Family Dinners
Mini Chicken Schnitzels
Thin chicken escalopes are coated in a breadcrumb and herb mix and cooked in oil for a few minutes on each side until golden and crispy!
We chose to make ours with lean chicken breast but you can also make it with thin cuts of veal or pork if you prefer.
Serve with pasta or potatoes for a tasty midweek meal that the whole family can enjoy. It could even end up as a regular dinnertime favourite!
Summary
Prep: 10 minutes
Cooking: 10 minutes
Ages: Toddlers to Teens
Difficulty: Medium
Makes: 12 mini chicken schnitzels
Chicken schnitzel is a dish that is typically associated with Germany, but its origins actually predate Germany. There are signs that the schnitzel could date all the way back to the Romans, who were making their own versions.
Nowadays, different twists on schnitzel can be found in almost every country.
In Japan a thinly pounded meat cooked in breadcrumbs is known as Tonkatsu and in Italy the famed Cotaletta alla Milanese is the local variation on Schnitzel. Israel and Iran both have their own take on the dish.
Traditionally schnitzel is made with veal, but in recent years it’s often made with chicken.
Whichever way you make it, mini schnitzels are a great mealtime classic that we hope the whole family enjoys.
Chicken Mini Schnitzels
Ingredients
Breadcrumb mix:
- 100 grams fine white breadcrumbs (or 2 white bread rolls if making from scratch)
- 1 teaspoon mild paprika
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon parsley leaves, chopped
Chicken schnitzels:
- 2 chicken breasts
- 100 grams plain flour
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 tablespoon milk
- Oil for frying (vegetable or sunflower oil)
Instructions
Breadcrumb Mix:
- If you’re making the breadcrumbs from scratch (optional) first take the two bread rolls and whizz them in a blender to get a crumb mix. Then spread them out on a baking tray and cook in the oven until golden.
- Place the toasted, or ready made breadcrumbs in a food processor with the paprika, garlic powder and parsley leaves. Blend until fine.
Prepare the Mini Chicken Fillets:
- Butterfly the chicken breasts. Put them on a chopping board and place your hand flat on top of the fillet. Using a sharp knife slice into the breadth of the fillet, starting at the thicker end and ending at the thin part. Open out the breast so that the two halves are sitting next to each other.
- Pound the butterflied chicken breasts to make them more tender by covering them with greaseproof paper and beating with a mallet or rolling pin. You can also roll them with a rolling pin of you prefer.
- Try to make the fillets as thin as as possible without making holes.
- Cut each piece of tenderised chicken into 4 equal slices to give you 12 chicken mini fillets in total.
Mini Chicken Schnitzels:
- Set up 3 bowls next to the tenderised chicken fillets.
- In the first, add the flour.
- In the second, add the lightly beaten eggs and milk.
- In the third, add the breadcrumb mixture.
- Place the oil in your frying pan until it’s about ½ cm deep. Set to a low-medium heat.
- Take a chicken mini fillet and coat first in the flour, then submerge it in the egg mixture, and then shaking off any excess, roll it in the breadcrumbs until fully coated.
- Drop the coated chicken fillets into the pan. Swirl the pan while it’s cooking to cascade oil over the top of the escalopes.
- Cook until golden on the bottom. Turn over and repeat until brown and cooked through. Serve with a squeeze of lemon, some pasta or potatoes and vegetables.
Mini schnitzels
Step by step guide:
Make the breadcrumbs (optional)
If you’re making the breadcrumbs from scratch, tear your rolls apart and put them in the food processor.
Blend until you get even crumb. It doesn’t need to be too fine at this point.
Place the crumbs on a baking sheet and cook on the lowest possible heat until golden and crispy.
Keep a close eye on them so they don’t burn.
Blend the breadcrumbs with paprika, parsley and garlic
Place the toasted or ready made breadcrumbs in a mixer and blend with the paprika, garlic granules and parsley leaves.
Try to get the crumb as fine as possible.
Butterfly and pound the chicken breasts to tenderise them
Butterfly the chicken breasts by cutting through the breadth of each chicken fillet with a sharp knife.
Start at the thicker end and work your way down to the thinner end. Open out the chicken breast like a book. You should now have two thin fillets.
Place your butterflied chicken breasts under a sheet of greaseproof paper or clingfilm.
Pound the meat with a mallet or rolling pin. Try to make them as thin as you can without making holes in them.
Cut into mini fillets
Cut your chicken to make mini escalopes.
We cut each butterflied chicken fillet into 4 equal pieces, to make 12 total but you can make them as large or as small as you prefer.
Prepare the schnitzel coating
Place 100 grams plain flour in a shallow bowl.
Beat the eggs with the milk in separate bowl.
Tip your breadcrumb mixture into the third bowl
Set the three bowls next to each other.
Prepare the frying pan
Heat ½ cm of oil – vegetable oil or grapeseed oil – in a large frying pan on a low-medium heat.
It should be hot enough that a breadcrumb sizzles in the oil.
Coat your chicken escalopes
Roll your chicken escalopes first in the flour, then dip in the beaten eggs and finally cover in the breadcrumb mixture until completely coated.
Don’t press them into the breadcrumbs, just lightly coat them.
Cook the mini schnitzels
Place them in the oil and cook until golden underneath. While they are cooking, keep swirling the pan to cascade oil over the top of the escalopes.
Then turn them over and cook on the other side. It should only take a few minutes each side.
Remove and place on a plate with some kitchen paper to absorb the excess oil.
Serve with your favourite sides
Serve with pasta, rice, mashed potato or if you want to go authentic you could try some spaetzli!
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Mini Chicken Schnitzels
Mini Chicken Fillets
Ingredients
Breadcrumb Mix
- 100 grams fine white breadcrumbs (or 2 white breadrolls if making from scratch)
- 1 teaspoon mild paprika
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley leaves chopped
Chicken Schnitzels
- 2 chicken breasts butterflied
- 100 grams plain flour
- 2 eggs lightly beaten
- 1 tablespoon milk
- 100 ml oil for frying (vegetable or sunflower)
Instructions
Breadcrumb mix
-
If you’re making the breadcrumbs from scratch (optional) first take the two bread rolls and whizz them in a blender to get a crumb mix. Then spread them out on a baking tray and cook in the oven until golden.
-
Place the toasted, or ready made breadcrumbs in a food processor with the paprika, garlic powder and parsley leaves. Blend until fine.
Prepare the Mini Chicken Fillets
-
Butterfly the chicken breasts. Put them on a chopping board and place your hand flat on top of the fillet. Using a sharp knife slice into the breadth of the fillet, starting at the thicker end and ending at the thin part. Open out the breast so that the two halves are sitting next to each other.
-
Pound the butterflied chicken breasts to make them more tender by covering them with greaseproof paper and beating with a mallet or rolling pin. You can also roll them with a rolling pin of you prefer.
-
Try to make the fillets as thin as as possible without making holes.
-
Cut each piece of tenderised chicken into 4 equal slices to give you 12 chicken mini fillets in total.
Mini Chicken Schnitzels
-
Set up 3 bowls next to the tenderised chicken fillets.
-
In the first, add the flour.
-
In the second, add the lightly beaten eggs and milk.
-
In the third, add the breadcrumb mixture.
-
Place the oil in your frying pan until it’s about ½ cm deep. Set to a low-medium heat.
-
Take a chicken mini fillet and coat first in the flour, then submerge it in the egg mixture, and then shaking off any excess, roll it in the breadcrumbs until fully coated.
-
Drop the coated chicken fillets into the pan. Swirl the pan while it’s cooking to cascade oil over the top of the escalopes.
-
Cook until golden on the bottom. Turn over and repeat until brown and cooked through. Serve with a squeeze of lemon, some pasta or potatoes and vegetables.
