Air Fryer Pork Cutlets

Serve these Air Fryer Pork Cutlets with buttered noodles, quick red cabbage sauerkraut, or French fries for a fast, satisfying weeknight meal.

What Is A Cutlet?

Let me just start by saying that cooking with cutlets is probably one the best ideas for busy week nights. Because they are so thin, they cook quickly which means you can have them on the table in a manner of minutes. Literally!

If cutlets haven’t been in your weeknight repertoire, there are a couple of things that you should know.

Let’s start with what a cutlet is. Wikipedia has several definitions, but for this recipe, a cutlet is simply a thin slice of meat. In this case, pork. Typically they are made from a thicker cut of meat by pounding them to a thinner thickness, like in this post. It’s a simple process, but if you prefer, you can purchase cutlets from the meat department of most grocery stores. But because they come with a premium price, I generally make them myself.

It’s important to make sure that you’ve pounded the meat to an even thickness. This will help to ensure that they cook evenly. Because they’re so thin, there’s very little wiggle room when it comes to cooking time. Which makes the air fryer the perfect kitchen appliance to cook them in.

How To Bread Pork Cutlets

Once you have pounded the cutlets, the next step is to bread them. This process is referred to as the dredging process and involves coating the cutlets in flour, eggs, and breadcrumbs. There is a specific order for this process as well as some “equipment” that’s required.

The equipment that you’ll need is three shallow dishes. You can use cake pans or pie tins. Just make sure that the cutlet can be placed in the pan without folding over on itself.

I own this set of breading trays for the dredging process. This isn’t a necessity, 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.

The first step is to dredge the cutlet in the flour. Don’t skip the flour step. I know it may seem like a non-essential step, but it really is necessary for the other ingredients to stick to the cutlet. You don’t want all of that crunchy coating to slip off do you?

Next you 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 that’s no good.

The last step is to coat them in the breadcrumbs. When I’m cooking anything that’s breaded and cooked in the air fryer, I include oil in the bread crumb mixture. It creates a lighter texture and even browning

How Long Do You Cook Pork Cutlets In The Air Fryer?

Once all of the cutlets have been dredged, you can start cooking them. 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 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 360˚F, the cutlets take about 9 minutes total time. Turning them half way through the cooking time will ensure that the crust is crispy and browned on both sides.

What To Serve With Pork Cutlets

One of the things that I love about this pork cutlet recipe is how versatile it is when it comes to side dishes. Serve it with buttered noodles for an Eastern European flair. Or pair it with my Quick Red Cabbage Sauerkraut recipe and you’re off to Germany. Well, just figuratively ;) Or how about some French Fries for a classic diner meal. See what I mean? The options are endless!

Once you’ve mastered this recipe, try your hand at Pork Schnitzel. For an Asian version of the pork cutlet, my Air Fryer Pork Katsu is a delicious variation.

Print