Building a full meal around your favorite breaded cutlets is an easy way to dress up dinnertime or anytime. Whether it’s turkey, chicken, pork, or something else, there’s a cutlet to satisfy just about anyone’s appetite, and plenty of creative side dishes to pair along with it. Finding ingredients to get your breading to stick is fairly simple and leaves room for you to get creative with your binders. To get a truly juicy cutlet that seals in the flavors and keeps your breading and seasoning the ideal texture, use sour cream. This is the best choice to add the necessary moisture to avoid drying out the meat of your cutlet while also infusing delicious taste and texture into the mix.
Because the meats used for cutlets are typically lean, the dairy-based product is a perfect pick to balance your food with the right amount of fat content and richness. Sour cream doesn’t overpower the dish with sour flavor but rather enhances it. You can even make your own homemade two-ingredient sour cream with just vinegar and heavy cream, and the acidic content will actually tenderize the chicken. Try this tip with a crispy chicken cutlet recipe or a pork schnitzel.
Tips for using sour cream with your cutlets
The process for making cutlets is straightforward and effective. Start with a lean piece of pork, chicken, or turkey and prepare to dredge each piece in flour, then sour cream, and finally breadcrumbs. Mix up plain breadcrumbs with your favorite seasoning or try swapping them out for panko flakes for an even crispier coating. Be sure to dab each piece of your protein first before dredging to ensure that everything sticks properly. Patience is key to getting every piece properly prepped and then coating before baking or frying your cutlets.
You can even add some light seasoning to your sour cream before starting the dredging process for extra flavor. Salt, pepper, and garlic powder are a standard combination, but you can always toss in some cayenne pepper or paprika for a little more heat. Consider mixing up a batch of seasoned sour cream to serve on the side for dipping to complement the flavors of your breaded cutlets to tie all the tastes together. This can also double as a dipping sauce for any grilled or roasted vegetables accompanying your cutlets.
