Chicken Parmesan – All you baby cows can relax!
As I said yesterday, this was the winner of our first reader poll used to pick a demo. This demo is dedicated to my niece Brittany. This is her favorite meal, or at least I think it is. Over the years I’ve probably gone out to eat with Brittany maybe 75 times and she has ordered this 73 of those times…the other two occasions we were at Chinese restaurants and I think she still tried to order it. Hopefully, she will try to make this at home after watching this clip. Anyway, I’m sure Brittany is not alone in her love of the Chicken Parm, as it’s probably the most popular non-pasta dish in Italian-American style restaurants. Back in my day, it was of course Veal Parmesan, but eating baby cows fell out of fashion, and the Chicken is now the protein of choice. What’s that? You don’t eat chicken either? Well, then you’ll just have to stay tuned for my amazing Eggplant Parmesan coming soon.
The main problem I have with the version served in most restaurants is that they drown the chicken in so much sauce and cheese, that it ends up being a big soggy chicken/cheese clump. I don’t put any sauce under the chicken cutlets, just a little bit on top, so the breading stays relatively crisp. If you like a lot of sauce, fine, serve it along side when the dish is served. I also actually use some Parmesan cheese! Most versions of this only use mozzarella; I’m going with a delicious mixture of fresh Mozzarella, tangy Provolone and “real” Parmesan. The other little trick you see in the video recipe is how I add some of the grated Parmesan to the breadcrumbs, which adds another layer of flavor. Be sure your oven is well preheated to 450F, we want the cheese to slightly brown and the breading to crisp up before the chicken gets over-cooked, and a nice hot oven is the way to go. The rest of the demo is pretty straight forward, so let’s get to it. Enjoy!
Ingredients:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
4 cups “Panko” Japanese style bread crumbs
3/4 cup grated parmesan
1/2 cup grated provolone
4 oz fresh mozzarella
salt and pepper to taste
red pepper flakes to taste
olive oil for frying
1/2 cup prepared tomato sauce (high-quality!)
1/4 cup fresh shredded basil, or pesto, or dried Italian herbs of your choice, or omit
*Baked for approximately 15-20 minutes at 450F
20 comments:
nicely done! looks great, now I'm hungry! Damn you! :-)
I will make this when I have company next week! Looks so good! Gotta get the bread crumbs!
I want to see how you make the eggplant version!
Yay! No more soggy chicken Parmesan. I always hated that when my sister poured all this sauce over the crispy chicken breast. Now I will be very happy. By the way... maybe i should think up a recipe for an Asian style Chicken Parmesan. jk ;) It's probably taste bad... maybe not. By the way Kudos on saving the chicken! Yummmm.
Same viewer, I forgot to add that I am very happy that you got the hang of the equipment.
What do you mean his equipment is hanging?
Ah, thanks for the tip on how to keep the breading crisp - that has always been my problem with chicken parm. I will stop drowning the poor little guys in sauce from now on!
I'm so jealous. Really, the fresh basil I can get here in Denmark are like baby-basil compared to yours.
Awesome recipe though
grow some yourself inside with hydroponics! All kinds of info online... it's actually not that hard.
You are a poet.
Chef John,
Dot Com,
Chicken Parmesan.
Beautiful!
I am a poet?
I didn't even know it.
I don't have the time,
to make words rhyme.
But thanks!
A poet, a chef; online,
With no time to make your words rhyme?
Time's not the main ingredient.
Your humor makes it expedient.
So many times I've wondered ... why does the recipe have me drown my crispy cutlets in tomato sauce? Thanks for solving my dilemma, Chef John, most deliciously!
Since I'm basically a tighwad, I have always cringed slightly at throwing out so much flour after dredging chicken, and your demo solved this one, too.
Along that line of thought, the idea of using 4 cups of panko bread crumbs-- most of 2 packages-- (costing nearly $5.00) makes me flinch, especially since I'll be throwing most of it -- and the parmesan -- away.
For my version, I used half as much panko; I got a great coating, and most of it still ended up in the wastebasket. Gonna cut it in half again.
But, hey, who am I to complain? I've been serving soggy chicken parmesan for years!
well, to be honest, I didnt measure the crumbs, it was one package, so maybe it was closer to 2 cups? Anyway, glad it was a help.
looks nice!
As a recently divorced aging male, cooking for myself became a great way to occupy myself, and your videos a re my number one go-to place for well laid out, easy to follow, excellent meal recipes. This one in particular seems really good. One question, I would also like to make this same recipe, but with baby cows. it would seem to me that everything would carry over, except possibly the cooking times? Doesn't veal (moderately pounded to 1/4 inch thickness) pretty much cook in the frying stage? Would you need to adjust the baking time down any for this recipe? Anything else which might have to be adjusted for veal?
thanks! Yes, veal will work, but will be cooked enough during the frying stage. So be careful not to cook to long in the oven.
I stumbled across your video instruction, some weeks ago, while searching for a recipe for Chicken Parmesan. We were having guests and I was in the mood for something Italian that wasn’t too difficult to make but was not the typical pasta dish. The video was outstanding and extremely easy to follow, so I decided to try the recipe that afternoon. I have to tell you that the meal was a great success. It was, as far as I and my guests concerned, the best Chicken Parmesan we had eaten. Not long after it was served everyone wanted to have the recipe so, by the end of the week, I was e-mailing the link to your sight to my friends who share a love of cooking. Anyway, I just thought that I would let you know what a help your video instructions are and I intend to try many more of your recipes. Thanks again.
I stumbled across your video instruction, some weeks ago, while searching for a recipe for Chicken Parmesan. We were having guests and I was in the mood for something Italian that wasn’t too difficult to make but was not the typical pasta dish. The video was outstanding and extremely easy to follow, so I decided to try the recipe that afternoon. I have to tell you that the meal was a great success. It was, as far as I and my guests concerned, the best Chicken Parmesan we had eaten. Not long after it was served everyone wanted to have the recipe so, by the end of the week, I was e-mailing the link to your sight to my friends who share a love of cooking. Anyway, I just thought that I would let you know what a help your video instructions are and I intend to try many more of your recipes. Thanks again.
Chicken Parmesan had been one of my favourites since I was a kid. Now I'm fresh out of high school, living in my own apartment (meaning I have my own kitchen now too!).
I like your video because it's nice and simple, yet extremely tasty.
I just cooked it tonight and it didn't turn out the greatest, but it was good nonetheless and fun to make too!
This recipe has gotten me excited to try out all sorts of new dishes now!
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