Italian Baked Parmesan Chicken Breasts are a healthy delicious go to weeknight dinner that the whole family will love. If you are gluten free substitute gluten free breadcrumbs. 
Chicken is one of those foods that seems easy to cook, but it is easy to end up with it too dry. The key to my Italian Baked Parmesan Chicken Breast is searing it to seal in the moisture and then finishing it off in the oven to bake. The added benefit to this is that you end up with a healthier recipe, because you are not frying the chicken only searing it. I used coconut oil to sear which is a healthy fat versus using butter. Try not to use Olive oil here, because of the high heat the olive oil will heat above its smoke point which refers to the temperature at which a cooking fat or oil begins to break down. The substance smokes or burns, and gives food an unpleasant taste. Another option here would be grape seed oil or avocado oil.
I used Schiavones Marinara to top my chicken, which was my Mother-n-law’s favorite. Her father, my husbands grandfather use to run an Italian grocery store out of Dayton, Ohio and he sold it in his store because the sauce was made by a local Italian family. Today I find it in Kroger’s grocery stores in the Spaghetti isle on the top shelf.
Serve the chicken along side of a salad and some steamed veggies and you have a complete, healthy and delicious weeknight dinner to please the whole family.
Italian Pan Seared Chicken Breasts
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Author: Amy Stafford
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
- 4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 2.5 lbs)
- 1 egg, beaten
- 2 tablespoon water
- 1 generous cup of Italian Breadcrumbs
- 1 cup of Grated Parmesan Cheese + more for topping
- 1 tablespoon dried Parsley or 3 tablespoon of fresh Parsley
- Pinch of Kosher salt
- Ground Black Pepper
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- Marinara Sauce (I used Schiavone's Marinara)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Spray a broiler pan with non-stick cooking spray.
- Sprinkle both sides of chicken with salt and pepper.
- Place breadcrumbs, parmesan and parsley in one bowl.
- In a second bowl, place egg and water and whisk to combine.
- Heat heavy skillet (I like to use cast iron) over medium-high heat and add coconut oil.
- Place one breast at a time in egg mix, allow excess egg mixture to drip off.
- Place breast in breadcrumb mix to coat.
- Add chicken breast to hot pan. Make sure to not over crowd pan.
- Cook 4-5 minutes until crumbs are browned and then flip and cook an additional 4-5 minutes on second side.
- Transfer chicken to broiler pan.
- Once all breasts are transferred to pan, bake for 28-30 minutes.
- Add chicken to serving plate and top with warmed marinara and a sprinkle of grated Parmesan.
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About Amy Stafford
You can usually find me in my garden, the kitchen, at the gym or spending time with my family. I love sharing recipes, gardening and exercise tips and stories of my backyard chickens and beekeeping.
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Hi, I am Amy, food photographer, recipe developer, food lover, organic garden maven, fitness nut and lover of Airedales
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow! This really looks good. I’m going to try it this week.
Thanks Scott, let me know what you think of them. xo Amy
Made this tonight with some spaghetti squash. Everyone LOVED it! Awesome, thank you!
Bob, Thank you so much for letting me know!! P.S love spaghetti squash!