makes it heavy.Heat the oil and 1 tablespoon of butter in a large over medium-high until it . Fry the cutlets 3 minutes per side, tilting the pan to wash oil over the tops, until deep and 165°F inside.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Shimmering oil. Oil shimmers when it’s hot enough to cook: its surface looks rippled and wavy, like heat over a road. That’s your cue to add the food, just before the oil would start to smoke.
How you’ll know: The oil looks wavy and runs thin like water when you tilt the pan, with no smoke yet.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Medium-high heatTimer: 6 min
Food safety: Chicken and turkey are done at 165°F in the thickest part. A thermometer is the only sure check. Without one, cut into the thickest piece: it should be white all the way through, with no pink.
the schnitzel on paper towels.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
the potatoes and them with the last tablespoon of butter, the parsley and the rest of the salt.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
Serve the schnitzel with the potatoes and lemon wedges for squeezing.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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