Baked Skinny Chicken Parmesan

Chicken Parmesan is just one of those things that everyone enjoys, even picky little kiddos (like my own) can easily tank down some delicious, savory chicken parm! The only things stopping us from eating it is 1. it is usually cooked/fried in oil and 2. it is usually served over a giant, delicious bed of pasta. Here, we took out a lot of the calories by baking it and serving it over some nutritious greens instead of pasta.. yah, yah I know that is boring but you really don’t need to add those extra carbs with the protein-filled chicken breast! Typically, we serve our Baked Skinny Chicken Parmesan over Zoodles (recipe included below) to give us that fake yet healthy pasta fill, which we highly recommend you doing because it is delicious! We also cut out a lot of the extra gluten by skipping the double dredging process (flour, eggs, then breadcrumbs). Instead, we marinated in the chicken in lemon and garlic all day for added flavor and moisture, then just crusted it in the breadcrumbs, baked it and VOILA! You have yourself a “skinny” take on this classic Italian meal!

Baked Skinny Chicken Parmesan Ingredients (Serves 4):

• 3 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts, sliced into Cutlets (Or Six storebought Chicken Cutlets)
• Juice of 1 Lemon
• 2 Cloves of Garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp. Olive Oil
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
• 3/4 cup Italian Seasoned Breadcrumbs
• Vegetable Oil Cooking Spray
• 3/4 cup Shredded Reduced-Fat Mozzarella Cheese
• 1 Cup of Marinara Sauce (We like to use Mezzetta or make Homemade)
• 2 large leaves of fresh basil, loosely chopped
• Cooking essentials:  Aluminum foil, baking sheet, and wire rack.

Method:

1.  About 30 minutes before cooking, or up to overnight, marinade your chicken:  Rinse and pat dry chicken breasts.  Slice chicken breasts into cutlets (sliced in half horizontally). Place in a zip lock bag or bowl.  Drizzle with 2 tbsp. of olive oil and toss to coat evenly.  Now add in the minced garlic, the juice of the lemon, and season with salt and pepper.  Cover and allow to marinade for at least 30 minutes or place in the fridge and let it marinade all day (the longer the better)!

2.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

3.  In a bowl, combine breadcrumbs and grated parmesan cheese.

4.  Remove chicken cutlets from the fridge and set out to get to room temperature.  When your oven is preheated (or really close to getting preheated) “dredge” your chicken by dipping each chicken cutlet into the breadcrumb mixture and fully coating the entire cutlet.

5.  Line a baking sheet with foil then place a wire rack on top, spray with cooking spray.  Place your coated chicken cutlets on the wire rack.  Spray the top of the chicken cutlets with vegetable oil cooking spray.  Place in oven and bake for 20 minutes.

6.  Remove from oven and spoon 1 tbsp. of marinara over the top of each cutlet. Now sprinkle with shredded mozzerella.  Bake 5 more minutes, or until cheese is melted.

7.  Remove from oven, top with some freshly chopped basil.  Serve over Zoodles (recipe below) or raw baby Arugula drizzled with just a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper.

How we cook our Zoodles: Zucchini Noodles have the tendency of becoming watery, the most important thing to do is to spiralize them immediately before cooking them. The longer they sit out, the more watery they get.  So spiralize and throw them in a skillet over medium-high heat. Drizzle with olive oil and saute quickly for 2-4 minutes, or until just slightly tender. Season with salt and pepper (or garlic salt). Ladle sauce over the zoodles and enjoy it immediately!