Parmesan Chicken Cutlets

Every 4 months, 80 lbs of chicken breast waits on my kitchen island. I spend a whole day, sometimes with
my mother in law, sometimes by myself, processing all that meat into packages of unseasoned, marinated, shredded or ground meat. I have over 50 meals started, and it costs me $135. 

I order a lot of my family's meat through Zaycon Fresh. The chicken breast comes fresh and straight from the farmer, so it ends up being a lot fresher than what you buy at the grocery store. For example, my last case of Zaycon Fresh chicken breast had a bar code with a time stamp for the butcher date that was 3 days prior to my receiving it. I recently went to my local grocery store to see what their time frame is - and their chicken was 15 days old and also had 3% water injected. It's really not much of a discussion on which chicken I prefer to buy!

So today I want to share with you one of the ways that I meal prep when I am processing all of this meat. When I prep the breasts to freeze I cut them into 3 separate ways (after trimming the fat off) - a tenderloin, a breast and a cutlet. A cutlet is made by laying the breast down on a cutting board and cutting through the middle of the breast, horizontally.

I like to make my cutlets really small; they are really more like a chicken coin than a true cutlet.  It's about the size of your palm. Cutting that small bit off a breast makes the breast thickness more uniform so that it cooks easily and the "coins" are really tender. They are perfect for Chicken Parmesan Cutlets!

For the breading:

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups Panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
• 1 tablespoon of paprika 
• 1 tablespoon mustard powder
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 beaten eggs
• 1/2 c of freshly grated Parmesan cheese

This will bread about 16 small chicken "coin" cutlets. 2-3 cutlets per adult is a standard serving. The remainder can be frozen between sheets of parchment paper and bagged in freezer bags once fully frozen.

Instructions:

1. Prepare three small mixing bowls. Fill one bowl with 3/4 cup flour, fill the second bowl with 1 1/2 cups of Panko, 1 T paprika, 1 T mustard powder, salt & pepper, and the third bowl with the beaten eggs. Set the 1/2 c of freshly grated Parmesan aside. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

2. Dip each chicken cutlet first into the flour, then into the beaten eggs and then into the Panko mixture.
*If you are prepping for a future meal, skip the baking portion and read the instructions at the end.*

3. Place onto a greased broiling pan or cookie sheet.

4. Bake at 425 degrees F and bake for 15-25 minutes, until the chicken is fully cooked. Flip half way through.

5. Remove from the oven and give each cutlet a good sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.
6. Voila! I love to serve mine with my lazy girl gnocchi (using left over mashed potatoes!!) and spaghetti sauce. 

**If you are going to freeze these, after step 2 place them in between two squares of parchment paper and freeze them on a cookie sheet. After they are frozen, store them in a freezer safe ziplock bag.**

Get started on saving your family money but not compromise the quality of your meat! Zaycon Fresh is where it's at. Sign up here! Also - check out my favorite Zaycon Fresh product - Wild Alaskan Salmon - and how I love to prepare it!

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