• Home
  • Contact
  • Cookbook
  • About
  • Recipes
    • Basics
    • Breakfast
    • Smoothies
    • Lunch
    • Appies & Snacks
    • Main Dishes
    • Sides
    • Soups
    • Salads
    • Desserts & Baking
    • Drinks
    • Vegan
    • Gluten-Free
  • Meal Plans
  • Living
    • Nutrition
    • Beauty & Style
    • Fitness
    • Kids
    • Entertaining
    • Our Home
    • Travel
    • DIY
  • Shop
    • Holiday
    • Cookbook
    • Digital Prints
    • The ‘Keep it Fraîche’ Snack Box
    • Fraîche x Cara Cotter
    • Meal Plan
    • Kitchen
    • Home
    • Style
    • Beauty

Fraiche Living

Tori Wesszer, Food and Lifestyle Blogger

  • Home
  • About
  • Recipes
    • Basics
    • Breakfast
    • Smoothies
    • Lunch
    • Appies & Snacks
    • Main Dishes
    • Sides
    • Soups
    • Salads
    • Desserts & Baking
    • Drinks
    • Vegan
    • Gluten-Free
  • Meal Plan
  • Living
    • Nutrition
    • Beauty & Style
    • Fitness
    • Kids
    • Entertaining
    • Our Home
    • Travel
    • DIY
  • Shop
    • Cookbook
    • Digital Prints
    • The ‘Keep it Fraîche’ Snack Box
    • Fraîche x Cara Cotter
    • Meal Plan
    • Kitchen
    • Home
    • Style
    • Beauty
  • Cookbook
Main Dishes

Charles’ Chicken Parmesan

June 25, 2015

Charles' chicken parmesan on white plate

I’m an 80:20 kind of gal. In fact, I think there are a lot of things in life that this ‘rule’ can apply to; eating is one of them. I’m the first one to take an extra helping of kale, but there are times when I give myself some slack and dig my fork into something slightly more decadent, like chicken parmesan. The key to healthy living is moderation and balance, and my splurges aren’t the kind from a package with a mile-long ingredient list.

Chicken parmesan

When I met Charles (my hubby), he suggested that I come over to my parent’s house and cook them dinner the very first week that we met. My thoughts? This guy is gutsy! The result? The best night EVER! My dad jokes that he traded his daughter for a chicken cutlet. While this may be true, I can’t totally fault him. This is one damned good dish.

Charles’ Chicken Parmesan is perfectly crisp with a zesty rich tomato sauce that isn’t too thin and is topped with the best fresh mozzarella one can find. We met seven years ago and it is still our favorite meal, especially my dad’s!

Ingredients:

  • 6 chicken breasts, evenly pounded flat to ½ inch *
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 tsp. garlic powder
  • 1 tsp. sweet paprika
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp. pepper
  • 4 eggs, well beaten
  • 2-3 cups panko crumbs
  • 1 ½ cups fresh parmesan cheese, grated and divided in half
  • 2 Tbsp. olive oil
  • 1 medium sweet onion, diced
  • ¼ cup fresh rosemary, chopped
  • 5 cloves garlic, minced
  • 6 medium tomatoes, diced
  • 2 tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp. pepper
  • 1 Tbsp. sugar
  • ½ cup fresh basil, chopped
  • 2 large balls fresh mozzarella cheese, cut in slices
  • 6 sprigs fresh rosemary (or 6 fresh basil leaves, diced)

Directions:

  1. Place your chicken breasts between two sheets of wax or parchment paper and pound your chicken breasts with a mallet until ½ inch thick. Season each chicken breast on both sides with salt and pepper and set aside on a plate at room temperature.
  2. In a shallow medium bowl (such as a pie dish), combine the flour, garlic powder, sweet paprika, salt and pepper and stir to combine. Set aside.
  3. In another shallow large bowl, place the panko and half of the Parmesan cheese (3/4 cup) in the bowl and season with salt and pepper.
  4. To make the sauce, heat the olive oil in a large deep frying pan on the medium heat setting on your stove. Add the diced onion and cook the onion until transparent and lightly golden brown, approximately 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the rosemary and cook for another 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, salt and pepper and sugar and simmer on low heat for approximately 25-30 minutes, stirring occasionally. You may need to add a few tablespoons of water to the sauce as you cook it to keep it becoming too dry.
  5. Once the sauce is cooked, stir in your basil and remove from the heat and set aside.
  6. Preheat the oven to 170F and place one rack a couple of inches from the broiler (second rack) and the other in the middle of the oven.
  7. In a separate large frying pan, heat 1/4” of canola oil on medium heat on the stove.
  8. Once the oil is ready, take each chicken breast and lightly dredge in the flour followed by the egg and ending with the panko. Make sure that each piece of chicken is lightly coated on all sides. Cook one piece of chicken at a time on each side until golden brown, approximately 3-4 minutes a side. Place the cooked chicken on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper in the oven to keep warm while you cook the remaining chicken. Repeat this step with each breast until they are all cooked, being sure to leave space between each chicken breast in the oven (don’t stack).
  9. Once the chicken breasts are cooked, remove the pan from the oven and preheat the oven to broil. Keeping the chicken on the baking sheet, top each chicken breast with approximately 1/3 cup of tomato sauce (or as much as you would like), spreading the sauce over the chicken breast, add 1-3 slices of mozzarella cheese (depending on the size) and top with a spoonful of the remaining Parmesan cheese.
  10. Once all of the chicken breasts are prepared, place the baking sheet on the higher oven rack and broil for 1-2 minutes or until the cheese is melted.
  11. Remove from the oven, top with the rosemary or basil garnish if desired and serve!

 

Posted By: Tori Wesszer · In: Main Dishes, Recipes

Join the List

<< Shrimp Tacos with Avocado Crema 9 Nutrition Tips for Your BEST Skin Ever! >>

You may also like...

  • Cranberry Rosemary Stuffed Chicken BreastsCranberry Rosemary Stuffed Chicken Breasts
  • Caprese Spaghetti SquashCaprese Spaghetti Squash
  • Oven Baked Crispy Chicken Fingers with Spicy Maple Mustard DipOven Baked Crispy Chicken Fingers with Spicy Maple Mustard Dip

Comments

  1. Jodi says

    June 26, 2015 at 7:12 pm

    Looks awesome…have to try my hubby loves the chicken Parm…:)

    Reply
  2. Stacey says

    November 8, 2015 at 1:58 pm

    Love, love, love this chicken parmesan! The tomato sauce is perfection. Thank you so much for sharing! Do you think I would be able to make this sauce several days prior and freeze it?

    Reply
    • Tori Wesszer says

      November 8, 2015 at 2:15 pm

      Hi Stacey thank you I’m glad you love it as much as we do! Yes you can probably freeze it, the texture may just change a bit. I haven’t tried it but in theory it should absolutely work!

      Reply
  3. Christin says

    March 6, 2019 at 2:57 pm

    I just have to say this is amazing and I can’t wait for the family to try!

    Reply
    • Tori Wesszer says

      March 6, 2019 at 9:20 pm

      Thanks Christin!!

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Latest from Instagram

Open
Priorities. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Thinking about them a lot these last few days. I’ve been reading the book ‘Untamed’ by @glennondoyle (have you read it? love to hear your thoughts), and it’s made me really think.  It made me think about my childhood, my relationships (including the one with myself) and what I want to put out to the world in the short time I have here. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
My last post was sharing our story of my dad’s journey with  Alzheimer’s. We are so lucky to have him at such an early stage of the disease, fully himself.  He is such a gift to us and the world. In sharing this story a floodgate of touching yet heart-wrenching stories poured in.  My heart expanded and broke at the same time. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Jillian posted something about high functioning anxiety the other day, and I checked most (ok all) of those boxes ... ugh.  The irony is that I live a lot in the future, a little busy body, not really taking the time to enjoy the present - but one day, should I have the same disease as my dad (50% chance), I will truly only have the capacity to live in that moment.  It stopped me dead in my tracks. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
As I wade into 2021 I am doing my best to realign my life to match my priorities - perfect balance isn’t what I’m after, that’s nonsense as far as I’m concerned.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
A little deep for a Tuesday but that’s where my brain is at today!  Sending love ... as always. ❤️
Open
Without a doubt the most difficult blog post I have ever written.  My sweet incredible funny kind loving dad was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, a diagnosis that tore my heart in two. This is our story.  The post is on the blog FraicheLiving.com 
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
January is Alzheimer’s Awareness Month.  Sending you all love, especially those who have been impacted by this disease. 
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
We remain hopeful, and are reminded on the daily to not take life for granted. ❤️ 
#alzheimers #alzheimersawareness #alzheimersawarenessmonth
Open
Let’s make a date (bar). These healthier Date Bars are on the blog (search DATE) and totally snack worthy 🍊
Open
This is one berry good smoothie 🍓And if you listen closely I’m pretty sure you’ll hear your body say THANK YOU!  I hope you are loving the smoothie challenge so far!  No sweat if you missed starting on Monday, we are saving the challenge to our highlights and you can hop on board any day of the year!  All of the recipes are on the blog. #5DaySmoothieChallenge Fraicheliving.com
Open
Travels with this crew... 🤍
My parents & Jillian’s (our moms are sisters) have always travelled together and have had THE MOST incredible adventures (our dads are ridiculously witty - literally the funniest humans). Looking back I can guarantee that those are some of their best memories.
I’m so grateful that we got to do the same last year - I can’t wait for another trip!  And might I say that I wish I was eating my lunch in this spot today!  Thank you again @nimmobayresort

@jillian.harris @justinpasutto @cwpersona
Open
An apple (smoothie) a day... on to day 3 of the 5 day smoothie challenge tomorrow! 🍎 Who’s following along?
Open
I don’t do resolutions but love having a word to guide my year - I’m having a hard time picking just one this year. I think I got this idea from my friend @jenniferwilson.co ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
While being focussed and more organized is always on my list, they don’t really seem to feel right.  With the boys growing so quickly and the reality of aging sinking in, especially with my dad having Alzheimer’s, I feel that time has never been more precious. I’m always finding myself trying to fit one more chore in or sneak in that extra email ... but really, why?  This will be the year of more snuggles for me, more campfires, glasses of wine with my loved ones over good food ... more memories. I worry that one day soon Charlie won’t want to snuggle me and it breaks my heart. 

I took a break from being on IG stories over the holidays and it was such a gift - I love being on the platform but there sure is a balance between being ‘on’ and being present. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

I think this year my word will be FAMILY ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
What would your ONE word be this year??
Facebook Twitter Instagram Pinterest YouTube
         

Copyright © 2021 Fraiche LivingTerms and Conditions Privacy Policy