Chicken Parmesan with Spaghetti Recipe

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About This Chicken Parmesan

Cuisine: Italian-American

Also Known As: Chicken Parmigiana, Chicken Parm

Servings: 1

Main Components: Panko-crusted chicken breast, spaghetti, homemade tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella and Parmigiano Reggiano

Cooking Methods: Shallow-frying and skillet cooking

What Makes This Version Different: The mozzarella is melted directly into the tomato sauce and spooned over the chicken just before serving, helping the panko crust remain crisp.

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Chicken Parmesan, also known as Chicken Parmigiana or Chicken Parm, is an Italian-American dish of breaded chicken cutlet served with tomato sauce and melted cheese. My version keeps the chicken crisp by melting fresh mozzarella directly into the tomato sauce and spooning the cheesy sauce over the chicken only when serving, rather than baking the breaded chicken underneath the sauce.

Chicken Parmesan is one of those dishes I used to make every now and then when my kids wanted pasta, especially on the weekends. Despite how impressive it looks on the plate, there's really nothing particularly complicated about it.

You're frying a breaded chicken cutlet, cooking some spaghetti, and bringing everything together with tomato sauce, mozzarella and Parmigiano Reggiano. This recipe is written for one serving, but when the whole family is home, I usually make four.

Despite its Italian-sounding name, Chicken Parmigiana as we know it is largely an Italian-American creation. Its roots are commonly associated with southern Italian dishes such as melanzane alla parmigiana, where eggplant is layered with tomato sauce and cheese.

As Italian immigrants and their descendants adapted their cooking in the United States, meat became increasingly accessible and breaded cutlets eventually found their way into similar preparations. Chicken Parmigiana became one of the best-known versions.

Serving Chicken Parmesan alongside spaghetti is likewise strongly associated with Italian-American cooking rather than something you're likely to encounter in quite the same form in Italy. And honestly, that's perfectly fine. Food changes as people move, adapt and cook with what they have. That's part of what makes food interesting in the first place.

My version does one thing a little differently. Rather than covering the freshly fried chicken with tomato sauce and mozzarella and baking everything together until that beautiful crust becomes soft, I melt the mozzarella directly into the tomato sauce and spoon it over the chicken just before serving.

You get crispy panko underneath, melted mozzarella on top and plenty of tomato sauce without completely drowning the cutlet. Better yet, if you have cheesy tomato sauce left over, don't throw it away. Chill it, cover it with stale bread the next morning, add some olive oil and Parmigiano Reggiano, and broil it until crisp. One dinner quietly becomes tomorrow's brunch.

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Ingredients:

(Serve 1)

• Chicken:

• Skinless Boneless Chicken Breast, 1

• Rapeseed / Sunflower / Canola / Peanut Oil, For Frying

• Unbleached All Purpose Flour, For Dredging , About 1/4 Cup

• Sea Salt, Pinch

• White Pepper, Pinch

• Smoked Paprika, Pinch

• Garlic Powder, Pinch

• Onion Powder, Pinch

• Egg Lightly Beaten, 1

• Dijon Mustard, 1 Heaped TBSP

• High Quality Japanese Panko, For Dredging

• Pasta:

• Spaghetti, 100g

• Sea Salt, Pinch

• Tomato Sauce Homemade, 2 TBSP

• Italian Parsley Coarsely Chopped, A Handful

• Chicken Parmesan:

• Tomato Sauce Homemade, 1 Recipe

• Fresh Mozzarella Sliced, 1 Ball

• Parmigiano Reggiano Freshly Grated, For Topping

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Equipment:

• Cast Iron Skillet / Pan

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Directions:

1. Please visit my "How To Make Tomato Sauce" page for the recipe.

2. Prepare the Chicken

3. Butterfly the chicken breast by carefully slicing horizontally through the thickest part, stopping just before cutting completely through. Open it like a book.

4. Place the chicken between sheets of cling film or baking paper.

5. Using a meat mallet, rolling pin or the bottom of a heavy skillet, gently pound the chicken until it is an even thickness throughout. Don't worry about making it extremely thin; the important thing is eliminating thick and thin spots so the chicken cooks evenly.

6. Set it aside while you prepare the breading station.

7. Prepare the Breading Station

8. Set out three shallow bowls or plates.

9. Combine the flour with salt, white pepper, smoked paprika, garlic powder, and onion powder in the first.

10. Mix the beaten egg with Dijon mustard in the second.

11. Place the Japanese panko in the third.

12. Coat the chicken completely in the seasoned flour and shake away any excess.

13. Dip it into the egg mixture, making sure the entire surface is wet.

14. Finally, press it firmly into the panko until both sides are thoroughly coated.

15. Fry the Chicken

16. Pour enough cooking oil into a skillet to reach approximately 1 inch deep.

17. Heat over medium heat.

18. To test the oil without a thermometer, dip the end of a wooden chopstick into it. A steady stream of small bubbles around the chopstick indicates that the oil is ready.

19. Carefully lower the chicken into the oil away from yourself to reduce the chance of splashing hot oil towards you.

20. Shallow-fry until the underside is crisp and deeply golden.

21. Flip and cook the other side until equally golden and the chicken is cooked through. For certainty, the thickest part of the chicken should reach 74°C / 165°F.

22. Transfer to a wire rack to drain. A wire rack is preferable to kitchen paper because air can circulate underneath, helping the breading remain crisp.

23. Cook the Spaghetti

24. Add the hot water to a skillet over medium heat.

25. Add the spaghetti and gradually coax the strands into the water as they soften. Don't force dry spaghetti, as it may snap.

26. Once the pasta is completely submerged, season lightly with salt and stir occasionally to prevent the strands from sticking together.

27. Continue cooking until the spaghetti is al dente and most of the water has been absorbed or evaporated.

28. If the skillet becomes dry before the spaghetti is cooked, add a small splash of hot water and continue cooking.

29. Add some of the homemade tomato sauce and chopped parsley.

30. Toss thoroughly until the remaining starchy pasta water and tomato sauce form a light coating around the spaghetti.

31. Transfer the pasta to your serving plate.

32. Place the crispy chicken cutlet alongside it.

33. Prepare the Mozzarella Tomato Sauce

34. Add the remaining tomato sauce to the same skillet over medium-low heat.

35. Scatter the sliced fresh mozzarella over the sauce.

36. Cover the skillet and allow the trapped steam to gently melt the cheese.

37. Once the mozzarella begins to soften, gently swirl the skillet to help distribute the melting cheese through the sauce. There's no need to aggressively stir it; leaving some pockets of mozzarella gives the sauce a lovely texture.

38. Remove from the heat once the mozzarella is completely soft and melted.

39. Assemble the Chicken Parmesan

40. Spoon some of the hot cheesy tomato sauce over the centre of the crispy chicken.

41. You don't have to cover every centimetre of the cutlet. Leaving some of the edges exposed helps preserve that panko crunch.

42. While everything is still hot, finish with chopped parsley and freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano.

43. Serve immediately.

44. Don't Waste the Remaining Sauce

45. If you have leftover cheesy tomato sauce, let it cool, then refrigerate it promptly. Yes, the entire skillet.

46. The following day, scatter parsley and some slices of stale bread over the sauce.

47. Drizzle the bread lightly with olive oil and grate Parmigiano Reggiano over everything.

48. Place under the oven broiler/grill on high until the sauce is bubbling and the bread becomes crisp and golden.

49. Because broilers vary enormously in temperature and intensity, stay nearby and watch it closely rather than relying on a fixed cooking time.

50. Eat while hot.

Succulent...

Make use of the leftover cheesy tomato sauce...

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Tips

• Don't drown the chicken. You've gone through the trouble of creating that crispy panko crust. Spoon the cheesy tomato sauce mainly over the centre and leave some crispy edges exposed.

• Pound the chicken evenly. This matters more than pounding it extremely thin. An even thickness means the centre cooks at roughly the same time as the breading becomes golden.

• Scale it easily. The recipe is written for one, but the components scale naturally for a family meal. Bread all the chicken first, fry in batches, and keep the cooked cutlets on a wire rack while you finish everything else.

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FAQ

• What is Chicken Parmesan?

  • Chicken Parmesan, also called Chicken Parmigiana or Chicken Parm, is an Italian-American dish made with a breaded chicken cutlet, tomato sauce and cheese. It is commonly made with mozzarella and Parmigiano Reggiano or Parmesan and is often served with pasta in Italian-American cooking.

  
  

• Is Chicken Parmesan actually Italian?

  • Chicken Parmesan as we know it today is primarily an Italian-American dish. It is commonly linked to southern Italian dishes such as melanzane alla parmigiana, which uses eggplant with tomato sauce and cheese. Italian-American cooks later developed meat-based versions, including the now-famous breaded chicken preparation.

  
  

• How do you keep Chicken Parmesan crispy?

  • I don't bake my fried chicken underneath the tomato sauce and mozzarella. Instead, I melt fresh mozzarella directly into the tomato sauce and spoon it over the centre of the chicken immediately before serving. Leaving the edges uncovered also helps preserve some of that crispy panko crust.

  
  

• Can I use regular breadcrumbs instead of Japanese panko?

  • You can, but the texture will be different. I prefer Japanese panko because its larger, lighter flakes produce a particularly crisp crust when shallow-fried.

  
  

• Why add Dijon mustard to the egg?

  • It isn't traditional or compulsory. I use Dijon because it adds another layer of acidity and savouriness to the chicken without making the finished cutlet taste strongly of mustard.

  
  

• What temperature should chicken breast reach?

  • The thickest part of the chicken should reach an internal temperature of 74°C / 165°F.

  
  

• Do I have to serve Chicken Parmesan with spaghetti?

  • No. Spaghetti with Chicken Parmesan is strongly associated with Italian-American cooking, but there's nothing stopping you from serving the chicken on its own, with another pasta, vegetables, salad or whatever makes sense to you.

  
  

• What can I do with leftover cheesy tomato sauce?

  • Refrigerate it promptly in a covered container or, if practical, in the skillet. The following day, top the sauce with stale bread, parsley, olive oil and freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano, then broil/grill until the sauce bubbles and the bread becomes crisp and golden. Yesterday's dinner becomes today's brunch.

    
    

Yesterday's dinner becomes today's brunch...

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