What Are Pork cutlets and How Can I Use Them?

If pork cutlets have turned up in a recipe or caught your eye at the store, here's what you need to use them with confidence and how to choose them, cook them, store them, what to substitute, and 8 recipes to try them in.

Key Points

Thin, boneless slices from the loin or leg, pounded flat for fast cooking.
The classic schnitzel cut: breaded and shallow-fried about two minutes a side.
So lean it overcooks in seconds; pull it at 145°F (63°C) and go.
Pound to an even quarter inch so it cooks through without drying out.
Swap pounded chicken, turkey, or veal; a boneless chop pounds into a cutlet.

What are pork cutlets?

Pork cutlets are thin, boneless slices of pork, usually cut from the loin or leg and pounded flat to an even thickness. The point of a cutlet is speed.

Thin and lean, it cooks in a couple of minutes a side, which makes it the go-to for breaded, pan-fried dishes like schnitzel.

Cut from a tender part of the pig and worked thin, a cutlet has almost no connective tissue. That is a blessing and a trap. It turns tender fast, but it also dries out fast, so the whole game is cooking it quickly and getting it off the heat.

Some butchers sell cutlets ready to cook. Just as often you will buy a thicker boneless chop or a piece of loin and pound it down yourself.

How to Cook Pork Cutlets

Even thickness is everything. Lay the slice between two sheets of plastic and pound it to about a quarter inch (6 mm) with the flat of a mallet or a heavy pan.

An even cutlet cooks evenly; a lumpy one is raw in the thick spots and leather in the thin ones.

The classic treatment is breading. Dredge in flour, dip in beaten egg, then press into breadcrumbs, and fry in shallow oil over medium-high heat for about two minutes a side until golden. That is exactly how Schweineschnitzel and Pork Schnitzel with Creamy Sauce are built.

Cutlets also take well to stuffing. Stuffed Pork Cutlets spreads a filling over the pounded slice and rolls it, then braises the parcel so the lean meat stays moist inside.

A bare cutlet can be pan-seared too. Get the pan hot, give it ninety seconds a side, and rest it briefly. Any longer and it tightens up.

Pairing and Common Mistakes

A fried cutlet wants brightness against the richness of the crust: a wedge of lemon, a sharp mustard, a vinegary slaw, a quick mushroom sauce as in jagerschnitzel. Apple is a classic partner too, sweet and tart at once.

The number one mistake is overcooking. Pork cutlets are done at 145°F (63°C) internal, and because they are so thin they race past that in seconds. Pull them the moment the crust is golden and the meat just firms up.

The second mistake is a soggy crust. Crumbs go limp when the oil is not hot enough or the pan is crowded, so heat the oil properly and fry in batches. The cutlet should sizzle the instant it lands.

Substitutes

Chicken or turkey breast, pounded thin, is the natural stand-in and behaves almost identically under breading. Veal cutlets are the original schnitzel meat and the closest in texture, if pricier.

A boneless pork chop becomes a cutlet the moment you butterfly and pound it, so the two are nearly interchangeable. If a recipe calls for cutlets and you only have thin-sliced pork loin, you already have what you need.

Going the other way, when a recipe wants the chew and juiciness of a bone-in chop, a thin cutlet will not deliver it. Reach for a proper pork chop instead.

Buying and Storing Pork Cutlets

Look for pale pink, fine-grained slices with little marbling, since cutlets come from lean cuts. If you are pounding your own, a center-cut loin piece gives the cleanest, most uniform cutlet. Pre-pounded cutlets save a step but bruise easily, so handle them gently.

Raw cutlets keep two to three days in the fridge, on the shorter end because thin slices spoil faster than a thick roast. Freeze them flat with parchment between each one for up to three months; they thaw in minutes thanks to their thinness.

Bread cutlets right before they go in the pan. Coat them hours ahead and the crumbs turn gummy. Cooked, they keep three to four days, but the crust never re-crisps as well as it was fresh, so reheat in a hot oven rather than a microwave.