Easy Chicken Parmigiana Recipe
Published October 18, 2023. This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
This classic chicken parmigiana recipe is breaded tender chicken cutlets topped off with a Pomodoro Sauce and Cheese for one incredible meal. It’s the perfect meal for Italian food lovers looking for an easy weeknight family dinner.
We eat chicken several times a week in our house. It’s quick to prepare, it’s a great lean protein, and it doesn’t break the bank. If you are similar, check out my Chicken Melt or Fried Chicken.
Chicken Parmigiana
Chicken parmigiana is a recipe created by Italians who immigrated to the northwest region of the United States and tweaked one of their country’s original recipes. In this case, the traditional melanzane alla parmigiana, a.k.a. eggplant parmesan, was re-created in the States and turned into a new recipe, chicken parmigiana.
My SWAG (scientific wild a$$ guess) tells me that the eggplant was traded for chicken because eggplant likes to grow in warmer weather, and if you’re living in the Northwest, chances of getting some ripe in-season eggplant probably aren’t too high.
This dish consists of pounded chicken breasts that are breaded and lightly pan-fried until golden brown. They are then topped off with a pomodoro sauce and finished with mozzarella cheese. It’s then baked or broiled until the cheese is melted and lightly browned. I usually like to top it off with chopped fresh basil.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Chicken – You will need fresh or frozen-thawed boneless skinless chicken breasts.
- Flour – All-purpose flour is used in the standard breading procedure.
- Eggs – Chilled or room-temperature large eggs are perfect.
- Breadcrumbs – Use regular breadcrumbs for this chicken parmigiana instead of panko.
- Sauce – You will need to pre-make a pomodoro sauce for this. It is a quick recipe. If not, please use your favorite tomato-based sauce.
- Cheese – I use a combination of freshly shredded mozzarella, sliced round mozzarella, freshly grated parmigino reggiano, and shredded fontina. You can use any combination of mozzarella and fontina, but parmigiana must be used.
How to Make Chicken Parmigiana
- Slice the chicken breasts in half width-wise.
- Pound out each of them slightly so that it is about a ¼ inch thick.
- Set up your standard breading procedure.
- Dredge the pounded-out breasts 1 at a time, completely coating in the flour, then egg-wash, and finally the bread crumbs.
- Fry them in olive oil until golden brown on each side, about 2-3 minutes per side.
- Transfer the breaded cutlets to a casserole dish or sheet tray lined with parchment paper.
- Top each cutlet off with a bit of Pomodoro sauce.
- Add cheeses to the top of the tomato sauce on top.
- Bake in the oven until the cheese is melted.
What to Serve It With
There are a few different items you can serve with this, including:
Make-Ahead and Storage
Make-Ahead: This is meant to be eaten as soon as it’s done cooking. However, keep it covered and warm in the oven at low temperatures (>200°) for 30 minutes before serving.
How to Store: Store it in plastic in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. It freezes well covered individually in plastic for up to 3 months. Thaw them in the refrigerator for 1 day before reheating.
How to Reheat: Add the chicken parmigiana to a casserole dish and cover it with foil. Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes at 375° or until warm.
CHEF NOTES + TIPS
- Regardless of how and who created it, this is delicious and comes together in under an hour, making it an impressive weeknight meal for family and friends.
- In case you were wondering, parmigiana is pronounced par-mah-zhah-na.
- You can use panko as the breadcrumbs, but it will not be classical.
- I used a combination of sliced mozzarella, fontina, and parmesan cheeses for the chicken.
- It’s important that the breading be seasoned at every step of the procedure.
- You can also use avocado or a healthier oil; pay attention to the smoking point before cooking the chicken.
- Feel free to add optional garnishes on top of chopped parsley or fresh basil.
- You may also see this recipe called Chicken Parmesan, which is the same thing.
- For a healthier option, Instead of frying the cutlets in oil, bake them right in the oven at 400° for 15-18 minutes or until lightly browned. Continue on with step seven.
More Chicken Recipes
- Chicken Piccata
- Creamy Chicken Dumpling Soup Recipe
- Chicken Milanese
- Best Fried Chicken Recipe
- Authentic Chicken Curry
Video
Easy Chicken Parmigiana Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 9-12 ounce boneless skinless chicken breasts cut in half widthwise
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 3 large eggs
- 1 ½ cups unseasoned bread crumbs
- 1 cup pomodoro sauce
- 8 ounces sliced mozzarella
- 1 cup shredded fontina cheese
- ½ cup grated parmesan cheese
- sea salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
- fresh chiffonade basil for garnish
Instructions
- Place the sliced chicken in between two pieces of plastic wrap and pound out using a rubber mallet until each one is between ¼” and 1/3” thick. Set aside on a plate.
- In a medium-sized baking pan or bowl, mix together the flour, salt, and pepper and set aside.
- In a separate second medium-size baking pan or bowl, whisk together, the eggs, salt, and pepper until combined and set aside.
- In a separate third medium-sized baking pan or bowl, mix together, the bread crumbs, salt, and pepper until combined and set aside.
- Add the pounded-out chicken cutlets one by one and coat in the flour, then dredge in the egg mixture, following up by coating and pressing down into the bread crumbs, making sure the chicken cutlet is completely breaded. Repeat until the chicken cutlets are all breaded.
- Add about ½ to 3/4 cup of olive oil to a large frying pan over medium-low heat and add in the breaded chicken cutlets, 1 to 2 at a time, and cook for 2 1/2 to 3 minutes per side or until golden brown. transfer to a sheet tray lined with parchment paper.
- Evenly add the Pomodoro sauce to the top of each chicken cutlet and then layer on as follows sliced mozzarella, fontina, and parmigiana cheese.
- Bake in the oven at 450° for 20 to 25 minutes or until the cheese is melted and lightly browned.
- Remove from the oven and garnish with fresh chiffonade basil.
- Serve with polenta or homemade noodles tossed in melted butter.
Amazing flavors that come together in no time! Thanks for a quick weeknight dinner.
As good as it gets!!!
Made it tonight. On tap for Sunday dinner for the whole family.
Amazing!
Wonder full recipe Thsnk you ChefBilly 😁😋🤩
Fantastic I usually don’t try Pama ‘s especially at pub ..shall now thank you ChefBilly oh my goodness melts in your mouth 😁😋🤤
Thank you Chef Billyreciepy … it the bomb 😁🤩😋
Thank you ChefBilly the taste is amazing 😋recipe
Thank you ChefBilly has the best recipe…videos all other that is done in the background ….loved recipe Chef Billy😁🤤🤩
Thank you ChefBilly yumoh recipe chick Parma😁😋🤩🤤
The best chicken parm I’ve ever made! I also made one of your other recipes and it was so good!
I made this for my mom. It was delicious. I’m glad you use ingredients that we can get in a small town. I’m going to try your other recipes.
I love this recipie, so easy to make and the chicken is do tender. This is the only way I want to cook my chicken.
Delicious recipe and pretty easy to make. My family loves it.
Every recipe of Billy’s works perfectly!
It was delicious and crunchy. I also made your pomodoro sauce. So easy and so fresh!! My family loves the dish!!
Better than any restaurant. Followed exactly. Great pomodoro too!
Delicious!!!!!!!
Thank you for trying this!
I’m 75 and all my years of cooking and trying recipes my whole life, this is the best ever! I even use it in chicken sweet and sour too came out fabulous.
Thank you for trying it!
I made Chicken Parmigiana for the first time using this recipe. I am not much of a wazoo cook, but I do pretty well in general. I followed the prep and cook times to the letter (I tend to over brown my pounded meats, so this was a win for me). This turned out BEAUTIFULLY!. I will say, that it does take a little bit longer than it would for the Chef to prep, as I am a little bit slower than Chef and I started in the morning by making a pseudo-pomodoro sauce using up fresh frozen tomatoes from my summer plants and supplemented with canned San Marzanos. For those who buy meat from bulk-box store, the fileted breast may also need to be cut in half, as by the time I layered the yummy mozzarella, fontina and parm on top of the gargantuan breast pieces, they took up half of the plate. My husband wasn’t complaining, however… If you had a place to download a photo of my finished product, I would have posted one. It tasted a wonderful as it looked!
Appreciate you trying this!
I haven’t tried it yet Billy it’s 4:39 and I just woke up I thought I would check my emails..so I will try it one day soon , I’m sure it will be delish as all your recipes have been !
thank you, now go try it!
This recipe is so delicious! Easy to prepare with the Pomodoro sauce! I cannot get over the tasty flavor of Marzano whole tomatoes.
excellent!
I made the chicken parmigiana again the other night and it’s fantastic every single time. It’s actually very easy to make and so tasty!! This is a must try dish guys or gals! If your on the fence, just make it! I also suggest Chefs pomodoro sauce.
This was the second dish that I made of Billy’s recipe. I made it for my family who came over for a party. My family raved about it saying several times that “this better than a restaurant!”
This is fantastic! Try it, you won’t regret it
excellent!
Made it for 10 people for my wife’s 50th birthday. It was a huge hit!
excellent!
This was the best Chicken Parm I have ever had!! I even made my own bread crumbs. I love all your recipes and have improved my cooking skills thanks to you!!
Awesome
This is the first Billy Parisi meal I made. It was so good 😊. It’s definitely been added to our meal rotation. Can’t wait to make other delicious meals from Billy!!
Love it
The Best!
many thanks!
Delicious!!!
thank you so kindly!!
This was fantastic! A hit with my husband. It tasted like something from a 5 star Italian restaurant.
Amazing!
Another Home Run.
Down in Georgia visiting with my daughter and family. Granddaughter loves Chicken Parm and likes making it with Grandpa. Thought we would change it up using Billy’s recipe. Daughter, Son in Law, Grandma and most importantly Granddaughter loved it.
thanks for giving it a shot!!
This was by far the best chicken parm that I’ve ever made. Super tasty,tender and moist. Best of all, easy. Great recipe, thankyou 😀
Love to hear it!
I made this for a “company” dinner and it turned out so nicely! Absolutely delicious and it was beautiful. I served it with pasta with a lemon butter & garlic sauce. I will definitely make this chicken parmesan again! Thanks Chef Billy for another wonderful recipe!
Excellent!
Wow, This is incredible. I made it exactly as written, and it was beyond anything I’ve made before. Totally restaurant worthy! Thank you for your devotion to bringing the best, this won’t be the last thing I make from your recipes!
awesome!
Amazing dish. Love the variation in cheese on the chicken. Definitely making this over and over again!
Thank you!
Yes – I love it!
Amazing!
Perfect recipe. The only change I made was to I added Italian herbs to the pomodoro sauce – no idea if it made a difference.
so good!!
Another great recipe! Chicken was tender as i tenderized it first which I have not done before. I think it made a nice difference! Quick to fry! Easy put together!
thanks for giving it a shot!!
Easy to make and best chicken parm recipe! My family loved it!
Chicken Parmesan recipe is easy to follow & very delicious…
Exceptional recipe for Chicken Parmigiana! During COVID this is the one dish I missed the most not being able to go out to eat. You saved me with this recipe! I had never attempted to make this at home until now! I cannot thank you enough for this Chef Billy!
Our family loves chicken parm so this is definitely on my go to list!
Billy absolutely loved this on it was beautiful I’m doing your Marsala recipe at the weekend we just love your recipes , really easy to follow and delicious thanks a million 😘😘
We have made this a few times already and it’s better everyone we make it! Even made the sauce from scratch. Only change was we used Panko and fine bread crumbs 50/50.
This is such a fine and traditional recipe. It is so much better than the half-hearted so-called Italian restaurants that throw a frozen puck into the grease pit, and then claim that it is actually Chicken Parmigiana. Your recipe and instructions are easy to follow, no matter what level of experience the home cooks may have. Please keep up your great work.
Delicious
Chef Billy Parisi explains the process in an easy and understandable way. I never made this at home before. Husband and grown kids said it’s better than anything they’ve ever had at a restaurant. Thank you for this recipe!
This was top notch! We loved it so much! I over salted in the flour, eggs and breading…somewhere…but I’ll dial it back for the next round and figure out how much I need and where. We have not had one Chef Billy Parisi recipe that hasn’t received 2 thumbs up from each member of our household. Keep the recipes coming!!
Easy to make and very tasty. Will add this to my family dinners!
I recently made this recipe for a friend’s party. Everyone said how good it was. The next day my friend wrote to tell me that his aunt said it was the best chicken parmesan she’s ever had, and she would like the recipe.
I really enjoyed this recipe. The only thing I didn’t do was cook it at 450 degrees. I thought that temperature was too high. Made it at 425 degrees. My wife compared this to one of our favorite restaurants. I will absolutely make again.
Could these be made and frozen raw or would it be best to cook, cool then freeze?
I believe you could do either tbh.
Wonderful. The cheese combo is amazing.
When you have on your recipe for frying chicken to use olive oil are you referring to extra virgin or regular olive oil and what’s the difference?
regular
I made this about three weeks agoi used nine breasts of chicken sliced so 18 pieces I thought would last for a lunch in a few days nope so delicious I’m makeing it again tonite .
I want to make this for my grandkids this Thursday but they don’t like tomato sauce. Does it change cooking times if I eliminate it?
Yes, only maybe 5-10 minutes until the cheese is melted.
My husband said to me, what has happened to you? That’s a hugh compliant chef, thank you so much for access to your recipes, I’m becoming a better cook😉
So much delicious flavor! Love how crispy the chicken gets!
An easy and delicious dinner recipe! We like extra sauce so we can smoother the noodles with it. Yum!
This recipe sounds delicious..I am going to make it this week..thanks for your wonderful, delicious recipes..
I love chicken parmigiana! I love that you can freeze it, it always makes for a delicious and easy meal for when we need something good, but don’t have a lot of time to cook. Looking forward to making it this weekend!
If freezing, at what point do you freeze this?
Once it has cooled down in the refrigerator which should only take 2-4 hours.
We love a classic and this Chicken Parmesan is just that. Perfect in every way and so easy to make.
Delicious