Perfect Chicken Parmesan

Perfect Chicken Parmesan is full of flavor, takes minutes to cook, and is my favorite chicken dinner recipe!

Boneless skinless chicken breasts are tenderized, lightly breaded, and cooked to crispy perfection. Once they are smothered in your favorite marinara sauce and melted cheese, the most delicious dinner is ready for your consumption!

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Why this recipe works:

Any recipe that coats chicken in a wonderful crispy outside like my chicken tenders or buttermilk fried chicken is a winner in my book. And the fact that this is such an easy recipe will have you making it on a weekly basis.

Because the chicken breasts are tenderized before cooking, no knife is required. This recipe is made extra easy by using bottled pasta sauce and you can even use pre-shredded cheese.

Chicken parm is possibly my favorite dinner… especially when served with homemade pasta! If you’re wanting a vegetarian version, you can’t go wrong with eggplant parmesan! Also, if you enjoy this recipe, you’ll want to make my Chicken Cacciatore.

Here’s how to make it:

1. First step is to tenderize the chicken (more information on why that is important below) and season with salt and pepper (photo 1).
2. The crumb coating I use when making this easy chicken parmesan is a 2:1 mixture of bread crumbs to parmesan cheese plus some herbs. Dredge the chicken in the flour, then coat with egg, then coat with the bread crumb mixture (photo 2).
3. Brown the chicken on both sides in olive oil (photo 3).
4. To finish off your chicken parm, all you need to do is top those crispy seasoned chicken breasts with a healthy portion of amazing tomato pasta sauce (photo 4) and then top that with some slices of fresh mozzarella (photo 5) along with some grated parmesan. Finish the whole thing off in the oven to get the cheese all nice and melted (photo 6).

Why tenderizing is important:

You want your chicken breasts to be thin for several reasons:

1. First, when you pound the meat with a mallet or roll it with a rolling pin, you break up the tissue and it makes it more tender. So much so that you can easily cut it with the side of your fork. I prefer to pound my meat over rolling it because its fun.
2. Second, you want your chicken to be of uniform thickness so that it cooks evenly.
3. And third, the thinner the meat, the faster it cooks. During school and sports season, we all need meals that can be cooked quickly.

Cooking tips:

• I always choose to put my crumb mixture in a rectangular dish that’s the exact size of the chicken breast. It makes coating the chicken easy.
• If you’re wondering how do you keep chicken parmesan crispy, you must cook the coated breasts in very hot oil in a single layer. This will give them a crispy golden outside and won’t leave them soggy.
•  
• I served my parmesan chicken up with some basil pasta that I tossed in some of the reserved pasta sauce.

Step-by-step recipe video below!

Did you make this recipe? Please leave me a comment below to let me know what you think!

Perfect Chicken Parmesan Recipe

Prep15 minutes mins

Cook15 minutes mins

Total30 minutes mins

Servings 4 servings

Author Krissy Allori

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Perfect Chicken Parmesan is the best chicken parmesan recipe you’ll find. Full of flavor, takes minutes to cook, and is my favorite chicken dinner recipe!

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Video

Equipment

• Meat Tenderizer
• 12-inch cast iron skillet

Ingredients 

½x1x2x

• ▢ 1 pound boneless chicken breasts skinless
• ▢ salt & pepper
• ▢ 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• ▢ 1 egg beaten
• ▢ 1 cup panko bread crumbs
• ▢ 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese divided
• ▢ 1 teaspoon dried basil
• ▢ 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• ▢ 1/4 cup olive oil*
• ▢ 1 25 ounce jar pasta sauce
• ▢ 8 ounces fresh mozzarella sliced

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Instructions 

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
• Using a large plastic bag or plastic wrap, cover chicken and flatten to half inch thickness using a meat pounder or a rolling pin.
• Sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides of chicken.
• Add flour to bowl. Add beaten egg to another bowl. Combine bread crumbs with 1/2 cup parmesan (reserving the other half for later) along with the basil and oregano in a dish large enough for the chicken breasts.
• Heat oil in a very large skillet over medium high heat.
• Dredge chicken in flour, then coat with egg, then cover with bread crumb mixture. Press coating onto chicken to get as much as possible to stick. When the oil is very hot, just below the point where it begins to smoke, add your coated chicken. Continue with the remaining chicken breasts.
• Cook each breast until golden brown, about 2 minutes on each side. Remove from pan and transfer to baking dish.
• Cover each breast with Mezzetta Napa Valley Homemade pasta sauce as well as a couple slices of mozzarella and the remaining parmesan cheese. You may reserve some of the sauce to serve with pasta on the side, if desired.
• Cook in preheated oven until cheese has melted, about 5-10 minutes.

Notes

• I used a combination of olive oil with avocado oil because it tolerates high temperatures better
• I always choose to put my crumb mixture in a rectangular dish that’s the exact size of the chicken breast. It makes coating the chicken oh-so-easy. The crumb coating I use when making this easy chicken parmesan is a 2:1 mixture of bread crumbs to parmesan cheese plus some herbs like fresh basil. 
• If you’re wondering how do you keep chicken parmesan crispy, you must cook the coated breasts in very hot oil in a single layer. This will give them a crispy golden outside and won’t leave them soggy. 

Nutrition

Calories: 714kcal, Carbohydrates: 34g, Protein: 48g, Fat: 42g, Saturated Fat: 15g, Cholesterol: 169mg, Sodium: 1672mg, Potassium: 955mg, Fiber: 4g, Sugar: 9g, Vitamin A: 1410IU, Vitamin C: 12.4mg, Calcium: 508mg, Iron: 5.1mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Did you make this? Leave me a comment below

This post was originally created in September 2015 and has been updated with additional photos, cooking tips, and helpful information. Don’t worry – I didn’t change the recipe!