This chicken parmesan recipe is an elegant weeknight favorite. Tender chicken breasts are lightly fried until crispy, then baked in a rich marinara topped with two kinds of golden, melty cheese.
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Holly’s Recipe Highlights
- Flavor: This dish is full of seasoned crispy chicken, tangy marinara sauce, and rich, melty cheese.
- Skill Level: This recipe is perfect for new cooks, using simple ingredients and straightforward steps.
- Recommended Tools: Use a meat mallet to pound the chicken and a meat thermometer to tell if it is cooked through (it should read 165°F in the thickest part).
- Serving Suggestions: Serve it over a pile of buttered noodles, seasoned rice, zoodles, or your favorite pasta.
Easy Ingredient Tips
- Chicken: Pick equally sized chicken breasts, or pound them to an even thickness so they cook evenly and stay juicy. To keep your meat mallet clean, place a plastic wrap on top of your chicken before pounding. If your chicken breast is large, you can also slice it in half horizontally.
- Seasoned Crust: Panko and breadcrumbs are the perfect combo for a crispy crust with lots of flavor. Use stale bread to make your own breadcrumbs.
- Marinara: Buy or DIY your own marinara (save the extra for pizza and lasagna). Add freshly minced garlic or a dash of red pepper flakes to zest up jarred or homemade marinara.
- Cheese: Don’t skimp on the mozzarella and parmesan if you want that cheesy Italian bistro flavor. For maximum melt, shred the cheese from a block. Pre-shredded cheese contains anti-caking agents that don’t melt as nicely.
How to Make Chicken Parmesan
- Prep and brown the chicken (full recipe below).
- Place the chicken on top of the marinara, spoon on a little more sauce, and top with cheese.
- Bake, then garnish with fresh basil and serve over pasta.
Savor the Flavors
- Storing: Keep leftover chicken parmesan with the sauce in a covered container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
- Reheating: Warm portions in the air fryer, or reheat and sprinkle on extra Parmesan, then broil until the top gets crispy again.
- Freezing: Cooled portions can be frozen in zippered bags for up to a month. Thaw in the fridge overnight before reheating.
- Leftover Lunch Idea: Try it cold as a sammie on a ciabatta bun or wrapped in a tortilla with crisp lettuce for a hearty lunch!
More Crispy Chicken Recipes
Did your family love this Chicken Parmesan recipe? Leave us a rating and comment below.
Ingredients
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts about 5oz each
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 large eggs
- ⅔ cup Panko bread crumbs
- ⅔ cup seasoned bread crumbs
- ⅓ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
- 1 teaspoon salt divided
- ½ teaspoon black pepper divided
- 4 tablespoons olive oil or as needed
- 24 ounces marinara sauce homemade or jarred
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- ¼ cup shredded Parmesan cheese
- 2 teaspoons chopped fresh basil for garnish
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F.
- Place the flour in a shallow dish. Place the eggs in a second shallow dish and beat with a fork.
- In a third shallow dish, combine Panko breadcrumbs, seasoned breadcrumbs, grated Parmesan cheese, 2 tablespoons chopped parsley, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper.
- Using the flat side of a meat mallet, pound the chicken breasts to ½-inch thickness. After pounding, if they're very large, you can cut them in half. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels and season with ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon black pepper.
- Dip both sides of the chicken into the flour and shake to remove any excess. Dip chicken in beaten eggs, then into the breadcrumb mixture and gently press to adhere.
- Preheat the oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet. Brown the chicken for about 2 minutes per side or until golden, it does not need to cook through.
- In the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish, add 1 ½ cups of marinara sauce. Add the browned chicken. Top each piece of chicken with 2 tablespoons of marinara sauce in the center. Top with mozzarella and shredded parmesan.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden and bubbly and the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165°F with an instant-read thermometer.
- Sprinkle with fresh basil and parsley and serve over pasta.
Video
Notes
- Chicken breasts can vary from 5 oz to 10 oz. If using larger breasts, you may only need 2, and they can be cut in half horizontally to make 4 thinner chicken breasts. Chicken cutlets can be used in place of chicken breasts.
- Ensure the oil is shimmering before adding the chicken for a better crisp.
- Don’t add too much sauce to the baking pan; you can heat extra sauce on the side if desired.
Nutrition Information
Calories: 647 | Carbohydrates: 44g | Protein: 46g | Fat: 32g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 15g | Trans Fat: 0.02g | Cholesterol: 199mg | Sodium: 2318mg | Potassium: 1098mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 1429IU | Vitamin C: 17mg | Calcium: 394mg | Iron: 5mg
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Chicken, Entree, Main Course
Cuisine American, Italian© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
I have Panko breadcrumbs and not Italian seasoning breadcrumbs. I do have Italian seasoning. Can I work with this? I’m not sure how much this would throw the flavor off.
I’ve only made this recipe as written Gina. I do think that it would work and taste great, but the texture would be slightly different. Enjoy!
I use panko and it tastes fine.
Made the delicious Chicken Parmesan today for the first time for Easter with homemade Marinara sauce and it turned out delicious. Served it with Garlic Parmesan bread bites. The recipe is easy and quick to make. Thanks ❤️
I’m so glad you loved it, Happy Easter!
I made this dish today for my family and it tasted amazing. This was my first time making this meal.I served it with caesar salad and pasta. Thanks again for a great recipe!
I am so glad your family enjoyed this recipe Char!
Simply Loved this recipe! I had never made chicken parmigiana before tonight. Jumped in feet first and served it for a Senior Prom dinner. It was a hit! I will definitely be making this over and over again!
Thank you!
That’s so great Kari! I’m thrilled to hear it was such a success!
Any preference on pasta?
I serve this over a spaghetti or linguine.
Easiest and most foolproof Chicken Parm. I’ve ever made. Don’t skip the double breading with flour first then egg then bread crumbs, the flour seems to seal everything and none of the breading falls off when frying. I cut regular boneless chicken breasts in half and followed all the instructions. V-Good!
So glad you enjoyed it Dena!
Thank you for the recipe and tasted great however I found there was way too much of most of the ingredients. I had a ton of bread crumbs left over. Also I used half the jar of spaghetti and only the parmesan and it was plenty. Great recipe but recommend to cut bread crumbs, flour and pasta sauce in half to avoid wasted food at the end
Glad you enjoyed the recipe! You could certainly cut the bread crumbs if you’d like, I find if there are just enough bread crumbs, the chicken doesn’t coat as evenly.
Excellent! Never made chicken parmesan before. Turned out perfect! Thanks
So happy to hear it turned out for you Danna!
As good as any chicken parm I’ve gotten from a restaurant. It was so good! Will definitely be making this again.
Thank you Rose, I’m so happy to hear that it love this chicken parmesan so much! We sure do too!
I suggest you change the directions to leave the mozzarella off until the last few minutes. Following your directions, the cheese was all dried out and tough.
Sorry you found the cheese to be tough, we haven’t had that problem. Did you shred your own cheese (or buy pre-shredded)?
I’m very surprised at how east this recipe was, my boyfriend LOVED IT!!!
I am so glad your family liked this easy recipe Kylee!
This was terrific but I made too much. I’m going to freeze half. What are the reheating from frozen or thawed instructions?
Defrost in the fridge overnight. I would place in a small casserole dish and bake at 375F until heated through. This can also be heated in the microwave in small portions.
I made this dish yesterday and loved it so much. It was so good, that my father wanted me to make it again. We had it with garlic bread too.
Garlic bread is the perfect accompaniment! I’m so glad your family loved it!
Sounds so good. Did you cover it with foil during bake time?
OMG! This was so good. I will be making this again. I followed the recipe exactly as written. I am so glad I found this recipe. 5 stars!
I am so glad that you liked the recipe Patricia!
Easy to follow and so tasty & very filling! I never realized this dish was so easy to make. Definitely took it up several notches when compared with same ol’ same ol’ boring spaghetti Thank you for sharing!
So glad you loved it Tony, it’s one of my favorite dinners too!
Made this tonight after coming home to find my crockpot had gotten unplugged… It came together easily and was delicious! Made me forget all about that pot roast!
So glad you loved it, sorry to hear about your Crock Pot! You chose a great backup option!
Made this on Saturday and tasted great. Only problem was the breading falls off the chicken. I’ve read many posts trying to get the likely cause, lots of comments but little consensus. Any thoughts? Thanks
Hmm, I haven’t had a problem with the breading falling off. I pat the chicken dry and dredge in flour/egg which creates kind of a ‘glue’ for the crumbs and press the crumbs to make them stick. I think the two most important are making sure the chicken is dry and the flour/egg part. I hope that helps!
That has happened to me before when either there was not enough oil in the pan, or I was using an old pan and the non-stick coating had worn off.
This was Excellent, and we’re 100% Italian. Although we make home-made Marinara & Mozzarella, there’s nothing wrong with using a shortcut, once in a while. Even Nona liked it, & that’s saying a LOT.
Love your recipes. I’m trying out this one this week. Looks delish!
Enjoy Janet, we love this recipe!
Hello Holly,
I have a question regarding your Chicken Parmesan recipe. Can I freeze the left overs? I live alone and would usually have just one serving.
Yes, this recipe freezes well. As you might suspect, the crust on the chicken isn’t crispy once defrosted but it’s still delicious! Enjoy!
Your recipes sound awesome….going to be trying some of them
Enjoy Marian!
Hi, i just love all your recipe’s,
I have made some a couple of times already.
”Pecan Christmas Crack Ritz.” is the one that i love for gift giving.
Thank you, and Merry Christmas to you.
Thank you Betty! Merry Christmas and I’m so glad you are loving Spend With Pennies!
I love your Recipes Holly. Have loved every one of them.
Can’t wait to try the Purple Cabbage (My Mom was partly German).
Tomorrow is the Chicken Parmesan.
I was so bored with cooking and am enjoying it again.
Thank you & Merry Christmas
Aww, thank you Pat, your comment made my night. I hope you love the Chicken Parmesan, it’s one of my favorites!