Enjoy one of your favorite restaurant meals at home with this copycat version of The Cheesecake Factory's Chicken Costoletta. Boneless chicken lightly breaded in a Panko and lemon crust, fried; then topped with a lemony cream sauce.
We don't dine often at the Cheesecake Factory, usually once or maybe twice a year. But whenever we do, my daughter and I always get the same thing: Chicken Costoletta; which is basically a chicken cutlet with a creamy lemon sauce.
I think she's a lot like me in the sense that we don't like to have a lot of choices. Give me 3-5 things to choose from and I'll pick one. Give me 100, I go for the simplest thing I can find.
If you've never been to their restaurant, their menu is huge with a lot of different varieties of food to choose from. Each time we go, we'll spend some time looking at the menu and then always wind up getting the same thing we normally do.
My daughter and I always say that we're going to split one entree, but we always wind up ordering our own so that we can have leftovers.
So recently I decided to surprise her for dinner one night and make our favorite Cheesecake Factory dish at home. This recipe for Chicken Costoletta was definitely a close second to the original.
It has all of the same flavors we love. On the healthy scale? Not so much, but I'm a sucker for anything lemon.
Ingredients needed
For this recipe you'll need:
- chicken tenderloins
- all purpose flour
- eggs
- panko breadcrumbs
- lemon
- grated Pecorino Romano cheese
- extra virgin olive oil
- butter
And for the sauce you'll need:
- extra virgin olive oil
- all purpose flour
- minced garlic
- milk
- heavy cream
- chicken broth
- lemon juice
- butter
How do you make Chicken Costoletta?
Using a meat mallet, flatten the tenderloins so that they are even in thickness. Gather three bowls. Place the flour in one, the eggs in the second; then whisk them with a fork.
In the third bowl, combine the breadcrumbs, lemon zest and cheese. Coat each piece of chicken first in the flour, then the eggs, and then the breadcrumb mixture.
Heat a large nonstick saute pan over medium heat and add the oil and butter. Once melted and hot, add the chicken to the pan and fry on both sides until cooked through; approximately 3-5 minutes per side depending on the thickness.
You may need to do this in two batches. Remove chicken from the pan and drain on paper towels to absorb any excess oil. Set aside and make the sauce.
Start by melting the oil in a medium saucepan over low-medium heat and add the garlic. Saute 1-2 minutes then whisk in the flour. Whisk in the milk, heavy cream, chicken stock and lemon juice and bring to a boil over medium-high heat until the sauce has thickened; approximately 3-5 minutes.
Next, stir in the butter and pour desired amount of sauce over the chicken. Most of the ingredients I already had on hand in my pantry except for the heavy cream; which I usually don't purchase unless I know I'll be making a recipe that calls for it.
If you want to lighten this up a bit, I'm sure fat free half and half would work just as well. My family really loves this crispy Cheesecake Factory Chicken Costoletta recipe, I hope yours does too.
Serving Suggestions
The Cheesecake Factory usually serves this with asparagus and mashed potatoes, but you can sub out any other vegetable like green beans or spinach.
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More Copycat Recipes
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- Rigatoni Martino {Carrabba's Copycat}
- Tuscan Chicken (The Cheesecake Factory)
- Bleu Cheese Pecan Chopped Salad (Outback Steakhouse Copycat)
- Santorini Farro Salad (The Cheesecake Factory Copycat)
Visit the recipe index to search for more recipes by category.
Chicken Costoletta (Cheesecake Factory Copycat)
Ingredients
For the Chicken
- 8 - (2-ounce) chicken tenderloins
- ½ cup all purpose flour
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
- zest from 1 lemon
- ¼ cup grated pecorino romano cheese
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons butter
For the Sauce
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- ¼ cup milk
- ¾ cup heavy cream
- ¼ cup chicken broth
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon butter
Instructions
For the Chicken
- Using a meat mallet, flatten the tenderloins so that they are even in thickness.
- Gather three bowls. In one, place the flour. In the second, add the eggs and whisk them with a fork. In the third, combine the breadcrumbs, lemon zest and cheese.
- Coat each piece of chicken first in the flour, then the eggs, and then the breadcrumb mixture.
- Heat a large nonstick saute pan over medium heat and add the oil and butter. Once melted and hot, add the chicken to the pan and fry on both sides until cooked through; approximately 3-5 minutes per side depending on the thickness. You may need to do this in two batches.
- Remove chicken from the pan and drain on paper towels to absorb any excess oil. Set aside.
For the Sauce
- Melt the oil in a medium saucepan over low-medium heat and add the garlic.
- Saute 1-2 minutes then whisk in the flour.
- Whisk in the milk, heavy cream, chicken stock and lemon juice and bring to a boil over medium-high heat until the sauce has thickened; approximately 3-5 minutes.
- Next, stir in the butter and pour desired amount of sauce over the chicken.
Nutrition
Laurel (Chef Potpie) says
What an awesome recipe! Easy to prepare and restaurant quality. While I fried the chicken I made the sauce, replacing the chicken broth with white wine and added it with the flour. I tripled the sauce and we had it on the chicken with linguine. Delicious! This is going into my "best" file. Thank you for sharing!
Carrie's Experimental Kitchen says
It's one of our favorites as well, I'm so glad you enjoyed the recipe!