Breaded schnitzel with a golden-brown crumb crust on a white plate with a lemon wedge on top and a pile of golden fries beside it, on a red, green and white patterned tablecloth

Gluten-Free Schnitzel, Viennese Style

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10 minCook time
413kcal*
37 gProtein*
35 gCarbs*

*Per schnitzel, estimate. Makes 4 schnitzels.

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This gluten free schnitzel is a Viennese-style cutlet: thin pork, turkey or veal, coated in gluten-free flour, egg and gluten-free breadcrumbs, then fried in a wide pan until the crust is golden and crisp.

The cutlets are pounded flat, seasoned, breaded in three steps and fried for about 2 to 3 minutes per side in enough fat to float. Swirling the pan keeps hot fat washing over the top. It makes 4 schnitzels, about 600 g (1.3 lb) of meat in total, and takes roughly 20 minutes of prep and 10 minutes of cooking.

Serve it hot with lemon wedges and fries. Check the labels of the flour and the breadcrumbs, and fry in clean fat and a clean pan.

Wiener Schnitzel or Schnitzel Wiener Art?

Breaded, fried meat is old in Austrian cooking. A breaded fried chicken recipe appears in a Salzburg cookbook from 1719, and a veal schnitzel with Parmesan is listed in 1740. The first known use of the name Wiener Schnitzel for veal is from 1831, in a cookbook by Maria Anna Neudecker.

A popular story says Field Marshal Radetzky brought the cutlet from Milan to Vienna in 1857. Linguist Heinz Dieter Pohl showed in 2007 that the tale has no source. It first appears in an Italian food guide in 1969, and Viennese kitchens were breading and frying long before. Whether the Milanese cotoletta and the Viennese schnitzel are related is therefore not proven either way.

One more popular explanation for a golden crumb coating points to a ban on covering food with gold in Venice in 1514, but this is a story, not a proven origin.

Today the name is defined in Austria: according to the Austrian Food Codex, a Wiener Schnitzel is a veal cutlet breaded with flour, egg and breadcrumbs and fried in fat. Pork has to be called Wiener Schnitzel vom Schwein or Schnitzel Wiener Art. This recipe allows pork, turkey or veal, so this page says Wiener Art.

The technique here is the traditional one: pound thin, flour, egg, crumbs, no firm pressing, fry floating and swirl the pan. The main difference is the coating: gluten-free flour and gluten-free breadcrumbs replace the wheat crumbs, which makes the classic wheat version unsuitable for coeliacs. The fat changes too: lard in the Viennese tradition, clarified butter or sunflower oil here. It will not taste identical to a classic.

Breaded schnitzel with a golden-brown crumb crust on a white plate with a lemon wedge on top and a pile of golden fries beside it, on a red, green and white patterned tablecloth

Gluten-Free Schnitzel, Viennese Style

This gluten free schnitzel is a Viennese-style cutlet: thin pork, turkey or veal, coated in gluten-free flour, egg and gluten-free breadcrumbs, then fried in a wide pan until the crust is golden and crisp.
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Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Course Dinner, Main Course
Cuisine Austrian, German
Servings 4 schnitzels
Calories 413 kcal

Ingredients
  

  • 4 cutlets of pork, turkey or veal about 600 g (1.3 lb) in total
  • salt and freshly ground black pepper to season both sides
  • 60-80 g gluten-free flour, such as rice flour or an all-purpose gluten-free flour blend about 2 to 2.75 oz, plate 1; check the label
  • 2 eggs beaten thoroughly, plate 2
  • 100-120 g gluten-free breadcrumbs (Leimer) about 3.5 to 4.25 oz, plate 3; check the label
  • 100 g clarified butter (Butterschmalz) or sunflower oil about 3.5 oz; enough for the cutlets to float freely
  • lemon wedges fresh
  • gluten-free fries homemade or store-bought gluten-free fries

Instructions
 

  • Place the cutlets one at a time between two layers of plastic wrap. Pound them evenly flat with a meat mallet or the bottom of a heavy pot. Season both sides with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
    Four raw pink cutlets pounded flat on a dark gray cutting board, with a black meat mallet lying behind them
  • Set up three deep plates side by side: gluten-free flour on plate 1, the 2 eggs well beaten with a fork on plate 2, gluten-free breadcrumbs on plate 3.
  • Bread each seasoned cutlet in turn: turn it in the flour and tap off the excess, pull it through the egg until no dry spots show, then turn it in the breadcrumbs. Do not press the crumbs on. Turn it only gently so the coating can puff up and form waves while frying.
    Breaded raw cutlets in pale orange crumbs stacked on a white plate before frying
  • Heat the clarified butter or sunflower oil in a large, wide pan. To test the temperature, hold the handle of a wooden spoon in the hot fat: if small bubbles rise right away, the temperature is right. Slide the breaded cutlets carefully into the fat in batches. While frying, swirl the pan gently back and forth so the hot fat keeps washing over the tops. Fry about 2 to 3 minutes per side, until the coating is golden and crisp all around.
    Two breaded cutlets frying in a shallow layer of fat in a large dark pan, the crumb coating still pale at the edges
  • Lift the schnitzels out with a slotted spoon and let them drain briefly on paper towels. Serve right away, hot, with lemon wedges and fries.
    Two fried golden-brown schnitzels on paper towel next to a white bowl of lemon wedges, on a red and green patterned tablecloth

Notes

Puffed coating: bread loosely without pressing the crumbs on, and swirl the pan while frying. Steam between the meat and the coating lifts it away from the meat and makes it crisp.
Fat: clarified butter gives a fine butter flavor; sunflower oil works too if you want a neutral taste. Use enough that the cutlets float freely.
Gluten check: use gluten-free flour and breadcrumbs whose labels you have read. For people with coeliac disease, fry in fresh fat in a pan that is free of gluten, not in fat that has fried breaded foods before.
Food safety (general guidance): pork cutlets should reach 63 degrees C (145 degrees F) with a 3-minute rest, and turkey or other poultry 74 degrees C (165 degrees F), measured with a food thermometer in the thickest part. The source gives no core temperature, only 2 to 3 minutes per side. Thin, pounded cutlets cook quickly, but check yours.
Sides: homemade fries or quick gluten-free oven fries. Fresh lemon wedges go on the plate.
Nutrition values are an estimate based on the ingredient list, not a lab analysis. The frying fat is not included because the amount that stays on the cutlets is unknown.
The photos show the schnitzels as they came out of the owner’s pan, served with fries and lemon on a white plate.
Keyword gluten free breaded cutlet, gluten free pork schnitzel, gluten free schnitzel, gluten free turkey schnitzel, schnitzel wiener art

Questions about gluten free schnitzel

Why must the breadcrumbs not be pressed on?

Turn the cutlet gently in the crumbs and do not press them down. The loose coating can puff up in the hot fat and form waves, which is what makes it crisp.

Which fat can I fry gluten free schnitzel in?

The source uses about 100 g (3.5 oz) of clarified butter (Butterschmalz) for a fine butter flavor, or sunflower oil for a neutral result. Use enough fat that the cutlets can float freely.

Can I call it Wiener Schnitzel?

Pork, turkey or chicken cutlets are sold as schnitzel, but in Austria only veal may be called Wiener Schnitzel. The Austrian Food Codex names pork Wiener Schnitzel vom Schwein or Schnitzel Wiener Art; this recipe also allows turkey, so it is titled Wiener Art.