Need a fast and easy dinner? You've got to make these thin and crispy air fryer chicken cutlets. With a few minutes to coat them with panko crumbs and seasoning and about 12 minutes in your air fryer, you'll have a family-pleasing dinner on the table in no time. I'll show you my simple tip for getting that golden crunchy crust. Make these chicken cutlets gluten-free or with regular panko. Now this is fast food!
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Why You'll Like This Recipe
- Chicken cutlets are fast, easy, crispy and crunchy.
- Air frying is way better than deep frying (less oil).
- Meet everyone's needs: gluten-free or not.
- No all purpose flour or GF flour needed for a lighter coating.
No air fryer? This reader favorite recipe for easy chicken parmesan is made on the stovetop.
Recipe Ingredients
- Chicken: Buy either boneless chicken breasts and slice your own chicken cutlets, or the buy the thin-sliced chicken breast cutlets.
- Egg: Large egg, used as a binder.
- Parmesan cheese: Finely grated real parmesan cheese. For dairy-free, omit.
- Panko breadcrumbs: Either gluten-free panko or regular wheat panko. See panko notes below.
- Herbs: Dried Italian seasoning blend and fresh Italian parsley for garnish.
- Flavor Powders: Garlic powder and onion powder to boost flavor.
- Paprika: just a bit to boost the color, regular or smoked.
- Cooking spray: Use pure avocado oil spray or olive oil spray.
Please see the recipe card for measurements, salt, black pepper, and complete directions.
Substitutions and Variations:
- For spicy air fryer chicken cutlets, add cayenne pepper or chipotle powder to the seasoning mixture. Other spices like cumin and coriander a re good too.
- Use a single dried herb such as dried thyme or dried oregano instead of the Italian blend.
- For even more golden color, add a little turmeric to the seasoning blend.
- Do your kids like chicken tenders? Swap chicken breasts for chicken tenders and leave them whole.
Chef's tip on GF panko: If you are GF, I tested four brands of gluten-free panko: Ian's gluten-fee panko, Chef Nathan's, Aleias, and 4C gluten-free panko. I found they performed best when refined as bit as the crumbs are generally large. To refine, buzz briefly in a food processor, crush them in a pie plate with a flat meat pounder, or put them in a zip bag and use a rolling pin to crush just a bit. You'll get a finer coating but one that's still textured and crispy. Don't crush too much, leave some texture. The one I prefer is Ians. If you watch carbs, Aleias and 4C had the lowest carbs.
Recipe Instructions
For reference, I use this 6 quart air fryer. I can get 4 cutlets in the air fryer basket. How many you can fit will depend on the size of your air fryer. .
How to Slice Chicken Breasts for Cutlets
If you'd rather slice your own chicken breasts into cutlets versus buying the thin-cut chicken breast cutlets, here's how to do it:
Tips for Success
- For best results, refine the panko crumbs.
- Use the avocado oil spray for golden brown crispy chicken cutlets.
- Be sure chicken is cooked to an internal temperature of 165°F.
For another air fryer recipe, try these air fryer red potatoes.
Serving Ideas
There are so many ways you can serve air fryer chicken cutlets! Serve them with veggies, rice, and salad, or mashed potatoes or whipped sweet potatoes. Keep it simple for lunch or a light dinner with a good salad with fennel, avocado, and an orange vinaigrette.
Serve air fryer chicken cutlets with a dipping sauce such as homemade bbq sauce, or cocktail sauce. Drizzle them with melted butter or a nice flavored olive oil (lemon or herb work well). Really, they are good just plain as they are, nothing needed.
Storage
Leftover chicken cutlets last 2-3 days in an airtight container. The panko crust softens a little the longer they hold.
To crisp them up again, pop them back in your air fryer at 400°F for 4-5 minutes. I've done this after a day and they were so good for lunch with a salad I was amazed! They are even good cold.
Recipe FAQs
Some recipe teach a full traditional breading with egg wash and flour. I find that just using egg in this recipe works and the panko crumbs stick just fine. No flour needed and it's a little lighter.
First, use panko crumbs instead of regular breadcrumbs, which are naturally more textured providing for crispy cutlets. Second, a good trick is to spray the top of the chicken cutlets with a little avocado oil spray. They come out nice, golden, and crispy.
Yes. Turning the cutlets half way insures even cooking. Start with the nicer side up (the presentation side).
If frozen, thaw chicken cutlets before cooking. The safest way to thaw is overnight in the refrigerator. Another way is to quick thaw by submerging the sealed package in cold water and changing every 20-30 minutes until the chicken is thawed.
More Chicken Recipes
Most of eat a lot of chicken as it's so versatile. From boneless to bone-in, whole chicken to chicken breasts and thighs, here are more recipes to keep things interesting. Check out the chicken recipes index page for more ideas. More air fryer recipes are on the way!
⭐️Did You Make This Recipe?
If you make air fryer chicken cutlets, please add your comment. I appreciate your feedback and enjoy hearing from you. If you loved it, please give it a 5-star rating! They really help other readers.
📖 Recipe
Air fryer chicken cutlets
Equipment
- Air fryer I use a 6 quart
Ingredients
Chicken
- 1-1 ¼ pounds thin cut chicken cutlets or regular boneless, skinless breasts to slice yourself
- 1 large egg
Chicken coating
- ⅔ cup GF or regular panko crumbs I recommend Ian's for GF
- ⅓ cup finely grated parmesan cheese
- 1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon paprika regular or smoked
- avocado oil spray
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Instructions
Start here with boneless chicken breasts
- Place the chicken breasts smooth side up on a cutting board. Position a sharp slicing knife at the top end of the chicken breast parallel to the cutting board centered in the chicken. Slice the chicken into two pieces creating cutlets. See photos in the post. Proceed with the recipe.
Start here with pre-sliced thin chicken cutlets
- Add the panko crumbs to a small zip bag and crush lightly to refine them with a meat pounder or rolling pin. Don't crush completely, leave some texture.
- Add the panko, parmesan, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, garlic and onion powders, and paprika to a pie plate or flat dish and mix well. Crack the egg into a medium bowl and whisk to blend.
- Roll one chicken cutlet in the egg to coat, then lay flat in the pie plate of panko and coat both sides of the chicken, gently pressing the crumbs on to cover. Repeat with other three chicken cutlets. Place them on a clean plate or baking sheet and transfer to near the air fryer.
- Pre-heat the air fryer to 400°F and set timer for 12 minutes. When air fryer is hot, add the cutlets with the nicer side up first. Spray all four lightly with avocado oil. Air fry, turning at 6 minutes. Chicken is done when it is 165°F measure internally with a digital thermometer. Chicken cutlets are ready to serve.
Notes
Nutrition
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Greg Divine says
Excellent recipe!!! We all absolutely loved it . It’s already been added to my Favorites and it will be made frequently from now on . Thank you for sharing your wonderful recipe with us.
Sally Cameron says
Thanks for commenting Greg, you made my day! Yeah, we love that one too. If you like mahi mahi, try that AF recipe too!
Porsche guy says
Wow, these are really easy and fast. Thanks very much. I love using my air fryer.!