Name: Quick and Crunchy Chicken Cutlets
Total time: PLACEHOLDER
Ingredients: 2 (5-ounce) boxes Melba toast , broken into rough pieces; 1 teaspoon table salt; 1 teaspoon garlic powder; 1 teaspoon onion powder; 1 teaspoon paprika; 1 teaspoon dried thyme; 1/2 teaspoon sugar; 10 tablespoons mayonnaise; 6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts , pounded to an even thickness at each end

Why This Recipe Works

Bread crumb-coated chicken recipes are weeknight staples in many households, but they may not turn out as good as they could. For a recipe that produced quick and crunchy chicken cutlets, we used Melba toast crushed into small pieces and seasoned. Mayonnaise acted as a “glue" to keep the bread crumb mixture stuck to the chicken, and cooking the Quick and Crunchy Chicken Cutlets in a hot oven crisped the crumbs and cooked the meat quickly enough to keep it moist and juicy.

Instructions

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Place Melba toast pieces, salt, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, thyme, and sugar in heavy-duty zipper-lock freezer bag. Seal bag and pound with heavy blunt object (such as a rolling pin) until Melba toasts are crushed but still have some crumbs the size of small pebbles. Add 4 tablespoons mayonnaise to bag and work mayonnaise evenly into crumb mixture by gently squeezing outside of bag. Transfer Melba crumb mixture to large plate.

Using your fingers, coat 1 chicken cutlet with 1 tablespoon mayonnaise. Transfer to plate with Melba crumbs, sprinkle top of cutlet with some Melba mixture, and press down firmly on cutlet to adhere crumbs. Flip chicken and repeat, making sure that thick layer of crumbs coats both sides and edges. Transfer breaded chicken to baking rack set over rimmed baking sheet. Repeat with remaining chicken.

Bake chicken until an instant-read thermometer inserted into center of cutlet registers 165 degrees, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from oven and let rest on rack for 5 to 10 minutes. Serve immediately.