Updated September 2026, with tested timings and dressing amounts.
Thin chicken cutlets in a Parmesan and herb crust, fried in butter and olive oil, with a lemon dressed salad on top. Eight cutlets, four plates, forty minutes from fridge to table.
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I made this recipe and it was pretty good and easy to make.
Nicole, February 2023
It is quick, easy and tastes great! Perfect for a quick weeknight dinner but also appealing enough when having guests over. Crispy on the outside and tender inside, served on a bed of greens with lemon dressing and shaved parmesan on top will be loved by everyone… If you love garlic parmesan flavors, you’ll also want to bookmark our Baked Garlic Parmesan Chicken, it is one of our most popular dinner recipes.
★★★★★ 5 STAR REVIEW
Made this a lot of times, always good.
Kim, March 2023
What the Crust Is Made Of
Boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Seasoned Italian bread crumbs
Parmesan
Fresh herbs, such as thyme, parsley, chives or rosemary
Eggs
Water
All-purpose flour
Garlic powder
Kosher salt
Black pepper, freshly ground
Butter and olive oil for the pan
Baby salad greens
Fresh lemon juice and olive oil for the dressing
Shaved Parmesan for serving
How Thin Does the Chicken Have to Be
A quarter of an inch, and that number is doing real work. The cooking time in this recipe is 2 to 3 minutes a side, which is exactly as long as a Parmesan crust takes to go deep golden in butter. A cutlet that thin is cooked through in the same time. A breast left at half an inch or thicker is still pink in the middle when the crust is already as dark as you want it, and that is the moment people turn the heat down and end up with a soft, pale coating instead.
Put your hand flat on the breast and slice it in half horizontally, so you get two thin pieces from one breast. Lay them between two sheets of plastic wrap and pound with a mallet or a rolling pin, working from the middle outward, until the piece is an even quarter inch all over. Even matters as much as thin. A cutlet that is thick at one end and paper thin at the other will burn at one end.
Four breasts done this way give eight cutlets, which is dinner for four people.
Which Parmesan Works Best
Finely grated, not the shredded kind in strands. Fine Parmesan mixes into the bread crumbs and melts into them, so the crust comes off the pan as one golden sheet. Shredded strands sit on top of the crumbs, brown faster than everything around them and lift away when you turn the chicken. Half a cup of Parmesan to one and a quarter cups of crumbs is the ratio here, and it is worth keeping. More cheese than that and the coating turns greasy and starts to slide.
The green tub works in a pinch. It is drier and saltier than fresh Parmesan, so hold back a little on the salt in the flour if that is what you are using.
The Lemon Dressing That Goes On Top
Lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper, whisked in a bowl, and it takes one minute. A quarter cup of fresh lemon juice, which is about two lemons, half a cup of olive oil, half a teaspoon of salt and a quarter teaspoon of pepper. Whisk it or shake it in a jar until it thickens and turns cloudy. That is the dressing this chicken has always been served with, and it is now in the ingredient list below where it belongs.
It matters more than it sounds. The chicken is rich, buttery and salty, and the lemon is the thing that cuts through it so the last cutlet tastes as good as the first. Dress the greens lightly, just enough to coat them, and pile them straight onto the hot chicken so a little dressing runs down into the crust.
Fresh Herbs, or the Jar
One tablespoon of chopped fresh herbs in the crumbs, or one teaspoon of dried Italian seasoning. Thyme and rosemary are the two that hold up to frying, chives and parsley go in for color and a fresher note. Chop them finely, because a long piece of rosemary in a hot pan turns bitter.
The bread crumbs here are already seasoned, so this is a top note rather than the seasoning itself. If all you have is a jar of Italian seasoning, use it and do not think twice.
How to Make Parmesan Crusted Chicken
First prepare three large plates.
On first plate combine grated parmesan cheese, Italian bread
crumbs and fresh herbs.
On second plate combine eggs and water until very smooth.
On third plate combine the flour and remaining spices (garlic powder, kosher salt, black pepper).
Coat the chicken breasts on both sides with flour mixture then dip both sides into the egg mixture letting any excess egg drip
off and dredge both sides in the parmesan mixture turning a few times to coat well pressing lightly.
Cook
Heat half of the butter and oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat. When the butter stops foaming, lay in 2 or 3 cutlets and cook 2 to 3 minutes on each side, until deep golden and 165 degrees F in the thickest part.
Wipe the skillet with a folded paper towel, add the rest of the butter and oil and cook the remaining cutlets.
How to Keep the Crust On the Chicken
Almost always because there is too much flour under the egg, or because the chicken went into the pan straight after breading. Flour is there to give the egg something to grip, and a thin film does that. A thick dusty layer turns to paste under the egg and the whole crust slides off that paste in one piece. Shake each cutlet properly before it goes into the egg.
The second fix is patience. Ten minutes on a rack after breading lets the coating dry and set, and noticeably less of it ends up in the pan. You can bread the cutlets and leave them uncovered in the fridge for up to four hours, which makes this a good recipe to start before guests arrive.
Two more things that cost nothing. Do not crowd the pan, because three cutlets in a twelve inch skillet steam each other and the crust goes soft. And do not move them once they are down, the crust needs the full two minutes of contact to set before it will release on its own.
What to Serve With It
Serve the chicken immediately on a bed of greens with shaved parmesan and lemon dressing. This is a complete meal but If wanted you can serve this meal with some cooked vegetables, mashed potatoes, or for something extra indulgent, our Homemade Cracker Barrel Hashbrown Casserole.
Note:
If you have any leftovers to reheat simply put it in the oven to get warm and crispy again. Microwave is not recommended because they will lose crispiness.
A NOTE ON THIS RECIPE
This chicken has always been served over greens with a lemon dressing, and the post said so, but the dressing was never listed with the other ingredients. Anyone shopping from the list went home without lemons. The lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper now have their own group in the recipe card, with amounts.
The thickness was off as well. The instructions asked for half an inch while the cooking times, 2 to 3 minutes a side, are the times for a quarter inch cutlet, which is why the middle came out underdone for some people. The card now says a quarter inch, and there is a temperature to check against.
More Easy Chicken Dinners
Melt In Your Mouth Chicken
The same Parmesan idea with none of the frying. A mayonnaise and parmesan crust goes on raw chicken and the oven does the rest.
The Best Oven Fried Chicken
For when you want a crisp coating but not a skillet to stand over. It bakes on melted butter at 400 degrees F.
Easy Teriyaki Chicken
A different direction entirely. Sweet and salty glaze, one skillet, and it is ready by the time the rice is.
Easy Parmesan Chicken
Ingredients
For the chicken
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts halved horizontally and pounded to 1/4 inch thick, 8 thin cutlets
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tbsp garlic powder goes into the flour, most of it stays on the plate
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper freshly ground
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tbsp water
- 1 1/4 cups seasoned Italian bread crumbs
- 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan finely grated, not shredded
- 1 tbsp fresh herbs such as thyme, parsley, chives or rosemary, finely chopped
- 4 tbsp butter
- 2 tbsp olive oil
For the lemon dressing and salad
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice about 2 lemons
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 8 cups baby salad greens
- shaved Parmesan for serving
Instructions
- Halve each chicken breast horizontally, then pound the pieces between two sheets of plastic wrap to 1/4 inch thick. Thin and even is what makes 2 to 3 minutes a side enough. Pat both sides dry with paper towel.
- Set up three plates. Flour with the garlic powder, salt and pepper on the first. Eggs beaten with the water on the second. Bread crumbs, Parmesan and chopped herbs on the third.
- Dredge a cutlet in the flour and shake off the excess, then the egg, letting the extra drip back, then the crumb mixture. Press the crumbs on with your palm so they hold. Keep one hand for the egg and the other for the two dry plates.
- Let the breaded cutlets rest on a rack or plate for 10 minutes if you have the time. The coating sets and far less of it lifts off in the pan.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of the butter with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat.
- Cook 2 or 3 cutlets at a time, 2 to 3 minutes per side, until deep golden and 165 degrees F in the thickest part. Do not crowd the pan and do not move them while they brown.
- Wipe the skillet with a folded paper towel between batches, then add the rest of the butter and oil and cook the remaining cutlets. Crumbs left behind from the first batch burn and make the second one taste bitter.
- Whisk the lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper together in a small bowl, or shake them in a jar, until the dressing thickens slightly.
- Toss the greens with just enough dressing to coat them. Put a cutlet on each plate, pile the salad on top and finish with shaved Parmesan. Serve straight away, the crust softens the longer it waits.
Looks I think I can smell it rite now
I made this recipe and it was pretty good and easy to make
Nicole, thank you for coming back to tell us. If you make it again, halve the breasts and pound them to a quarter inch. That one change is what turns pretty good into properly crisp, because at that thickness the crust and the inside are done at the same moment. The lemon dressing has amounts in the card now as well, it used to live only in the story above.
Have made this plenty of times always is good.
Made this a lot of times always good.
Kim, a lot of times is about the best thing a recipe can hear. One small thing you might like: wipe the skillet with a paper towel between batches. The crumbs left behind from the first round burn in the butter and put a bitter edge on the second one. Five seconds, and the last cutlet tastes like the first.