Chicken Parmesan with Marinara and Mozzarella

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Chicken parmesan takes crispy pan-fried cutlets, marinara, and melted mozzarella, then finishes everything under high heat until the cheese turns golden at the edges. It’s the dish that made red-sauce Italian-American cooking a weeknight staple, and it comes together in under 45 minutes once the chicken is pounded thin. Restaurants make it look complicated with a broiler and three separate pans, but a single oven-safe skillet does the whole job at home.

The trick to keeping the crust crisp under all that sauce and cheese is frying first, then baking hot and fast instead of low and slow. If you’re into breaded cutlets already, our eggplant cutlets with marinara use the same technique. Serve this one over a bowl of one-pot toasted penne, or alongside spaghetti and meatballs if you’re feeding a crowd.

Ingredients

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 2 pounds / 900 g), pounded to ½ inch thickness
• 1 teaspoon salt, divided
• ½ teaspoon black pepper, divided
• ¾ cup all-purpose flour
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
• ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• ½ cup olive oil, for frying
• 1½ cups marinara sauce
• 8 ounces (225 g) fresh mozzarella, sliced
• Fresh basil leaves, for serving

Instructions

1. Pound and season the chicken: Place each chicken breast between two sheets of plastic wrap and pound to an even ½ inch thickness. Season both sides with ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper.
2. Bread the cutlets: Set up three shallow dishes: flour in the first, eggs whisked with 1 tablespoon water in the second, and panko mixed with ¼ cup Parmesan, oregano, and the remaining salt and pepper in the third. Dredge each cutlet in flour and shake off the excess, dip in egg, then press into the panko mixture on both sides.
3. Fry until golden: Heat the olive oil in a large oven-safe skillet over medium-high heat. Fry the cutlets 3 minutes per side, until golden brown. The inside won’t be fully cooked yet, that finishes in the oven. Turn off the heat and wipe any loose crumbs out of the pan.
4. Assemble and bake: Preheat the oven to 450°F. Spoon marinara over each cutlet, then top with mozzarella slices and the remaining Parmesan. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until the chicken reaches 165°F and the cheese is melted and starting to brown at the edges.
5. Rest and serve: Let the chicken rest for 3 minutes before serving. Top with fresh basil and serve over spaghetti or with crusty bread to catch the sauce.

Tips for the Best Chicken Parmesan with Marinara and Mozzarella

• Pound the chicken to an even ½ inch thickness before you bread it. Uneven cutlets cook unevenly, so the thin end dries out while the thick end is still raw in the middle. A meat mallet works, but the flat side of a heavy skillet does the job just as well.
• Fry in an oven-safe skillet so the cutlets go straight from stovetop to oven without a pan swap. That’s one less dish, and the crust doesn’t cool down and turn soggy while you transfer it. Cast iron holds heat especially well for this.
• Don’t skip patting the chicken dry before you season it. Wet chicken steams instead of browns, and the breading won’t stick nearly as well either. A few minutes on a paper towel makes a real difference in how crisp the crust turns out.
• Keep the sauce light, a thin layer under the cheese instead of a flood. That’s what keeps the crust from turning to mush by the time you sit down to eat. Save the extra marinara on the side for dipping bread or spooning over pasta.
• Blot the mozzarella slices with a paper towel before you add them. Extra moisture in the cheese pools around the chicken and waters down the sauce underneath. Fresh mozzarella holds more water than the low-moisture kind, so this step matters more than it looks like it should.
• Reheat leftovers in an air fryer at 375°F for about 5 minutes instead of the microwave. It brings the crust most of the way back instead of leaving you with soggy breading. A regular oven works too, it just takes a few minutes longer.

Storage

Refrigerate leftover chicken parmesan in an airtight container within 2 hours of cooking, and use it within 3 to 4 days. The breading softens as it sits in the fridge with the sauce touching it, that’s normal, and a hot oven or air fryer brings back most of the crunch that a microwave never will. Reheat it at 375°F for about 10 minutes, or in an air fryer for 5 minutes, until the chicken is steaming hot all the way through and the cheese is bubbling again. For longer storage, freeze the fried cutlets on their own, before you add the sauce and cheese, for up to 2 months. Thaw them in the fridge overnight rather than on the counter, then top with fresh marinara and mozzarella and bake as directed, adding a couple of extra minutes since the chicken starts out colder. The crust holds up far better this way than if you freeze the dish fully assembled, since thawed sauce tends to soak straight into the breading.

FAQ

Why is my chicken parmesan soggy?

Soggy breading almost always comes down to too much sauce or not enough heat. Spoon on a thin layer of marinara instead of drowning the cutlet, bake at a high temperature like 450°F instead of a low one, and blot the mozzarella dry before it goes on. Frying the chicken in an oven-safe skillet and finishing it in the same pan also helps, since the crust never cools down between steps. If you’re still getting sogginess after all that, check that your oven is actually hitting 450°F, plenty of home ovens run cooler than the dial says.

Can you make chicken parmesan ahead of time?

Yes, bread and fry the cutlets up to a day ahead, then refrigerate them unsauced instead of assembling the whole dish early. When you’re ready to eat, top them with marinara and mozzarella and bake as directed. The crust holds up much better this way than if the whole dish sits assembled overnight, since the breading has less time to soak up moisture from the sauce.

Can you freeze chicken parmesan?

You can, and it keeps for up to 2 months. Freeze the fried cutlets on their own before adding sauce and cheese, then thaw in the fridge and finish with fresh marinara and mozzarella before baking. Freezing the dish fully assembled works too, but the crust and the cheese both lose some texture. Label the container with the date, cutlets in foil are easy to forget about in the back of the freezer.

What’s the difference between chicken parmesan and chicken parmigiana?

They’re the same dish under two different names. Parmigiana is the Italian word, and parmesan is the Americanized version that stuck once the dish became popular in Italian-American restaurants. Some cooks save ‘parmigiana’ for the eggplant version and ‘parmesan’ for chicken, but most kitchens use the terms interchangeably, and you’ll see both spellings on menus across the country.

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