Chicken Parmesan Recipe

How to Make Chicken Parmesan

Also Known as Chicken Parmigiana or Pollo Alla Parmigiana

One of the most famous Italian dishes in America, Chicken Parmesan is a variation of the classic southern Italian dish, Eggplant Parmigiana. Although the term “parmigiana” comes from the northern Italian city of Parma, eggplant parmigiana originated in southern Italy. Some say Campania, others Sicily.

Where Does the Name Chicken Parmesan Come From?

I find it interesting that most Americans, including myself, have thought the dish was named for Parmesan or Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, one of the ingredients often used in preparing it.

If you search for Chicken Parmesan, you will find dozens of variations, some using Parmesan, some Pecorino, others Mozzarella. One of my favorite chefs, Ricco DeLuca taught me to use Munster cheese, which is my favorite version.

Another theory about how Parmigiana got its name is described by Anna Pomar in her book La Cucina Tradizionale Siciliana. She says Parmigiana “is the Italianization of the Sicilian dialectal word “parmigiana”, which refers to the slats of wood which compose the central part of a shutter and overlap in the same manner as the slices of eggplant in the dish.”

What Cheese to Use?

This recipe calls for my Basic Tomato Sauce and shows why it is an essential part of my cooking. As you will see, my basic tomato sauce is excellent as a base for numerous pasta sauces, but it is also an essential ingredient in my chicken Parmesan recipe.

The traditional method for making this dish is to coat the chicken with grated Parmesan cheese and bread crumbs, hence the name. But most of us make a different version called "Chicken Mozzarella," where the chicken is coated with bread crumbs, topped with Mozzarella cheese and a basic tomato sauce, then finished with some grated Parmesan cheese.

Both kinds of cheese are delicious but utterly different in texture and taste. Parmesan is a hard, dry cheese made from cow’s milk and has a rich, sharp flavor. There are Parmesan cheeses made worldwide but the best is Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Although more expensive, this granular textured cheese, whose processing method hasn't changed in the last 700 years, is usually aged for two years.

Two reasons why Parmigiano-Reggiano has better taste and consistency than other Parmesan cheeses;

• the flavor of the milk comes from cows on strictly controlled diets, and
• the strict production codes dating back centuries.

Mozzarella (maht-suh-REHL-lah) is a soft white cheese with a mild flavor typically made from cow’s milk. It came from southern Italy, where it was originally made from water buffalo milk.

Try it if you are lucky enough to find real buffalo mozzarella in your local market. Although expensive, it’s like eating ice cream compared to frozen yogurt.

Print Recipe

Chicken Parmesan Recipe

Prep Time20 mins

Cook Time25 mins

Total Time45 mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Italian

Servings: 4 people

Ingredients

• 4 chicken breasts boneless and skinless
• 1 cup flour with a pinch of salt and pepper added
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 cup bread crumbs
• ½ cup Parmesan cheese grated
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 8 ounces Mozzarella cheese sliced
• 1½ cups basic tomato sauce

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

• Whisk the eggs and water together in one bowl and stir the Parmesan cheese into the breadcrumbs in another bowl.
• Keeping one hand for dry ingredients and the other for wet ingredients, dredge the breasts in the flour, coating both sides, then the egg/water mixture, and then the Parmesan/breadcrumb mixture.
• Sauté the breasts in the olive oil for one minute on each side in an ovenproof sauté pan until the breasts are golden brown.

  Don’t overcrowd the pan; your chicken breasts will steam and not sauté properly. (If you don’t have an oven-proof sauté (frying) pan, sauté in your pan and transfer to a casserole dish.
• Remove from heat, cover the breasts with basic tomato sauce and top with slices of mozzarella.
• Cook in the oven until the chicken is done, approximately 10 to 20 minutes, depending on the thickness of the chicken breasts.
• Remove from oven and serve.

Notes

I like to serve this dish with a side of spaghetti topped with some of my basic tomato sauce. A glass of Chianti goes great with this dish.

Some of My Favorite Chicken Recipes