How many calories are in chicken francese?
A medium chicken francese cutlet weighs about 175 g and carries 425 calories, or 243 calories per 100 g. Almost all of it is chicken and the fat it cooked in: 37.6 g of protein, 24.7 g of fat, and just 10.5 g of carbohydrate from the flour-and-egg coating.
You'd need to walk about 85 minutes to burn the 425 calories in one medium breast (175 g).
How long does it take to burn off 425 kcal of chicken francese?
One medium breast (175 g) is 425 kcal. Enter your weight and the amount you ate to see how long it takes you to burn that off:
lb
| Activity | Time to burn 425 kcal |
|---|---|
| Walking, brisk | 1 hr 25 min |
| Cycling, moderate | 53 min |
| Swimming, moderate | 1 hr 1 min |
| Jogging | 50 min |
| Weight training, moderate | 1 hr 34 min |
Times are for a 155 lb adult at a steady pace; change the weight to see yours. The amount is set to the portion in the text (175 g); change it to what you actually ate. BodyPal works this out from your steps automatically.
On this page
- Chicken francese quick facts
- US servings from one ounce to a whole cutlet
- How the coating changes the number
- Protein and sodium are the rows to watch
- How does chicken francese compare?
- Most popular chicken francese brands
- FAQ
Chicken francese quick facts
Chicken francese is a thin breast fillet dredged in flour, dipped in beaten egg, and cooked in a hot pan until the coating sets. The USDA record that matches that description is FNDDS 2705973, "Chicken breast, fried, coated, skin / coating eaten, from raw". It is built from raw chicken, it counts the coating as eaten, and it is the only close record with real household portions attached.
The lemon-butter-wine sauce is the part USDA does not carry. Whatever goes into the pan after the chicken comes out sits on top of the numbers below, which is worth remembering when a restaurant plate arrives swimming in it.
| Nutrient | Per 100 g | Per 1 medium breast (175 g) | % Daily Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 243 | 425 | — |
| Total fat | 14.11 g | 24.7 g | 32% |
| Saturated fat | 2.77 g | 4.8 g | 24% |
| Carbohydrate | 6.01 g | 10.5 g | 4% |
| Dietary fiber | 0.2 g | 0.4 g | 1% |
| Total sugars | 0.1 g | 0.2 g | — |
| Protein | 21.46 g | 37.6 g | 75% |
| Sodium | 299 mg | 523 mg | 23% |
| Cholesterol | 79 mg | 138 mg | 46% |
| Potassium | 245 mg | 429 mg | 9% |
% Daily Value is based on a 2,000-calorie diet.
Verified nutrition data
Numbers on this page come from USDA FoodData Central, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s food composition database, and from manufacturer labels where a branded product is named. Last verified September 2026. How we verify our data →
Two rows you may expect are missing. Added sugars and trans fat are not published for this FNDDS record, so there is nothing honest to put in those cells and they are left out rather than guessed. Everything else on the table is the USDA figure for the record, scaled to the portion.
US servings from one ounce to a whole cutlet
| Serving | Weight | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| 1 oz, cooked | 28 g | 69 kcal |
| 1 large or thick slice | 85 g | 207 kcal |
| 1 cup, cooked, diced | 135 g | 328 kcal |
| 1 small breast | 150 g | 365 kcal |
| 1 medium breast | 175 g | 425 kcal |
| Per 100 g | 100 g | 243 kcal |
Those gram weights are the household portions USDA attaches to this record, not sizes we invented, which is why the small and medium breasts differ by 25 g rather than by some round number. The practical trap is the plate, not the scale: a sit-down order of chicken francese is usually two cutlets fanned across the dish, and doubling the USDA figure puts that at 850 calories before the sauce and before anything starchy underneath.
Every ounce of cooked cutlet is about 69 calories. That is the number to carry if you slice the chicken over a salad and want to eyeball two or three ounces instead of weighing the whole breast.
How the coating changes the number
| Version | Per 100 g | Typical piece | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Batter-dipped, deep-fried breast | 260 kcal | 3 oz (85 g) | 221 kcal |
| Flour-dredged, pan-fried breast | 222 kcal | 3 oz (85 g) | 189 kcal |
| Skinless cutlet, coating eaten | 219 kcal | 3 oz (85 g) | 186 kcal |
| Baked instead of pan-fried | 207 kcal | 3 oz (85 g) | 176 kcal |
| Coating pushed aside | 176 kcal | 1 medium breast (120 g) | 211 kcal |
| Chicken parmesan without pasta | 204 kcal | 1 serving (301 g) | 614 kcal |
The 3 oz pieces above are our own arithmetic from the USDA 100 g figures, not USDA servings; the 120 g and 301 g rows are USDA portions.
The interesting row is the last-but-one. Eat the same fillet and leave the coating on the plate and you are at 176 calories per 100 g instead of 243. Across the eight USDA chicken records on this page, only the batter-dipped deep-fried version at 260 calories per 100 g is heavier than the pan-fried cutlet, which tells you the flour-and-egg jacket on a francese is a moderate coating, not a heavy one. Push it aside anyway and, at a matched 175 g, you save about 117 calories.
Method matters less than most people assume. Baked and coated is 207 calories per 100 g against 243 pan-fried, a 36-calorie difference on 100 g. Skipping the skin under the coating gets you 219. Dredging in flour alone, with no egg, gets you 222. A plain fried breast with no coating at all is 187 calories per 100 g. Nothing in that spread is dramatic, which is the honest answer to "should I bake it instead" — you save something, not a meal.
Store-bought breaded cutlets are the everyday stand-in for a homemade francese, and their labels land in the same neighborhood: from 170 calories per 100 g on the lightest supermarket breaded cutlets up to 238 on Perdue's, with label servings around 84 to 113 g. Products that actually carry the word francese on the box are almost all frozen dinners with pasta, which is a different food entirely.
Protein and sodium are the rows to watch
A single 175 g cutlet delivers 37.6 g of protein — 75% of the 50 g Daily Value used on the Nutrition Facts label — for 425 calories, while contributing only 4% of a day's carbohydrate. That ratio is why chicken francese behaves like a lean-protein main even though it comes out of a skillet of oil and butter. MyPlate treats a cooked chicken breast as several ounces of your daily protein foods, and this one cutlet covers most of them.
The counterweights are sodium and cholesterol. 523 mg of sodium is 23% of the Daily Value, or roughly a quarter teaspoon of table salt, and that is the bare cutlet — no sauce, no capers, no parmesan. Ready-made breaded cutlets from the freezer case start higher still, from about 455 mg per 100 g. Cholesterol is 138 mg, 46% of the Daily Value, mostly from the egg dip and the breast itself. Saturated fat sits at 4.8 g, 24% of the Daily Value, which is where the butter finishing the pan sauce would push it further.
If you are watching sodium, the number to control is the sauce and the seasoning rather than the chicken. If you are watching saturated fat, baking the coated cutlet drops it to 2.31 g per 100 g against 2.77 g pan-fried.
How does chicken francese compare?
| Dish | Per 100 g | US serving | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken francese, pan-fried cutlet | 243 kcal | 1 medium breast, 175 g | 425 kcal |
| Chicken parmesan without pasta | 204 kcal | 1 serving, 301 g | 614 kcal |
| Baked coated chicken breast | 207 kcal | 3 oz, 85 g | 176 kcal |
| Flour-fried chicken breast | 222 kcal | 3 oz, 85 g | 189 kcal |
Our take: chicken francese is the densest food per gram in this table at 243 calories per 100 g, yet chicken parmesan is the bigger hit on a plate — 614 calories, because a restaurant serving of it weighs 301 g with sauce and melted cheese included. Per-gram density is the wrong thing to optimize here; portion weight decides the meal. For weight loss, order or plate one cutlet, ask for the sauce on the side, and you are at roughly 425 calories with 37.6 g of protein. For staying full on the same budget, chicken francese beats chicken parmesan outright: more protein per calorie, less sauce, and you control the second cutlet.
Most popular chicken francese brands in the United States
Ranked by how widely each product appears among foods sold in the United States, from the BodyPal food database of over 3.3 million products. Calories are the figures printed on each Nutrition Facts label, checked against USDA FoodData Central.
| Product | Calories (per 100 g) |
|---|---|
| Perdue Chicken Breast Cutlets | 238 cal |
| Perdue Italian Style Chicken Breast Cutlets | 235 cal |
| Of Tov Chicken Breast Cutlets | 230 cal |
| Perdue Lightly Breaded Chicken Breast Cutlets | 192 cal |
| Taylor Fresh Breaded Chicken Cutlet | 177 cal |
| Meal Mart Breaded Chicken & Turkey Cutlets | 170 cal |
Brand popularity: BodyPal food database. Nutrition: manufacturer labels / USDA FoodData Central.
Chicken francese FAQs
How many calories are in chicken francese?
A 175 g medium cutlet is 425 calories, and the USDA record behind it runs 243 calories per 100 g. That figure covers the chicken, the flour-and-egg coating and the fat it cooked in. A restaurant plate is often two cutlets, and doubling the USDA figure puts that at 850 calories.
How many calories in one chicken francese cutlet?
425 calories for a medium 175 g cutlet and 365 for a small 150 g one. A single large slice off the breast, 85 g, is 207 calories. Weight is doing all the work here: every extra ounce of cooked, coated cutlet adds about 69 calories to the plate.
How much protein is in chicken francese?
37.6 g of protein in a 175 g cutlet, which is 75% of the 50 g Daily Value, and 21.46 g per 100 g. The flour-and-egg coating contributes carbohydrate rather than protein, so nearly all of that total is the breast meat itself, bought for 425 calories.
Is chicken francese healthy?
It costs 425 calories for 37.6 g of protein, which is a cheap protein trade. The flags are 4.8 g of saturated fat (24% DV), 523 mg of sodium (23% DV) and 138 mg of cholesterol (46% DV), all before the sauce. If you are watching saturated fat, the baked coated cutlet is the better pick.
How many calories in chicken francese without the sauce?
425 for the 175 g cutlet. The USDA record used on this page is the coated fried breast on its own, with no pan sauce counted at all. USDA does not publish a record for a lemon-butter francese sauce, so the butter and wine reduction sits on top of that number rather than inside it.
Does baking instead of frying cut the calories?
Yes, by about 36 calories per 100 g: baked and coated is 207 against 243 pan-fried, so a 3 oz (85 g) piece is 176 calories by our own arithmetic. Fat falls from 14.11 g to 9.9 g per 100 g. Sodium does not follow, running 320 mg per 100 g baked against 299 mg fried.
How much sodium is in chicken francese?
523 mg in a 175 g cutlet, or 23% of the 2,300 mg Daily Value, and 299 mg per 100 g. That is roughly a quarter teaspoon of table salt, and it is the plain cutlet before any pan sauce. Store-bought breaded cutlets run higher, starting around 455 mg per 100 g.
Is chicken francese keto or low carb?
Not keto, but close to low carb: 10.5 g of carbohydrate in a 175 g cutlet, 4% of the Daily Value, almost all of it from the flour-and-egg coating. Fiber is only 0.2 g per 100 g, so net carbs barely move. Leave the coating on the plate and the USDA record shows zero carbohydrate.
Similar foods
- Asada taco — 243 cal per taco
- Top Sirloin Steak — 413 cal per 6 oz steak
- Tempura shrimp — 109 cal for 6 large shrimp
- Chicken — 203 cal for 3 oz roasted
- Roast Chicken — 203 cal per 3 oz
- Street Taco — 125 cal per street taco
Count it without the math
Point the camera at the plate and BodyPal counts the cutlet, the coating and the sauce for you.
