This easy Chicken Parmesan recipe is restaurant quality with breaded chicken, marinara sauce, mozzarella, and parmesan cheese. It’s simple, comforting, and will impress any guest!

This chicken parm recipe ranks right up there with some of my other favorite American-Italian foods including: Tuscan Garlic Chicken, and homemade Manicotti.  Don’t forget to serve it with the easiest homemade marinara sauce and tiramisu for dessert!

Chicken Parmesan with melted cheese, sitting on top of a pile of pasta.

Why I love this meal:

My husbands favorite thing to order from an Italian restaurant is chicken parm which may be why this recipe is one of the very first recipes I ever shared on my blog, back in 2010! There’s something almost “fancy” about it, but it’s very easy to make from your own kitchen. The key is in the ingredients. Please take the few extra minutes to make the homemade marinara sauce, rather than store-bought, and garnish the dish with fresh basil. You could even make the marinara sauce a few days in advance to save time.

How to Make Chicken Parmesan:

Butterfly Chicken: Cut your chicken breasts in half horizontally. Place one hand on top of the breast and carefully run a knife through the center of the meat so you have two even, thin pieces of chicken. Pat chicken dry and season well on both sides with salt and pepper.

Dip Chicken: Add eggs to a shallow bowl and beat well. Add breadcrumbs, parmesan and garlic powder to another shallow bowl and stir to combine. Dip each piece of chicken into the egg, and then breadcrumb mixture, pressing the crumbs to adhere.

Two bowls showing the process of dipping and breading Chicken Parmesan. One bowl with chicken in an egg mixture, and the other one with chicken covered in a breading mixture.

Brown Chicken: Add oil to a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once hot, add breaded chicken and cook for about 2 minutes on each side, until golden, but not cooked through.

Three breaded chicken breasts being browned in a cast iron pan to make easy Chicken Parmesan.

Assemble: Pour a little marinara sauce in the bottom of a 9×13” baking dish. Add browned chicken to the pan and add a spoonful of marinara sauce over the chicken, followed by a sprinkle of mozzarella and parmesan cheeses.

Four breaded chicken breasts in a white baking dish with marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese for Chicken Parmesan.

Bake and Serve: Bake at 450 degrees F for 10-15 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly and chicken is cooked through.  Garnish with fresh chopped basil. Serve this baked chicken parmesan recipe over hot cooked spaghetti noodles, with extra marinara sauce, if desired.

A close up image of homemade Chicken Parmesan, with a fork scooping up a bite.

Freezing and Cooking Instructions:

To Make Ahead: Make the marinara sauce several days in advance. Butterfly and bread the chicken, and store covered in the fridge a few hours ahead of time.

To Freeze: Follow the recipe directions up to step 5 (dredging) and place the breaded chicken in a greased, freezer safe foil  pan.  Add all chicken pieces and cover tightly.  Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw completely, then brown chicken in skillet and bake, as directed.

Recipe Variations:

  • Skip the Breading: Skip the breading all together or choose whole wheat breadcrumbs.
  • Veggies: Serve with roasted vegetables.
  • Cut the Cheese: Cheese adds a lot of saturated fat. Choose to add less cheese or leave it off all together and let the marinara sauce do the talking!
  • Serve over zoodles, instead of pasta.
  • Chicken Parmesan Sandwich: Serve the chicken parmesan inside toasted sandwich bread or rolls.

Sides for Chicken Parmesan:

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Recipe

Homemade Chicken Parmesan with cheese melted on top of the breaded chicken, ready to serve.
Prep 30 minutes
Cook 15 minutes
Total 45 minutes
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Ingredients
 
 

  • 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts , cut in half horizontally to make 6 breast halves*
  • ½ cup freshly grated parmesan cheese , divided
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup panko bread crumbs
  • 1 cup Italian style bread crumbs , or panko
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 3 Tablespoons oil
  • 24 ounces marinara sauce , or HOMEMADE
  • 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
  • fresh basil leaves , for serving

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
  • Butterfly chicken breasts: Place one hand on top of the breast and carefully run a knife through the center of the meat to create two, even, thin breast halves.
  • Pat chicken dry and season well on both sides with salt and pepper.
  • Add eggs to a shallow bowl and beat well. Add breadcrumbs, parmesan and garlic powder to another shallow bowl and stir to combine.
  • Dip each piece of chicken into the egg mixture, and then press into breadcrumbs, coating on both sides.
  • Add oil to a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once hot, add breaded chicken and cook for about 2 minutes on each side, until golden, but not cooked through.
  • Spoon a thin layer of marinara sauce into a 9×13’’ baking pan, to cover the bottom of the pan. Place breaded chicken on top.
  • Add a spoonful of marinara sauce over the chicken, followed by a sprinkle of mozzarella and parmesan cheese.
  • Bake for 10-15 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly and chicken is cooked through (165 degrees F).
  • Garnish with fresh chopped basil. Serve over hot cooked spaghetti noodles, with extra sauce, if desired.

Notes

Chicken Breasts: If they are not thick enough to cut into halves you could place them between two pieces of plastic wrap and use a meat mallet or rolling pin to gently pound them evenly to ½ inch thick.
To Make Ahead: Make the marinara sauce several days in advance. Butterfly and bread the chicken, and store covered in the fridge a few hours ahead of time.
To Freeze: Follow the recipe directions up to step 5 (dredging) and place the breaded chicken in a greased, freezer safe foil  pan.  Add all chicken pieces and cover tightly.  Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw completely, then brown chicken in skillet and bake, as directed.
Variations:
  • Skip the Breading: Skip the breading all together or choose whole wheat breadcrumbs.
  • Veggies: Serve with roasted vegetables.
  • Cut the Cheese: Cheese adds a lot of saturated fat. Choose to add less cheese or leave it off all together and let the marinara sauce do the talking!
  • Serve over zoodles, instead of pasta.
  • Chicken Parmesan Sandwich: Serve the chicken parmesan inside toasted sandwich bread or rolls.

Nutrition

Calories: 378kcalCarbohydrates: 28gProtein: 26gFat: 18gSaturated Fat: 5gPolyunsaturated Fat: 3gMonounsaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 0.04gCholesterol: 113mgSodium: 1092mgPotassium: 656mgFiber: 3gSugar: 6gVitamin A: 785IUVitamin C: 9mgCalcium: 246mgIron: 3mg

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I originally shared this recipe in October 2010. Updated August 2019 and March 2023.

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Lauren Allen

Welcome! I’m Lauren, a mom of four and lover of good food. Here you’ll find easy recipes and weeknight meal ideas made with real ingredients, with step-by-step photos and videos.

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Comments

  1. 5 stars
    DELISH!! I usually make oven baked parm w/o frying. This recipe really took it to another level. The overall time to prep and cook worked well with my crazy schedule. I highly recommend this one!!

  2. 5 stars
    I’ve made this twice, and it gets better and easier every time. Everyone loved it.
    Marinara sauce is sooooo easy to create. I’ll never buy pre-made again.
    Tip: dredge and coat All chicken before you seer in pan.
    Tip: make twice as much marinara sauce if you want to add pasta. For my family, who loves suace, this is only enough for chicken.

  3. 5 stars
    This came together really easily and was a big hit with everyone. I was a little confused that the ingredients list both Panko and Italian seasoned breadcrumbs. I guess you are supposed to combine them? As it happened, I only had Panko, so I added Italian seasoning. No complaints! Fresh grated Parmesan definitely worth it. I used pre-shredded Mozzarella, but I got the thick shred that has less added starch. We will do this again!

  4. 5 stars
    I made this tonight and it was awesome! I’m always looking for something my 3-year-old granddaughter will eat, and she really liked this. So good!

  5. 1 star
    I thought it was strange that the recipe has such a high temp for such a short time. Also, the cheese is added at the beginning when many recipes it is added the last 5-10 minutes. I have already been cooking 15 minutes and the cheese super burnt in top and the temperature is 120 degrees. The chicken looked nice after browning but it’s an ugly mess now. Not even planning to eat it at this point since it’s so burnt on top.

  6. Love this recipe! So simple and quick! I love all your recipes, so far! Big hit with the husband and the kiddos too! Can’t wait for the cookbook!

  7. One of my favorite go to easy recipes ..fasy delicious…doubled this many times..can be modifies to you own taste ,,,

  8. 5 stars
    Once again, my family LOVED my cooking! You are making me look really good! We had the chicken over zoodles, which turned out great. The chicken was so juicy and the homemade marinara was fantastic!

  9. I breaded my chicken breast and put marinara sauce on before baking. Will this be okay? I didn’t read the recipe because I was in a hurry. Not sure what to do now.

  10. If you freeze this, what about the golden brown from frying in oil. Can you thaw breaded chicken and then brown and then bake?

  11. 5 stars
    Super yummy! Everyone enjoyed it. I had lots of left over bread crumbs that were not used. I think you could get away with using 1/2 cup of both bread crumbs instead of 1 cup each.

  12. Hi lauren, At some point I am going to try this and when I do I will add a link to your original post because there is no way my recipe is going to look like yours! xo laura in CO