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Chicken Salmoriglio is breaded and pan-fried chicken cutlets topped with a simple salmoriglio sauce made with lemon, garlic, and herbs. This simple meal is fantastic!
What is Chicken Salmoriglio?
This easy and very flavorful recipe is a mash-up of our Parmesan Chicken Cutlets recipe and the fantastic Salmoriglio sauce from this grilled swordfish recipe.
We often keep some of that homemade Salmoriglio sauce on hand in the refrigerator. Not only is it delicious to serve on chicken, seafood, grilled meats, and vegetables, but it makes a great marinade too.
What is Salmoriglio Sauce Made From?
It’s a combination of lemon, fresh garlic, oregano, parsley, and seasonings.
Salmoriglio originated in the southern Italian regions of Sicily and Calabria, and it’s derived from the Italian word salamoia, which means salty or briny. This is also sometimes called a “Sicilian lemon sauce”.
Why you’ll love Chicken Salmoriglio
- The tender, juicy, and crunchy chicken cutlets get a serious boost of herbaceous flavor when topped with the lemon and garlic Salmoriglio sauce.
- This meal is easy enough for a weeknight meal, but also special enough to serve at a dinner party.
- This sauce – minus the lemon juice – makes a great marinade too.
Key Ingredients & Substitutions
- Chicken – We made our chicken cutlets from boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Buy two large breast halves and butterfly them to an even thickness, then cut into two portions each for a total of four portions. (If your chicken breasts are small, buy 4).
- Lemon – You’ll include lemon zest in the marinade. Divide the marinade in half and add lemon juice to half the marinade for the sauce. Extra lemon wedges are served on the side.
- Fresh Garlic
- Dry Oregano
- Kosher Salt & Cracked Black Pepper
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Fresh Parsley
- Breading – All-purpose flour, kosher salt, black pepper, eggs, water, and Panko breadcrumbs. (For the crispiest coating, definitely use Panko.)
- Butter – Extra butter is brushed on the chicken after it gets fried.
Special Tools Needed
- Cutting Board and Sharp Knife
- Various Measuring Spoons and Cups
- Large Sauté Pan
- Sheet Tray lined with Parchment Paper
- Small Food Processor/Mini-Chopper
- Tongs
- Small Bowl
- Whisk
- Three Pie Plates (or Shallow Bowls) – For breading the chicken.
How do I make Chicken Salmoriglio?
- Butterfly the chicken and cut into portions.
- Mix the lemon-garlic-herb mixture and use half to marinate the chicken portions.
- Add lemon juice and parsley to the other half of the lemon-garlic-herb mixture. Hold to serve as the Salmoriglio sauce.
- Bread the chicken by dipping in seasoned flour, then eggs whisked with water, then ground panko breadcrumbs.
- Fry the chicken cutlet in butter and oil in two batches just to brown.
- Place the fried chicken on a sheet tray and brush with melted butter as they come out of the sauté pan.
- Bake the chicken to finish cooking through.
- Serve chicken cutlets with the Salmoriglio over the top and with lemon wedges on the side.
Other Chicken Preparation Options
Today’s recipe serves the Salmoriglio over breaded and pan-friend chicken breasts, and we love how the sauce soaks into the crispy coating.
However, keep in mind that this sauce is also fantastic served over grilled chicken as well as oven roasted, bone-in chicken thighs or chicken breasts.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Can I make Chicken Cutlets with Salmoriglio Sauce ahead of time? The sauce can be made ahead of time, but the chicken should be cooked just before serving.
- How do I store leftovers? Store covered in the refrigerator for up to three days. We suggest keeping any extra sauce separate from the chicken cutlets.
- How do I reheat leftovers? Reheat the chicken in a warm oven to crisp back up. Allow the sauce to come back to room temperature before serving.
- Can I freeze? The cooked chicken cutlets will freeze fine, but the sauce will not.
You might like these other Chicken Recipes:
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Chicken Salmoriglio
Chicken Salmoriglio is breaded and pan-fried chicken cutlets topped with a simple salmoriglio sauce made with lemon, garlic, and herbs. This simple meal is fantastic!
Ingredients
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 10–12 ounces each)
Marinade
Zest from two lemons
1 tablespoon garlic minced very fine
1 teaspoon dry oregano
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Sauce
Half of the marinade from above
Juice from two lemons
1/4 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
Breading
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 whole eggs and 1 tablespoon water
1 1/2 cups panko breadcrumbs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
3 tablespoons butter, for frying
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, for frying
3 tablespoons additional butter, melted
Instructions
- Butterfly each breast for even thickness, then cut each butterflied breast in half to yield four pieces. Place the chicken into a quart zipper seal bag.
- Whisk all the marinade ingredients in a small bowl, then pour half of it into the bag with the chicken. Marinate at room temperature for one hour.
- Add lemon juice and parsley to the remaining marinade. Set this aside as your sauce.
- After the chicken marinates, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and line a sheet tray with a piece of parchment.
- Set up breading station by putting flour, salt, and pepper into one pie dish, and beaten eggs and water in the second.
- Place the panko into small food processor and pulse a few times to get the panko to a small grain. Try not to process too fine, just a little smaller than the size it starts at. Pour into the third pie plate and mix with the Parmesan cheese.
- Discard the marinade and one chicken cutlet at a time, cover in flour, then egg and then breadcrumbs, shaking excess at each step. Repeat for the other three pieces.
- In a large skillet or saute pan, place three tablespoons of butter and the three tablespoons of oil and heat over medium to medium high heat.
- Once the butter starts to pop and foam and is just starting to brown, add two cutlets and cook for a few minutes on each side, just to brown. (but not fully cooked yet). Transfer to the prepared sheet tray.
- Repeat for the second two cutlets then brush the melted butter liberally over the top of all four fried cutlets.
- Put the pan in the oven for five to ten minutes or until the internal temperature, when poked with a thermometer, reads 155 degrees F.
- Serve each cutlet with the Salmoriglio Sauce over the top and/or on the side, plus lemon wedges.
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Hi, I see there are other comments of the same, but the recipe is still confusing. The marinade is dry, there is no wet. Lemon zest is not wet. It cannot be “poured” into the bag of chicken. It’s awkward to pick off the lemon zest when the hour is up. Other recipes for this use olive oil in the sauce, and actually the sauce is the marinade. This sauce is basically seasoned liquid lemon juice.
Hi Jay – When we made this dish, the lemon zest from a fresh lemon and the fresh garlic resulted in a wet rub which we called the marinade. (If you are using dried lemon zest, that really isn’t going to give you the flavor that fresh will.) There is no need to pick off the lemon zest if you’ve used fresh. The sauce has olive oil added. If you prefer, you could marinate the chicken with the olive oil added, but it really doesn’t help tenderize or flavor the chicken – the lemon zest and garlic do the work – in fact the olive oil will more likely coat the chicken negating the tenderizing effect of the citrus marinade. Hope that clarifies things for you.
I have made this 3 times now. It is amazing! All my family likes it as well.
Thanks Jennifer – so glad you are enjoying the recipe!
Martha, you say the sauce is olive oil, lemon juice and herbs but no olive oil is listed in ingredients or instructions other than the 3tablespoons to fry. And you say pour the marinade off but there is only herbs and lemon zest so there is nothing to pour off. Is something missing? I am in the middle of making this for dinner tonight. Sounds delicious!
My mistake…the recipe is correct! (My post incorrectly stated that the olive oil was in the sauce.) So sorry – I’ll fix that now.
Thank you!
Sorry is it a marinade or a rub? I don’t see any liquids in the marinade to pour it on. I’m confused
I suppose it’s technically a wet rub. Sorry for the confusion.
So the wet is the zest- there is no lemon juice, correct?
Yes, that’s correct for the initial marinating step.