My Uncle Buck used to say: "true story" all the time. He'd tell you something and then say, "true story." I loved that about him. So when I say certain things this expression comes to mind. So, I've never really been into chicken parmesan until the past couple of years. True story. I don't have an explanation for this. Crispy breaded chicken smothered in mozzarella cheese with mom's homemade sauce. More fresh parmesan cheese on top and fresh basil on top of that? I love all those flavors! However, I usually would only order this at a restaurant. And so I began to experiment with chicken parmesan and one thing became clear: you can make outrageous chicken parmesan at home.
For Outrageous Chicken Parmesan You must have Mis en Place
Being organized with your prep will make for an easy assembly of this classic dish. My undergrad degree was in hotel/restaurant management. One of the first concepts we learned about was mis en place - French for everything in its place. It means get your ingredients together, chopped, divided, sliced - whatever - but have it ready when you need it. You shouldn't be reaching for new ingredients to prep in the middle of the assembly of your dinner.
Tips to Getting Yourself Appropriately Mis en Placed
- Get your chicken ready. I tend to buy already-thin-sliced boneless chicken for this. I still pound it down anyway to even out the pieces. You'll want the cutlets to be about ¼" in thickness.
- If you have full-sized chicken breasts: butterfly the chicken (slice lengthwise down the side until once piece becomes two). Then cover with plastic and pound down with kitchen mallet, rolling pin or frying pan.
- Set up your dredging station with flour, egg, bread crumbs. Use wide rimmed bowls for this or whatever you have the can handle chicken pieces getting breaded in.
- Start heating your oil in a large pan (or two) towards the end of dredging the chicken.
- Have a sheet pan ready to place your cutlets after you've breaded them.
- Fry your chicken cutlets and have a sheet pan or plate ready to transfer to.
- Have your shredded cheese ready-to-go when its time to melt under your broiler.
- Get all your prep done so everything is within reach once the cooking process starts.
- Basil is one exception. Sometimes I do like to cur it fresh right before serving. But you could also chop it ahead of time and wrap it in damp paper towels.
Master Outrageous Chicken Parm - Master Life
Everyone loves chicken parm and if you master this recipe you can do anything. I really mean that. Knowing how to cook one of the most popular foods on Earth is an incredible skill. It's a crowd pleaser, always, and learning the steps and technique of setting up for success with mis en place will help you become a better home chef.
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Of course I am biased here and you can certainly use your favorite jarred sauce, but please consider trying my mom's big batch, slow-cooked spaghetti sauce. This recipe will not let you down and when you make a big batch of sauce you always have it ready-to-go for chicken parm night or any kind of pasta night for that matter.
Be brave and cook for your loved ones tonight. If you're new to cooking please don't stress. I have a video with step-by-step instructions and a recipe card with all the written instructions. You got this.
For this Crispy Chicken Parm, here's my mom's big batch spaghetti sauce:
Looks for More Chicken Cutlet Recipes? I Gotcha Covered:
- Lemon Butter Basil Chicken Cutlets
- Cheddar Chicken Cutlets
- How to Make Fantastic Chicken Piccata
- Creamy Chicken Marsala
- The Kackle Burger (fried chicken cutlet sandwich)
How to Make Outrageous Chicken Parmesan
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 6-8 1x
Description
Want to master an outrageous chicken parmesan recipe? Crispy cutlets and mom's spaghetti sauce push this recipe over the top.
Ingredients
Chicken Cutlets
- 6 thin-cut chicken cutlets
- 3 cups plain Panko bread crumbs
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon onion salt
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ cup freshly grated parmesan
- 5 eggs
- Vegetable oil for frying as needed
Toppings
- Fresh basil, optional but delicious
- Fresh grated parmesan (use for garnish after melting cheese)
- 1 8-ounce bag of shredded mozzarella (if you want more - go for it)
- Homemade spaghetti sauce (see my video)
- OR use your favorite homemade sauce or jarred sauce
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Instructions
- Heat your chosen spaghetti sauce on low while you prepare your chicken parmesan. I always use my homemade sauce.
- Start with 6 thin chicken cutlets. I prefer to buy the thin cutlets for this but you’ll still need to pound them down a bit. Put down a piece of plastic wrap, one of the cutlets and then another layer of plastic wrap on top of that. Pound it with a kitchen mallet, rolling pin or frying pan until it’s around ¼" in thickness.
- Set up your dredging station with your eggs, flour and bread crumbs. The eggs: beat them well in a bowl. To the flour: add salt, garlic powder, onion salt and mix together. To the bread crumbs: add freshly grated parmesan.
- Start the dredging one cutlet at a time. First dip the cutlet in the egg, then coat the chicken with flour, then back into the egg, then the bread crumbs. Egg. Flour. Egg. Bread crumbs. Yes, this is a double egg dip process. It gets the chicken crispier in my opinion. Make sure the cutlet is fully coated in the bread crumbs. You should press down on the bread crumbs a bit. Then take the breaded cutlet and put on a sheet pan. Repeat this for all cutlets.
- Heat vegetable oil, on medium heat, in one pan or two pans if you want to save time. Should be a about a ¼ inch of oil in the pan. I use my egg-finger-flick test to make sure the oil is crackling and ready before placing the cutlets in the pan.
- Using tongs, gently place the chicken cutlets in the heated oil being careful not to splatter any hot oil. Cook for 3-4 minutes on each side. As your cutlets are finished, place them on a sheet pan.They should be golden brown.
- If using one cooking pan, remove any loose bread crumbs from oil with a fine mesh strainer in between batches. The bread crumbs can burn and attach to the next batch of cutlets and we don’t want that to happen. Add more oil to the pan for the second batch of cutlets if needed.
- Place your cutlets on a sheet pan when finished frying them.
- Prepare your basil. Place 8-10 basil leaves on top of each other. Roll them into a cylinder then slice. Use to garnish before serving. I like to wait and cut this right before the chicken is ready to eat. If basil sits too long it starts turning black.
- Do not put sauce on the cutlets yet. Sauce is going to make the chicken soggy so it’s always the last thing to add. Put shredded mozzarella cheese on the top of all the cutlets. Broil on high in your oven for a few minutes until the cheese is melted. Keep your eye on this!
- Final plating: Put cutlet with melted cheese on a plate. Spoon on your sauce, grate fresh parmesan cheese on top of that, add your shredded basil to the top of that. Start eating.
Notes
- If you can’t find the thinly sliced cutlets at your grocery store, buy three regular chicken breasts, slice them into cutlets so you have six pieces, then pound them out as thin as possible.
- You can use vegetable or canola oil here. Olive oil is possible too and I made it like this for years, but I prefer canola.
- As mentioned in the video – do not use parchment paper if you are broiling to melt the cheese. I wasn't thinking when I did that and didn't cut the extra paper around the sides which burned a little.
- One whole piece of this is a pretty big portion. If you’re making pasta to serve with this, you could cut the cutlets in half and it will still be a generous portion.
yum yum
it looks yummy,
Stacey
Hi "yum yum" thanks for checking out my recipe!