Chicken Schnitzel Recipe - A Quick & Easy Weeknight Meal - Chisel & Fork (2024)

FAQs

Is it better to cook schnitzel in butter or oil? ›

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.

Place into the fridge, uncovered, for one hour before cooking. This step dries the breading and ensures it will stick perfectly to the meat during the frying process. As long as you fry in hot oil, it will come out perfectly crispy with all of its breading intact!

The best way to keep fried foods crispy? Just place them on a cooling rack set over a baking sheet. If you're frying multiple batches, throw the whole setup into a low oven to keep everything warm as you keep frying and adding to the rack.

One rule of schnitzel is the meat must be pounded thin — about a 1/4-inch thick— otherwise it is not schnitzel. Pounding the meat also tenderizes it, making a juicier piece of meat that also cooks faster. Meat tenderizers and pounders abound, but I find my French rolling pin the most effective tool for the job.

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".

Pork Tenderloin: A small pork tenderloin that weighs less than 1 pound. Panko Bread Crumbs: Sometimes called Japanese Panko bread crumbs. Frying Oil: I recommend peanut or canola oil for frying.

You don't start dry

The first step to breading chicken is crucial: Make sure the chicken is completely dry before starting the dredging process. Using a paper towel, pat the meat dry on all sides. Excess moisture will cause the flour to get soggy, meaning it will not adhere properly to the chicken.

Wiener Schnitzel , a breaded cutlet of veal sauteed in butter or deep-fried in oil, can be greasy, so an acid helps 'cut' the grease and make it more delicious. Lemon slices also add to the visual appeal, as does the common accompaniment of parsley.

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.

Why does the breading fall off my chicken? It may be too watery. Dry the chicken first with paper towels. It helps to then coat it with a thin layer of flour, then in well-beaten egg whites which will help the coating stick.

Why is my chicken schnitzel tough? ›

Overcooking:Overcooking is a common reason for tough chicken. If chicken is cooked for too long or at too high a temperature, the proteins in the meat can tighten and become dry, resulting in a tough texture. It's important to cook chicken to the recommended internal temperature and not exceed it.

Popping the crumbed food in the fridge for 15 minutes before frying will also help the crumbs to stick to the meat. Make sure that your oil is hot enough before you add the crumbed meat to the pan.

Typical German and Austrian side dishes for schnitzels include spaetzle, potato salad (particularly vinegar-based ones), cucumber salad, vegetable slaws and potato dishes like fries or rosti.

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).

Use a high-heat point oil.

I typically prefer to use olive oil over canola oil because it's healthier (see this article), but I hardly ever use it and it's fine in moderation! Plus it's worth it for me for this one because it really helps give this schnitzel that perfect crispy crunchy outer coating!

Because it browns easily and can burn when cooked at high temperatures, butter is usually unsuitable for dishes that require a high cooking temperature. Instead, cooking oils are the best option and there are a variety of choices available from peanut oil, to avocado oil, vegetable oil and olive oil.

WHICH IS BEST FOR COOKING STEAK: BUTTER OR OIL? Unlike butter, many oils have higher smoke points, making them the better option for cooking steak. Furthermore, there are some oils e.g. olive oil or grape seed oil that are healthier alternatives to butter. However, don't expect oil to taste better than butter.

When it comes to health, olive and canola oil are shown to have the best health outcomes. But if you're a firm believer in everything being better with butter, consider a butter that contains less saturated fat.

Most cake mixes call for oil, but butter will bring in amazing flavor. To substitute butter for oil in baking just melt the butter, measure it, let it cool, and add it as you would the oil. Compared to oil, butter will create a cake with a firmer, cakeier texture.