Baked Chicken Parmesan - skinless, boneless chicken breast is coated in bread crumbs, minced garlic and shredded Parmesan cheese and baked in the oven with the marinara sauce and Mozzarella cheese.
If you want an easy and delicious recipe for boneless, skinless chicken breasts - this baked chicken Parmesan is definitely a great option! I love recipes where baking the chicken actually makes it juicier, more flavorful and crispier than frying it! This is one of those recipes. The chicken is moist and tender with a crispy and crunchy top!
This Baked Chicken Parmesan is so versatile. You can serve it with a salad and a garlic bread on the side, over a bed of linguine with some extra marinara sauce; over spaghetti squash or real spaghetti, over some ravioli, etc. - whatever comes to your mind or whatever suites your dietary guidelines!
Despite the name of the dish (which makes a lot of people think that it's a complicated recipe), chicken Parmesan is actually quite easy to make. You don't even have to prepare your own marinara sauce because there are plenty of high quality options in the stores these days. But, if you're a purist, you can make your own homemade marinara sauce.
How to make Chicken Parmesan
- First coat the chicken with olive oil, salt & pepper, then roll it in Panko breadcrumbs, together with some minced garlic and finely grated Parmesan cheese.
- Bake the chicken for about 20 minutes until it's cooked through, bounces back when pressed and is no longer pink in the center and to achieve the desired crispy top.
- Then, add some marinara sauce - ladle just a little bit over the center portion of each chicken breast because you want to leave at least half of the chicken breast uncovered - so that it remains super crispy and looks pretty, too! Just like on this photo:
- Next, top with shredded Mozzarella cheese and bake for 10 more minutes - just until the cheese melts.
It's done! Top your baked chicken with finely grated Parmesan cheese and finely chopped green onions!
I'll repeat myself here, but the serving options are endless: with a salad and a garlic bread on the side, over a bed of linguine with some extra marinara sauce; over spaghetti squash or real spaghetti, over some ravioli, etc. - whatever comes to your mind or whatever suites your dietary guidelines!
Baked Chicken Parmesan
Ingredients
- 1.5 lb chicken breasts , skinless, boneless or 4 thin chicken breasts
- ¼ cup olive oil (1 tablespoon of oil for each breast)
- 4 cloves garlic , minced
- ½ cup bread crumbs dry, such as Panko crumbs
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese , finely shredded
- 1 cup marinara sauce
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese , shredded
- salt and pepper
For garnish:
- ¼ cup Parmesan cheese , finely grated
- ¼ cup green onions , finely chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 Fahrenheit. Spray a baking dish or baking sheet with olive oil spray.
- Coat chicken breasts in olive oil. Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper, to your taste. Combine ½ cup bread crumbs and ¼ cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese - Roll each chicken breast in this bread-cheese mixture. Combine minced garlic with the remaining shredded cheese and press this mixture on top of each cutlet, pressing lightly to adhere.
- Place chicken breasts in a baking dish.
- Bake for about 20 minutes, remove from oven, put ¼ cup of marinara sauce over each breast, top with the desired amount of mozzarella cheese. When putting marinara sauce over the breasts, do not cover 100% of the breast, just a small center portion - that way your chicken will still be super crunchy and crusty in the sections where it's not covered with the marinara sauce (see my photos).
- Return to oven and continue baking for about 10 more minutes, until chicken bounces back when pressed, is no longer pink and juices run clear, and until cheese is melted. You can even use a broiler for this step - but be very careful and watch the chicken to make sure the cheese doesn't burn.
- Garnish with finely grated Parmesan cheese and finely chopped green onions.
Nutrition
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed. It should not be used as a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Made (half of) this tonight and my husband and I both loved it!
The one change I made was doing the initial bake for 25 min instead of 20, as I didn't feel the surface was crispy enough yet at first. Probably also just could have put them on a higher rack.
I used a glass dish but I think a lined metal pan would be better next time - maybe the bottoms could crisp up a bit too?
But that's nitpicking. Overall this was a great recipe. It was like a fresh pizza with chicken instead of dough.
Just curious, how come your article doesn't have any pictures of the final product (i.e., with the melted mozzarella)? Does it not photograph well?
Hi Mimi! This is one of my oldest recipes - I had to really look at the pictures to answer your question. 🙂 The pictures actually show melted Mozzarella cheese. But the cooked chicken breast with melted Mozzarella is also topped with a fresh marinara sauce for presentation purposes. However, I don't mention that in the recipe for some reason (to top the end product with some marinara), so I understand where your question comes from. 🙂