• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Turkey's For Life

Turkey's For Life

Fethiye, Turkish Food, Slow Travel Turkey

  • Fethiye
    • Book Hotels
    • Things To Do & See
    • Restaurants & Bars
    • Beaches & Bays
    • Walks & Hikes
    • News Updates
    • Weather Forecast
    • Events Calendar
  • Turkish Food
    • Turkish Recipes
    • Vegetarian & Vegan
    • Turkish Food Guide
    • Turkish Street Food
    • Turkish Desserts
    • Eating Seasonally
  • Slow Travel Turkey
    • Book Hotels
    • Antalya
    • Datça
    • Kaş
    • Bodrum
    • Istanbul
    • Lake District
    • East Turkey
    • UNESCO Sites
  • Show Search
Hide Search

How To Make Chicken Schnitzel – It’s Loved In Turkey, Too

As the warmer summer months start to kick in and the temperatures rise, thoughts begin to turn to salads and meze dishes and main meals become a much more simple affair; some seared fish with salad, grilled or sauteed meat with a simple side salad.

Jump to Recipe

And this is also where Barry’s chicken schnitzel recipe comes into its own, too. We actually eat chicken schnitzel all year round, but in summer, served with a salad, it’s perfect!

Homemade Chicken Schnitzel Recipe
We’re making our own chicken schnitzel

Chicken schnitzel, or tavuk schnitzel as it’s known in Turkey, is such a simple dish – but so tasty, too, and the colours in the salad just shout out summer. It’s not a traditionally Turkish dish, of course, but it’s highly likely to make an appearance on the menu in many of the restaurants around Fethiye and, no doubt, elsewhere in Turkey.

I’m always reluctant to order it in restaurants just in case it’s dry – and there are so many other tempting dishes on menus – but Barry often takes the risk and plumps for it.

The photo below is the homemade chicken schnitzel offering at Lukka in Çalış that he ordered recently and I’ve had it since, too. Method, you see; I let Barry do the testing first, I try a little bit and then I know if it’s safe to order next time.

Chicken Schnitzel Served At Lukka
Traditional homemade chicken schnitzel served at Lukka in Çalış – not dry

Schnitzel is traditionally a dish from German-speaking countries but these days, it’s eaten worldwide. The schnitzel (escalope) can be made from pork, beef, veal or chicken – and, in Turkey, chicken (tavuk) is commonplace.

So, whilst this is not, strictly speaking, a Turkish recipe, tavuk schnitzel is very much on people’s radars (and menus) and Barry’s recipe for chicken schnitzel is my favourite. You’re just going to have to trust me that I’m not just saying that just because I know he’ll be reading this…

Chicken Schnitzel Recipe – Rustic Style

Apart from the fact that this easy chicken schnitzel recipe is light and summery, it also uses minimal ingredients and it’s economical, too. One chicken breast makes two big, chunky, generous schnitzels.

You could even actually get three chicken schnitzel from one breast and have a serving of Turkish rice or a healthy bulgur pilavı with it to fill up on.

Chicken Schnitzel Recipe
The chicken schnitzel is coated and ready to go into the sizzling oil

And you might have noticed that our chicken schnitzel recipe is described as rustic. Well, that’s us, you see? Where possible, we don’t like our soups to be too smooth and we love a chunky hummus rather than a silky paste.

When Barry decides to make chicken schnitzel, the traditional coating of fine bread crumbs becomes a slightly more robust, crunchy affair – as you can probably work out from the photo above – juicy breast of chicken encased in the middle.

Mmmm, let’s look at how to make chicken schnitzel from scratch

SaveSaved!
Print Pin

Chicken Schnitzel Recipe

Chicken schnitzel (Turkish - tavuk schnitzel) is a great main meal all year round but is especially tasty during the summer months served with a simple salad.
Course Main
Cuisine International
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Servings 2
Calories 350kcal
Author Turkey's For Life

Ingredients

  • 1 large chicken breast skin removed
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 handful breadcrumbs
  • ⅓ cup plain flour or corn flour
  • 1 tsp dried oregano or thyme
  • ½ tsp chilli flakes
  • ¼ tsp ground turmeric
  • ¼ tsp ground cumin
  • salt & pepper to season

Instructions

  • Mix your breadcrumbs with dried herbs and spices.
  • Now sprinkle them over a large plate.
  • Beat your eggs and pour these onto another shallow plate. Place this next to your breadcrumb mixture.
  • Now take your chicken breast and place it into a plastic bag.
  • Use a rolling pin or something similar to beat it out, flatten and tenderise it.
  • Now you have one large schnitzel (escalope). Cut this in half to make 2 schnitzels.
  • Coat the chicken schnitzels in flour and shake off the excess.
  • Gently heat a light covering of sunflower oil in a frying pan.
  • Take your chicken schnitzels, one at a time, and coat them in the egg on both sides.
  • Now place each fillet into your bread crumb mix, cover both sides and press down to make sure the crumbs stick.
  • Turn the heat to high on your pan and place your chicken schnitzels side by side in the oil.
  • Fry for 2 minutes on each side to make your breadcrumbs go crispy.
  • Now turn the heat to medium and gently fry for a further 2-3 minutes on each side - or until your chicken is cooked.
  • Serve immediately with a side salad or other accompaniments to suit the season.

Notes

  • Your chicken can be substituted for pork or tenderised beef for this schnitzel recipe.
  • We like flavoursome foods so we like to add herbs and spices to our breadcrumb mix for chicken schnitzel. This is optional so you can leave yours plain if you like.
  • As with all of our recipes, the calorie count per serving is meant as a rough guide.
  • The number of calories will depend on the size of your chicken breast, the type of breadcrumbs you use and your oil.

Lots of people deep fry their chicken schnitzel, and this is possibly where the problems start if the schnitzel is left in the fryer for too long. Rock hard coating and dry, tough chicken that you struggle to get your knife and fork through. We’re looking for a golden coating with a light crunch and a tender, juicy chicken breast in the centre.

Homemade Chicken Schnitzel
A summery serving of Barry’s homemade chicken schnitzel with salad

As we’ve said, you can serve your chicken schnitzel with more filling accompaniments if you wish, but in these hotter months, you just can’t beat a side salad, dressed with lemon and olive oil.

The herbs and spices we use to to add to our breadcrumb mixture can vary – and sometimes, we also crush a couple of fennel seeds or a cardamom pod, too. In the preparation photo, you might also notice a bit of lemon zest, too. It’s all down to you and your imagination.

The preparation time for homemade chicken schnitzel is so short, as is the cooking time, and the finished product is sooo much tastier than those you pull from the box in the freezer. It’s a regular for us. Hope you enjoy it, too. Afiyet olsun!

Homemade Chicken Schnitzel – Afternotes

  • This easy chicken schnitzel recipe is in our International Recipes collection – well, we can’t really call it a Turkish recipe, can we?
  • If you want to explore some more Turkish-style accompaniments or appetisers for your chicken schnitzel meal, take a look at our collection of Turkish recipes for some ideas, too.

January 19, 2014 by Turkey's For Life 4 Comments

Filed Under: International Recipes Tagged With: Chicken

Don’t Miss A Thing!

Sign up to get our latest articles delivered straight to your inbox

Privacy Policy, Cookies Notice & Disclaimer

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Mette Vaabengaard

    February 14, 2016 at 5:56 pm

    Thank you for great inspiration just before dinner. Such a long time since I’ve had a proper chicken schnitzel.

    Reply
    • Turkey's For Life

      February 14, 2016 at 7:08 pm

      We love tavuk schnitzel, Mette, and thankfully, it’ so popular here. Barry’s rustic chicken schnitzel recipe is fab. 🙂

      Reply
  2. suzanne rolland

    January 25, 2019 at 4:35 pm

    I do my fish and chips exactly like that using Panko, a coarse breadcrumps. I put a mix of butter and oil and proceed the same, Yummy also

    Reply
    • Turkey's For Life

      January 26, 2019 at 2:21 pm

      Sounds lovely. always nice to make your own coating. 🙂 The processed coatings on chicken schnitzel just don’t taste right anymore. 🙂

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Get FREE EMAIL Updates

Keep up-to-date with new articles

Privacy Policy, Cookies Notice & Disclaimer

Footer

Copyright © 2022

Keep In Touch

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Fethiyespor
  • Online Jigsaws
  • Privacy & Cookies
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.Ok