• Yield: Serves 6

  • Time: 20 minutes prep, 15 minutes cooking, 35 minutes total


Crispy Chicken Milanesa

Milanesa de Pollo


Breaded milanesas can be layered between sheets of plastic wrap or parchment paper, covered, and refrigerated for up to 3 days (or frozen for up to 3 months).


Ingredients

  • 2 large eggs 

  • 2 tablespoons milk 

  • 1 cup Kellogg's Corn Flake crumbs or dried bread crumbs 

  • 1/2 cup finely crumbled queso fresco, Cotija, ricotta salata, or mild feta 

  • 1/2 teaspoon ground dried chile, such as piquín, or a Mexican mix, such as Tajín, or to taste

  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher or coarse sea salt, or to taste

  • 6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, pounded thin 

  • Vegetable oil

Instructions


1. In a large shallow bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk. Combine the corn flakes with the cheese, chile, and salt and spread on a plate.


2. Dip each chicken breast in the egg mixture, then coat it on both sides with the corn flake mixture, so the whole breast is covered. Set aside on a plate.


3. Heat 1/4 inch of oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium heat until hot but not smoking, 2 to 3 minutes. Add as many chicken breasts as will fit in a single layer, without crowding the pan. If the edges of the Milanesas aren't bubbling in the oil, raise the heat to medium-high. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes on the first side, until golden brown and crisp, then gently flip and repeat on the other side. Remove the Milanesas from the pan and set them on a paper-towel-covered plate and keep warm. Repeat with the remaining chicken pieces, adding more oil if needed. (If you are not serving them immediately, place the Milanesas in a baking dish, without the paper towels, and keep warm in a 250°F oven.) Serve hot.


From Pati's Mexican Table by Pati Jinich, Rux Martin/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013.

Patricia Jinich
Pati Jinich is a cooking teacher, food writer and chef at the Mexican Cultural Institute in Washington, D.C. She hosts the public television series Pati’s Mexican Table broadcasted nationwide and released her first cookbook, also titled Pati’s Mexican Table, in March 2013.