Air Fryer Pretzel Schnitzel (with a side of red cabbage and boiled potatoes)

I don’t usually love to eat pork because I think it tastes like a barnyard, but my husband enjoys it. Lately we’ve been messing around with the air fryer and we decided to make pretzel-coated schnitzel with a pork tenderloin. I was happy with how it turned out — no “barn” flavor!

I strongly recommend that you make the red cabbage, or some other acidic side dish to go along with the schnitzel. I thought the acid-sweetness of the cabbage and apples paired really nicely with the pork.

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Air Fryer Pretzel Schnitzel (w./ Red Cabbage)

Prep Time30

Cook Time15

Servings: 4

Calories: 400kcal

Ingredients

1 poundp pork tenderloin
1 cup crushed pretzels (the unsalted kind if possible)
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup skim milk
¼ cup liquid egg white
1 pound small potatoes

Red Cabbage

2 teaspoon olive oil
1 pound red cabbage
1 sweet apple (I used a honeycrisp apple)
3 tablespoon red wine vinegar
2 tablespoon brown sugar

Instructions

First thing, rinse the potatoes, put them in a stockpot or saucepan, and fill with water until the potatoes are just covered with water. Then, put the lid on. You'll put this pot on the stove over medium-high heat until the water starts to boil, then you'll remove the lid and continue to boil the potatoes for about 20 more minutes, until you can easily pierce them with a fork.
Take the pork tenderoil, cut off any visible chunks of fat with a sharp knife and pound it into a thin, flat sheet with a mallet. (I like to cover the pork with plastic wrap to prevent pork bits getting stuck in my tenderizing mallet.) Cut the flat pork sheet into four pieces.
Add the skim milk to a shallow bowl
Whisk the egg and egg white together in a second shallow bowl.
Put the pretzels in a sealed plastic ziploc bag and smash them with a rolling pin, almost as if you're a steamroller. Stir the salt and pepper into the crushed pretzels, and transfer the pretzels to a third shallow bowl. (NOTE: If you're using salted pretzels, you'll want to skip adding any extra salt to the pretzel mixture!)
Dip each piece of pork into the skim milk first, then the egg mixture, and finally the pretzel mixture.
Preheat the air fryer to 380 °F for about 5 minutes. Put the pork pieces in the basket of the air fryer and lightly spray with nonstick spray or an olive oil sprayer. Cook for 12 to 14 minutes, flipping once halfway through. (The pork is done when a thermometer registers an internal temperature of 145 °F )
Alternatively, spray a skillet with nonstick spray, heat the skillet over medium heat and cook the pork for about 4 minutes on each side. Turn down to medium, medium-low and put the cover on until the pork has finished cooking. (It's done when a thermometer registers an internal temperature of 145 °F)
Cook the cabbage: Heat the 2 teaspoon olive oil in a skillet over medium heat and add the chopped apples and cabbage. Add the vinegar and cook down until soft. Finally, stir in the sugar just before you remove the vegetables from the heat (sugar can easily turn into black and bitter carbon if you aren't careful.)