Frozen cutlets: how to fry semi-finished products?
The counters of almost all stores, from hypermarkets to small meat stalls, offer a very large assortment of frozen meat products to choose from at a very reasonable price. Among it there are also semi-finished products, on the packaging of which it is written in detail how to fry frozen cutlets. The main thing is to make sure when purchasing that the product is not expired, and you also need to study the composition of the ingredients.
You need to purchase a product with a high percentage of meat. If ready-made frozen semi-finished meat products are just included in the diet, then there is no experience in preparing them yet. Cutlets are one of the most frequently purchased semi-finished products. How to cook frozen cutlets? There are several options.
⏲ How many minutes to bake cutlets in the oven
Table 2. How long does it take to cook cutlets in the oven.
Type of cutlets
Baking time
Baking times indicated in recipes are approximate. You need to control the degree of readiness yourself. Open the oven, take a match (a splinter, a toothpick) and pierce the cutlet right through, from top to bottom.
If the match is wet but clean, the product is ready. If a reddish blood coating is visible on the wood, close the cabinet and continue baking.
You can simply separate a piece of cutlet with a fork, examine and taste it.
For more information on how to tell when the cutlets are ready, see the previous article!
How to cook cutlets in a slow cooker?
In addition to the usual method of frying frozen cutlets, they can also be cooked in a slow cooker. Steaming is the healthiest method for human health. They retain all useful components. Such semi-finished products can be consumed by both children and those who cannot eat fried foods for health reasons. How to fry frozen cutlets in a slow cooker?
Quite simple. First, heat up the multicooker, set the “Frying” mode, pour in olive oil, wait a little and place the frozen product in it. Fry for about six to seven minutes until golden brown on both sides. Next you need to make the tomato sauce.
Pour boiling water over two or three medium-sized tomatoes and remove the skin, remove the core and mash with a blender. Add half a teaspoon of salt, two cloves of garlic, one medium onion to the tomatoes, pepper and blend with a blender until smooth. Pour the prepared tomato sauce over the cutlets. The sauce should almost completely cover the cutlets. Close the lid and simmer for another thirty minutes. Cutlets prepared in this way are soft, juicy and very tasty. When serving, garnish with chopped fresh parsley or any other to your taste.
How to cook delicious cutlets in the oven
Before cooking frozen cutlets, you need to defrost them at least a little. Next you need to do the following:
- Preheat the oven to at least 150 degrees.
- Place the cutlets in a preheated oven in a special non-stick container with Teflon coating.
- Bake for about forty minutes, checking periodically for doneness.
- Serve hot with a side dish of boiled potatoes, boiled pasta or fresh vegetable salad. You can also serve rice or buckwheat as a side dish.
This method is convenient due to the speed of preparation, but is inconvenient because you will have to make some kind of side dish for the cutlets. Therefore, it is best not to just bake semi-finished meat products in the oven, but to prepare a hearty, tasty, high-calorie casserole. To do this, you need to grease a non-stick Teflon-coated mold with a thin layer of vegetable oil, place thin slices of half-cooked potatoes in this mold, and place a layer of cutlets on the potatoes.
Next, the potatoes are placed again. Each layer is salted, sprinkled with spices, onions and garlic rubbed through a press. The top of the casserole is poured with mayonnaise or thick cream. You can also add boiled mushrooms, young green beans, sliced zucchini or eggplant between the layers of potatoes and meat.
The dish is baked for about 50 minutes, then generously sprinkled with grated cheese; you can also decorate the casserole with tomato slices. After this, the dish is baked again for ten to fifteen minutes so that the cheese melts and tightly holds all the ingredients together. The hot, juicy casserole is cut into portions and served. This dish of frozen minced meat and potatoes is very popular in France and is called “gratin”, that is, “casserole”.
All products for casserole must be cut into a thin layer. If you place thick slices of potatoes on top of frozen cutlets, the cutlets may not cook completely.
You need to heat the oven to 150-180 degrees, but no more, otherwise the cutlets will quickly burn before they have time to fry. Ready-made semi-finished meat products should be soft, but not fall apart. The color of the ground meat should change from bright red to dark brown. Properly cooked cutlets have a delicate taste and a pronounced meat aroma. The finished dish can be generously sprinkled with any seasonal chopped herbs; basil goes well with chicken, and cilantro goes well with red meat.
How to cook cutlets in a frying pan?
The second option for cooking frozen cutlets is to fry them. To do this, you must have a good frying pan, the quality of which you have no doubt about. Let’s take a closer look at how to fry frozen cutlets in a frying pan. They absolutely cannot be defrosted, because when defrosted they become deformed, become soft, and as a result they are difficult to fry, and they tend to burn. Most housewives know how to fry frozen cutlets in a frying pan so that they do not burn.
For frying semi-finished meat products, it is best to use rendered fat. It is important that the cutlets are well breaded, otherwise they will stick to the pan. Place a spoon or two of melted fat in a well-heated frying pan; only after the fat has spread all over the bottom can you place the cutlets in the frying pan. Usually the packaging indicates how long to fry frozen cutlets, but if there is no such information, then be sure to fry them for at least ten minutes on each side. There is no need to add salt and pepper, since all this is already present in the cutlets.
How to cook cutlets
Before you bake the cutlets, you need to learn about the cooking steps. First, you select the type of meat that you will need to work with and decide whether it will be chopped or in the form of minced meat. Afterwards, you need to prepare additional ingredients for modeling and breading (bread, eggs, milk, butter, salt, etc.). Before you prepare delicious cutlets from meat, fish or vegetables (beets, potatoes), you will need to decide on the temperature and time settings of the oven.
How to make minced meat cutlets
A dish made from ground meat began to be called a cutlet relatively recently, since previously this word meant pulp on the bone (from French). They were convenient to eat at a time when cutlery had not yet fully entered into daily use. With the advent of meat grinders in families, the process of preparing minced meat for cutlets became much easier and faster. It is better to make the dish from freshly ground chicken, pork or fish (not from a semi-finished product).
How to cook chopped cutlet
If you don’t have a meat grinder or blender, you can prepare chopped cutlets. The meat is cut very finely, and an egg, sour cream, spices and onions are also added to it. Before making chopped cutlets and putting them in the oven, place all the mixed ingredients on foil or parchment with a tablespoon (like pancakes or potato pancakes). You should get small oval cakes.
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How long to bake cutlets in the oven
Those who have not been interested in cooking before are wondering: how long does it take to cook cutlets in the oven? The dish is baked independently - you don’t need to stand and fry in a frying pan, constantly monitoring the process, and even turning the meat. The optimal cooking temperature in the oven is 180 degrees, the time varies from 30 to 40 minutes.
Cooking cutlets in the oven
You can either fry or bake frozen cutlets in the oven. People who love delicious food believe that the best way to cook cutlets is to fry them in a frying pan until golden brown. But probably few people ask the question: how unhealthy are frozen meat products prepared in this way? The ideal solution to the problem is to bake the cutlets in the oven. Cutlets cooked in the oven turn out tasty, juicy, soft and, most importantly, healthy. In addition to the fact that oven-baked products cook much faster, cleaning the kitchen also does not take much time.
Even in the oven, frozen cutlets can be cooked in different ways. The easiest way is to place the cutlets on a greased baking sheet, place in the oven, heated to one hundred and eighty degrees and bake for thirty-five to forty minutes. Then put it on a plate and serve.
Another way is to freeze bake in foil. If you are a fan of healthy eating, then this option is for you. When the cutlets are fried in foil, they retain their juices, so there is no need to add oil. Cover a baking tray with baking foil and place frozen cutlets on it. Place a second layer of foil on top and carefully connect its two sheets together: the bottom and the top. The oven should be heated to one hundred and ninety degrees. Bake the cutlets in foil for thirty-five minutes. Such cutlets will be much juicier and softer. Serve, garnished with fresh herbs.
If you spend a little more time cooking, you can bake the cutlets in the oven with gravy.
With gravy
The ideal option for baking frozen cutlets in the oven is to simmer them in sauce. The composition of the gravy can be chosen according to personal preference.
What ingredients will you need?
To prepare the dish you will need:
- carrots - 2 pcs.;
- sunflower oil - as needed;
- frozen cutlets - 12–15 pcs.;
- tomato paste - 3 tbsp. l.;
- bulbs - 3 pcs.;
- adjika - 2 tbsp. l.;
- table salt, white granulated sugar, pepper - to taste.
Step by step process and cooking time
Sequence of stages of food creation:
- First, you need to remove the package of cutlets from the freezer and leave the products on the plate.
- Now you should peel and wash all the vegetables, then finely grate them, then sauté the food in a frying pan with heated oil until soft.
- Then add adjika and tomato paste to the mixture, add a pinch of table salt and regular sugar to the mixture, pour in ½ tbsp. heated purified water, then mix the composition well and bring it to a boil.
- Next, you need to place the slightly thawed cutlets in a fireproof form, then pour the prepared sauce over them, then leave the container for 20 minutes. into an oven heated to 200 °C.
The duration of simmering of the components of the future dish depends on the size of the cutlets, as well as the composition of the minced meat. Thus, the baking time for minced beef products should be increased by about 10–15 minutes.
What and how to serve it with?
A suitable side dish for the cooked cutlets is boiled pasta, which should be placed on a plate and a small depression should be formed in the center into which the baked products should be placed. The dish should be finished off with aromatic gravy.
Preparation
Fry a kilogram of ready-made frozen cutlets in a frying pan in melted fat and place on a baking sheet covered with foil. Pour water into a small saucepan, boil and, stirring, pour flour into it. Stir so that there are no lumps. In a bowl, combine tomato, mustard, mayonnaise, garlic, add water and flour, then stir well.
Cut the washed and peeled tomatoes, carrots and onions into thin half rings. Spread the chopped vegetables evenly on the cutlets and pour the gravy over them. Place the baking sheet in an oven preheated to one hundred and ninety degrees and simmer for forty to forty-five minutes. The cutlets will be fragrant and juicy. You can serve it with potatoes, pasta, porridge, or as a separate dish.
How to cook “Cutlets baked in the oven”
So, we prepare everything we need, wash the meat, peel the vegetables and also wash them. Now cut the meat into small pieces and pass it through a meat grinder along with fresh herbs and onions, add eggs, spices and salt to taste.
Mix all the ingredients, thoroughly knead the minced meat and beat it.
Peel the potatoes and grate them on a coarse grater.
Place the potatoes in a bowl with the minced meat, mix everything and taste the minced meat for salt, adding more salt if necessary.
We form small cutlets from the prepared minced meat and place them on a baking sheet greased with vegetable oil.
We also grease the surface of the cutlets with vegetable oil and place them in an oven preheated to 210 degrees for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, lower the temperature to 180 degrees and bake the cutlets for another 20 minutes.
That's all, no splashes, no fuss, and the cutlets turn out just awesome. Bon appetit everyone!
Frying frozen cutlets in a frying pan. General recommendations
To get delicious cutlets for lunch or dinner, first you need to heat the oil in a cast iron or Teflon frying pan.
It is worth remembering that this “ingredient” must completely cover the entire surface of the pan. When the oil is sufficiently hot, you can start cooking. Remove the cutlets from the packaging. If there is frost on them, carefully wipe it off. If there is breading, you need to remove frost even more carefully so as not to disturb the breading layer.
Carefully place the prepared semi-finished products into heated oil. It is worth keeping in mind that the oil may begin to splash
The semi-finished products must be placed far enough apart from each other to make it convenient to turn them over, so if you need to cook a fairly large number of cutlets, it is better to do this in several batches.
Primary roasting is best done over medium heat. Fry each side of the cutlets for 2-3 minutes. After this, the heat should be reduced and fry until cooked, turning the future lunch/dinner again approximately every 2 minutes. Some chefs advise covering the pan with a lid. And this is not the worst advice. The cutlets will be well fried, but they are unlikely to boast an appetizing crust.
As for the frying time, it largely depends on the types of meat from which the semi-finished products were made by the manufacturer. Turkey cutlets are the fastest to fry - about 8 minutes and the dish is ready. It is better to keep semi-finished chicken products longer – 10 or 12 minutes. Fish cutlets are fried for about the same amount of time, although you can keep them for 15 minutes. Beef and/or pork products require the longest cooking time – up to 20 minutes.
You can check the cutlets for doneness in the standard way - pierce them with a toothpick. If the juice is light, then the dish is ready, if it is reddish-pinkish, then you should keep it in the pan a little longer.
When the cutlets are cooked, turn off the heat and cover the pan with a lid so that the cutlets steep a little. The time of this procedure is 5-10 minutes. After this, the finished dish can be served with any side dish.
In this way, you can prepare not only store-bought semi-finished products, but also pre-cooked and frozen homemade cutlets.