A cheesy carb loaded dish balanced with the perfect amount of acidity.
When I think of Italian cuisine; which is all the time, the first two dishes that come to mind are Spaghetti Bolognese and Chicken Parmesan. So it felt natural to feature Chicken Parmesan on the blog at some point, and that point is now! I'm sure you wouldn't be hard pressed to find Chicken Parmesan on any Italian restaurant's menu within North America. Therefore, it's probably safe to say this is a standard American favourite.
If you've never tried Chicken Parmesan before, you definitely need to try it ASAP! Like seriously; don't walk, RUN to your nearest kitchen and get making this delicious dish.
This dish is loaded with creamy cheese and is balanced perfectly with an acidic kick of tomato sauce. Oh, and I can't forget to mention that its full of delicious carbs! If you're worried about carbs, please don't be. Carbohydrates are the main source of fuel that the millions of cells in your body use for energy. I won't bore you with all of the nitty gritty diet and nutrition advice; however, if you want to read more about nutrition and get some advice on diets please click here.
The key to this recipe is keeping the chicken moist whilst crisping up the outer coating. Additionally, we want to further bake our chicken with the tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese. This ensures that the chicken doesn't become soggy. Nobody wants soggy chicken.
What makes the chicken so crispy?
- Bread Crumbs
- Flour
- Egg
- Parmesan cheese
- Olive oil
It may be obvious but the breading and flash frying of the chicken are what makes it so crispy and yummy! However, by finishing the cooking of the chicken in the oven, we maintain that crispiness. It is essential that you coat your chicken in breadcrumbs and Parmesan, as well as flour to get the crispiness you are looking for! The point of flash frying the chicken before placing it in the oven is to lock in the moisture of the chicken while simultaneously crisping up our coating.
Finally, we finish cooking the chicken in a preheated oven with the rest of our ingredients to slightly dry out the tomato sauce and cheese. Don't worry, unless you forget about the chicken in the oven, the chicken itself will not be dried out at all!
Please note: I like to make the mozzarella cheese really crispy (as pictured above). This is to taste. If you don't like your cheese to be really crispy like mine, take approximately 5 minutes off of the cook time in the oven.
Enjoy!
Recipe
Chicken Parmesan
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425F and begin boiling a pot of salted water to cook your spaghettini.
- Take two 200g (approx) chicken breasts and cut both pieces in half length wise to form four flat pieces. Place all four pieces between two large sheets of saran wrap. With a meat tenderizer or any other blunt object that could act as a hammer (my favourite is a rolling pin) beat the saran wrapped chicken flat. You are wanting the chicken to flatten out to approximately two-three times its original size
- Place egg, flour, and bread crumbs in three separate bowls. Make sure the egg is well beaten with a fork. Add your oregano, parmesan, garlic powder, and salt to the breadcrumbs.
- Dunk each peice of chicken breast first in the flour, then into the egg, then into the flour again, back into the egg one more time, and lastly into the seasoned bread crumbs. Place completed chicken breast onto a clean plate until all pieces have been coated.
- In a medium pan heat cooking oil over medium heat until it becomes hot enough to begin frying. Once oil has reached approximately 350F place your chicken breasts in the oil and fry on both sides until they become crispy and golden brown. Please note that it is okay to slightly undercook the chicken at this stage because it will cook further in the preheated oven. If you cook the chicken all the way at this stage it will dry out by the end of the whole process.
- Transfer cooked chicken onto a paper towel covered plate to catch and soak up the excess oil/grease.
- In an oven safe casserole dish modestly cover the bottom of the dish with your tomato sauce and place the pieces of chicken on top making sure nothing is overlapping. Add on the mozzarella cheese to the top of each piece and cook in preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink in the center.
- While chicken is cooking in the oven I like to heat the extra tomato sauce in a separate pan on the stove over medium-low heat and toss the cooked spaghetti in it before serving. Top with more parmesan and fresh basil before serving for that extra kick.
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