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 and had all of the same flavors we love.
On the healthy scale? Not so much, but I’m a sucker for anything lemon.
This recipe for crispy Chicken Costoletta looks a little intimidating with a lot of ingredients, but it really isn’t any more difficult than breading and frying chicken cutlets.
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. ~Enjoy!
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Ingredients
For the Chicken
- 8 - (2-ounce) chicken tenderloins
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
- zest from 1 lemon
- 1/4 cup grated pecorino romano cheese
- 1/4 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
- 1/4 cup milk
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
- 1/4 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.
Notes
*Calculations based on ingredients entered into Calorie Count and may not be 100% accurate.
Nutrition
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Carrie: This looks wonderful. I have been to the Cheesecake factory and have never tried it. I will try yours soon. Thanks for sharing! M..J.
HI MJ thank you so much! It’s so simple which is why we love it. Enjoy!
Dear Carrie,
My boyfriend is such a big fan of this dish. He ordered the chicken costoletta his first time at the CheeseCake Factory and has never ordered anything new since. I hope he enjoys the homemade one as much as the cheesecake factory dish. Lol!
Thank you for sharing your recipe. I am grateful (:
Hi Layla,
My oldest daughter and I always get this dish as well. The portion is large enough for the both of us, but we each get our own so we have leftovers. This is a pretty good copycat to the original and we loved it. I hope your boyfriend does as well! 🙂
Hi Carrie,
Is there enough sauce to serve this over pasta or should I double the sauce part of the recipe?
Thanks!
Leigh
Hi Leigh, I would make extra. The sauce soaks into chicken and doesn’t leave a lot extra for pasta. Enjoy!
YUMMY!!!! This was delicious!!! I made it today and it tasted just as good if not better than Cheesecake Factory’s! Thank you so much for sharing!
Thank you for stopping back to let me know Salena, I really appreciate it and I’m so glad you enjoyed it. We loved it too!
OMG!!! I just made this tonight for Sunday dinner and it was AMAZING!! Thank you Carrie! This is my favorite meal at Cheesecake Factory and now I can make it at home 🙂
I’m so glad you liked it Holly! It’s one of our favorites as well.
We LOVE this dish @ Cheesecake Factory. At the last min I tried your recipe for the sauce….OMG, its amazing!! To us it is a perfect match for the real thing, color, consistency and TASTE! Super easy to make. Trying the entire recipe tonight for his birthday, at his request! Ty soo much!
You’re very welcome Sandy! We love it too and thought it was a close 2nd to the real thing. Happy Birthday and I hope he enjoys the meal!
Do you think you could make the sauce ahead of time?
Absolutely!
Well.. it looks odd…. but whenever me and my wife get to US… guess what… we look for the cheesecake factory…. and this dish…. gonna try tonight!
I hope you enjoy it!
Forget breadcrumbs! Use Panko, which is what is used at the Cheesecake Factory to create the extra crispiness.
Hi Lois, thanks for the tip but I did use Panko Breadcrumbs in recipe. They really do make a difference!
Delicious, everyone loved it, I made it with Chipotle copycat cilantro lime rice and oven roasted asparagus.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Holli and that rice sounds amazing!
Tasted good, definitely just needed a touch of salt and maybe pepper. Great recipe and method! Thanks!!
Thanks Zach, it absolutely needs salt. I salt everything, probably too much, so I don’t cook with it and always suggest to add your own according to your own tastes. I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Can’t wait to make this for the second time! Tastes pretty close to the real thing. DELICIOUS
Thank you Hanh, I’m so glad you enjoy it!
Made this last night and YUMMY! This is my favorite dish at Cheesecake so I paired with sauteed asparagus and homemade red scalloped potatoes. The bf really liked it especially the sauce. Thanks!
I’m so glad you liked it Caissa, thanks for trying the recipe!
I make this dish at least twice a month. It is always good. The variations I’ve tried were to use 1 cup of heavy cream and I usually double the amount of garlic and lemon juice. But over all an amazing recipe.
Thank you and I’m so glad you enjoy the recipe!
My boyfriend loved! He loves ordering this so of course I had to try to make it from home! Thank you for this recipe! It was a hit!
You’re welcome! I’m so glad you liked the recipe!
Just made this recipe and I love it !!
Reading the comments prior to cooking I did increase the heavy cream to 1 cup.
My husband said this should be my signature dish !! I’m Italian and also cook from scratch.
I’ve just sent this link to my friends and family members who also enjoy cooking.
I cannot wait to try more of your recipes !!
So happy I found your site.
Unbelievable recipes.
Thank you
I’m so glad you found us and liked the recipe! Thanks for stopping back to let us know Teresa!
Thank you so much for your recipe! I’ve made this twice already and I’ve gotten better at preparing it every time. My boyfriend loves it from Cheesecake Factory so he loves when I make it from home now! He even helps prepare it too! Loved!!!
You’re welcome Carmelita! I’m so glad you like it!
What a wonderful recipe! I loved this at the restaurant, but I loved this more with your recipe. Next time, I will add lemon zest on top of the lemony sauce over chicken for garnishment. It would be so pretty and fancy. Thank you Carrie! This would be a great dinner to serve our guests.
I’m so glad you liked the recipe Terri, thanks so much for giving it a try!