You can make our family's Italian Veal Cutlet Recipe in less than 30 minutes! You'll love these cheesy, breaded veal cutlets made as in Naples, without flour.
If you've never tried our veal cutlets, you don't know what you've been missing!
We make them like our fried chicken cutlets, but we use Pecorino Romano in the bread crumbs and no Parmesan. They're similar to veal schnitzel but are much tastier!
remembering my mom
My mom used to bust out three pounds of fried veal cutlets like nobody's business. I'll never forget the time she made them one morning before her dialysis treatment, when she was 80 years old.
When I arrived to pick up my parents, the aroma of pan-fried veal greeted me at the door. (She was supposed to be taking it easy!)
The scent clung to my mom and filled my entire van as we drove to her appointment. My Neapolitan mother went to dialysis smelling like a veal cotoletta!
Recipe ingredients
Unlike veal Milanese, our family's Southern Italian recipe doesn't include flour.
Veal: Look for veal cutlets near the beef section of the grocery store. They are thin, boneless, pink slices of meat. You also could buy veal from your local butcher.
Bread Crumbs: It's best to start with plain bread crumbs and season them yourself. You can use homemade bread crumbs or store-bought. If you're starting with Italian-seasoned bread crumbs, don't add more seasonings to them.
Cheese: Pecorino Romano cheese brings a sharp, salty accent to the breaded veal. It's the X-factor in my mom's cutlets! You could substitute Parmesan, but the veal will seem a little bland.
Oil: We always use regular olive oil to fry our cutlets, because it tastes so much better than canola or vegetable oil. Olive oil does have a low smoke point, so if you're frying in batches, you'll need to wipe out the browned oil after the first batch and replenish with fresh oil.
How to make Them
See the card at the end of this post for the full recipe, but here's an overview.
- Pound the veal on both sides with a meat mallet (affiliate link) to tenderize it.
- Dip the veal in seasoned, beaten eggs, covering both sides.
- Transfer the veal to a mixture of seasoned bread crumbs and Pecorino Romano cheese. Use your hands to firmly pat the mixture onto both sides of the meat.
- Pan-fry the veal in sizzling olive oil, flipping the meat over after about 2.5 minutes on the first side.
Recipe tips
- It's essential to pound the cutlets well to break down the muscle fibers. This will make the veal tender instead of stringy. Don't skip this step!
- Since veal cutlets are so thin, it's easier to bread them with your hands instead of using a fork. Wear food-safe gloves if you have them.
- If you have an extra-large electric skillet (affiliate link), use it to fit all of the cutlets in a single layer to cook them. Otherwise, you'll need to fry the veal in two batches because they won't all fit in a 12-inch pan.
What to serve with them
Be prepared to salivate over the veal cutlets after they're fried! You'll find yourself grabbing one before it's cooled off.
Then, you can serve the rest after a dish of pasta in tomato sauce or the best pesto. The breaded veal also tastes delicious with a side of roasted peppers in olive oil or these saucy pan-fried eggplants from Naples.
Promise me you'll try the leftovers in a sandwich with the peppers or eggplants! Even just the cutlets in an Italian roll with garlic-basil mayo would be fantastic.
frequently asked questions
Veal cutlets are thin, tender, boneless slices of meat from the legs of young cows. The calves are humanely raised in groups and fed milk. You can read more from the American Veal Association.
You can reheat breaded veal cutlets in the air fryer at 350 degrees F for 3-5 minutes for the crispiest results. If you don't have an air fryer, you can reheat them in a pan on the stove. It's best not to microwave them, because the veal will become soggy.
More recipes to try
- Italian Pork Chops
- Breaded Eggplant Recipe
- Baked Pesto Chicken
- Italian Chicken and Eggplant Recipe
- Fried Jumbo Shrimp
Enjoy!
If you try this Italian Veal Cutlets Recipe, please leave a comment and a rating!
Italian Veal Cutlets
Equipment
Ingredients
Bread Crumb Mixture
- ¾ cup plain bread crumbs (see notes)
- ½ cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese (use freshly grated for best results)
- ⅓ teaspoon dried basil
- ⅓ teaspoon garlic powder
- ⅓ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Chicken Cutlets
- 1 pound veal cutlets
- 2 extra large eggs
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 6 tablespoons olive oil (divided use) (for pan frying; see notes)
Instructions
- Grate the Pecorino, if needed. Mix the bread crumb ingredients in a bowl.
- Place the veal on a large cutting board. If the cutlets are large, cut them into serving portions with a chef's knife or kitchen scissors.
- Pound the cutlets well to tenderize them: Cover them with a large sheet of plastic wrap (to prevent a mess). Use a meat mallet or the bottom of a heavy frying pan to pound the first side of the veal. Lift the plastic, flip the meat over, cover it again with plastic wrap, and pound the other side. Discard the plastic wrap and wash your hands well if you touched the raw meat.
- Crack two eggs and add them to a small bowl, such as a pasta dish. Season the eggs with the salt and pepper and beat the eggs with a fork.
- Set up an assembly line from left to right with the veal, the bowl of eggs, the bread crumb mixture and a clean platter. Wear food-safe gloves if you have them. Use your hands to dip a cutlet in the beaten eggs, coating both sides. Let the eggs drip off, then place the piece of veal in the bread crumbs. Use your fingers to cover the veal with the bread crumbs, then pat them onto the meat firmly. Flip the veal over and bread the other side. Place the breaded cutlet onto the platter and continue until you have breaded all of the meat. Discard any leftover egg mixture and any bread crumb mixture that had raw meat dipped in them.
- Line a clean platter with paper towels.
- You'll need to fry the veal in two batches on the stove, unless you have an extra-large electric skillet (see notes). If using a 12-inch frying pan, heat it on the stove over medium-high heat. Add 3 tablespoons of olive oil to the pan and let it get hot. When the oil is sizzling, add some breaded veal cutlets to the pan in a single layer, fitting as many as you can. Fry the cutlets on the first side for almost three minutes, then flip them over and cook them for another two minutes. The veal should be golden brown on both sides, and when you cut into it, the meat should not be pink.
- Transfer the fried veal to the paper towel-lined platter. Dab both sides of the meat with the paper towels to absorb excess oil. Cover the veal loosely with foil.
- If the olive oil has turned dark after cooking the first batch, remove the pan from the heat and wipe out the pan with paper towels. Add another 3 tablespoons of olive oil so you can cook the next batch of cutlets in clean oil.
- Continue cooking the rest of the cutlets. Let the cutlets rest under the foil for at least five minutes before serving, to help keep them juicy.
- Store leftover veal cutlets in the refrigerator for up to four days. The leftovers are great in sandwiches.
Notes
- The cutlets taste amazing with homemade bread crumbs, but use what you have. If starting with seasoned Italian bread crumbs, just add the Romano and skip the other bread crumb ingredients.
- My family uses olive oil to fry our cutlets, because it tastes delicious. However, olive oil has a low smoke point, and will turn dark once you've fried a panful of cutlets. You'll need to wipe out the pan and replenish it with clean olive oil to fry the next batch. If you prefer, you can use canola or vegetable oil, which have higher smoke points.
- To Reheat: You can reheat breaded veal cutlets in the air fryer at 350 degrees F for 3-5 minutes for the crispiest results. If you don't have an air fryer, you can reheat them in a pan on the stove. It's best not to microwave them, because the veal will become soggy.
Nutrition
(Recipe Source: My mom, who was from Naples and made the best veal cutlets! She passed in early 2025, but lives on through the delicious food we make in her memory.)
Jo Ann Kmiecik says
My mom used to make these too❣️
Will try this soon…thanks for the memory!!
Joann