Easy Italian Chicken Parmesan (Parmigiana) Recipe
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Chicken Parmesan (a.k.a. Chicken Parmigiana) is a classic Italian dish that is a very popular item on the Italian restaurant menu. With this easy to follow recipe, you can re-create the Italian favorite at home, and the resulting Chicken Parmesan will rival the one from the Italian restaurant!
Chicken Parmesan is tender breaded chicken breast, baked with tomato sauce and cheese. And of course its name reveals the fact that this recipe includes Parmesan cheese! This Chicken Parmesan recipe includes a double dose of Parmesan cheese – half of it is in the breading, mixed with the bread crumbs, and the other half is sprinkled and baked on top of the chicken (along with the tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese). This mouthwatering Chicken Parmigiana is pure heaven for Italian food lovers!
The secret to an amazingly tender Chicken Parmesan is pounding the chicken as the first step. If your chicken breast always turns out tough, you must try this technique – pounding the chicken breast makes it thin and soft, it will be the softest, juiciest and tastiest chicken breast you will ever eat!
If you never pounded chicken breast before, don’t be intimidated – it’s really easy. You need a meat mallet tool that looks like a big hammer (sold in a kitchen supply isle along with other kitchen tools such as spatulas and vegetable peelers). All you need to do is put the meat on the cutting board, put a sheet of plastic wrap on top (so it doesn’t splatter) and then just give it a few whacks with that meat mallet hammer. With every whack of the meat mallet, you’ll notice that the chicken will become thinner, and you need to stop when the chicken is uniform thickness throughout and about 1/2 inch thick.
Next, you’ll coat the chicken in flour, then egg, then a mixture of grated Parmesan cheese and breadcrumbs, then pan-fry it, then bake with the tomato sauce and cheese. After the Chicken Parmesan comes out, it will be a star dish and you will feel like a fine Italian chef!
Italian Chicken Parmesan (Parmigiana) Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1/2 cup flour
- 2 cups Panko breadcrumbs
- 2 tbsp oil
- 8 oz mozzarella cheese
- 16 oz pasta sauce
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425F.
- Pound the chicken breasts with a meat mallet between 2 sheets of plastic wrap until they are even thickness and about 1/2 inch thick. Rub the chicken with salt and pepper. (We are using less than usual amount of salt because some of the salt will come from Parmesan cheese).
- Whisk the eggs in a bowl with a fork.
- Put the flour on a large plate.
- Put the bread crumbs and 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese on another large plate and mix them until combined.
- Dip each chicken breast in flour on both sides, then dip it in egg on both sides, then dip into the bread crumb mixture on both sides, pressing into the bread crumbs so they stick.
- Heat the oil in a large non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat.
- Put the chicken on a frying pan in a single layer (you'll need to do it in 2 batches) and cook for 2 minutes on each side, or until the bread crumbs are golden-brown in color. The chicken doesn't need to be fully cooked - it will finish cooking in the oven. This step is just for browning the outside of the chicken.
- Put the chicken in a 8 x 12 non-stick baking dish in a single layer. Pour the pasta sauce over the chicken, and sprinkle with the mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle the remaining Parmesan cheese on top.
- Put the chicken Parmesan in the oven and bake for 20 minutes.
I haven’t had chicken parm in sooo long! We ate it all the time growing up! You’re making me want to make some soon!
Chicken parmesan is one of my favorites, but I haven’t had it in so long! I love how quickly this comes together too, so perfect for busy weeknights :)
This is often my dad’s go to in restaurants. It has been years since I eat some but man it is good. I need a meat mallet to make this recipe lol.
You can use a rolling pin.
This looks like a hearty meal Melanie ?
Chicken parmesan is very special to me because it was the first dish my now Hubby made for me and he continues to cook it for me to this day. I showed him your recipe and he said he’s going to make use it next time he cooks it for me! Yay me!!!! :)
I love that cheesy look, it makes me hungry! I can totally imagine how good this tastes!
Love this dish! And yours looks superb — love all that cheese. I haven’t made this in ages, and now of course you have me craving it. :-) Thanks!
It’s been a while since I had chicken parmesan. YUM! Your chicken look delicious. Ah, that melted cheese and juicy chicken. Perfect.
This Chicken Parmesan looks like a cheesy dream come true!
The double dose of Parmesan is genius. This looks delicious..