Living in Northeast Wisconsin, I've always had a soft spot for German cuisine. Sure, it will never be as popular as pizza, tacos, or burgers, but you are really doing your taste buds a disservice if you haven't make an effort to get acquainted with the forerunner of chicken-fried steak. Wiener schnitzel is made of veal, though pork cuts are often substituted, however then it is technically "Schnitzel Wiener Art". Either are equally tantalizing, and highly recommended.
Wiener schnitzel is traditionally served with a lemon slice for flavoring, but I am a condiment junky and have long been convinced everything tastes better with sauce. In my opinion french fries are just serving utensils to eat ketchup. As such, wiener schnitzel can be made infinitely more delectable by pairing it with a brightly flavored sauce. A lemon dill sauce highlights the traditional lemon flavor often paired with schnitzel, but also adds the poignant flavor of dill weed.
The only side dish I recommend pairing this meal with is homemade spaetzle. Spaetzle is a traditional German pasta dumpling made from eggs, milk, and flour and is the perfect hearty accompaniment for pretty much any German entree. Spaetzle is not only perfect for sopping up any extra lemon dill sauce, it is much easier to make than traditional pasta. Check out my homemade spaetzle recipe to get it ready for your next meal!
Whenever I pan fry I reach for my cast iron skillet. The thick, heavy-bottomed, pan has unsurpassed heat retention which makes it ideal for holding hot oil at temperature. Every kitchen needs a good, inexpensive, cast iron skillet, and I highly recommend the Lodge brand as the only currently produced cast iron brand I would recommend.
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Note on the images: Schnitzel is a thin piece of meat that is pounded flat with a meat mallet. I realized after editing my photos the meat in my photo looks considerably thicker than it really was. Please do not use the photo as a visual guide for thickness, my schnitzel appears to be thicker than it really was because the near edge of the meat curled slightly during cooking when the fat band around it began to retract.
Wiener Schnitzel with Lemon Dill Sauce
Ingredients
- 4 veal cutlets pounded ¼_inch thick
- Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 3 eggs
- 2 cups plain dried breadcrumbs
- Cook Oil
- 1 lemon divided
Sauce
- 15 oz can Chicken Broth
- 2 tablespoon flour
- 8 oz sour cream
- ½ teaspoon dill weed
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
Instructions
- Setting up a dredging station of 1 large bowl of flour, 1 large bowl of beaten eggs, and one large bowl of breadcrumbs.
- Heat a skillet on medium heat and add enough oil to coat the bottom completely. (Oil temperature should be ~380 degrees)
- Sprinkle meat lightly with salt and pepper then proceed to dip in flour mixture, shake off the excess then dip in beaten eggs, let eggs drain off then coat completely in breadcrumbs.
- Place the schnitzel in the hot oil and turn once the bottom has browned.
- The meat inside will cook quickly, so you can tell it is done once bowl sides are brown.
Sauce
- Before you start cooking the meat add flour to a small sauce pan and proceed to add a couple tablespoons of broth.
- Stir to combine, ensuring all lumps are gone.
- Add remaining broth and let liquid reduce while boiling.
- Add sour cream, lemon juice, and dill weed once the liquid has begun to reduce and stir to combine.
- Set heat on low to keep warm once thicken, but let it simmer if the sauce is thin.
- Serve schnitzel topped with sauce, garnished with a lemon wedge.
Notes
Sauce can be thickened with ½ teaspoon of corn starch if you are in a hurry, or it is too thin.
Nutritional Information
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Christoph
Clever sauce. As Wiener Schnitzel traditionally is served with lemon and cucumber salad which contains dill, this makes perfect sense.
Suzanne Mason
Delighted with the dill sauce-look forward to future posts
Kat
Came here after googling a sauce to go with wiener schnitzel, as I'm concerned it'll be too dry with just the lemon slice. Your recipe makes sense, combining the traditional elements!
Feeling a bit nitpicky though, and must point out that wiener schnitzel is not German, it's the national dish of Austria 🙂 (Hence then name "Viennese cutlet".) There may be a lot of similarities, but we Europeans are quite particular about these things 🙂
Platter Talk
We've never made winer schnitzel but have enjoyed it many times. Your version looks wonderfully good; the lemon-dill addition is brilliant!
Fox Valley Foodie
Initially I was planning just to do a dill sauce, but when I tasted it it just seem to be crying out for lemon. It really ended up making the dish!