How To Make Less Fattening Chicken Parmesan In About 45 Minutes

My easy deconstructed version of this classic Italian dish will become your favorite “go-to” dinner

Chicken Parmesan is something you usually order in an Italian restaurant or that you make on Sunday if you have the time.

Egging and breading the chicken alone is time-consuming, not to mention the effort it takes to fry the cutlets in batches, assemble the dish and bake it in the oven. And, if you are making your own sauce and grating your mozzarella — forget it — this is no easy undertaking. Certainly, it is not a weekday meal.

But prepared my way, you could hit the same flavor notes and have the dish done in less than 45 minutes. Plus, my version is much healthier for you.

Stop shaking your head — it’s true!

This super simple recipe calls for all the same ingredients you find in your classic Chicken Parmesan. Then, with a little help from store-bought ingredients and a unique assembly method, you get the same flavor profile in significantly less time. There is no frying involved so you also eliminate a ton of calories and fat compared to the traditional version.

My neighbor, Faith, gave me this recipe years ago and the first time my family tried it we were hooked! My kids affectionately dubbed it “Faith’s Chicken” and it immediately became part of our dinner rotation.

Faith’s Chicken

Ingredients:

6 -8 thinly sliced chicken cutlets

1 jar of your favorite marinara sauce

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup Italian breadcrumbs

1/4 cup olive oil

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Mix together mozzarella, Parmesan, breadcrumbs and olive oil in a gallon Ziploc bag. Just dump all ingredients in and seal. Use your hands to mush it all together until it is thoroughly mixed.

3. Empty sauce into a rectangular 9x13 Pyrex dish

4. Put cutlets on top of sauce

5. Sprinkle with coating. Cover all the cutlets, and don’t worry if there is space with no cutlets, just sprinkle topping everywhere — when it cooks, it melts into crunchy globs of cheesy goodness!

6. Bake 30–35 minutes until top is golden brown. I like to put it under the broiler for a minute or two at the end to get it nice and crunchy.

7. Serve over spaghetti — I spoon the sauce over the pasta and top it with the chicken. YUM!!!

The end result is a deconstructed Chicken Parmesan that is tender, saucy and cheesy. The bits of crunch I described in the recipe spawn many a fight in my household. They are unarguably the best part — especially when mixed in with a twirl of pasta.

I am sure some of you may be skeptical about using store-bought sauce and to those people, I say go ahead and make your own. But, I have only made this with jarred sauce and I am telling you — taste is not sacrificed. Would it be better with homemade sauce, yes (what isn’t?) but, for a quick meal a jarred sauce does the trick just fine.

This recipe is easy enough on its own, but if you want to make it even simpler, you can prepare it in advance. Many times when I know the next day will be hectic, I just put the sauce and chicken in the Pyrex the night before. I make the topping too and put it all in the refrigerator. This way, it is ready to go when I walk through the door. I just sprinkle on the topping and pop it in the oven. If I am running late, sometimes the kids just do it for me.

Now you have a solid, go-to recipe in your arsenal that makes you look like a super mom.

You no longer have to wait for the weekend to enjoy this quick, lighter version of Chicken Parmesan. You can make it any day of the week — and, the best part is you won’t feel so guilty about eating it!