Chicken Parmigiana

This is a very yummy and easy Chicken Parm recipe!

I love cooking with chicken because 1) it's good for you and 2) it's cheap.  Being a newlywed, I like cheap food!  

I made this recipe a few months ago when we had some friends over for dinner.  We served it with spaghetti and salad and it made a fantastic meal! 

To make this recipe taste even better, make homemade bread crumbs.  It's so much better and they're so easy to make!  I use half a loaf of bread every month or so to make crumbs and it really adds a lot to the recipe.  My bread crumb recipe is below this recipe.

Here's the recipe:

(Serves 2, but easily multiplied into more!)

1 egg, beaten

2 ounces (About 1/4-1/2 cup) dry bread crumbs (see homemade recipe below)

2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

3/4 (16 ounce) jar spaghetti sauce

2 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Step 1: 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease a medium baking sheet

Step 2:

Pour the beaten egg into a small, shallow bowl.  Pour the bread crumbs into a separate shallow bowl.  Dip the chicken breasts into the egg and then into the bread crumbs (do this twice if you like a lot of bread crumbs).  Place the chicken breasts onto a baking pan and bake in the oven for about 40 minutes, until it's no longer pink and the juices run clear. 

Step 3:

Pour half the spaghetti sauce into the bottom of an 8x8 baking dish.  Place the chicken on top and sprinkle the top of chicken with the cheeses.  Return to the oven for another 20 minutes.

Step 4:

To serve, pour the remaining spaghetti sauce over the chicken.  Also very good with spaghetti under the chicken and letting the sauce cover everything.  Top with extra parmesan as desired. 

There you have it: a delicious and easy chicken parm recipe!  

If you like crispier chicken and you have a cooling rack that goes safely in the oven, you can put the cooling rack on top of the baking sheet when originally cooking your chicken so that the heat and air cook your chicken nicely. 

If you use reduced fat cheese it's only about 250 calories per breast!  

I modified this recipe from an allrecipes.com recipe found here

Bread Crumb Recipe: 

To make delicious bread crumbs that add tons of flavor and simplicity, just follow these steps:

Take a loaf (or half a loaf) of any kind of bread you want, you can also mix and match different types of bread.  Make sure it's not stale.

Place the bread crumbs in a single layer on a baking sheet and put them in the oven at 300 degrees for 10-15 minutes.  Flip them over about halfway through to make sure they get dried on both sides.  Remove from the oven and let them cool.

Break the bread into smaller pieces and put them in a food processor.  You can control how coarse or fine you want the bread crumbs to be.  

Add spices to the bread crumbs!  Italian spice is always easy so do that if you've got it and you like simplicity.  I like to add basil, oregano, garlic powder, salt, fresh pepper, and onion powder to mine.  Mix it up nicely and put it in a jar or container of some sort.  Keep it in a dry place. 

For this recipe I also add a few Tbsp of parmesan cheese, but I don't necessarily put that in my bulk product because it doesn't always work well. 

There you have it: Quick, cheap, and easy bread crumbs that taste delicious!