Cooking Pasta

Now I know that’s saying a lot but this Chicken Parmesan is pretty darn amazing. Juicy, tender chicken breaded in a mixture of parmesan cheese and panko breadcrumbs. Pan fried until golden brown and topped with melted mozzarella cheese and marinara.

This Chicken Parmesan is one of my all time favorite meals.

Chicken Parmesan (also called Chicken Parmigiana) is one of the most loved, most popular AND most ordered chicken recipes in the world.

BUT often times, chicken comes out too dry, or doesn’t have enough flavour or seasoning. The sauce is bland, or cheddar cheese is used instead of mozzarella, etc.

This chicken parmesan has been said to be the best by many of our readers over the years.

This Chicken Parmesan is super easy to make. It takes less than 30 minutes to make start to finish.

This recipe starts with a 3 step breading process. Flour, egg and parmesan breadcrumbs. I use skinless boneless chicken breast and cut them in half. I pound them out to a 1/2 inch thickness. This keeps the chicken juicy and tender.

The best way to bread the chicken is to keep one hand for wet ingredients and one hand for dry. This helps from getting the dreaded breading hands.Ingredients
4 thin boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 large eggs
1 cup panko bread crumbs
1 cup Italian style bread crumbs
1 teaspoon garlic powder
3/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese divided
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup butter
1 cup marinara sauce
8 ounces fresh mozzarella sliced
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9x13 baking dish and set aside.
2. Place out 3 shallow dishes. Fill the first with flour, salt, pepper and stir together. In the second dish whisk eggs. In the third dish stir together both bread crumbs, garlic powder, and 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese.
3. Coat the chicken breasts in the flour mixture, then dip into the egg mixture to coat, then roll in the bread crumb mixture until well coated. Set aside.
4. Pour the olive oil into a heavy skillet and add in butter over medium high heat. Once butter has melted, add in chicken and fry for 2-3 minutes on each side until chicken is browned on both sides. Transfer chicken to the lightly greased baking dish.
5. Spread marinara on top of each chicken breast. Top each breast with two slices of mozzarella and sprinkle on remaining 1/4 cup parmesan cheese.
6. Bake in the preheated 450 degree oven until cheese is bubbly and browned and chicken is cooked through, 15-20 minutes. Sprinkle with fresh basil and serve hot.

Notes

• If you want to give your chicken parmesan the ultimate crisp, wait to put the marinara sauce on until just before serving. This means that you will need to melt the mozzarella and parmesan cheese directly onto the fried chicken breast. Warm the marinara sauce before saucing the chicken for best results.