Chicken Parmigiana, aka chicken parmesan, is a world-renowned dish and once you make it for your family you’ll soon realize what all the hype is about!
This flavor-packed chicken recipe was originally inspired by the Italian eggplant parm recipe. Using chicken instead of eggplant, this dish has now reached the hearts of households all over the globe.
This chicken parmigiana offered tender juicy chicken on the outside with marinara sauce and crispy browned cheese on the outside served over a bed of soft pasta and a sprinkle of fresh herbs to finish it off!
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❤️ Why you'll love this recipe
- It’s a family-favorite that’s loved by adults and kids alike, around the globe!
- The flavors in this chicken parmigiana are out of this world while the ingredients are simple and inexpensive.
- This recipe offers you a dish that stores well in the refrigerator and the freezer, making it a great make-ahead meal for those busy times!
Get ready to make the ultimate chicken parmigiana - your family will love you for it!
🛒 Ingredients
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Note: The full list of this Chicken Parmigiana recipe ingredients with their amounts and options are listed in the recipe card below.
- Chicken breast halves, skinless boneless
- Flour
- Eggs
- Panko bread crumbs
- Italian Seasoning bread crumbs
- Parmesan cheese grated
- Parsley
- Oil
- Marinara sauce, homemade or jarred
- Mozzarella cheese, shredded
- Parmesan cheese, shredded
- Basil & parsley, freshly chopped
🗒 Instructions
Note: This is an overview of the instructions. The full instructions are in the recipe card below.
- While the oven preheats to 425°F, assemble the flour, egg mixture, and breadcrumb ingredients in separate bowls.
- Pound the chicken breasts to ½" thick and then proceed to dip the chicken into flour, shaking to remove any excess.
- Dip the chicken in beaten eggs.
- Dip the chicken into the bread crumb mixture (press to adhere).
- Repeat the process for all chicken breasts.
- Preheat oil in a large pan and brown the chicken on each side, about 4 minutes per side or until golden.
- Place 1 ½ cups of marinara sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 dish.
- Add the browned chicken to the dish, side by side.
- Top each piece with a couple tablespoons of marinara sauce.
- Top each piece with shredded mozzarella cheese.
- Make sure that you’ve applied a generous amount of shredded mozzarella cheese to each breast.
- Next, top each chicken breast with grated parmesan cheese.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the top of the chicken is golden and bubbly and the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165°F.
- Towards the last 10 minutes of the baking time, start to cook your choice of pasta, drain and set aside.
- Once the chicken is done, start to serve the chicken parmigiana over the pasta with marinara sauce.
- Finish it off with a sprinkle of fresh herbs over the chicken and pasta.
🔪 Equipment
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You’ll need the following items to make this recipe successfully.
- 1 Large iron skillet
- 1 Baking dish 13X9-inch
- 3 Shallow baking dishes For egg wash and breading the chicken
🤔 FAQs
These are the questions we are most frequently asked about making Chicken Parmigiana.
In a nutshell, they are just different names for the same dish! “Parmigiana” is Italian for “in the style of Parma” which refers to the city of Parma, not Parmesan cheese!
Traditional parmigiana pasta sauce is a combination of olive oil, garlic, onions or shallots, seasoning, tomato puree, chicken broth (or stock), red pepper flakes, and sometimes the addition of white wine. It’s a very luxurious sauce indeed but doesn’t always need to be used in this dish. I’ve used marinara sauce instead!
This Italian-American chicken dish draws inspiration from the classic Italian eggplant parm recipe (melanzane alla Parmigiana) and is made in the same way too, just with chicken instead of eggplant.
Strictly speaking, no. While it has certainly been adopted as an Australian staple, the “chicken parmy” is actually a slight adaptation of the Italian eggplant parm recipe which is now a much-loved dish around the globe.
👩🏻🍳 Tips
- Pounding the chicken breasts with a tenderizer helps to flatten the pieces of breast meat to the desired thickness.
- Leftover chicken parmigiana can be reheated in the oven with the sauce and an extra sprinkling of shredded cheese, covered with aluminium foil to prevent the chicken from drying out.
- To test that your chicken is completely cooked, make use of a meat thermometer. The centre of the chicken should register 165F for it to be safe to ingest.
📚 Variations
- While chicken parmigiana is usually made with chicken breasts, you could use chicken thighs if you only have or prefer that cut of meat.
- Chicken cutlets (thin slices of chicken breast) can also be used instead of halved chicken breasts.
- To make this gluten-free, use gluten-free flour and gluten-free breadcrumbs.
- For a vegetarian dish, try using eggplants instead of chicken breasts! You’ll then be making the classic Italian eggplant parm recipe.
🥫 Storage
Leftover chicken parmigiana can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. You also have the option to freeze this dish for up to 3 months and then thaw overnight in the refrigerator when ready to enjoy.
📗 Related Recipes
There’s something so comforting about a chicken and pasta dish. If you agree then it’s well worth taking a peek at this Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo, Homemade Chicken Noodle, or this Chicken Milanese With Orzo And Quick Tomato Sauce.
Love any excuse to add parmesan cheese to your meals? So do I! Check out these scrumptious parmesan-infused recipes:
🍽 Serve with
This dish just wouldn’t be the same with a portion of pasta as the base to rest that juicy chicken and pasta sauce but you could use a low carb option instead such as Zucchini Noodles!
Of course, if you’re looking for additional side dishes to go with your chicken parmigiana, then consider this Tomato Cucumber Salad, Parmesan Roasted Broccoli, or some homemade dinner rolls.
📞 Chiacchierata (chat)
While the process of making this delicious chicken parmigiana may look lengthy, once you get a good production line set up with the breading of the chicken breasts, it’s really just a matter of assembling the chicken, sauce, and cheese toppings in the baking dish before letting adding it to the oven to cook and crisp up!
The compliments I get when making this for family and friends are well worth the effort. Leftovers?! What’s that?!
What's new? Check out my All Our Way Store on Amazon. We'll be adding more items we love and use or wish we had to make cooking fun and easy.
📝 Recipe Card
A chicken dish like no other! This chicken parmigiana is crispy on the outside from a baked cheese coating with tender chicken breast underneath, served over warm pasta with marinara sauce!
If you love this recipe please give it 5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Ultimate Chicken Parmigiana Pasta
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 4 chicken breast halves skinless boneless
- ½ cup flour
- 2 eggs
- ⅔ cup Panko bread crumbs
- ⅔ cup Italian Seasoning bread crumbs
- ⅓ cup parmesan cheese grated
- 2 tablespoons parsley
- 4 tablespoons oil or as needed
- 24 ounces marinara sauce homemade or jarred
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese shredded
- ¼ cup Parmesan cheese shredded
- ½ cup basil & parsley fresh chopped
Equipment Needed
- 3 Shallow baking dishes For egg wash and breading the chicken
Instructions
Instructions
- Preheat an oven to 425°F.
- Place flour in shallow dish. Place the eggs in a second dish (and beat with a fork).
- Combine Panko, Italian crumbs, grated parmesan, 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, salt and pepper to taste in a third shallow dish.
- Pound chicken breasts to ½" thick (if they're very large you can cut them in half).
- Dip chicken into flour and shake to remove any excess. Dip chicken in beaten eggs & then into bread crumb mixture (press to adhere).
- Preheat oil in a large pan. Brown chicken on each side, about 4 minutes per side or until golden (it does not need to cook through as it will continue to cook in the oven).
- Place 1 ½ cups of marinara sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 dish. Add browned chicken. Top each piece with a couple tablespoons of marinara sauce, mozzarella and parmesan.
- Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden and bubbly and chicken reaches 165°F. Sprinkle with fresh herbs and serve over pasta.
