Veal cutlets substitutes

The most common substitute in American kitchens and a genuinely good one. Slice a breast horizontally into two thin fillets, then pound to a quarter inch between sheets of plastic. Chicken is slightly sweeter and softer-grained than veal and browns a touch faster, and it holds sauce just as well, so chicken piccata and chicken marsala taste like the dish they are imitating. The one loss is veal's very fine, almost silky bite: chicken reads as more fibrous, and it dries out if you take it past 165F.

Best for

piccata, marsala, parmigiana, milanese, breaded cutlets

Two to three minutes a side is plenty. Pull it the moment it is opaque through.

Closer to veal than chicken is, because turkey breast is denser and less sweet, so a breaded turkey schnitzel has more of veal's firm, clean, meaty character. It is also often sold pre-sliced as cutlets, which saves you the pounding. Turkey is even leaner than chicken, so it punishes overcooking harder: get the pan properly hot, cook two minutes a side, and finish with butter or sauce rather than extra time in the pan.

Best for

schnitzel, cordon bleu, piccata, budget cooking, large batches

The best-value swap by a clear margin, and widely available around the holidays.

Historically the everyday schnitzel meat across Central Europe, and the closest substitute in texture because pork loin has the same close, fine grain veal does. It is sweeter and slightly more assertive than veal, with a faint pork richness that suits a breaded, lemon-squeezed cutlet extremely well and sits a little oddly under a delicate lemon-caper piccata sauce. Cook to 145F, roughly three minutes a side for a quarter-inch cutlet.

Best for

schnitzel, breaded cutlets with lemon, milanese, cordon bleu

In Austria and Germany this is sold plainly as Schweineschnitzel and is the default, not a compromise.

Veal is young beef, so beef is the same meat grown up: deeper, more mineral, unmistakably beefy where veal is nearly neutral. The problem is toughness, since round has far more developed connective tissue. Pound it thinner than you would veal, to about an eighth of an inch, and cook it fast and hot for 90 seconds a side. A beef milanese made this way is very good; a beef piccata tastes heavy, because the strong meat flavour fights the lemon and capers.

Best for

milanese, breaded and fried cutlets, beef schnitzel, kosher and halal cooking

Ask the butcher to run it through the tenderiser if you can. It makes a large difference.

The best vegetarian option and the traditional one in Southern Italy, where eggplant parmigiana predates the veal version in most home kitchens. Cut lengthwise half-inch planks, salt them for 30 minutes and blot dry, then bread and fry exactly as you would a cutlet. The texture is soft and creamy rather than meaty, and the flavour is mildly sweet and vegetal, which under tomato and mozzarella is a real strength. It will not hold up to a thin pan sauce, so use it for parmigiana rather than piccata.

Best for

parmigiana, vegetarian breaded cutlets, baked casseroles

Salting first is not optional. Unsalted eggplant soaks up an alarming amount of oil.

Press extra-firm tofu for 20 minutes, cut it into half-inch slabs, then flour, egg-wash and crumb it like a schnitzel. Seitan is chewier and closer to meat. Both are neutral in flavour, which is actually true to veal, but they are much softer or much bouncier respectively, so the eating experience differs. Season the coating firmly with salt, pepper and grated parmesan, since neither carries much flavour of its own.

Best for

vegan and vegetarian schnitzel, parmigiana, sandwiches

Use a dairy-free egg wash of plant milk plus a spoon of cornstarch if you need it fully vegan.