Crispy Oven Baked Panko Chicken

This Crispy Oven Baked Panko Chicken is the best way to make crispy chicken cutlets without any frying! Toast your panko breadcrumbs and prep a batch of baked panko chicken and use for salads, sandwiches and wraps.

Two things make this work, and both go against what most recipes tell you: toast the panko in a skillet before it ever touches the chicken, and bake it directly on a bare sheet pan instead of a wire rack. Those two tips are the reason this recipe gets rave reviews from the people who have made it!

Why You’ll Love this recipe

• So versatile! – There are so many ways to enjoy this crispy chicken! This crispy baked panko chicken is a blank canvas on which you can make incredible recipes. Use it for chicken parmesan, salads, sandwiches, wraps and paninis.
• Crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside – This is the best way to make crispy baked chicken on a busy night because you don’t need to use any messy frying oil to get a crispy crust on the outside of the chicken.
• Great for meal prep – This panko chicken recipe can be the blank canvas that you use to build your meal. It is great for meal prep and I especially love having leftovers to use in salads and wraps.

Wire Rack, Bare Sheet or Parchment? I Tested All Three

Most people recommend using a wire rack to get the chicken nice and crispy in the oven, but I tested using a parchment lined baking sheet vs. a wire rack vs. just the bare baking sheet and turns out the bare baking sheet with a flip halfway through resulted in the juiciest chicken with the crispiest breading.

The breading on the parchment lined sheet was too moist. It sort of steamed instead of crisping. The breading on the wire rack almost always somehow got stuck or flaked off on the wire rack. I also thought the chicken got easily dried out on the rack. When I greased a sheet pan and baked the chicken directly on it, it got nice and evenly crisped on the outside and the chicken stayed moist and juicy on the insde.

Ingredients You’ll Need

Here’s a quick look at the simple ingredients you’ll need to make delicious and crispy panko chicken. You can find the full amounts in the recipe card.

• Boneless skinless chicken breast – cut chicken breasts in half and pound out lightly for even thickness.
• Panko bread crumbs – panko crumbs are essential for a crispy crust. Using regular breadcrumbs will result in a thinner crust that isn’t as crispy.
• Olive oil – use extra virgin olive oil to toast the bread crumbs before breading the chicken. You can also use a couple tablespoons of butter for an even richer flavor.
• Parmesan cheese – freshly grated parmesan cheese gets mixed with the panko breadcrumbs to add extra flavor.
• Egg – make an egg wash out of a whisked egg and some olive oil. If you are allergic to eggs you can use whole milk whisked with oil in place of the oil and egg mixture. To make an extra tender juicy chicken, add a splash of pickle juice to the milk.
• All purpose flour – seasoned flour is the first step in the breading process.
• Salt, black pepper, garlic powder, and smoked paprika – add a few teaspoons of seasoning to both the flour and the panko breading mixture to infuse flavor into the entire breading process.

You can easily make this baked panko chicken gluten free by using a 1:1 gluten free flour mix in place of the all purpose flour. You can also use a gluten free panko mixture that is available at many stores.

If you love panko crusted chicken, then you should also try this shake and bake pork chop recipe.

How to make Oven Baked Panko Chicken

Step 1: Toast the panko breadcrumbs until crispy. Cut the chicken breasts into fillets with a sharp knife and pound thin under a piece of plastic wrap with a meat mallet.

Step 2: Prepare breading station with seasoned flour, egg mixture, and panko with parmesan cheese.

Step 3: Bread chicken cutlets by dipping in flour, then egg and finally the panko mixture. Shake off any excess panko.

Step 4: Place breaded panko chicken on a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake in the oven at 425F on an unlined baking sheet for 10 minutes, flip and cook for another 4-5 minutes or until the chicken internal temperature reaches 165F. Use an instant-read thermometer to check that internal temperature because that is the best test of doneness.

Ways to Use Oven Baked Panko Chicken

I make a batch of these on purpose, not just for dinner. A tray of crispy cutlets in the fridge is the most useful thing I can have on a Monday, and here’s how it actually gets eaten at our house:

• Dinner the night you make it – Serve the cutlets whole, straight off the pan while the coating is at its crispiest, with something to dunk them in. Creamy honey mustard is the house favorite and this homemade spicy mayo takes about a minute to stir together. For sides, this is a chicken-and-fries situation as far as I’m concerned — air fryer french fries cook while the chicken bakes.
• Make it a sandwich – A panko cutlet is already the right shape for a sandwich. Pile it on a soft roll with mozzarella, tomato and basil the way I do in my chicken caprese sandwich, or keep it simple with lettuce, pickles and a swipe of ranch. If you’re the kind of person who bakes bread, my super soft sandwich bread is exactly right for this.
• Slice it over a salad – This is what I do with leftovers most often. Slice a cutlet across into strips and lay it over a lemon kale caesar salad — the crunchy coating does the job croutons would. It also works over a chicken caesar pasta salad or a chicken bacon ranch pasta salad if you want something that keeps for a few days of lunches.
• Turn it into chicken parmesan – The breading already has parmesan in it, so you’re most of the way there. Lay the baked cutlets in a baking dish, spoon marinara over the middle of each one — leave the edges bare so they stay crisp — top with shredded mozzarella, and broil for 2 to 3 minutes until the cheese is bubbling and spotted brown. Serve it over pasta. This is the best thing to do with cutlets on day two, because the sauce makes a slightly-less-crispy coating irrelevant.

Looking for more dinners like this? These cutlets are 46 grams of protein per serving, and my 30 high protein dinner recipes roundup has thirty more that clear 30 grams.

Storage, reheating and freezing

Allow chicken to cool completely and then store leftover panko chicken in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.You can enjoy the chicken cold from the fridge or reheat in the oven or air fryer until warmed through.

I prefer to use the air fryer at 350F for 5ish minutes to keep the chicken crispy.

You can freeze these panko chicken in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Freeze as soon as it is cooked and cooled to ensure best quality.Defrost it in the fridge and then warm in the oven or air fryer.

If you’re looking for a delicious oven baked recipe thats also vegetarian, try this marinated baked tofu.

Photos were taken by Elly from The Powdered Apron.