Panko Fried Chicken

on Feb 05, 2024

Panko Fried Chicken is a delicious & easy pan fried chicken recipe. Our crispy & tender chicken cutlets are great for busy weeknight dinners.
Goes great with all sorts of side like our House Salad or Crispy Potato Wedges!

Chicken recipes have always been some of our favorite go-to recipes for those busy weeknight dinners when you need something quick and easy to make. Chicken breasts especially are so easy to work with. Take a look at our Italian Dressing Chicken and Parmesan Garlic Chicken Pasta if you are needing other delicious chicken breast recipes. But, I highly recommend trying this Panko Fried Chicken, it’s so good.

Panko chicken cut in slices on a black plate with carrots.

Panko chicken always ends up having this delicious crispy fried coating- thanks mostly to those panko breadcrumbs. We found one of the easiest ways to get this crispy and tender chicken is to make some Panko Pan Fried Chicken- this helps you skip the hassle of making deep fried chicken and using tons of oil. Sneak a few herbs and spices into your coating and you’re guaranteed to have tasty juicy chicken breasts that are perfect when you need a quick chicken dinner!

Why you’ll love this Panko Fried Chicken Recipe
Panko Fried Chicken Ingredients
How to make Panko Chicken Breasts
Substitutions
Variations
Storage / Freezing
Recipe Tip
Best Sides to Serve with Panko Fried Chicken
Other Chicken Recipes
Panko Fried Chicken Recipe

Why you’ll love this Panko Fried Chicken Recipe

Fried Chicken with Panko for coating is one of the easiest ways to get juicy and crispy chicken without all the extra work and mess of deep frying in oil. The panko coating pan fries to a delicious golden brown finish and the butterflied chicken breast cooks through quickly and evenly in about 10 minutes.
Since this Panko Crusted Chicken recipe is so simple and easy to modify, you can really tweak it to have whatever spice flavors you choose. Amp up the heat with some cayenne and chili powder or use your favorite Italian spice blend to make this the perfect chicken recipe for you.
Best of all, our Panko Chicken will pair well with all sorts of different side dish recipes. Pick your favorite vegetable sides, a nice starch or potato dish, or pair it with any of your favorite sauces as well!

Panko Fried Chicken Ingredients

For easy chicken recipes like this Panko Fried Chicken, you’re really not going to need many ingredients. If you’ve got some leftover chicken in the freezer, you might even have everything to need already! In case you have to run for some groceries, here’s all the ingredients you’ll need:

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Chicken Breast – If you want to save time, buy something like chicken cutlets: these are just chicken breasts that have already been halved. If you don’t mind the extra work, just grab a couple of chicken breasts instead.
Flour – All-purpose flour will work fine here.
Seasonings – We want to add plenty of flavor to our chicken- no one likes bland chicken breasts! We’ll add some salt and pepper to the breasts themselves and add some garlic powder, onion powder, basil, and oregano to our flour.
Egg – We’ll just need a whole egg or two for an egg wash.
Panko Bread Crumbs – Grab yourself something like these Kikkoman panko bread crumbs. Panko bread crumbs are different from other breadcrumbs because they’re much flakier and drier. This helps them absorb a lot less oil when you use them for a crispy panko breading or panko coating.
Oil – Finally, you’re going to need some oil for pan frying chicken. We settled on a blend of butter and olive oil.

See recipe card for quantities.

How to make Panko Chicken Breasts

Flour and spices in a white bowl with a whisk.

What’s great about Panko Fried Chicken is that it’s one of those easy chicken recipes that anyone can do! Here’s all you have to do to make this tasty Pan Fried Chicken:

In a shallow bowl or plate, whisk together flour, garlic powder, onion powder, basil, and oregano.

In a separate shallow bowl or plate, crack in your egg and add a bit of water. Beat with a whisk or fork until combined.

Chicken breasts butterflied and pounded with meat tenderizer.

Start prepping your chicken by butterflying and halving your chicken breasts. This will break down any large chicken breasts and help them cook quicker and more evenly.

Chicken breasts raw with salt and pepper.

Grab a meat tenderizer and pound chicken breast halves down to around 1/2″ thickness. Put the chicken breasts in a ziploc bag or under some plastic wrap to keep your tenderizer clean. This is a great time to add extra seasonings to your pounded chicken breasts.

Now we’ve got to coat our chicken. First, dredge chicken breast cutlets through the seasoned flour mixture, making sure you get a nice coating on each side.

Shake off excess flour and transfer floured chicken into the egg wash. Make sure flour coating evenly soaks up the egg and try to minimize dry clumps or spots. Remember to flip and coat chicken on both sides.

White bowl with panko crumbs and chicken.

Let excess egg wash drip off chicken cutlets before moving them into a shallow bowl or plate filled with panko breadcrumbs. Turn and flip over until you get an even panko coating. Repeat with other chicken breast cutlets. Press the panko into the chicken as much as possible to make it stick!

Finally, we can get to pan frying chicken: add butter and olive oil to a large pan/skillet over medium-high heat. Once melted and hot, add 1-2 panko-coated chicken cutlets to the pan. Cook for around 2-3 minutes per side or until golden brown and cooked through– a meat thermometer will come in handy here! DO NOT PEAK or your coating will fall off. Wait till you can notice the edges turning golden brown.

Substitutions

This Panko Fried Chicken Recipe is pretty forgiving when it comes to some of the ingredients we used. Just in case you need to make some substitutions, ere’s a few you can try:

Chicken Breast – Chicken breast isn’t the only cut of chicken you can use for this recipe. Your next best bet is going to be chicken thighs- just note that chicken thighs tend to take a bit longer to cook than chicken breasts. You could also use chicken tenderloin and make these into Panko Chicken Tenders. If you don’t mind dropping the chicken entirely, we think this recipe would work great as a Panko Fried Pork Chop recipe too!
Panko Breadcrumbs – Grab some crackers, pretzels, or stale bread and use a food processor to pulse it down into a flakey powder. Spread the powder out on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake at 300 for 5-10 minutes or until it’s slightly toasted for a quick panko substitute. You could also try doing this with potato chips if you want something like our Potato Chip Crusted Chicken!
Butter and Olive Oil – We tend to use butter and olive oil for these pan fried recipes because that’s what we tend to have on hand. You’re more than welcome to use any other oil you prefer. For something more neutral, consider a bit of vegetable oil or some grapeseed oil.

Variations

Chicken recipes like this are great because they’re open to all sorts of different ways to change and spice them up! Getting different flavors could be as simple as swapping out your spices. If you need more in-depth ideas for shaking up your Panko Fried Chicken, here’s a couple to try out:

Panko Chicken with Parmesan – A really popular spin on this recipe involves sneaking some shredded parmesan in with the bread crumbs. We’ve messed around with Parmesan Crusted Chicken before, but adding around 1/4 cup of parmesan in with the breadcrumbs is a good way to get just some of that flavor.
Baked Panko Chicken – If you don’t want to mess around with pan frying or oil, you could just bake your Panko Chicken Cutlets in an oven. Bake your chicken on a wire-rack in a baking sheet at around 425 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until the coating has crisped up and the chicken has cooked through. You could even take a stab at making Panko Air Fried Chicken for something similar.

Panko chicken breast whole on a black plate.

Storage / Freezing

Storage: Like any cooked chicken recipe, you are going to want to enjoy your Panko Fried Chicken sooner rather than later. Transfer any leftovers to an airtight container or ziploc bag and keep in the fridge for 3-4 days. Try to reheat in a low oven or an airfry to help crisp the panko coating back up.

Freezing: You can also freeze your panko chicken for more long-term storage if that’s what you prefer. For best results, try to “flash freeze” your cooked and cooled chicken on a parchment lined baking sheet in the freezer for an hour before transferring to a freezer bag. Keep in the freezer for up to 3 months and reheat from frozen or thawed in the oven.

Recipe Tip

Press the panko into the chicken as much as possible to make it stick!
Be sure your oil is up to temperature before adding the chicken. If you skip this step, you may have soggy chicken.
Do not peak at the chicken. Let it fry until you see golden brown edges. If you flip them to quickly, you will loose the Panko coating.