Classic Pork Schnitzel

While pork schnitzel can be made from a variety of cuts, the easiest for home use are centre-cut boneless pork chops. Look for chops that are 1/2-3/4-inch thick. Pork loin chops usually have a thin strip of fat along one side, but no fat marble in the meat. To prepare the pork, trim any visible fat away, pound very thin and using a sharp knife, cut a couple of 1/4-inch slits evenly along that edge. This will help keep the schnitzel flat as it cooks (for even cooking), as this area may shrink up as it heats and curl, otherwise.

I always use store-bought dried breadcrumbs for schnitzel. While I use Panko for other breading, I never use it for schnitzel, because classic, authentic schnitzel is made with breadcrumbs. Fresh breadcrumbs will not work at all and I feel like homemade dried breadcrumbs are likely to be both not dry enough or not uniformly fine enough for great schnitzel.

Store-bought, plain dried breadcrumbs are what I generally use, and I season them myself with seasoning salt. Seasoned breadcrumbs will also work. As they are already seasoned, you can skip any additional seasoning. Avoid Italian seasoned breadcrumbs however, as they are seasoned with special herbs and spices best suited for Italian dishes and not schnitzel.

Thin!. Schnitzel needs to be thin. Really thin. So even if you start with thin pork loin chops, you will need to pound them even thinner. Hopefully, you have a meat pounder to do the job, if not, grab your cast-iron skillet and use it to pound the pork. Do this on a cutting board. Keep pounding until it is as thin as it can possibly be without tearing or falling apart.

I can’t stress the thin thing enough. When you cut into schnitzel, the pork shouldn’t be obviously visible. If it is, it’s a breaded pork chop, not schnitzel! The thickness of the pork should be no more than the combined thickness of the top and bottom cooked breading. That’s a schnitzel :)

The single best tip for cooking schnitzel at home is to allow the breaded pork to rest in the fridge for one hour before frying. Simply bread the pork, then lay on a cooling rack in a single layer. Place into the fridge, uncovered, for one hour before cooking. This step dries the breading and ensures it will stick perfectly to the meat during the frying process. As long as you fry in hot oil, it will come out perfectly crispy with all of its breading intact!

The absolutely best way to perfect schnitzel is to shallow-fry them in neutral-tasting cooking oil (Vegetable, Canola, Peanut, Sunflower). So you don’t need to use a lot of oil, but you want to use enough oil so that the schnitzel will “float” in the oil as it cooks and not touch the bottom of the pan. I usually aim for about 1/2-inch-ish of oil to start and I will top it up as I go, if necessary.

Heat oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet or frying pan. Test the oil by dropping a tiny speck of the schnitzel breading into the oil. If it doesn’t almost immediately sizzle and then rise to the top of the oil, your oil isn’t hot enough yet. When oil is ready, add 2 or 3 pieces of breaded pork. Do not crowd the pan and do not overlap them. They need to lay flat with a nice bit of space between. You will probably need to cook in batches.

Using tongs, check the browning of the underside regularly and lower/raise the temperature if it seems to be browning too quickly or slowly. It should take about 3 minutes to brown the underside.
Cook until the underside is very golden brown, then flip and cook the other side until golden. Remove to a cooling rack with a sheet of paper towel underneath it to catch any drips. (If making a lot of batches, you can also place on a baking sheet and keep warm in a 200F oven)