Like its sister recipe, my mother’s parmesan chicken (chicken nuggets dipped in melted butter, breaded and baked), this dish is pure comfort food. It’s one of those everyone-should-know-how-to-make recipes. It’s easy and comes together quickly. In fact, it’s hard to mess up! Chicken Parmesan is also one of the best uses I can think of for boneless, skinless, chicken breasts.
Tips for Making Chicken Parmesan
Pound the chicken thin: Place the chicken cutlets one at a time between two layers of plastic wrap or wax paper. Use a meat hammer, mallet, rolling pin, or even a heavy empty wine bottle to pound or roll the chicken pieces to an even thickness of 1/4 to 1/2-inch. Grate the onions: One trick that will save a little time with making the sauce is to peel and grate the onion instead of chopping it. Use the large holes of a box grater. Don’t cut onion in half, just grate half of a whole onion. The onion will cook faster this way, release more of its juices, and your sauce will come together more quickly. Buy the best canned tomatoes: Your sauce will only be as good as your tomatoes, so use a good quality canned tomato! We like the Muir Glen brand of crushed tomatoes (fire roasted or with basil). A good canned San Marzano tomato from Italy would work well too. If crushed isn’t available, you can buy canned whole tomatoes and pulse them (with the liquid) in a blender or food processor. Make your own breadcrumbs! We like to use stale French bread and run it through the blender or food processor. Check out food processor instructions in this post, How to Make Breadcrumbs.
What Goes With Chicken Parmesan?
Serve the chicken parmesan straight up, over pasta, or in a sub roll as a sandwich. Chicken Parm goes great with a side of Caesar salad, a wedge salad, or green vegetables such as broccoli or Brussels sprouts.
Here are 4 More Ways to Savor Chicken Parm:
Baked Chicken Parmesan Baked Chicken Marinara Skillet Chicken Parmesan Butter-Dipped Parmesan Chicken Nuggets
Video: How to Make Easy Chicken Parmesan
Grating the onion will create smaller onion pieces and release more of the onion’s juices, and is faster than chopping.
1/2 large yellow onion, grated (don’t cut onion in half, just grate half of a whole onion), about 3/4 cup of grated onion 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil 2 medium garlic cloves, minced 1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes 1 teaspoon dried oregano Pinch red pepper flakes Pinch sugar
For the chicken:
4 chicken breast cutlets (1 1/4 to 1 1/2 pounds) Salt 2 large eggs 1 cup breadcrumbs, panko or homemade 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil 2 tablespoons fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced 8 ounces mozzarella cheese, sliced
To serve:
Cooked spaghetti, or sub rolls
Then add the crushed tomatoes, oregano, red pepper flakes, and sugar. Bring to a simmer; reduce the heat to maintain the simmer. Cook, uncovered while you prepare the chicken (about 10 to 12 minutes). Working one cutlet at a time, dip the chicken cutlet into the egg mixture and then into the breadcrumbs. Working in batches as to not crowd the pan, place the dredged cutlets into the pan. Lower the heat to medium and gently fry the chicken cutlets until they are golden brown on each side, about 3 to 4 minutes per side. Spoon tomato sauce over each of the cutlets. Sprinkle the tops with sliced basil. Then lay slices of mozzarella over each cutlet and sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese.
