Chicken Parmesan

I LOVE a good piece of chicken parmesan, and it’s so easy to make at home. This is not the traditional stacked, baked, and (sometimes overly) sauced version I have had out at restaurants. While that’s not always terrible, I like my chicken parm to be more crispy and cheesy, so I came up with this technique. I use my homemade spaghetti sauce for this, posted on this blog September 2019, but a good jarred marinara sauce will work for this too if you are looking to get this on your plate in a hurry.

• 

• 

• 

The ingredients in this dish are usually pantry staples. Here the list:

• 3 chicken breasts
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups bread crumbs, panko or regular whatever you have. I even mix sometimes but I prefer Panko for crispiness
• 1/2 – 3/4 cup parmesan cheese, divided
• 2 eggs
• salt/pepper
• 1/2 tsp. granulated garlic
• 1 tsp. dried oregano or Italian seasoning
• 3 tbsp. butter- plus more as needed
• 3 tbsp. olive oil – plus more as needed
• 3-4 cups of good marinara sauce
• Mozzarella cheese – 2-3 cups grated or 6-10 slices from the deli-as much as you like
• Extra Parmesan cheese and parsley for garnish

You want your chicken to cook evenly so you may need to slice them in half. I like to make them a little thinner anyway, just my preference. You can sometimes find chicken breast in cutlet form, but there are not always available. Feel free to change this up to boneless and skinless chicken thighs too. Note: If you leave them whole, you will have to cook them a little while longer, but they will be just as tasty. Carefully start at the thick end of the chicken and hold in place with your hand placed flat on the top, make sure you keep that hand out of the way. Nobody likes fingers in their chicken parm. 🙂 Season the chicken with a light layer of salt and pepper. We are going to add salt and pepper to all the dredge pieces so start lightly.

Create your dredging station – flour, eggs and breadcrumbs. Start with the flour – season with about 1/2 tsp salt and a few grinds of black pepper. Next, crack the eggs in a baking dish or pie dish – anything with sides the chicken will fit in works. Add about 1-2 tbsp. of water and whisk until combined. Add the bread crumbs to the same kind of dish and season with the granulated garlic, dried oregano or Italian seasoning, a good pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper, and 1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese. The cheese will add salt here so tread lightly. Stir that up until combined.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

You are ready to start coating your pieces of chicken. Turn the chicken in the flour until coated, tap off excess. Dredge in the egg wash on both sides until coated. Finally drop into the breadcrumbs, press the breadcrumbs into both sides to make sure every bit is coated. Set aside on a baking sheet, sprayed with cooking spray. Continue the same process with the rest of the pieces until they are all coated.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

At this point it’s time to pan fry the chicken and get it ready for the oven. Melt 3 tbsp. butter with 3 tbsp. of olive oil over medium high heat in a large nonstick pan. Add 2-3 pieces at a time, being careful not to crowd the pan because you want these crisp, not steamed. Cook about 3-4 minutes per side, until they are golden brown. Set the finished pieces on a new baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Repeat the process until all the chicken is brown and delicious looking. Add more butter and olive oil as needed. The chicken will not be totally cooked through, but that’s OK….it’s going in the oven to finish. Note: I have made this dish ahead to this point and then covered and refrigerated the chicken for a few hours. When you are ready to serve, just finish up from this point. All the hard work is finished and all the dishes are already done! Winner! Winner! Chicken dinner!

• 

• 

• 

• 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Warm up the sauce you are gong to use as your are working on the chicken. If you are cooking whole breasts, then you will want to put these in the oven without sauce or cheese for about 10-12 minutes to make sure they are cooked through. If you have half pieces that are thinner, are ready to add sauce. Add as much or as little sauce as you like. I usually put a huge spoon full right across the middle and cook in the oven for about 8 minutes. Carefully pull the baking sheet out and add the mozzarella cheese and a little more parm . Put the pan back in the oven for 5-10 more minutes until the cheese is melted. Garnish with more parm or some parsley – both optional. I like to serve this with green beans that I blanch and then sautéed in a little butter and some spaghetti tossed with some of the marinara. A huge piece of garlic bread is never a bad idea either. 🙂 Enjoy!

• 

•