Crispy Lemon Chicken Cutlets With Salmoriglio Sauce
Published Feb. 16, 2023

- Total Time
- 25 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
Advertisement
Ingredients
- 1½pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 4), halved and pounded ¼-inch thick
- Kosher salt and pepper
- 3large lemons
- 2eggs, beaten
- ½cup very finely chopped flat-leaf Italian parsley
- 1¼cups bread crumbs
- ¼cup all-purpose flour
- ¼cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
- 2teaspoons dried oregano
- ⅓cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for frying
- 1garlic clove, minced
Preparation
- Step 1
Pat chicken dry, then season liberally with salt and pepper on both sides.
- Step 2
Zest 1 lemon, reserving the zest for the bread crumbs, then halve the lemon and squeeze all its juice into a medium bowl. Add the eggs to the juice and beat to combine. Add the seasoned chicken and turn to coat. Let rest while you make the sauce and bread crumb mixture.
- Step 3
Prepare the sauce: In a medium bowl, combine the zest and juice of the remaining 2 lemons; stir in ¼ cup of the parsley. Set aside.
- Step 4
Prepare the bread crumbs: In a shallow dish, combine bread crumbs, flour, cheese, oregano and the remaining parsley. Add the reserved lemon zest and, using a fork, press the zest into the bread crumb mixture to combine evenly.
- Step 5
Working one at a time, press each chicken breast into the bread crumb mixture, using your fingers to help thoroughly coat it on both sides; place on a sheet pan.
- Step 6
Heat about ⅓ cup of oil in a large skillet over medium-high. Working in batches, leaving 1 to 2 inches of space between, add 2 to 3 chicken pieces and cook until golden brown, turning once, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer to a serving dish and sprinkle immediately with salt. Repeat with remaining chicken, adding and heating more oil as needed.
- Step 7
While the first batch of chicken is frying, heat ⅓ cup olive oil in a small saucepan on medium heat. Add the minced garlic and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, just long enough for the garlic to sizzle but not brown. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
- Step 8
Once all the chicken is plated, slowly pour the garlic oil into the lemon and parsley mixture and whisk to combine. Before serving, spoon the salmoriglio sauce liberally over the chicken.
Private Notes
Comments
I've been making this for years, using a less precious method: - Before coating chicken, pound the breasts slightly to flatten and speed up cooking. - After a quick fry in a cast iron pan, plate the chicken and deglaze the pan with whatever you have on hand -- e.g., a little white wine and/or good chicken broth. Scrape up all those nice brown bits. Add lemon juice and parsley (if you wish, but it's fine without it). - Drizzle the reduced liquid over the chicken and serve immediately.
Shallow fried chicken cutlets will keep crisp on a wire rack set in a sheet pan in a low oven (225F) for about 20 minutes. They also freeze remarkably well and reheat almost as good as freshly made: freeze cutlets on a wire rack and then move into container storage. Reheat frozen cutlets on a wire rack set in baking sheet for 15 min at 350. The prep for chicken cutlets is a bit much for weeknight fare, but a big batch on the weekend pays dividends during the week!
Simple request: How much lemon juice, exactly? "Three large lemons," is very vague. Maybe "3/4 cup lemon juice?" I have an abundant lemon tree. I can estimate what amount of juice a store-bought lemon might produce, of course. But what is "large" is variable. I have lemons the size of grapefruit on my tree. I cut the lemon quantity in half and it was still too much. Good base recipe though.
My dinner party went crazy for this! I didn't "fry" the cutlets, I did them on my stove-top griddle. The sauce was so amazing especially considering it is so simple!
The cutlets were delicious. I will dramatically decrease the amount of lemon juice in the sauce next time.
Delicious recipe. Followed exactly and it was a success. Served with fingerling potatoes that also soaked up that yummy warm vinaigrette. Small complaint is I have so much breadcrumb mixture leftover. Such a waste of quality cheese and lemon zest, etc. Will make again and cut the breadcrumb ingredients in half next time.
Advertisement