Cooking: Oven-Baked Chicken Cutlet

I got tired of pan-frying chicken cutlets every morning, so I decided to try baking them in the oven.

The tricky part with oven-baked chicken cutlets is keeping them from turning dry and stringy. We want them juicy. After a few attempts, it turned out pretty well.

First, thaw the chicken. Boneless chicken cutlets or chicken breast work best.

Use your hand to flatten the chicken, basically pounding it out, then add salt, black pepper, soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, bird’s eye chili, and bay leaves, and start marinating. If you don’t like spicy food, you can leave out the chili.

About 1 hour of marinating is enough. You can also cover it with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge, doesn’t really matter.

After taking it out, preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F), wrap the chicken cutlets in foil, put them in the oven for 20 minutes. After taking them out, don’t open the foil—let the residual heat keep cooking them. Wait 5 minutes and they’re ready to eat.

Overall, this chicken cutlet is very tender and juicy, and it doesn’t take long—about half an hour. Start baking when you get up in the morning, and by the time you’re done washing up, it’s about ready to eat.