Baked Chicken Parmesan Recipe

Name: Baked Chicken Parmesan
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 2 large chicken breasts, halved into 4 cutlets and pounded even; 3/4 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper; 1/2 cup flour; 2 eggs, beaten; 1 1/4 cups panko, toasted golden in a dry skillet; 1/2 cup grated parmesan, plus more for serving; 1 tsp Italian seasoning, 1/2 tsp garlic powder; 1 1/4 cups marinara sauce; 4 oz fresh mozzarella, sliced (or 1 cup shredded); Fresh basil; spaghetti for serving

Prep Time: 20 min Cook Time: 25 min Total: 45 min Servings: 4

Baked chicken parmesan with crispy breading, marinara, and melted mozzarella

Baked chicken parmesan keeps everything you love — the crackly parmesan-panko crust, the marinara, the molten mozzarella cap — and loses the frying oil, the splatter, and about four hundred calories. The oven trick is toasting the panko in a dry skillet for three minutes before breading: it goes in already golden, so the chicken can bake at high heat without the coating staying pale. Sauce goes on strategically (a stripe, not a flood) so the crust you built stays crisp beneath the cheese.

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Ingredients

2 large chicken breasts, halved into 4 cutlets and pounded even
3/4 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 cup flour
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/4 cups panko, toasted golden in a dry skillet
1/2 cup grated parmesan, plus more for serving
1 tsp Italian seasoning, 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 1/4 cups marinara sauce
4 oz fresh mozzarella, sliced (or 1 cup shredded)
Fresh basil; spaghetti for serving

Instructions

Heat the oven to 425°F with a rack in the upper third. Set a wire rack on a sheet pan.
Toast the panko in a dry skillet, stirring, 3 minutes until golden; mix with the parmesan, Italian seasoning, and garlic powder.
Season the cutlets; coat flour → egg → panko mixture, pressing firmly.
Bake on the wire rack 15 minutes, until the chicken reaches 160°F.
Stripe each cutlet with marinara, cap with mozzarella, and bake (or broil) 4–5 minutes until the cheese melts and spots.
Basil, extra parm, and serve over spaghetti tossed with the remaining warmed marinara.

Ingredient Substitutions

Ingredient	Substitute	Notes
Panko	Regular breadcrumbs	Skip toasting; slightly denser crust
Fresh mozzarella	Provolone slices	Sharper, meltier, deli-style
Marinara	Vodka sauce	Richer pink-sauce variant
Chicken cutlets	Chicken tenders	Kid-format chicken parm sticks; bake 12 minutes

Storage & Reheating

Refrigerate up to 3 days. The crust softens under the sauce over time — physics wins eventually.

Reheat in a 400°F oven or air fryer, never the microwave, to reclaim the crunch. Breaded unbaked cutlets freeze beautifully for 3 months; bake from frozen plus 5–7 minutes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why toast the panko first?

Baking browns breading slower than frying — pre-toasted crumbs arrive golden, so you get fried-looking color in a 15-minute bake without drying out the chicken.

Why bake on a wire rack?

Air circulates underneath so the bottom crisps instead of steaming against the pan. No rack? Flip the cutlets halfway.

How do I keep the crust crispy under the sauce?

Less sauce than instinct suggests — a stripe down the center, cheese over that. The edges stay audibly crisp, and extra marinara belongs on the pasta below.

Can I fully fry it instead?

Of course — 3 minutes a side in a half-inch of oil, then sauce, cheese, and a quick broil. The baked method exists because Tuesday exists.