When I realized that Schnitzel and cheese are best friends, this chicken Schnitzel Hawaii was born, inspired by the iconic German Toast Hawaii.
Take a thin, pan-seared chicken breast and cover it in a creamy, cheesy sauce that melts together with caramelized pineapple and ham. This one's a new family favorite German recipe!
How to make it
This Schnitzel recipe is a new take on Toast Hawaii, taking chicken breast as the base. I create the thin breasts by cutting them it in half longways, creating two thin chicken breasts per breast.
The chicken is lightly seasoned with some paprika, pepper and salt, pan-seared and what happens next is heavenly.
Fresh pineapple chunks caramelize in the chicken fond. Garlic, cream, sour cream and white American cheese (Schmelzkäse in German) turn into the cheesy goodness that we will call the Hawaii sauce.
The chicken breast is not breaded like traditional Schnitzel because a lot of times schnitzel topped with sauces are not breaded. And I think you'll agree that a breading in this recipe would be a bit overkill.
The cheese sauce is so rich, I do not miss the breading. Skipping the breading also helps cut down on time, cooking steps, and most importantly, dirty dishes. A win-win.
Ingredients
The ingredients for Chicken Schnitzel Hawaii are simple, but SO effective and delicious. A few notes below to make sure this recipe is the best that it can be!
- Chicken. I use chicken breast, then cut it to create 2 thin pieces per breast.
- Seasoning. I use simple seasonings you should always have on hand like mild paprika powder, salt and pepper.
- Butter. I use half butter and half oil for cooking my chicken, so the butter doesn't burn as easily and you still get the butter flavor.
- Oil. For my oil, I use avocado oil. Other high-heat cooking oils will work, too.
- Pineapple. Fresh pineapple makes all the difference. Sure, it's an extra step, but it pays off.
- Garlic. Always use fresh garlic!
- Cheese. I use white American cheese, which is a processed white cheese called Schmelzkäse in German. This creates the creamiest sauce. This is also the cheese we used for Toast Hawaii growing up. Of course you could use other mild cheeses as well. Gouda or white cheddar would be good choices too.
- Cream. Only the good stuff aka heavy cream.
- Sour cream. You could use a light version if you wanted to, but I go all in with the real stuff.
- Ham. Black Forest ham is what I like using for this recipe. Any smoked, cooked ham will work in this recipe. I like it thinly sliced.
More schnitzel recipes
Hungry for even more Schnitzel? I've got you covered. Try my classic German Schnitzel made with pork. Then add my FAVORITE Jägerschnitzel sauce on top (yes, this is one of the times when I say sauce on breaded Schnitzel is so worth it!).
You can also make it veal for a traditional Vienna-style Schnitzel. Also try my Zigeunerschnitzel in a delicious wine and pepper sauce and my Chicken Cordon Bleu for another amazing ham and cheese chicken recipe.
Sides for Chicken Schnitzel Hawaii
I love serving my Chicken Schnitzel Hawaii with a steamed vegetable to balance out the richness of the sauce (like broccoli or green beans) and steamed rice or a spätzle. Of course fries tossed in my popular French Fry seasoning or Bratkartoffeln (pan-fried potatoes) would also be amazing sides.
Chicken Schnitzel Hawaii
Ingredients
- 2 chicken breasts
- salt, pepper, paprika powder to season chicken breast with
- 28 g butter
- 28 g avocado oil or other high quality, high heat oil
- 165 g fresh pineapple chunks
- 1 clove fresh garlic minced
- 90 g white American cheese Whole Foods didn't have it in the prepackaged cheese section, but you can buy it at the deli counter!
- 100 ml heavy cream
- 2 tablespoon sour cream
- 4 slices black forest ham you could use other smoked ham (Note that the American version of black forest ham is cooked ham, not cold smoked ham. You want to use cooked ham.)
Instructions
- Butterfly the chicken breasts, cutting all the way through the breast (meaning cut them in half to get two, thin chicken breasts per chicken breast).
- Season the chicken breast with salt, pepper and a little paprika powder. Sauté in 2 tablespoons of butter and 2 tablespoons of avocado oil (or other high quality, high heat oil), about 5 minutes each side over medium heat. Add pineapple chunks shortly after flipping over the chicken breast and sauté until caramelized.
- Remove chicken and pineapple from pan and and keep warm. Leave fond in the pan.
- Add minced garlic to the pan and sauté for one minute or until fragrant. Add heavy cream and cheese to the pan and stir until the cheese is melted. Once melted, add the ham and pineapple chunks (reserving some of the pineapple as a garnish on top).
- Arrange the chicken on 2 plates. Pour ham, pineapple and cheese sauce over the chicken and garnish with the reserved pineapple chunks.
- Serve with rice and broccoli (I boiled my rice - used basmati - and steamed my broccoli, only seasoning it with some salt and pepper). Guten Appetit!
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