Classic Chicken Parmesan Recipe with Spaghetti Marinara

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Cooking With Anadi

12K subscribers · crispy chicken cutlet under melted cheese and tomato sauce

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Every now and then, I get this insatiable craving in my stomach that can only be fulfilled with this meal! The crispy chicken is so satisfying, along with the molten cheese, mozzarella, sour cream and Parmesan. And let’s not forget about al dente Spaghetti, and my classic marinara sauce. This dish makes me proud to say I’m a pasta lover.

So on days that I feel like treating myself, I know where to go and I love the entire process.

What Makes This Chicken Parmesan Recipe So Irresistible?

The crispy chicken cutlet makes for a great base recipe for anything crispy chicken. However, this isn’t to be confused by a classic crispy fried chicken! The recipe and style very closely resembles a chicken schnitzel.

The exciting part for me is always topping the crispy chicken. I use a combination of sour cream, marinara sauce, mozzarella and Parmesan. I find the sour cream adds a delicious creaminess to the cheesy top and really brings this dish together.

Of course there is the classic marinara and spaghetti to create the ultimate pasta indulgence.

Tools Needed

• Cutting board
• Chef's knife
• Plastic wrap
• Mixing bowl
• Whisk
• Non-stick pan
• Baking sheet
• Wire rack
• Large pot

How to Make Classic Chicken Parmesan

If using a large chicken breast (>150 g) cut the chicken into smaller portions by cutting it diagonally in two equal halves. Place the portions in a Ziploc bag or between two plastic wraps and pound thin using a meat tenderizer (about 1/4 inch thickness) or a heavy object.

In this recipe, I am using small chicken breasts which do not need to be portioned in half.

To Prepare the Crispy Chicken

Put the flour, eggs, and breadcrumbs in separate plates. Season the breadcrumbs with salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, and oregano.

Dredge the chicken in the flour, then in the eggs, and then in the breadcrumbs, ensuring to shake off the excess throughout. Also adding pressure on the chicken while covering with breadcrumbs helps create the ultimate crispy crust.

In a pan, heat about 1/2 cup of oil on medium heat and fry the cutlets for 3-4 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Once done cooking, set chicken aside on a baking sheet lined with a wire rack. The wire rack will help prevent the crispy crust from turning soggy.

The chicken can also be baked in the oven for a delicious Baked Chicken Parmesan recipe.

Preparing the Baked Chicken Parmesan with Spaghetti Marinara

Boil the water for pasta in a large pot and season generously with salt. Once water starts to boil, add pasta and cook until al dente, 7-8 minutes. With 4 minutes remaining for the pasta, warm up the marinara sauce in a large saucepan or pot, reserving 1/4 cup for the chicken parmesan.

Toss the pasta with the sauce and keep warm until the chicken finishes cooking.

Once the chicken is cooked, remove it from the pan and place on a wire rack. Top each crispy chicken with 2 Tbsp of marinara sauce on each chicken cutlet, followed by sour cream, mozzarella and Parmesan.

Turn on the broiler and place baking tray back in the oven on the top-most rack and cook until the cheese is bubbly and a light golden brown, about 1-2 minutes. Remove the chicken parmesan from the oven.

Roll up 3-4 leaves of basil into a cigar and slice to make chiffonade.

Sprinkle 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese to the spaghetti marinara and mix well. Serve pasta in a bowl or plate and serve with the freshly baked chicken Parmesan with a garnish of basil chiffonade and extra Parmesan.

No Garlic Powder, No Foil, No Baking Dish: What This Chicken Parm Skips

Plenty of chicken parm recipes bury breaded cutlets in a baking dish of sauce and bake them under foil until the crust goes soft. This one never does. The chicken is shallow-fried in about half a cup of oil in a non-stick pan rather than a large skillet, over medium heat rather than medium-high heat, so the panko browns evenly in the three to four minutes a side the cutlets need. It then moves straight to a wire rack set over a baking sheet so air can circulate underneath it, and nothing is covered at any point. The only time it meets the oven is the last one to two minutes under the broiler on the topmost rack, purely to melt the cheese. If you would rather bake the cutlets through instead of frying them, that works too, but the wire rack matters either way.

The breadcrumb mixture is deliberately plain. You combine breadcrumbs with half a teaspoon of oregano and that is the entire seasoning: half a cup of panko, oregano, and the salt and pepper that went into the flour. There is no garlic powder, no onion powder, no Italian seasoning and no grated cheese stirred through the crumbs. The garlic in this dish lives in the marinara instead, where two minced cloves are sauteed in a tablespoon of olive oil for thirty seconds before the tomatoes go in. That is the only olive oil in the recipe; the frying oil in the pan is a neutral one. The sauce keeps just as short an ingredient list of its own, being nothing more than a 28-ounce tin of Italian San Marzano tomatoes pulsed in a food processor, garlic, red chili flakes, salt and that spoon of olive oil, simmered down for ten to fifteen minutes. No onion, no carrot, no sugar, no tomato paste, no wine.

Setting Up the Three-Plate Breading Station

Breading goes faster when everything is laid out before the first piece of chicken is touched. Use three separate plates or large bowls rather than crowding it all into one shallow dish, and a shallow bowl is perfectly good for the egg. Seasoned flour goes in the first, a lightly whisked egg in the second, panko in the third. A quarter cup of all-purpose flour seasoned with salt and pepper is enough for two small chicken breasts, one large egg coats both cutlets, and half a cup of panko finishes them.

If the breasts are large, over about 150 grams, cut each one diagonally into two equal halves first. Lay them between two pieces of plastic wrap, or slip them into a zip-top bag, and pound them to roughly a quarter inch thick so they cook through in the same few minutes the crust needs to brown. Then work one piece of chicken at a time through the three stations: flour first with the excess shaken off, then egg, letting the excess drip back into the bowl before it goes anywhere near the crumbs, then panko pressed firmly onto both sides. That pressing is what builds the crust. Tongs keep your fingers out of it, although one dry hand and one wet hand does the same job.

What to Serve With Chicken Parmesan, and How to Keep Leftovers

The recipe makes two plates. Six ounces of spaghetti goes into generously salted boiling water for seven to eight minutes to al dente, and with four minutes left on the pasta the marinara warms through in a large saucepan. Hold back a quarter cup of the tomato sauce for the chicken before you toss the rest with the noodles. A tablespoon of butter stirred into the pasta and sauce is optional and worth it, and a quarter cup of grated Parmesan goes in at the end.

For the garnish, roll three or four leaves of fresh basil into a cigar and slice them into a chiffonade. With no basil in the house, flat-leaf parsley or fresh mint will both stand in. Garlic bread and a plate of simple green vegetables or a sharp salad round the meal out and cut through the richness of the fried cutlet and the cheese.