Chicken Milanese Bites – breaded chicken pieces, seasoned with Italian seasoning and fried to a crisp perfection. Super crispy and juicy, served with lemon wedges.
Let me tell you chicken never got any crispier and tastier than this! I needed to celebrate today and one of my favorite foods is fried chicken. Don’t look surprised, I’m sure I’m not alone here.
What Is Chicken Milanese?
So crispy chicken. Milanese style! Chicken Milanese is simply breaded chicken in egg, flour, and breadcrumbs seasoned with Italian seasoning, fried then served with lemon wedges. Maybe it’s called chicken Milanese because it came from Milan, but who knows for sure.
Usually whole chicken breasts are used, but I just love this bite size version. You’ll love these bite size pieces, they’re super crispy and trust me with the lemon, you need to squeeze some lemon over this chicken, it just makes the flavors pop up.
Ingredients
- Chicken – Boneless skinless breasts cubed up into bite sized pieces.
- Eggs – 2 entire eggs to make up the binder in our chicken batter.
- Breadcrumbs – Whatever kind you like! You can even pick up Italian seasoned breadcrumbs to up the flavor.
- Spices – We’re just using Italian seasoning today which is a blend of basil, oregano, rosemary, and thyme.
- Seasoning – Salt and pepper to taste.
- Flour – Just a bit of all purpose – critical for our dredge.
- Cream – Don’t fear the fat, heavy cream does something magical in this dish.
- Oil – We want something mild with a high smoke point like canola or peanut.
Gluten Free
Just swap in gluten free breadcrumbs and gluten free flour in place of the regular stuff we have going on here. If you can’t find gluten free breadcrumbs just pick up some gluten free bread and follow my directions below detailing how to make your on breadcrumbs.
How To Make Chicken Milanese Bites
- Heat the oil: In a large Dutch Oven or pot add vegetable oil so that you have at least 1 1/2 inches deep. Heat the oil so that it’s around 350 F degrees.
- Prep the chicken: Meanwhile season the chicken with salt, pepper and 1 tsp of Italian seasoning. Set aside.
- Form the dredge: In a shallow plate add the eggs, heavy cream and another tsp of the Italian seasoning and whisk well. In another shallow plate add the breadcrumbs with 1 tsp of Italian seasoning and mix. Finally, add the flour with the last tsp of Italian seasoning to a shallow plate and mix.
- Arrange your shallow plates so that you have the flour mixture, egg mixture and finally the breadcrumb mixture. You’ll need an empty plate, or I used a baking sheet to place the breaded chicken in.
- Fry the chicken: Dredge the chicken pieces through the flour, then the egg mixture and finally the breadcrumb mixture. Fry a few pieces of chicken at a time, so that they don’t stick together. They should take about 6 to 7 minutes before they’re cooked through. You might want to cut into a piece to make sure it’s no longer pink inside. Continue frying in batches until done.
- Finish the dish: Season fried chicken with salt and Italian seasoning, if preferred. Serve the chicken with lemon wedges.
Looking To Be A Bit Healthier?
If you want to go the healthier route you can definitely bake this chicken and it will still be crispy. I’ve made similar chicken like this before baked and really you cannot tell the difference.
Up The Crunch Factor
If you want crispier chicken milanese bites you can use Corn Flake crumbs. You can also make your own bread crumbs! I’ve included instructions below.
All you need are 10 slices of bread, ground down in a food processor, from there just:
- Spread the breadcrumbs on a baking tray and place in your preheated oven.
- Bake at 300 F degrees for 10 minutes or until the crumbs are golden and completely dry, stir occasionally.
- Cool completely on the baking sheet before incorporating.
Need A Dip?
Now chicken milanese is meant to be devoured with just a healthy squeeze of lemon over top, it’s just that simple. But I know that some of my readers absolutely love some cool and refreshing dips to dunk their fried morsels into and if that’s the case I’ve got the goods!
- Fry dip: Mayo, ketchup, Worcestershire, garlic powder, salt and pepper.
- Honey mustard: Dijon mustard, honey, mayo, lemon juice, salt and pepper.
- Chicken sauce: Yellow mustard & Dijon mustard, honey, BBQ sauce, mayo.
Make Ahead
You sure can make these ahead! They actually freeze pretty well, more information on that below.
Leftovers
You can store these fully cooked in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 – 4 days. Feel free to crisp them back up in the oven rather than the microwave when ready to feast and enjoy!
You can store these in the freezer for up to 1 month if you’d like to prepare these in advance. Just batter the chicken and then lay them on a baking sheet and freeze them, uncooked. Seal in an airtight container once frozen and bake at 425 F degrees for 20 – 25 minutes from frozen when ready to eat.
More Delicious Chicken Recipes To Try:
- Sticky Honey Sriracha Chicken Bites
- Asian Glazed Chicken Fingers
- Coconut Chicken
- Bang Bang Chicken
- Chicken Marsala
- Parmesan Chicken Strips
- Lemon Pepper Chicken
- Honey Garlic Chicken
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Chicken Milanese Bites
Ingredients
- 1 pound chicken breasts skinless and boneless cut into small 1 inch cubes
- 4 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 cups breadcrumbs or corn flake crumbs
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- vegetable oil for frying
Instructions
- In a large Dutch Oven or pot add vegetable oil so that you have at least 1 1/2 inches deep. Heat the oil so that it’s around 350 F degrees.
- Meanwhile season the chicken with salt, pepper and 1 tsp of Italian seasoning. Set aside.
- In a shallow plate add the eggs, heavy cream and another tsp of the Italian seasoning and whisk well.
- In another shallow plate add the breadcrumbs with 1 tsp of Italian seasoning and mix.
- Finally, add the flour with the last tsp of Italian seasoning to a shallow plate and mix.
- Arrange your shallow plates so that you have the flour mixture, egg mixture and finally the breadcrumb mixture. You’ll need an empty plate, or I used a baking sheet to place the breaded chicken in.
- Dredge the chicken pieces through the flour, then the egg mixture and finally the breadcrumb mixture.
- Fry a few pieces of chicken at a time, so that they don’t stick together. They should take about 6 to 7 minutes before they’re cooked through. You might want to cut into a piece to make sure it’s no longer pink inside. Continue frying in batches until done.
- Season fried chicken with salt and Italian seasoning, if preferred.
- Serve the chicken with lemon wedges.
Recipe Notes
- If you want crispier chicken bites you use Corn Flake crumbs.
- You can store these fully cooked in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 – 4 days. Feel free to crisp them back up in the oven rather than the microwave when ready to feast and enjoy!
- You can store these in the freezer for up to 1 month if you’d like to prepare these in advance. Just batter the chicken and then lay them on a baking sheet and freeze them, uncooked. Seal in an airtight container once frozen and bake at 425 F degrees for 20 – 25 minutes from frozen when ready to eat.
- Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on products used.
How long would these need to be baked for if baking instead of frying?
15-20 minutes at 400F should do the trick. Just until they’re golden brown.
OH MY GOODNESS. I was ecstatic for your cookbook before but now that I see it’s 30 minute one pot meals, I CANNOT WAIT!!!!! Congrats on finishing all the cooking, that’s quite a feat I’m sure! I love that you celebrate with fried chicken, yum! These bites look amazing and I’ve never tried anything like it with a squeeze of lemon. Sounds so refreshing. Way to go, Jo!!
Thank you, you’re making me blush. 🙂
There was not even a flicker of an eyebrow or blink of an eye when I read that fried chicken is one of your favourite foods.
It is why we are friends.
YUM! Please can you make these for me when I visit? And YAY to finishing all your photos for your cookbook! You’re amazing Jo!! N x
I will, I will! I’ll make all the fried chicken you can eat, just get here!
These bites look perfect! And great that you wrote a cookbook, I am really curious about it. Any Romanian recipes in it? 🙂
Not really, maybe inspired a bit, the book is 30 minute One Pot meals. 🙂
Can the Chicken Milanese Bites be printer friendly? Please advise.
Yes! In the recipe section under the image there’s a print and a save button. Click on the print button. 🙂