If you’re looking for the Best Chicken Parmesan. One taste of this tender, moist chicken breast with a deliciously crispy coating, topped with a rich homemade tomato sauce and ooey-gooey melted mozzarella cheese, oven-baked to perfection and you’ll agree that this is the Best Chicken Parm Recipe you’ve ever tasted!
It’s such an easy dish to make, that you’d think it’s always the perfect meal to get when you order at your favorite Italian Restaurants. Unfortunately, it’s not.
Chicken Parmesan (also called Chicken Parmigiana) was one of the most popular dishes in my restaurant days. Sadly, most of the time, the chicken parm you’re served in restaurants comes out too dry or doesn’t have enough sauce, cheese or flavor.
But I’m going to share the Italian Chef’s secret chicken parmesan recipe with you and your life will never be the same!
You can find more parm-style deliciousness with my Eggplant Parm and Veal Parm.
What Ingredients do I need to make a Restaurant-Style Chicken Parm?
Let’s start by gathering the ingredients we need to make my Restaurant Style Chicken Parm. In Chef Speak this is called the “Mise en Place” which translates to “Everything in its Place”.
Not only does setting your ingredients up ahead of time speed up the cooking process, but it also helps ensure you have everything you need to make the dish.
These are the ingredients I used to make chicken parmesan.
- chicken breast
- mozzarella cheese
- spaghetti sauce
- parsley
- all-purpose flour
- sea salt and black pepper
- seasoned bread crumbs
- eggs
- water or milk
- vegetable oil
How do I make Chicken Parmesan?
The key to making the perfect chicken parmesan is in flattening the skinless breasts (which also tenderizes them) with a meat mallet. This makes for the perfect bite. Not too thick, so the flavors don’t carry through and are not too chewy.
The chicken breasts should weigh between 4-5 ounces each.
Flattening the Chicken Breast
Cover the boneless skinless chicken breasts with plastic wrap before pounding them. It keeps bits of chicken from flying around the room and makes the process easier.
If you don’t have a meat hammer, a regular hammer (wrapped in plastic) will do. Use the flat side of the hammer not the part you drive nails in with. Just don’t go crazy the chicken; you don’t want to tear up the chicken breast.
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I recommend this meat hammer if you want to work like a chef and get a little medieval with your meats -> Westmark (Robusto-Spezial) Meat Hammer.
While pounding the chicken breast, don’t strike straight down. You want to push the meat towards the outer edges while you pound. We want the breast intact; this is the best way to gain size without breaking the breast apart.
Do I have to pound the chicken breasts for Chicken Parmesan?
The short answer is no. But trust me, the difference between a pounded chicken breast and a not-pounded breast is night and day. The pounded breast will be more tender and will spread out more allowing you to cover it with more sauce and cheese. And that means more flavor.
Once the chicken breasts have been prepped, it’s onto the breading station.
Breading the chicken
Set up three shallow bowls (or other containers) that you are big enough to get the flattened chicken breast in for the breading process.
- flour seasoned with sea salt and black pepper
- egg wash (eggs whipped with milk or water)
- Italian seasoned bread crumbs (or your choice of bread crumbs)
Start by dipping each piece of chicken into the seasoned flour. Then into the egg wash, and finally into the seasoned bread crumbs.
**Make sure to get a good coating on the chicken breast at each step of the process.
Once all the chicken breasts have been breaded, you’re ready to move on to the next step.
Chef Dennis Tip:
I hate breading food. It’s a messy job and no matter how hard I try I can’t do the one dry-hand one wet-hand process. So when I bread chicken or eggplant, I triple the amount I’m making so I don’t have to go through the process as often.
Make a large batch, fry them up, freeze them, and store them in ziplock bags. Then on a day, you’re too tired to cook you’ll have deliciousness waiting for you in the freezer!
When you’re done breading the chicken cutlets it’s time to fry the chicken up to a golden brown.
Frying the chicken cutlets
Heat a large saute pan on high heat and add about half an inch of vegetable oil. Carefully place the breaded chicken cutlets into the oil using tongs. Add as many as you can into your pan without crowding them.
Fry the chicken cutlets until they get a nice golden brown color. Using tongs turn them over and saute the other side until golden brown (2-3 minutes per side). I usually use corn oil to pan-fry the chicken, but olive oil will also work.
Drain the fried chicken cutlets on racks over a sheet pan (or baking sheets). Allowing fried food to drain removes much of the fat associated with frying. Most of the fat will not penetrate the food, staying only on the outer layer (as long as the oil is hot enough).
This half-sheet pan with a wire rack is perfect for draining fried foods.
The skies the limit for the number of toppings you can add to a perfectly breaded and fried chicken cutlet.
Chef Dennis Tip:
If you’re serious about home frying, I suggest the T-Fal Deep Fryer. It’s the one I use at home for any deep-fried foods.
The secret to making a perfect Chicken Parm is using enough tomato sauce on top of the fried chicken cutlet to cover it completely.
Some restaurants give you a huge order of chicken cutlets, then don’t use enough pasta sauce or cheese to cover them. If I wanted a plain fried chicken cutlet, I’d order one!
It’s all about the sauce and the cheese.
And while you don’t want to smother the chicken cutlet with mozzarella cheese (okay maybe you do). Don’t scrimp on the cheese!! And although it’s called chicken parmesan, parmesan cheese is not the star of the dish. Although I recommend serving chicken parm with grated parmesan cheese or grated Romano cheese.
And for that restaurant-style look, sprinkle finely chopped parsley on top of the cheese before putting the chicken parm in the oven to finish cooking.
The parsley melts into the cheese, making the Chicken Parmesan even more tantalizing…..sigh.
What else can I make with a fried chicken cutlet?
Try a few of my favorite toppings:
- swap out shredded mozzarella with fresh mozzarella.
- bacon, tomatoes, and Swiss cheese
- sauteed broccoli rabe, roasted peppers, and provolone cheese
- sauteed broccoli and cheese sauce
- mushrooms, sauteed spinach, and melted bleu cheese crumbles
See how easy it is to create deliciousness? Have fun with the toppings making your own signature chicken dish, it doesn’t always have to be about Chicken Parm.
Now, this is a Chicken Parmesan that you’ll love eating! The sauce adds flavor and the cheese adds that ooey-gooey deliciousness that turns that chicken cutlet into a superstar.
Recipe FAQ’s
In order to get a crisp (not soggy) chicken cutlet the oil must be hot enough. In the restaurant, we cook at 350 degrees in the fryer. If you don’t have an instant-read thermometer, heat the oil until it’s shimmering but not smoking. It should be hot enough, so a piece of breading dropped into the oil will sizzle.
Technically it is not. You won’t find chicken parm in Italy, it was created by Italian Americans to mimic Parmigiana di Melanzane, which is made with eggplant.
Traditionally chicken parm is served with pasta. But other options are veggie noodles, Caesar salad, mashed or roasted potatoes, rice, or garlic bread.
I like using Italian seasoned bread crumbs and often add a little more seasoning to them. But you can use plain bread crumbs or panko bread crumbs, and add your own seasonings to make chicken parm. It’s all up to you.
Yes, you can. While I prefer making my own sauce, there is nothing wrong with cutting out that step and using your favorite store-bought tomato sauce.
More Italian Recipes You’ll Love!
Best Chicken Parm Recipe
Ingredients
- 24 oz chicken breast four 6 ounce boneless skinless breasts, lightly pounded
- 8 oz mozzarella cheese shredded
- 12 oz spaghetti sauce your favorite brand or see my recipe
- 2 tsp parsley finely chopped
- 1 cup flour seasoned with sea salt and black pepper
- 2 cups bread crumbs Italian seasoned or your choice
- 2 large eggs
- 2 oz water or milk
- vegetable oil for frying chicken cutlets
Instructions
- Place the chicken breasts on a cutting board lined with plastic wrap. Cover the chicken with another sheet of plastic wrap and using a meat hammer lightly pound the chicken breasts (see notes).
- Set up a breading station with flour seasoned with sea salt and black pepper, egg wash and Italian seasoned bread crumbs.
- Coat the chicken breasts with the seasoned flour. Then place in the egg wash and finally in the bread crumbs. Make sure you get a good coating of each ingredient on the chicken breasts, completely coating them.
- Heat a large saute pan on high heat and add about a half an inch of vegetable oil. Carefully place the breaded chicken cutlets into the oil using tongs. Add as many as you can into your pan without crowding them. Let them saute until they get a nice golden brown color. Using tongs turn them over and saute the other side until golden brown.
- Drain the fried chicken cutlets on baking racks over sheet pans (or baking sheets).
- Place the fried chicken cutlets in a baking dish. Top each cutlet with about ⅓ cup of spaghetti sauce, covering the chicken cutlet.
- Add two ounces of shredded mozzarella cheese on top of the marinara sauce.
- Sprinkle the chopped parsley on top of the mozzarella cheese.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes or until the cheese is nicely melted.*make sure the fried chicken cutlet has reached a minimum internal temperature of 165 degrees F
- Remove from the oven and serve immediately with your favorite pasta.
Video
Notes
- Preheat the air fryer to 375 degrees F.
- Place the breaded chicken in a single layer in your air fryer. Depending on how many chicken cutlets you are cooking you may need to cook the chicken in batches.
- Cook the breaded chicken for six minutes, then turn the pieces over. Top the chicken cutlets with tomato sauce, shredded mozzarella cheese and a sprinkle of chopped parsley.
- Let the chicken parm cook for an additional 3-5 minutes or until the internal temperature of the chicken has reached 165 degrees F.
Steven D Tucker
Hey Chef, Tried this Chicken Parm Recipe tonight. It was AMAZING!!! A lot of times I’ll start a new recipe and I start tweaking it before I even try the original so tonight I decided to make it exactly as it was written and it was perfect. I signed up for the email updates and what not. I also read the spaghetti sauce recipe and am looking forward to trying it in the near future. I was in the restaurant business for 38 years and ultimately retired from it. I still love cooking though and am always looking for new sources of inspiration. Thanks again!!!
Terry Brand
Where do I find the marinara sauce recipe?
Chef Dennis Littley
hi Terry
this is the recipe I use anytime I need a red sauce. It’s not really a marinara since its cooked for 4-5 hours. You can make it without the sausage if you like. https://www.askchefdennis.com/restaurant-style-spaghetti-sauce/
Sharon
I want to serve to my dinner club. Will it be alright to make ahead and warm yp
Chef Dennis Littley
I would cook the chicken and set it up with sauce and cheese and put it into the oven to finish before serving. I wouldn’t precook and then warm it up.
Margaret Frick
I have made Chicken Parm numerous times but I was never happy with it. Saw your recipe so I gave it a try. It was deliciously fantastic. I have now, after 53 years of cooking found my go to recipe for chicken parm. You would think that this fairly easy recipe wouldn’t be difficult but sometimes the easiest becomes the most challenging. I wanted restaurant taste and presentation. This recipe has it. Thank you Chef Dennis.
Chef Dennis Littley
Thank you for letting me know you enjoyed my chicken parm recipe Margaret, you made my day!
F. C. Kelly
Made this for Sunday lunch and my family loved it! Thanks so much!
Kathryn Patterson
I cook a lot for my parents. My mom told me that she would love if I cooked her some Chicken Parmesan. So, I looked up some recipes, and your recipe sound absolutely delicious. I followed the directions, and of course tasted it. It was so delicious I just went ahead and made enough for my whole family. Thank you so much for your delicious recipe.
Chef Dennis Littley
You’re very welcome Kathyrn, I hope you find more recipes to try on my website!
Tracy
This is such a great recipe. I love that there’s plenty of sauce. I agree, so many restaurants don’t give enough! A family favorite now, thank you!
Jagruti's Cooking Odyssey
looks delicous! love the combination of ingredients you have used.
Jo
This was perfect! Chicken and parm together is one delicious combo. Thank you for sharing all the tips and tricks to make a perfect dish.
LaKita
This recipe for chicken parm was so delicious! I also hate the breading process so the tip to make extra and freeze them for later works perfect for me!
Neha
Holy yum! This chicken parm looks so appetizing. I am so going to try this one as soon as I get a chance. Thanks for all the wonderful tips too.
Aditi Bahl
Tried this lovely chicken delight and my family loved it. Moreover it was easy to prepare thanks to your detailed post. Thanks for sharing
Sues
Wow, this truly was the best chicken parm ever! I agree sometimes it’s just not great at restaurants, especially when it’s overly greasy or doesn’t have a lot of flavor. Now I know I can have the perfect one when I make it at home!
Denise
One of my favorite meals, that I can now cook at home! Thank you for sharing your recipe, it was delicious
Bill Desjarlais
So easy and so tasty. This recipe was a big hit with my family.