Air Fryer Chicken Milanese

Classic Chicken Milanese made in the air fryer is the perfect choice for a quick weeknight meal.

What Is Chicken Milanese?

Milanesa (or milanese) translates to breaded. Typically, it refers to thin slices of meat that are dredged in flour and breadcrumbs, and fried. It’s very similar to schnitzel, breaded cutlets, and Japanese katsu.

Traditionally, milanese is made with veal in Italy and beef in Argentina. Substituting chicken cutlets results in a dish that’s not only tender and juicy but much more economical.

How To Make Air Fryer Chicken Milanese

You can purchase chicken cutlets, but I honestly prefer to make my own. It adds a little more prep time but since chicken cutlets come with a premium price, I feel like the time spent is worth it. If making cutlets isn’t something that you’ve done before, this chicken cutlets post will walk you through the process.

Once you have pounded the chicken into cutlets, the next step is dredging – which is just a fancy word for coating them in flour, eggs, and breadcrumbs.

You’ll need three shallow dishes. You can use cake pans or pie tins or dinner plates. Just make sure that the cutlet can be placed in the dish without folding over onto itself.

I own this set of breading trays for the dredging process. These aren’t required, but if you find yourself breading more often, you may want to consider a set like this. I love the way that they lock together when they’re on the counter and then stack for easy storage.

How To Bread Chicken Cutlets For The Air Fryer

Step one is to dredge the cutlet in the flour. Please, don’t skip the flour step! This helps to ensure the other ingredients stick to the cutlet.

Next, dip the cutlet in the egg, making sure that it’s evenly coated on both sides. If it isn’t, there will be bare spots in your breadcrumb coating. And it’s never good to have bare spots.

The last step is to coat them in the breadcrumbs. When I make any breaded recipe in the air fryer, I like to include oil in the bread crumb mixture. It creates a lighter texture and more even browning since each breadcrumb has been touched with the oil.

How Long Do I Cook Chicken Milanese In The Air Fryer?

It’s important to only cook as many cutlets as will fit in the bottom of the air fryer basket without over lapping. Overlapping the cutlets will not allow them to cook evenly or brown properly.

I like to preheat my oven to 185°F so I can transfer the cooked cutlets from the air fryer basket onto a rimmed baking sheet and into the oven to stay warm and crisp while I cook the rest of the cutlets.

With the air fryer set to 400°F, the cutlets take about 7 minutes total time in my 5.3 quart air fryer. Turning them half way through the cooking time will ensure that the crust is crispy and browned on both sides.

A quick tomato salad served on the side, rounds out the Air Fryer Chicken Milanese meal.

More Air Fryer Chicken Recipes

This post originally appeared in March 2020 and was revised and republished in December 2023.