Chicken parmesan is a classic Italian dish that is easy to make and always a crowd-pleaser. This recipe starts with a homemade tomato sauce; the chicken breasts are then breaded and fried until crispy. They are then baked in the oven with fresh mozzarella cheese and basil. Serve this delicious dish with a side of spaghetti for an easy weeknight meal everyone will love!
Why this chicken parmesan recipe is the best!
Guess what? It’s date night! I have been looking forward to making a delicious meal for my partner for a while and have been racking my brain for something yummy to make.
I bounced back and forth between this cilantro coconut chicken and salmon with chimichurri. But then my partner might’ve mentioned being in the mood for Italian, and I KNEW I had to go for something hearty. In comes this crispy chicken parmesan!
This chicken parmesan recipe is easy to make and always a crowd-pleaser. The chicken breasts are freshly breaded and fried until crispy, then baked in the oven with fresh mozzarella cheese and homemade tomato sauce.
Served with a side of spaghetti, this easy chicken parmesan recipe is the best way to show how much you care on date night!
Highly recommend 🙂
Kitchen equipment needed:
- Small saucepan
- Meat mallet (or rolling pin)
- Shallow bowl
- Large skillet
- Sheet pan
Note: Check out the recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and instructions to make this authentic chicken parmesan.
Cooking tips:
When making this easy chicken parmesan, I came up with the best hacks to cook the perfect juicy chicken parmesan.
- Use a meat mallet. Pounding the chicken into thinner, even cutlets will help them cook evenly. If you don’t have a mallet, you can use a rolling pin instead!
- Pat the chicken dry. Make sure to do this before dredging. Otherwise, the breading will not stick as well.
- Don’t overcrowd your pan! When frying the chicken, make sure not to overcrowd the pan. Otherwise, the chicken will steam and won’t get as crispy.
- Bake it off. While you can stop after frying the chicken, I recommend baking it in tomato sauce for extra flavor and juiciness.
- Love spaghetti? This easy chicken parmesan is best served with buttery spaghetti and a piece of sourdough bread. But feel free to serve it with your favorite pasta or a simple chopped salad!
I hope you enjoy this homemade chicken parmesan! If you love this recipe and want to learn how to make other fun recipes, follow me on TikTok and save some of my cooking videos.
Check out these other Italian recipes!
- Creamy Mushroom Orzotto
- Baked Spicy Vodka Pasta with Parsley Pesto
- Linguini with Spicy Red Clam Sauce
- Herby Spaghetti with Anchovy Butter
- Cast Iron Pizza with Soppressata and Hot Honey
Easy Chicken Parmesan Recipe
Equipment
- Small sauce pan
- Large pot
- Plastic wrap
- 3 Shallow bowl
- Large skillet
- Sheet tray (with a rack if you have it!).
Ingredients
Sauce
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 5 cloves garlic thinly sliced
- 2-3 anchovy filets
- 2 Tbsp tomato paste
- 1-28 oz can whole peeled tomatoes, hand crushed
- Crushed red pepper flakes to taste
- Kosher salt and pepper to taste
Chicken
- 2 boneless skinless, chicken breasts
- Kosher salt and pepper to taste
- ½ cup all purpose flour
- ½ tsp dried oregano
- 2 eggs beaten
- ½ cup grated parmesan cheese plus more for grating over the top
- ¾ cup panko breadcrumbs or homemade breadcrumbs
- Canola oil for pan frying
To Serve
- ½ pound desired long pasta ie spaghetti, linguine, etc.
- Fresh mozzarella sliced
- Fresh basil leaves
Instructions
For the sauce:
- In a small sauce pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic and sweat until aromatic.
- Add anchovies and cook, stirring, until they melt into the oil.
- Stir in tomato paste and cook until it darkens in color, about 2 minutes.
- Add in crushed tomatoes and stir. Season with pepper flakes, salt and pepper to taste.
- Let sauce simmer on low while you prepare the chicken.
For the chicken:
- Place a large pot of water over high heat. (for boiling the pasta later on)
- Pound the chicken in between two pieces of plastic wrap to an even 1/3 inch thickness.
- Season both sides of the chicken with salt and pepper. Next prepare your breading station.
- In a shallow bowl, mix together flour and oregano.
- Place beaten eggs in another shallow bowl.
- Mix grated parm and breadcrumbs in another shallow bowl.
- Dredge chicken in flour, then egg, then breadcrumb mixture, making sure to evenly coat the chicken in each step. Repeat with second breast.
- In a large skillet, add enough canola oil to come up about 1/4 inch. Heat until hot (you can check by adding a bit of breading to see if it sizzles).
- Carefully add one chicken breast to the pan and cook until golden on one side, about 4 minutes.
- Flip chicken and cook on second side, about another 4 minutes. Remove chicken to a sheet tray (with a rack if you have it!).
- Fry second chicken breast in the same fashion, adjusting heat as necessary. Place on sheet tray.
To finish:
- Turn broiler on high.
- Heavily salt boiling water and drop in pasta. Cook pasta to al dente.
- Meanwhile as the pasta cooks, top chicken with some tomato sauce, slices of mozzarella and a bit more grated parmesan.
- Broil chicken until cheese begins to brown, about 2-4 minutes. (keep an eye on it!)
- Drain pasta and coat in a bit of olive oil.
- Serve chicken with pasta, more sauce, and topped with fresh basil. sooooo goooooood.
