Oven baked chicken cutlets are the perfect weeknight, kid friendly meal because they’re ready in under 30 minutes, are crispy, juicy, and you only need 5 ingredients to make them!
These oven baked chicken cutlets are one of those recipes that are so simple to put together, after making them once or twice, you won’t really ever need me again! I’ll try not to take it personally though 😉
Why You Will Love This Recipe
- Ready In Less Than 30 Minutes – I said earlier, but it’s worth repeating. Ready in under a half hour! Say what?! Yup. Dinner that everyone will love in a hurry.
- Crispy, crispy crispy. – I don’t know about you but I have made many baked chicken cutlets in the past that never ended up crispy. I’ll share with you my secret to get the perfect crispy outer coating.
- Very Little Oil Is Needed– Because of the breadcrumb coating it locks in all the juices and flavor so you don’t need much oil. So not only is this quick to make it’s healthy too!
Ingredients
- Chicken – I recommend you get boneless skinless chicken breasts. I then like to slice them in half to make them thinner so they cook quicker.
- Breadcrumbs – I used and love Panko bread crumbs for the best texture.
- Flour – I used regular all purpose flour but you can use what you have and like. The chicken gets coated first in the flour.
- Eggs – Three eggs is needed! And after the chicken gets a flour coat, it gets dunked in the egg to give the breadcrumbs something to stick to.
- Salt and pepper – Don’t forget to season!
preparation
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Bake Your Breadcrumbs First. Preheat your oven to 375. Season your bread crumbs with a generous amount of salt and pepper, and the spread out in a single layer onto a large baking sheet. Bake in the oven for about 7-10 minutes, until golden brown but not dark brown. Place in a shallow bowl or plate when done baking.
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Cut Your Chicken. While your breadcrumbs are baking, pat your chicken breasts dry, and cut them into cutlets by inserting a sharp knife into the center of the breast, and slicing in half, creating two thin breasts, or cutlets. You will want to slice off the little tender piece of meat found on most breasts, and either reserve that for another use, or to make a really small version of these breaded cutlets.
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Tenderize. (Optional). Optional tenderizing step is once you have your cutlets ready to go, either wrap in plastic wrap or place in a Ziploc bag, and tenderize them till soft and thin, but not see-through.
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Bread The Chicken. Season the cutlets with a bit more salt and pepper. Whisk your eggs in one shallow bowl, and place your flour in a separate shallow bowl. Dip your cutlets one at a time in the flour or flour substitute, and then in the egg wash. Then dip in the browned bread crumbs. Make sure the cutlets get an all-over even coating of the crumbs.
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Bake. Place cutlets on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake in a 375 oven for 10-15 minutes, flipping half way through cooking, until internal temperature reaches 160 degrees. Serve immediately.
Ok that’s the basic run down….let’s look at that in a little more detail shall we?
The trick to getting a nice crispy texture
I learned this in a cooking class I took years ago, and that is to bake your bread crumbs ahead of time, before you bread your chicken. This works really well if you’re making fish sticks too.
Simply spread them out on your baking sheet, and bake them for about 7-10 minutes. Make sure to check on them half way through to see how they’re doing.
If you’re using Panko bread crumbs which is what I recommend, you want them to be a light golden brown. Panko bread crumbs by the way, are just bread crumbs made with crustless bread.
Baking the bread crumbs in advance not only gives the cutlets a really pretty golden color, but it makes for a crispier texture since the pre-bake locks in even more crunch as well as a more rich flavor.
And you may be saying to yourself, “ugh, I don’t want to wash another dish,” but all you’ll do is bake them on this sheet, then immediately transfer them to a bowl for breading. You’ll use this same baking sheet to bake the chicken in, so really no extra sweat at all.
And the quick prebake is something you can do while you’re getting your other side dishes ready.
How to make your own chicken cutlets
Now you want to use cutlets for this recipe, as they bake so much quicker, hence allowing you to get dinner on the table even faster. Plus, I find they are much more tender than using a whole breast.
Speaking of tenders, don’t buy those little tender packs you often seen sold in the market, as they’re too small. Tenders are that little piece of flap meat on an actual breast. Personally I find them too small to serve much purpose, other than making kiddie chicken tenders. 
Cutlets are made by simply inserting a sharp knife into the middle of your breast, and slicing it in half. Easy peasy, and the extra 5 minutes it takes to cut each breast in half, saves you at least 15 minutes in cooking time.
Pro Tip: If you want them extra tender, another optional step is to place your cutlets either in a ziploc bag or between two sheets of plastic wrap, and pound into submission.
Don’t pound too hard, just a few little whacks will do, as you don’t want to demolish your beautiful cutlets. This additional tenderizing step is optional so don’t stress if you ain’t got time. Regardless if you tenderize or not, add some salt and pepper to each cutlet and get ready to bread. 
How To Bread Your Chicken Properly
Get your flour or flour substitute, eggs and crumbs all together in a space that allows you to work efficiently, and dip each cutlet first in flour, then in the egg wash, and then roll around in the bread crumbs to evenly coat.
Place each cutlet on a parchment lined baking sheet, and set ’em in the oven. I recommend flipping each cutlet half way through the cooking process to ensure even cooking on both sides, carefully using a pair of tongs or fork to flip with minimal breadcrumb collateral.
I really love the way the bread crumbs lock in the flavor and juiciness of the cutlets, and did you all notice not a drop of oil was used in the baking of these? Not that there’s anything wrong with oil, but if you just want a really simple, healthful version of baked and breaded chicken, this is definitely the way to go.
Reheating leftovers
These honestly taste heavenly straight out of the oven, but I have definitely had to reheat them a few times and the trick to making them taste as good the second time around is the broiler.
To get them nice and crispy again after being stored in the fridge, simply place the cutlets on a foil lined baking sheet and heat in the oven with the broiler set on low. You’ll have to watch them carefully though and cook for about 5 minutes.
Nervous about using the broiler? If you tend to be forgetful about things cooking in broiler mode though (I’ve had a few whoopsie moments myself), just reheat them in a 350 degree oven for about 10-12 minutes.
Of course the microwave works fine, you will just lose some of the crispy texture.
How to make these Gluten Free
Fret not, it’s really easy to make these baked chicken cutlets gluten free. Simply coat your chicken in a flour substitute like arrowroot powder or rice flour, and substitute almond meal, not almond flour, for the panko breadcrumbs, as almond meal has a crispier texture and finish.
I have gone through the process of baking the almond meal first, like I do with the breadcrumbs, and have found no difference in taste or color, so just skip that part, and bake the rest as usual. See, no big deal at all?!
Oven baked chicken cutlets
Oven Baked Chicken Cutlets
Ingredients
- 2-3 chicken breasts depending on size, cut into 4-6 chicken cutlets
- 3 cups plain Panko bread crumbs
- 3 large eggs
- ⅓ cup flour or flour alternative of your choice arrowroot powder works well too
- salt & pepper for seasoning
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375.
- Season your bread crumbs with a generous amount of salt and pepper, and the spread out in a single layer onto a large baking sheet. Bake in the oven for about 7-10 minutes, until golden brown but not dark brown. Place in a shallow bowl or plate when done baking.
- While your breadcrumbs are baking, pat your chicken breasts dry, and cut them into cutlets by inserting a sharp knife into the center of the breast, and slicing in half, creating two thin breasts, or cutlets. You will want to slice off the little tender piece of meat found on most breasts, and either reserve that for another use, or to make a really small version of these breaded cutlets.
- Optional tenderizing step is once you have your cutlets ready to go, either wrap in plastic wrap or place in a Ziploc bag, and tenderize them till soft and thin, but not see-through.
- Season the cutlets with a bit more salt and pepper.
- Whisk your eggs in one shallow bowl, and place your flour in a separate shallow bowl.
- Dip your cutlets one at a time in the flour or flour substitute, and then in the egg wash. Then dip in the browned bread crumbs. Make sure the cutlets get an all-over even coating of the crumbs.
- Place cutlets on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake in a 375 oven for 10-15 minutes, flipping half way through cooking, until internal temperature reaches 160 degrees. Serve immediately.
Notes
Nutrition
other delicious chicken dishes
- Sheet Pan Cranberry Chicken with Potatoes
- Hummus Crusted Chicken & Vegetables
- Air Fried Chicken Cutlets
- My Favorite Chicken Enchilada Recipe
Follow along with me on Instagram! And if you make this recipe be sure to tag me @howe.we.live so I can see! I love seeing what you’re making!
hevan says
This is so easy to make food in oven. I really enjoy this chicken cutlets recipe. I really enjoy it. Thank you for sharing such an amazing recipe.
Millie says
The baked chicken cutlets are favourite of everyone in my house. Such an amazing and valuable post for household women who wants anything quick with main dish. Thank you for sharing these ideas and love post. Really enjoy this reading.
Rachael Kogen says
Love this ! Thank you Andrea.
KC says
I’m finally learning how to cook at (age 40!) and this recipe was easy to follow and turned out delicious! My boyfriend and I loved it. The baked breadcrumbs beforehand really seemed to add to the overall taste. Thanks for the recipe!