Chicken Parmesan

I've made spaghetti sauces in the past just using the ground chicken instead of ground beef, but it finally dawned on me that it would be an even tastier idea to make chicken parmesan in lieu of beef spaghetti. Why has it taken me this long to make this?!

I was so excited to make this, I even splurged and paid over $5 for a jar of Ragu sauce from the import section. And it was so worth it (just not too frequently, ha). Like I mentioned, I've made spaghetti sauce a few times here but I've never been very happy with it...if any of you out there have a recipe for homemade spaghetti sauce that tastes good, that does not involve peeling, cooking, and pushing fresh tomatoes through a strainer, please do send it my way. 

In my broccoli cheddar stuffed chicken recipe, I talked about my obsession with Panko bread crumbs, and that's what I used again for the chicken parmesan. If you don't have Panko though, you can just use regular bread crumbs and skip the step of frying the chicken in olive oil and put it directly into the oven.

Chicken Parmesan

3 chicken breasts

1 cup Panko (or regular) breadcrumbs

1-2 tsps Italian seasoning

1-2 TBS grated Parmesan cheese

Pinch of salt and pepper

1 egg, beaten

2 TBS olive oil

1. I like to "butterfly" my chicken, or cut them in half across the length, in order to create two thin chicken cutlets. I think this makes them get crispier with more breading (yum), and cutting them in half is way easier and less messy than pounding them out. Who really likes to pound chicken? So step one, cut the chicken breasts in half (or not if you don't want to). 

2. Beat the egg in one shallow dish.

3. In a second shallow dish, mix the bread crumbs, Italian seasoning, Parmesan cheese, salt & pepper together.

4. Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat.

5. Dip each piece of chicken in the egg first, then coat well with the bread crumb mixture.

6. Fry the pieces of chicken just until the bread crumbs have browned, about 2ish minutes per side (you're not cooking the chicken all the way here).

7. Transfer the chicken to a plate with a paper towel to soak up grease. Then line a baking pan with foil, spray with cooking spray, and transfer all the chicken to the pan.

8. Bake at 170 degrees C (350 F) for 15-20 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. If you left the chicken breasts whole, it will probably take more like 25-30 minutes.

9. Remove from oven and serve with spaghetti (or any pasta) and pasta sauce!