This chicken parmesan recipe is a much healthier version of what you would normally be served at an authentic Italian restaurant. Everyone who has tried this recipe has loved it. It’s also much cheaper to make this chicken parmesan at home than it is to order at an Italian chain restaurant like Bucca di Beppo.
To save calories, we omit pan frying the chicken in oil before the chicken is baked. To give the chicken a crispy coating we use Panko breadcrumbs that have been toasted in a small amount of olive oil. We then mix the breadcrumbs with freshly grated parmesan cheese. After pounding out the chicken breasts they are lightly coated with flour and seasonings, eggs, and the crispy Panko and parmesan cheese topping. Before the chicken is placed into the oven it is lightly sprayed with a vegetable oil spray to add extra crispiness. To make the chicken parmesan even healthier, you can cut out calories by replacing the egg yolk with an additional egg white and topping the chicken with low-fat mozzarella cheese.
Chicken parmesan tastes best when it is topped with a tomato sauce that has a touch of heat to add some zing. The tomato sauce recipe we used has some spicy zip thanks to the addition of red pepper flakes.
- 1 1/2 cups Panko breadcrumbs
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese- freshly grated
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper – freshly ground
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt – Don’t worry, most of this won’t stick to the chicken.
- 4 chicken breasts – boneless skinless
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 egg whites
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese
- 2 cups tomato sauce
- 2 leaves fresh basil – shredded
- vegetable cooking spray