Parmesan Crusted Chicken
on Jan 09, 2023, Updated Jan 29, 2024
This Parmesan Crusted Chicken is an easy meal idea. We use pounded thin chicken breasts, coat in a delicious Parmesan coating, and then fried to make them crispy. Add this chicken idea to your dinner this week.
This is one of our favorite chicken dinner recipes: crispy chicken breast pan-fried to perfection! Serve up with some Garlic Green Beans and The Best Mashed Potatoes.
Why You’ll Love This Parmesan Crusted Chicken
- It requires only a few ingredients and is a quick chicken recipe.
- It is restaurant quality, yet kid friendly.
- This recipe makes for a tender juicy chicken with a crunchy crust.
- It makes for a super simple weeknight meal. No oven, no baking sheet, no Panko bread crumbs or regular breadcrumbs, no flour.
If there’s one thing everybody hates, it’s bland and boring chicken breast. Chicken is a wonderful bit of poultry that- while lacking in flavor- definitely isn’t lacking in promise! You can use all sorts of different chicken seasoning blends and mixes to make a wide range of delicious chicken recipes. However, one of our favorite ways to make chicken taste better for a chicken dinner is to make some Parmesan Crusted Chicken.
You’ll find plenty of other recipes online for stuff like Longhorn Parmesan Crusted Chicken with mayo or ranch. For us, those recipes never worked as well as this one and they’re nowhere near as easy either. Keeping things simple like us ensures perfect chicken every time! Best of all, this recipe is also gluten-free and keto-friendly for all the folks who want some sort of keto breaded chicken.
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Parmesan Crusted Chicken Ingredients
- Chicken – We use a boneless chicken breast for our Parmesan Crusted Chicken.
- Egg – Mixed with some water, this will make an egg wash- kind of like how you make a breaded chicken.
- Salt & Pepper
- Garlic – Feel free to use minced garlic from the jar here. In a pinch, you could use garlic powder.
- Shredded Parmesan Cheese – We are using shredded parm here and not grated parmesan cheese. You can either shred parmesan by hand or you can find this pre-shredded parmesan in the can at the grocery store.
- Butter & Olive Oil – We really like pan-frying our crusted chicken in this blend of butter and olive oil. Feel free to try using all butter or all olive oil for pan-frying, or mess around with other oils and see if you like the flavor!
How to Make a Parmesan Crusted Chicken
We love this Parmesan Crusted Chicken recipe because it’s so easy to prep and make! To make some for yourself, here’s all you need to do:
- Butterfly larger chicken breasts in half before pounding out to 1/2″ thickness.
- Dredge or dip chicken cutlets in egg wash dish before coating thoroughly with shredded parmesan.
- Pan-fry breaded chicken in oil and butter over medium-high heat for 3 minutes on each side until golden brown. Plate and serve.
Variations for this Chicken Recipe
- Try mixing something like Italian Seasoning in with the parm to make something like a Parmesan Herb Crusted Chicken.
- You can also add onion powder to the parmesan cheese.
- Not into breasts… try boneless chicken thighs for instead. They need to be pounded flat and cook slighly longer.
FAQs about Parmesan Crusted Chicken
The simple answer is no. Most of the recipes that claim to duplicate this aren’t fried at all. They prepare a mixture of ranch dressing, cheese and other ingredients. They then coat the chicken with the mixture and breadcrumbs and bake it.
This recipe is not ideally suited for an air fryer. I would be concerned about the parmesan cheese sticking to the air fryer basket. If you are inclined to try this, I would recommend that you spray the basket with cooking spray or olive oil before you air fry, You might also want to add a 1/4 cup of panko breadcrumbs to enhance the crunch.
Technically, yes. The chicken will not come out as crispy or flavorful. You will need to use a baking sheet with a wire rack. Preheat oven to 400. Prepare as directed and place on prepared rack. Lightly spray chicken with olive oil or cooking spray. Bake until internal temperature reaches 165.
Our Parmesan Crusted Chicken pairs great with all sorts of different side dishes. We recommend some good green vegetables- we love a bit of broccoli, some green beans, or some peas. With that, we also recommend a tasty starch or carbohydrate- maybe some macaroni or some mashed potatoes? You don’t even have to serve it up a dinner: grab a good sandwich roll, some marinara and cheese, and serve your chicken up like a Chicken Parmesan Sandwich.
Tips for Making the Parmesan Chicken
- Be sure to use shredded Parmesan cheese. Grated Parmesan will NOT work.
- Use butter because it really adds a great flavor to the chicken and allows it to cook so perfectly.
- If your chicken breasts are thick, butterfly them. Butterflying chicken breast is easy: just cut it in half, kind of like a hamburger bun.
- Pounding the chicken reduces cooking time and is they key to perfectly fried chicken.
- When coating in the cheese, give the chicken a firm press before flipping and repeating. This helps the cheesy crust to stick to the chicken.
- When frying chicken, press lightly with a spatula just before flipping.
- If you attempt to peek and flip them too soon, the cheesy coating will not stick to your chicken.
- Top the finished chicken with chopped fresh parsley leaves to dress it up a bit.
Other Delicious Chicken Recipes
- For another tasty crusted chicken recipe, try our Potato Chip Crusted Chicken. These baked chicken cutlets are tenderized and hit with a thick coating of crushed potato chips. A super easy chicken dinner recipe that you can mix and match flavors in- just change the chips!
- If you want something a bit more sweet and spicy, try some Firecracker Chicken- or, as we call it, Red Hot Chicken. Baked chicken strips are basted with a delicious sweet and spicy sauce made from ketchup, sugar, and hot sauce. So simple to make and pretty inexpensive too- this one’s a big family favorite!
- Of course, if you need something warm and comforting, we have to recommend our Chicken Pot Pie Casserole. We keep this recipe simple by using a few choice ready-made ingredients: some canned crescent roll dough, some frozen veggies, and some rotisserie chicken. These ingredients, plus a few others, really help cut down on the prep time and help you get a rich filling meal ready in no time!
Did you make this recipe? If so, be sure to rate with a star rating and drop a comment below.
Parmesan Crusted Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 lb Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast
- 1 Egg
- 1 tbsp Water
- 1 tsp minced Garlic
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1/2 tsp Black Pepper
- 2 cup Shredded Parmesan Cheese
- 4 tbsp Butter
- 2 tbsp Olive Oil
Instructions
- Cut each breast in half and pound to about 1/2″ thick.
- Beat egg and water in a shallow bowl until blended.
- Add garlic, salt and pepper and whisk to blend.
- Place parmesan in another shallow bowl.
- Dip each piece of chicken in egg mixture making sure to coat.
- Allow excess egg to drip off.
- Place in parmesan. Sprinkle more parmesan over top. Gently press, then turn and repeat on other side. Shake off excess. Repeat with remaining chicken.
- Place butter and oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.
- Place chicken and do not move until edges brown (so that cheese sticks to chicken, about 3 minutes).
- Lightly press with spatula then turn over and again do not move until browned.
- Lightly press with spatula and remove to serving plate.
Notes
- Be sure to use shredded Parmesan cheese. Grated Parmesan will NOT work.
- Use butter because it really adds a great flavor to the chicken and allows it to cook so perfectly.
- If your chicken breasts are thick, butterfly them. Butterflying chicken breast is easy: just cut it in half, kind of like a hamburger bun.
- Pounding the chicken reduces cooking time and is they key to perfectly fried chicken.
- When coating in the cheese, give the chicken a firm press before flipping and repeating. This helps the cheesy crust to stick to the chicken.
- When frying chicken, press lightly with a spatula just before flipping.
- If you attempt to peek and flip them too soon, the cheesy coating will not stick to your chicken.
- Top the finished chicken with chopped fresh parsley leaves to dress it up a bit.
How many carbs? I am on Keto diet.
Same here! Would really love to know numbers!!!! Thank you!!!
For the folks asking about carb numbers…There are websites to work out the carbs in recipes you can use to find the info. Just google it and then put the recipe in, it will do the work of figuring out. Hope this helps.
It would be nice if you would LEAVE the website.
Seriously Tammi? I thought that this was a helpful response from Sassy!??
Is 2 cups of cheese needed for 4/5 chicken breast
I’m making this for the first time. It turned out good, but the cheese doesn’t stick to the chicken. I cooked it a little longer than 3 minutes. Will definitely make it again :-)
Hi,
Your pictures of the chicken show a green seasoning but you don’t mention this in the ingredients. What is it?
Thank you!
Hi Alyse! I use store bought flaked parsley that can be found in the spice aisle. It is not needed for the recipe, just gives a bit of color for the photos I share. I hope that helps – Jen
Hi: did you slice the breasts so they are thinner or just cut in half each breast. Thank you. Also do you use oil AND BUTTER?
Hi Pam! I used both butter and oil for the pan. I butterflied the chicken so it was thinner and cooks quicker. Hope that helps- Jen
I tried this tonight and unfortunately all the cheese is stuck in the pan. I cooked them for at least 4 minutes before turning over. Rats! I’ll try the flour suggestion next time. I really want this to work! It sounds so yummy!
Same for me! The cheese came off the chicken and stuck to the pan. I used a cast iron….maybe I need to try something different?
Make sure your oil is hot before you place the meat in the pan. If it’s not hot enough it can cause the coating to come off when you turn it.
Heat up cast iron pan first. When hot add oil and the butter
I am going to try this in my cast iron pan but haven’t yet. I don’t heat it long before adding the oil but when I am cooking chicken that is likely to stick I make sure that my oil is hot before adding. You also will see the butter (if using real butter) start to brown and you know that it is the time to add chicken. It needs to sizzle when your chicken touches the pan :)
When it is ready to flip, it should flip easy. Especially if you have a well seasoned pan.
I had to cook my chicken about 6 min each side and before i flipped press down on it and if it slides you can turn it. If it seems like it wont nudge even a little then wait and cook longer.
SO I saw a video the other day with chef Tyler. He said to heat your skillet first. Then add the butter/oil. I did that tonight & it worked!!
Hi! A question. Are you sure 3 min is enough for the chicken to cook through? Mine never cooks well, maybe finish it in the oven for ten min?
Make sure your pound the chicken thin. (Cook 3-5 mins).. If you cook it too long it’ll dry out the meat ..
Your recipe did not show oil in the ingredients? But then you say to put butter and oil into a large skillet. Am I missing something.
HI Peggy! Sorry for the confusion with that. Updating this right now.
Can you use mozzarella instead of parmesan
Hi Maeve! I do not think mozzarella would work. If you give it a try, be sure to let us know.
This was incredible! Great flavor from the parmesan, didn’t have to add any salt! I cooked the chicken about 5 minutes per side on medium high! Served this with brown rice and carrots. Cant wait to make this again! So yummy!
Great recipe. I added a bit by using gluten free plain flour with some mixed herbs. I coat the chicken in flour then the egg and then the cheese. I find that using a flour mix first seems to prevent the final coating (cheese, breadcrumbs etc) from falling off so much. Really tasty and a big hit with the other half. Will definitely make again, thank you for sharing.
This sound good but in the in the Instructions you said add butter and oil. There i no amount how much oil. How much oil are you talking about. 1 tablespoon are two tablespoons.
How much oil do I use in the pan? Thank you.
This was great! Will definitely be making it again. Great recipe, thanks!
This is an excellent recipe and it’s easy!!! Win Win 😊
One question. In the d.c. directions you said to place oil and butter in the pan. What kind of oil and how much?
Shouldnt matter. I used a little more oil and butter. I live in CO so everything just evaporates lol but it came out great and I use country crock and vegetable oil
Totally adding this to our meal rotation! Thanks for sharing at #HomeMattersParty
that looks so deelish!
b
Do you know if this can be made in the oven. I am trying to stop eating fried foods.
I made it in the oven last night.. it was sooooooo gooooood! 45 min at 400°!!!
Did you follow the directions but just put it in the oven?
That seemed like it would overcook, if your chicken is pounded to 1/2″ like it says to do in the recipe?
This is one of my favorite chicken recipes. Pinning to try! Thanks for sharing at Merry Monday.
Can this be made in a air fryer?
I am guessing that you can because an airfryer is very compatible.
Can I finish this off in the oven? How would I do that?
This would perfect on top of a pasta with marinara sauce! Yum!