Chicken Schnitzel & German Potato Salad

Chicken Schnitzel is one of the most favorite dinners in our home. Or maybe I should say schnitzel in general… Whether it’s made from pork, veal or chicken, it always goes really fast! No wonder though, the crispy breading on the outside and juicy and tender meat on the inside… It’s easy to fall in love with this dish.

Whatever schnitzel type you decide to prepare, it goes well with a range of sides. Rice, mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, fries… but if you want to stay true to its origins, potato salad should be the side of choice.

In this blog post, I’m going to show you how to prepare a chicken schnitzel with a more or less authentic German style potato salad. The salad is a bit acidic in taste and pairs really nicely with the juicy chicken. You will need about 1 hour from start to finish and the process is really simple to follow. Now let’s start cooking.

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Chicken Schnitzel & Salad Ingredients:

For the schnitzel:

3 chicken breasts
2 eggs
½ cup of all purpose flour
1 cup of breadcrumbs of choice
Salt & pepper to taste
Oil for frying

For the salad:

4-5 potatoes (roughly 1 pound or 0.5kg)
1 onion yellow, white or red
3-4 pickles
120ml (half a cup) of beef or chicken broth
1-2 tablespoons of Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 tablespoon of white wine vinegar
2 teaspoons of sugar
Parsley
Salt & pepper to taste

How to make Chicken Schnitzel & Potato Salad

Watch the video or read on for detailed instructions:

Let’s start with the potatoes as they need some time to cook. Wash your potatoes, keep the skin on and cook them in salted water for about 20 minutes.

In the meantime, we can prepare the rest of our salad ingredients. An onion comes first and we need to chop it finely.

TIP: I love onions, so I’m using a large one. But if you have never had this salad before, I’d recommend cutting the amount of onions by half. For this German potato salad, you can use any type of onion… yellow, white, red or even shallots.

Pickles come next. Three or four small pieces should be enough and again no magic here. Just chop them finely with a sharp knife. Some people prefer larger pieces but I always go for a fine cut.

A German style salad always comes with some herbs. The most popular choices are either parsley or chives. As you can see, I’m using parsley today. Finely chopped works the best but you can also tear it by hand. You can save some parsley for laters to garnish the finished chicken schnitzel with.

Next comes beef broth, sugar, white wine vinegar, oil and Dijon mustard. Now mix everything together and our salad dressing or sauce is almost ready.

TIP: We all have our preferences when it comes to acidity so adjust the amount of vinegar and Dijon mustard to your own taste. 1 tablespoon of vinegar and 2 tablespoons of mustard should be just about right, but feel free to add more or less.

Let’s not forget about a generous amount of salt and black pepper. Mix it up again and we can go back to the potatoes that should be ready and cooked by now.

Use a fork to test, once it slides in easily, the potatoes are ready. Rinse the potatoes with cold water to make them cool enough to handle and proceed with removing the skin. Use a small knife to do this, it should go easily.

Slice the potatoes thinly and don’t worry if they break up a little bit. This can happen when you overcook them, but it doesn’t really affect the final taste at all.

TIP: Waxy potato types work the best for a salad as they hold their shape the best when cooked. Yukon Gold is a great choice. But feel free to use any type, just expect them to break up a little bit, when cooked.

The last thing to do is to mix the potato slices with the dressing and our potato salad is ready. Use two tablespoons and go gently at it so you don’t break the potatoes too much. Set the salad aside and let’s move to the next step.

I like to make really large chicken schnitzels so I’m about to butterfly the breasts to make them bigger. Cut through the thicker side, but not all the way through. Now open the breast up, cover it with foil and use a meat mallet to pound it lightly to reach an even thickness. Give it a few hits from both sides and repeat the process with all the breasts you have prepared.

For the seasonings, I’m keeping it really simple and using just a nice amount of salt and freshly cracked black pepper. And for the best results, always season the meat from both sides.

Let’s work on the breading now. Break 2 eggs, season with salt and pepper and beat them properly with a fork. We will also need some flour, all purpose works fine. And breadcrumbs of course. I’m using plain, but you can use panko or Italian crumbs too.

I’m sure you know the breading process by now, but let’s go over it again. Start by coating the chicken with flour. Make sure every part of the meat is covered or the breading won’t stick properly.

Next come the beaten eggs and again, every part of the chicken breast has to be properly covered with it. I always flip the meat twice to make sure I have a solid layer.

And now the breadcrumbs. As you can see, I’m using a baking dish for this final step. It makes the breading so much easier, all you have to do is shake it a bit and the crumbs nicely cover the whole piece. Press the breadcrumbs down with your hand and feel free to flip your chicken a few times to make sure the breading is nice and solid. Once all the breasts are breaded, our chicken schnitzels are ready to fry.

My schnitzels are large so I need to fry one at a time. I’m using canola oil, but feel free to use your favorite frying type. Set the heat to medium high and use about half an inch of oil. Each side takes about 5 to 7 minutes but always watch the color. Once it becomes golden brown, it’s time to flip.

When plating this dish, I start with the potato salad and place the chicken schnitzel on top of it. You can add some more chopped parsley or chives… some people also add a slice of lemon or two, but that’s optional.

And that’s it for today! Please let me know how you liked this recipe in the comments below. See you next week.

Optional tips:

• As mentioned at the beginning, you can use different meat types for this recipe. Veal is the most traditional meat to use, but pork or even beef works too.
• This chicken schnitzel tastes great even when cold or reheated. I always make a ton of them in one go. Same goes for the salad, you can serve it both warm and cold.
• When refrigerated, the chicken stays good for 2-3 days and again, same goes for the salad.
• I know people who freeze cooked schnitzels, but the breading does become a bit soggy when thawing, so I’m not a fan of this.
• For the BEST results, only fry as many pieces as you can eat in one go. Store the rest of the breaded ones in the fridge. Once ready to fry, quickly dip them in breadcrumbs again and fry immediately.