Parmesan Crusted Chicken is a quick and easy recipe to add to your chicken dinner repertoire! Chicken cutlets are breaded in parmesan cheese and bread crumbs, and pan fried until crispy. This tasty chicken is the perfect easy dinner to serve on busy weeknights. Kids love it and so do the adults.
Do you make chicken dinners a couple of times a week? Then you and your family will love this easy Parmesan Crusted Chicken! Chicken breasts are super juicy and tender thanks to the fast cooking method. Mm… It’s also good that the chicken is so crispy on the outside!
If you love cooking, you will find that this pan fried chicken recipe pairs up very well with pasta such as Louisiana Chicken Pasta, or Baked Ziti. I also love serving it over Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes. It’s a perfectly easy chicken recipe for a quick and delicious dinner. So delicious and simple!
What kind of chicken works best?
THIN, FLAT AND EVEN CHICKEN BREASTS. The chicken breast that works best is thin, flat and even. If the chicken you bought is thick as it usually is, make sure to half each chicken breast horizontally. Once you do that, you get 4 thin chicken fillets. Just perfect, isn’t it?
CHICKEN TENDERS. You can also use chicken tenders to make parmesan crusted chicken.
Parmesan crusted chicken and cheese
FINE SHREDDED cheese, oh cheese! I used store bought shredded Parmesan cheese. But I do recommend to use the fine shredded cheese or grated cheese. The finer you grate you Parmesan cheese, the better!
SHRED or GRATE YOUR OWN CHEESE! Especially if you happen to own one of those lemon zesters at home. I always use it to shred my cheese! I get such a nice fine shredded texture from my Parmesan cheese block. By the way, thinner cheese texture will also help it stick and stay on the Parmesan crusted chicken better.
How should I season chicken breasts?
ITALIAN SEASONING and GARLIC POWDER. When I make this Parmesan Crusted Chicken I always prepare a special dredging mixture. This delicious mixture includes salt, pepper garlic powder and dried Italian seasoning.
FRESH HERBS. However, when I have fresh herbs available I use those. I love fresh rosemary or thyme and use them instead or along with the Italian seasoning.
How should I coat chicken breasts?
- First, paper towel dry the chicken and then prepare two bowls. One is for the egg, salt, pepper and seasoning. The other bowl is for the parmesan breading mixture. Next, you should whisk the egg slightly.
- Now it’s time to dredge each chicken breast piece in egg mixture. After that place in parmesan mixture and press. Turn to coat the other side of the chicken with parmesan mixture and press again.
- Repeat with remaining chicken pieces and place each coated parmesan chicken onto a plate or a cutting board.
How to reheat parmesan crusted chicken
Do you ever find yourself struggling to reheat chicken the right way? I do too! That’s why I recommend eating this Parmesan crusted chicken fresh out of the skillet. But if I do have leftovers this is what I would usually do.
USE OVEN. I simply heat up parmesan crusted chicken breasts in the oven at 350 F to get the coating crispy once again.
CAN I MICROWAVE? I wouldn’t suggest microwaving them. Microwaving will put too much moisture into the chicken crust and the coating won’t be so crispy any more.
What to serve Parmesan Crusted Chicken with
Before I made this Parmesan Crusted Chicken recipe, I had no idea what an easy chicken recipe that was! And what a a great option it is for a weeknight dinner! I liked it so much that I made this parmesan crusted chicken recipe in various combinations. It’s so versatile! You can use it as a main dish, or accompanied by pasta. You can also slice this chicken and use it in your salad.
I love having a salad with this Parmesan Crusted Chicken. I can slice it up and serve it along this healthy Spinach Salad, or my warm Brussels Sprout Salad. Just make sure to slice the chicken!
You can also serve these chicken breasts with Creamy Pasta or Mashed Potatoes. And finally enjoy it with cooked vegetables, such as spinach or broccoli.
More easy ways you can prepare chicken breasts
Pan Seared Parmesan Crusted Chicken Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 egg
- salt and pepper
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning
- 1 cup Parmesan cheese, (grated or shredded)
- ½ cup bread crumbs
- ¼ cup flour
- 1 lb chicken breasts, (thin, 4 pieces)
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
Instructions
- First, paper towel dry the chicken and then prepare two bowls. One is for the egg, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and Italian seasoning. Next, you should whisk the egg mixture slightly.
- The second bowl is for the parmesan, bread crumbs and flour.
- Now it’s time to dredge each chicken breast piece in egg/seasoning mixture. After that place in parmesan mixture and press. Turn to coat the other side of the chicken with parmesan mixture and press again.
- Repeat with remaining chicken pieces and place each coated parmesan chicken onto a plate or a cutting board.
- MELT butter and ADD olive oil on medium high heat in a skillet (stainless steel, cast iron skillet or non-stick).
- PLACE COATED CHICKEN in skillet and cook for 3-4 minutes one one side. DO NOT MOVE chicken otherwise the cheese will slide off surface before it adheres! Press down lightly with a spatula.
- TURN WITH TONGS when the first side is golden brown and cook the other side for 3 to 4 minutes. Do not cook for more than a total of 6-8 minutes – just set the timer and flip when it beeps.
- CHECK FOR DONENESS to make sure the chicken is fully cooked and not pink. If not, lower the heat and cook for a couple more minutes.
- SERVE immediately.
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy only. This information comes from online calculators. Although whatsinthepan.com attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates.
I use an easier recipe that’s on the Hellman’s Mayonnaise jar placing mayo mixed with parmesan cheese on top of the chicken. Place crumbled crackers on top (in place of Italian bread crumbs) and bake for 25min.
This sounds delicious. I will definitely try it.
I mixed mayo in with the eggs and dipped the chicken dredged in flour into the mixture and then into the breadcrumbs. The breading mixture seemed to hold better with the egg/mayo mixture than with other chicken tender recipes in the past.
Yes on mayo! It does work very well. I completely forgot, but I did use mayo as well in the breaded chicken recipe here, but I baked it instead of cooking it on the stove top: https://whatsinthepan.com/baked-chicken-tenders-with-sriracha-mayo/
I made this tonight and it was very tasty. I did add salt, pepper, garlic powder, Italian seasoning and garlic salt to the chicken and then I bought Italian breadcrumbs and I added some garlic, salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning to the breading mixture. I love a ton of flavor and this combo turned out super yummy. I outdid myself with it. It was easy to make as well, I just put the chicken in the pan and cooked it for about 8 minutes each side or until it was done. 🙂
This sounds really good. I think pork chops would be really good with this breading mixture that you described as well.
It was so good! My fam loved it!
Easy, fast and delicious!! Thank you so much.
Very good
Turned out great
Baked in oven for 25 min on 350 then broiled for 5-8 min. No oil needed! It was amazing!!!
Good, but the flavors a bit plain. I suggest adding garlic in the mix
Yum!
Made this tonight and it was awesome!