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Chicken Parmesan is a hearty dish that’s so easy to make! Baked chicken with a crisp, golden crust, zesty homemade sauce, and melty cheese makes this a family favorite any night of the week!
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This Chicken Parmesan (also called Chicken Parmigiana, or the shortened “Chicken Parm”) is my favorite dish to serve when I want to serve something that seems fancy but is actually pretty simple to make. My husband begs me to make it all the time. Your family will devour this meal and I bet they will also ask for seconds! Italian food is a staple in our weeknight dinner rotation and this is one of the best Italian dinners. I will give you some options for an easy version as well as a version with my tasty homemade sauce.
Easy to Make
This recipe calls for simple, easy-to-find ingredients. In fact, you probably already have some of them in your fridge and pantry. That’s what I love about this meal; it can be assembled easily without a lot of extra effort, but it tastes like you’ve been cooking for hours! You can also make this recipe even easier by using a pre-made sauce, I know that sometimes quick and easy is the name of the game!
Chicken Parmesan Ingredients
- Chicken – Flatten your chicken breast by using a rolling pin or a meat mallet to soften the chicken and thin it out. This will help the chicken soak in the dredge that it will be coated with.
- Eggs – Whisk together eggs and place in a ziplock bag to add flavor and glue over the chicken.
- Garlic – A savory and delicious add in to the chicken and egg wash.
- Panko bread crumbs – This breadcrumb mixture is perfect for coating and covering the chicken.
- Italian seasoning – Add all the seasonings at once from one bottle!
- Parmesan cheese – Sprinkle over top the chicken and spaghetti for an extra cheese flavor.
- Oil – Heat the vegetable or canola oil on medium-high heat. This will give the chicken a crisp, buttery texture on the outside.
- Provolone – Use either provolone or fresh mozzarella cheese to make this chicken even better!
- Spaghetti noodles – In a separate pot, cook the spaghetti according to the package.
Homemade Sauce Ingredients
I especially love this made with my own sauce. If you do have the time to make a sauce, it is definitely worth it. Made with fresh tomatoes, onion, garlic, and spices, this sauce is so much better than anything you get from a jar. It simmers for an hour, giving the spices and seasonings time to blend and also for your house to smell like heaven! First, start by sautéing onions and garlic in olive oil. Then, add tomatoes and spices and simmer.
- Olive oil – Saute your onion with some added olive oil flavor.
- Onion – Dice your onion or mince it depending on how small you are looking to have your onion.
- Garlic – Finely chop fresh garlic to add a savory taste.
- Canned tomatoes – Make it easier by using crushed tomatoes and diced tomatoes.
- Seasonings – Combined dried or fresh basil, oregano, and parsley flakes together for an Italian combination!
- Sugar – Added in for sweetness and to blend the ingredients together.
- Tomato sauce – Bring in a rich tomato flavor with a thick and delicious texture.
Tips and Substitutions for the Best Chicken Parm
- Setting up – It is best to have shallow bowls, a zip lock bag, a pan on the stove, and plates ready with tongs. Having a set up station will help make this process easier and less of a mess.
- Healthy substitutes – Use eggplant instead of chicken breast for a vegetarian eggplant parmesan meal. Or try zucchini noodles in place of the pasta noodles.
- Spice – Add some red pepper flakes, paprika, or cayenne seasoning to the marinara sauce when making it.
- Spaghetti Sauce – If you are short on time, marinara sauce or a homemade canned spaghetti sauce will work instead of making a fresh tomato sauce.
- Gluten Free Version – Use a gluten-free spaghetti and gluten-free breadcrumbs to easily make this meal safe for those who can’t eat gluten.
Spaghetti Substitutions
Obviously, we love to eat our Chicken Parmesan with pasta and homemade tomato sauce, as shown in the recipe below. However, if that isn’t your thing, there are other options! Sometimes we enjoy making the chicken with a side of our Old Spaghetti Factory’s Brown Butter and Mizithra Pasta. We’ve also served it with mashed potatoes, caesar salad, and/or steamed broccoli.
Frequently Asked Questions
To make this recipe gluten-free, substitute GF panko breadcrumbs for the original, and serve over gluten-free pasta. Make sure to read labels at the grocery store, and you should be fine.
Absolutely. As mentioned above, the sauce freezes beautifully. To freeze the chicken, completely wrap the chicken in plastic wrap or foil and place it in the freezer. Add fresh cheese while assembling your meal before serving.
Yes! The delicious sauce can be made ahead and frozen for up to a couple of months. You can bread your chicken and store it in the refrigerator for about 24 hours. You can also boil the spaghetti noodles and store them in the refrigerator for up to three days. To reheat the sauce, warm it in a saucepan on the stove. Then bake the chicken as directed in the recipe card below, warm up the noodles and you’re in business!
This recipe requires no deep frying at all! Because the chicken is covered in breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese, it bakes up crisp and golden on the outside, and juicy and tender on the inside. Baking the chicken keeps the calorie count down as well, so you can afford to smother the whole thing in a yummy, gooey cheese!
Chicken Parmesan
Ingredients
FOR THE SAUCE:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 yellow onion diced
- 4 cloves garlic finely chopped
- 28 ounces canned crushed tomatoes
- 14.5 ounces canned diced tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 dash pepper
- 2 tablespoons dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 2 tablespoons dried parsley flakes
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 8 ounces tomato sauce
FOR THE CHICKEN:
- 3 chicken breasts pounded thin
- 2 eggs beaten
- 3 cloves garlic chopped
- 1 cup Panko bread crumbs
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
- salt and pepper
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 3 slices Provolone or Mozzarella cheese cut in half
- 1 pound spaghetti noodles
Instructions
- Heat a little vegetable oil in a large skillet and sauté onion and garlic. When onions are soft and translucent, add the crushed and diced tomatoes. Add basil, oregano, parsley, sugar, salt, and pepper and bring to a good rolling simmer. Add tomato sauce. Reduce heat a little and simmer uncovered for at least an hour, stirring occasionally.
- About 20 minutes prior to serving, put chicken in a Ziplock bag and add beaten egg and garlic. Smash all the air out of the bag, seal tightly, then work the chicken around a little bit so it is covered in egg.
- On a plate or pie pan, combine bread crumbs, parsley, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper.
- Heat oil on medium heat in another large skillet. Remove chicken from egg mixture and press into the bread crumbs. When covered in bread crumbs, add the chicken to the oil.
- Brown on each side. Place chicken on a greased cookie sheet and bake in the oven at 375-degrees for about 12 minutes or until no longer pink.
- While the chicken is cooking, cook spaghetti to al dente.
- Remove chicken from oven, add 2 slices of cheese per chicken breast, then return to the oven for about 2 minutes or until cheese is melted.
- Layer on individual plates: spaghetti, sauce, then chicken.
Video
Notes
Using Garden Tomatoes
If you would like to use fresh garden tomatoes, you can substitute the diced and crushed tomatoes with 7-8 fresh tomatoes. Peel them and mash them with a potato masher in a medium-sized bowl. Add salt and pepper. Follow the rest of the directions as listed.Storing and Making Ahead of Time
Once the chicken parmesan has rested and cooled, place the chicken and spaghetti into an airtight container. Store in the refrigerator for three to four days. It is best to reheat in the oven or an air fryer. This will help keep the crisp outer layer of the chicken. The spaghetti can be warmed up in the microwave.Nutrition Information
More Easy Parmesan Dishes
If you’ve got Parmesan on your mind, we’ve assembled a few of our favorite cheesy favorites also packed with tangy parm.
I need more
I want to make this tonight. How many ounces should the cans of crushed and diced tomatoes be? My store sells several sizes not just small and large. Also, after the chicken breasts are pounded flat are they supposed to be cut in two to make 6 pieces of chicken? And how thin should they be pounded? Thank you.
I’ve made this recipe a couple of times for my family and they love it. We usually have a lot of the sauce left over so I freeze it and then we use it for a quick spaghetti dinner. All you have to do is brown some Italian sausage mix in the left over sauce (sometimes I add a small amount of tomato sauce to thin it out a bit) and boil some pasta. Dinner served.
This is simmering on the stovetop now. The taste was amazing even before simmering! I’ll never use jarred sauce again! Thanks for sharing!
So excited for you to try it! Thanks for the 5-stars!
I ABSOLUTELY LOVED THIS RECIPE and so did my family. I followed it exactly except a couple minor changes . I used full chicken breast and beated the breast thin with a meat mallet in between plastic wrap. I baked my breast in the over for 10 min or until I knew they were done. I did not make my own pasta sauce because I didn’t have the time, Prego Traditinal did the trick. I then added a little spaghetti sauce to each breast before topping it with my mozzarella . To die for . Thank you!
You are very welcome, so glad you enjoyed this recipe 😀 Thanks for the comment– and the 5-stars!
I made this tonight and omg so good I just added more sauce and more cheese
Tonight will be my second time making this recipe. It had so much flavor and was delicious the first time but was a little too watery. Tonight I’ll be making this again but will be adding at least half a can of tomato paste to help thicken it up. I love adding the can of diced tomatoes and I love the extra chunkiness. Thanks so much for this recipe!
So glad you liked it– great idea to use tomato paste to thicken up. Diced tomatoes can be tricky because sometimes they can be watery, so tomato paste is the perfect solution 🙂
I tried it and love it!
Made this last night. My goodness was it good! My hubby loved it!! I doubled the chicken and there was still more than enough sauce (served it with garlic mashed instead of pasta).
So glad you liked it! Great idea to do mashed potatoes with it!
I made this last night and it was really good
Thank you for taking the time to comment! We love this recipe too 🙂 Thanks again!
Just made this tonight, and it was delicious! Will be a keeper in our menu for sure. Yummy
This looks wonderful and would like make it for dinner, but your recipe needs more specific directions. Does this call for 3 full chicken breasts or 3 half chicken breasts, and please also mention if they should be with or without skin and/bones. Thank you
They are chicken breast halves… boneless, skinless. 🙂
Made this for dinner tonight and the kids loved it. I guess I should say the chicken was the hit b/c I cheated and used jarred sauce. I did add a little more garlic to the breading and baked the chicken just a little bit longer. So easy to prepare and tasty.
Thanks.
How many does this recipe feed? It looks delicious!
It probably feeds 4-5ish…
Thank you for posting so many delicious recipes!!I made this one two nights ago…DIVINE!!! I don't keep tomatoes in the can, but I can my own. I found that mine were too juicy for the sauce (2 qt. jars) without the addition of a 6 oz. can of tomato paste. It was still so very delicious! Thanks again.
i just love Parmesan, they make a good dish any day! thanks for the recipe, now i can give it a go..