Quick and Crispy Baked Chicken Cutlets
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Baked Chicken Cutlets are crispy and delicious. Skip the frying and try Italian chicken cutlets in the oven for a yummy dinner!
If you love crispy, delicious chicken but you’re not in the mood for frying – these Baked Chicken Cutlets are for you.
Unlike regular chicken cutlets that are fried in lots of oil these baked chicken cutlets are lightly breaded and baked in the oven until golden brown.
These chicken cutlets are healthier than your typical chicken cutlet, but you’d never know! The perfect comfort food dinner!
For more baked chicken recipes, try Baked Boneless Chicken Breast, Healthy Baked Chicken Tenders, or Baked Bone-In Chicken Thighs.
Why Baked Chicken Cutlets are Perfect for Dinner
We love this chicken cutlet recipe – it’s one of our favorites for a quick dinner!
- Goes with any side – these chicken cutlets are great with roasted potatoes, roasted vegetables, in a wrap or on a sandwich – you can do anything with them!
- Crispy and crunchy – no soggy breadcrumbs here!
- Healthier than regular chicken cutlets – baking this chicken in the oven makes it much healthier than traditional fried chicken cutlets.
Ingredients Notes
For these breaded chicken cutlets you’ll need:
- chicken breasts – you can buy butterflied, thin breasts or butterfly and pound them yourself!
- whole wheat flour – this is essential for the breading. You can use gluten free flour, but don’t skip the flour!
- eggs
- whole wheat breadcrumbs (regular work too, we just like whole wheat!)
- parmesan cheese – buy good quality parmesan cheese! don’t get the kind in the green can 😉
- pepper, dried basil, dried parsley
You’ll want to make sure you have a meat mallet if you’re going to pound your own chicken cutlets.
SUBSTITUTIONS FOR BAKED CHICKEN CUTLETS
Chicken Breasts: You can substitute with boneless chicken thighs or chicken tenders.
Whole Wheat Flour: You can substitute with gluten free or regular white flour. Almond flour and coconut flour will not work here. I haven’t tried oat flour, but it might work. If you’re looking for a grain free chicken cutlet recipe check out this Pecan Crusted Chicken.
Eggs: We have not tried any egg substitutes here and would not recommend them.
Whole Wheat Bread Crumbs: You can use any bread crumbs in place of whole wheat breadcrumbs – gluten free breadcrumbs will work, and so will regular breadcrumbs. We like to buy unseasoned breadcrumbs because they’re less salty.
Parmesan Cheese: I don’t recommend substituting parmesan cheese here.
How to Cut Chicken Cutlets from Chicken Breast
Making your own chicken cutlets from chicken breast is easier than you think! Here’s how we do it:
- Clean excess fat off chicken breast (anything icky!)
- Spread saran wrap or parchment paper out on your counter. Lay chicken breasts on the parchment paper. Butterfly lengthwise using a sharp knife.
- Place another layer of saran wrap or parchment paper on top of butterflied chicken breasts. Pound with a meat mallet.
- Once you’ve gently pounded the chicken breasts you’ll have perfect chicken cutlets ready to bread and bake!
How to Make Quick and Crispy Baked Chicken Cutlets
- Set out 3 large shallow bowls in an assembly line. In the first bowl, add whole wheat flour. In the second bowl, crack and whisk eggs. In the third bowl mix bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, and spices.
- Take each chicken cutlet and cover it in flour…
- Then dip in the egg…
- Then dip in the breadcrumb mixture, making sure they are well coated.
- Place breaded cutlets on a baking sheet.
- Bake at 425° for 15 minutes, flip the cutlets and bake for another 15 minutes.
Tips for the Crispiest Italian Chicken Cutlets
For the crispiest chicken cutlets, here are a few things we always do:
- Bake until browned: Make sure your chicken cutlets are browned on the edges and crispy to the touch. If they’re not, let them cook a little longer!
- Make sure you coat them well in breading: Don’t skimp on the breadcrumbs! Make sure your chicken cutlets are covered.
- Pound the chicken: If you’re making your own chicken cutlets from chicken breasts, do NOT skip this step. If you do- your chicken could be tough!
How to Get Breading to Stick to Chicken Cutlets
To get the breading to stick to chicken cutlets, make sure you’re coating the whole chicken cutlet in the egg mixture. Then, make sure you’re really pressing the breadcrumbs into the chicken. You can gently push the breadcrumbs to the chicken to make sure they really stick!
Serving Suggestions
We love pairing these baked chicken cutlets with some veggies for an easy and delicious dinner. Some of our favorites to serve these with are our:
- Healthy Lemon Basil Risotto and Honey Roasted Carrots (as seen in the photo below)
- Parmesan Brussel Sprouts
- Roasted Crispy Potatoes
- Peach Goat Cheese Salad
- Lemon Asparagus
- Healthier Mashed Potatoes Recipe
- Garlic Roasted Potatoes
- Penne alla Vodka
The cutlets are also great with the sauce from our healthy chicken piccata or chicken scarpiello
How to Store Italian Chicken Cutlets
Storing: Chicken cutlets will last in the refrigerator for up to 4 days in an airtight container.
Freezing: You can freeze chicken cutlets for up to 3 months. We wrap them individually in saran wrap and then store them in a freezer safe ziploc bag. Chicken cutlets won’t be as crispy once they’ve been frozen but if you put them in the oven or toaster oven to reheat they’ll be fine!
If you need more freezer friendly recipes check out our Fill Your Freezer Ebook with 22 easy freezer meals!
Reheating: We recommend reheating chicken cutlets in the oven or toaster oven so they get crispy on the edges!
Other healthy dinner recipes:
Looking for other easy meals? Check out these 40+ Healthy Dinner Recipes. Click here to grab our free healthy 30 minute dinners cookbook.
Baked Chicken Cutlets
Ingredients
For the Chicken:
- 1.5 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts about 3 large chicken breasts OR 1.5 lbs chicken cutlets.
- ½ cup whole wheat flour
- 3 large eggs
Breading Mixture
- 1 cup whole wheat bread crumbs unseasoned
- ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 teaspoons dried basil
- 2 teaspoons dried parsley
Instructions
- Butterfly and pound chicken breasts. To do this, slice the chicken breasts in half lengthwise (like a book!). Place in between plastic wrap and use a meat tenderizer to pound the chicken until it is about ¼ inch thick. This is important and skipping this step will result in undercooked, tough chicken. You should wind up with 6 cutlets.
- Preheat your oven to 425 and prepare a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Set out 3 large shallow bowls.
- In the first bowl add whole wheat flour.
- In the second bowl, crack and whisk eggs
- In the third bowl mix together bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, dried basil and dried parsley.
- Form an assembly line with your bowls. Take your chicken cutlet and cover in flour, then dip in egg, then dip in the bread crumb mixture. You can press gently to make sure the cutlets are coated. Repeat for all cutlets.
- Place breaded cutlets on a baking sheet. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes, flip the cutlets and bake for another 15 minutes.
So delicious. So easy. So moist and flavorful! And so yum! I bake them at 350 in my toaster oven. They turn out perfect every time! 5 🌟
Quick easy & flavorful! Paired it with the healthy vodka pasta. Can’t wait to make it again.
We whole family loves these!
Loved this recipe! I did feel it needed a little salt in the breading, especially since I used a dairy-free cheese. But overall I found it easy to make, nice and healthy, and will definitely keep this one in my rotation!
We LOVED these. We used GF flour and regular breadcrumbs as that’s what we currently had on hand. The only things we added not in the recipe is garlic and onion powders and paprika (my husband uses these for just about every recipe). We paired these with oven roasted sweet potatoes and purple onion.
These are absolutely delious and so easy to make!