Chicken Parmesan is a hearty dish that’s so easy to make! Baked chicken in a crisp, golden crust, zesty homemade sauce and gooey cheese makes this a family favorite any night of the week!
This Chicken Parmesan is my favorite dish to serve when I don’t have a lot of patience to put together a meal, but want to feed my family something warm, nourishing and absolutely delicious. My husband begs me to make it all the time.This recipe rivals the Chicken Parmesan on the menu at any Italian restaurant. Your family will devour this meal and ask for seconds!
Is Chicken Parmesan Easy to Make?
Yes! This Chicken Parmesan recipe calls for wholesome, easy to find ingredients, the you probably already have 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 slaved away for hours!
How to Make Homemade Sauce
This rich and savory Chicken Parmesan recipe begins with a savory homemade tomato sauce. 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 for your house to smell like heaven! It just takes a bit of chopping and dicing but it’s worth the extra effort.
Can Chicken Parmesan Be Made Ahead of Time?
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 in the refrigerator for up to three days. To reheat the sauce, warm 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!
Can You Freeze Chicken Parmesan?
Absolutely. As mentioned above, the sauce freezes beautifully. To freeze the chicken, completely wrap the chicken in plastic wrap or foil and place in freezer. Add fresh cheese before assembling your meal before serving.
Is Chicken Parmesan Gluten Free?
To make this recipe gluten-free, substitute GF panko breadcrumbs for original, and serve over gluten free pasta.Make sure to READ LABELS at the grocery store, and you should be fine.
Why Bake Chicken Parmesan in the Oven?
This Baked Chicken Parmesan 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, 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 yummy, gooey cheese!
More Perfect Parmesan Dishes
If you’ve got Parmesan on your mind, we’ve assembled a few of our favorite cheesy favorites packed with tangy parm. Enjoy!
- Parmesan Pull Apart Bread
- Parmesan Baked Potato Halves
- Paprika Parmesan Chicken
- Parmesan Crusted Tilapia
- Parmesan Herb Baked Mahi Mahi
- Chicken Parmesan Stuffed Shells
How to Make Chicken Parmesan
Ingredients
FOR THE SAUCE:
- 7-8 garden tomatoes if you don't have garden tomatoes, I would suggest using 1 large can of crushed tomatoes and 1-2 cans of diced tomatoes
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 dash pepper
- 4 cloves garlic finely chopped
- 1 yellow onion diced
- 2 Tbsp. dried basil
- 1 tsp. dried oregano
- 2 Tbsp. dried parsley flakes
- 1/2 tsp. sugar
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 can tomato sauce small
FOR THE CHICKEN:
- 3 chicken breasts pounded flat
- 2 eggs beaten
- 3 cloves garlic chopped
- 1 c. Panko bread crumbs
- 1 Tbsp. Italian seasoning
- 1/4 c. Parmesan cheese
- salt and pepper to taste
- 6 slices Provolone or Mozzarella cheese
- 1 lb. spaghetti noodles
Instructions
- If you are using fresh tomatoes, peel them and mash them with a potato masher in a medium-sized bowl. Add salt and pepper, set aside.
- Heat a little vegetable oil in a large skillet and saute onion and garlic.
- When onions are clear, add the crushed and diced tomatoes.
- Add basil, oregano, parsley, sugar, salt and pepper and bring to a good rolling simmer.
- Add tomato sauce (to thicken it up a little bit). It still may seem a little watery, but trust me, it thickens up quite a bit after it simmers.
- 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 some 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. In the meantime, 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.
aesh came says
i just love Parmesan, they make a good dish any day! thanks for the recipe, now i can give it a go..
Amber says
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.
Kelli Lindeman says
How many does this recipe feed? It looks delicious!
Erica says
It probably feeds 4-5ish…
Leslie says
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.
Lyn says
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
Erica says
They are chicken breast halves… boneless, skinless. 🙂
Jolene says
Just made this tonight, and it was delicious! Will be a keeper in our menu for sure. Yummy
Robyn Jones says
I made this last night and it was really good
Erica says
Thank you for taking the time to comment! We love this recipe too 🙂 Thanks again!
Brittanne says
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).
Erica says
So glad you liked it! Great idea to do mashed potatoes with it!
Fakhriya says
I tried it and love it .????
AshLee says
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!
Erica says
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 🙂
Jennifer Woodall says
I made this tonight and omg so good I just added more sauce and more cheese
Jonelle says
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!
Favorite Family Recipes says
You are very welcome, so glad you enjoyed this recipe 😀 Thanks for the comment– and the 5-stars!
Lisa W says
This is simmering on the stovetop now. The taste was amazing even before simmering! I’ll never use jarred sauce again! Thanks for sharing!
Favorite Family Recipes says
So excited for you to try it! Thanks for the 5-stars!
John says
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.
Stephanie says
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.