Stuffing-spiced turkey cutlets with a honey Dijon fall salad and cranberry honey Dijon sauce
All the flavors of Thanksgiving dinner, but *better*
Hello! Welcome back! Skip all the rambling and scroll right to the bottom of this post for a printer-friendly PDF of the recipe only.
It’s Friendsgiving season, friends, and if there’s one thing I can tell you it’s this: I, personally, don’t want to eat roast turkey more than once. Sure, I like it on Thanksgiving. It wouldn’t be the holiday without it, it tastes good doused in gravy, and it feels extra special — in part because we only have it once a year.
Which is why I think if you’re hosting a Friendsgiving dinner, you should think outside the roasting pan and serve up all the yummy flavors of that bird, minus the hours of brining, roasting, resting, and (worst of all) carving. Enter: today’s recipe.
Tell me more
It’s stuffing-spiced turkey cutlets topped with a honey Dijon-dressed fall salad and served with a creamy cranberry honey Dijon dipping sauce. Every bite tastes like a full Thanksgiving meal in and of itself, just served in a fresh, fun new way. It’s sweet and savory and full of crisp and crunch, and honestly has kind of converted me into actually liking turkey outside of just one day a year.
Before we start
This recipe was developed as part of a paid collaboration on Instagram with Maille mustard. They did not pay me to share the recipe on my Substack — I honestly just loved it so much, and knowing how many of you have come here for salad-topped cutlets in the past, I figured it was worth sharing. Also, I legitimately love Maille and partnering with them to create a holiday recipe was a dream come true, so I kinda want to shout that from the rooftops because (not to toot my own horn but… toot toot) I’m proud of me!!
That being said, Maille mustard is obviously key here. We’re using their Original Dijon and Whole Grain mustards to make a Dijon honey mustard sauce that will be used to flavor the cutlets, as the base of our salad dressing, and as the base of our honey Dijon cranberry sauce. You can find Maille near you here.
I think this recipe could be the meal in and of itself (it’s got turkey! it’s got veggies! it’s got stuffing flavors in the breading!), but I wouldn’t be mad if I ate it alongside some creamy mashed potatoes and green bean casserole. Maybe even some stuffing and rolls with butter and other sides. Pumpkin pie to finish because hey, it’s the holidays!
This recipe makes two generous, holiday-sized portions. If you want to up that for a crowd, it might be easiest to bake the cutlets instead of frying them. I’ve included instructions for that in the “Notes” section.
The recipe
Serves: 2 generous portions
Cook time: 45 minutes
Honey mustard base:
2/3 cup Maille Dijon Mustard
1/2 cup Maille Whole Grain Mustard
1/2 cup honey
Whisk ingredients together until combined.
For the cutlets:
1 turkey breast, butterflied into two
1/3 cup honey mustard sauce
3/4 cups flour
2 eggs, beaten
1.5 cups panko breadcrumbs
1 tbsp bouillon powder
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried sage
1 tsp celery seeds
1 tbsp onion powder
Salt and pepper
Preferred oil for frying
Working one at a time, place your turkey cutlets between two sheets of parchment paper. Using a rolling pin or heavy pan, pound the cutlet until it is thin. Brush cutlets on both sides with honey mustard, then season with salt and pepper.
Place flour, eggs, and breadcrumbs in three separate bowls or plates. Season each with salt. Add bouillon powder, dried rosemary, dried thyme, dried sage, celery seeds, and onion powder to the breadcrumbs, and mix to combine.
Dredge your cutlets by first dipping in the flour, then the eggs, then the seasoned breadcrumb mixture.
Heat a large, heavy-bottomed skillet over medium high heat until oil is shimmering. Working one at a time, fry your cutlets for about 3 minutes per side until golden brown. Internal temperature should be 165 degrees F. Remove from pan to a drying rack.
For the salad:
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup honey mustard sauce
Salt and pepper
1 honey crisp apple, cut into thin slices
2 stalks celery, sliced thin
2 green onions, sliced thin
1 cup of roughly chopped radicchio leaves
2 cups butter lettuce leaves
1/4 cup chopped toasted hazelnuts
1/4 cup pomegranate kernels
Whisk together olive oil, red wine vinegar, honey mustard mixture, and salt and pepper until combined. In a large bowl, add your apple, celery, green onions, radicchio, and butter lettuce. Toss with dressing and half of toasted hazelnuts and pomegranate kernels.
For the cranberry honey mustard dipping sauce:
1/3 cup honey mustard mixture
2/3 cup cranberry sauce (store-bought or homemade)
1/3 cup sour cream or Greek yogurt
Zest of 1 orange
Pinch of salt
Blend together in a blender or using a handheld immersion blender until smooth and combined.
To serve, top cutlet with salad. Sprinkle with remaining toasted hazelnuts and pomegranate kernels. Add a dollop of sauce on the side. Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy.
Notes:
Make ahead: You can make the cutlets ahead of time and reheat in the oven at 350 degrees until warmed through when ready to serve. Cranberry sauce can be made up to three days ahead of time and stored in an air-tight container in the fridge. Salad ingredients and dressing can be prepped ahead of time, but don’t mix it up until ready to serve!
Leftovers: Leftover cutlets and sauce can be kept in the fridge in air-tight containers for up to three days.
Bake ‘em for a crowd: Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F and bake the cutlets on a foil-lined baking sheet for 15 minutes before flipping, then baking for another 5-8 minutes. The internal temperature should be 165 degrees F. You can also spray the cutlets with oil before baking to get a little more of that crisp you’d get from pan-frying.
Let’s chat food
Leave a comment below or email me at hellosaturdaytable@gmail.com. And thank you for being here.
