The Breakfast Ingredient TikTok Swears By For Crispy Chicken Cutlets

As far as simple meal prep goes, few dishes beat a crispy chicken cutlet. It is delicious on its own with freshly squeezed lemon juice and a sprinkling of sea salt and is the basis for one of the most popular Italian dishes, chicken parmigiana. For a lighter meal, serving a simple green salad on top of a hot chicken cutlet is a delicious option with contrasting textures, flavors, and temperatures to delight the palate.

While Americans refer to proteins like chicken and veal dredged in flour, dipped in egg, and coated in breadcrumbs before pan-frying to golden deliciousness as cutlets, Italians call this style Milanese. This cooking technique is also popular in other cultures with slight variations. Japanese katsu uses panko breadcrumbs, which are lighter than traditional breadcrumbs and are sometimes called Japanese breadcrumbs. Panko is a flake versus a crumb that doesn't absorb oil like traditional breadcrumbs, resulting in an airier, crunchier breaded dish. Germans have schnitzel, a thinly pounded cutlet, breaded and fried, similar to chicken Milanese. Schnitzel refers to any protein prepared this way in Germany; however, Wienerschnitzel specifically refers to veal.

Cooks seeking the ultimate crunch are looking for a substitute for regular breadcrumbs and reaching for alternative ingredients to adhere to cutlets for the perfect bite. For a fun and fresh take on this classic, try using the breakfast ingredient making TikTok users drool.

TikTok users looking for a quick and delicious weeknight meal have discovered cornflake-crust chicken cutlets. Instead of the powdery Italian seasoned breadcrumbs you grew up eating, try creating your own using any dry cereal that's not too sweet. As a bonus, cornflakes are gluten-free, and since they are super crunchy, they are a terrific substitute if you want to bake the cutlets instead of pan-frying.

To make cornflake breadcrumbs, place two cups of cereal in a food processor and pulse a few times. Avoid overprocessing and turning the cornflakes into a powder. If you don't have a food processor, place the cereal in a resealable plastic baggie and take your frustration out, beating it with a rolling pin until crushed.

Using the traditional three-steps breading process, create three stations- flour, beaten eggs, and cornflakes. As a rule of thumb, use one egg per chicken cutlet. Each station should be seasoned with kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper, and other spices to ensure the final dish isn't bland. If you want to add some heat, try cayenne pepper in the cornflake mixture or add hot sauce to the egg wash. Dip each chicken cutlet into the flour, eggs, and cornflakes before placing them into a hot skillet coated with oil. Pan-fry the cutlets until golden brown on both sides, then remove them to a wire rack to drain. Alternatively, drizzle the raw cutlets with olive oil and bake them until golden brown to cut down on calories and fat.