Here’s how it went; I was dishing up my own plate and my hubby was already sitting at the table with half of his gone. Probably the sign of a great recipe right?! This Baked Chicken Parmesan is so crispy, it rivals its traditionally fried counterpart. As with most of my recipes, I wanted it to taste as close to the original as possible. This most definitely fit the bill.
Almost all the chicken parmesan recipes I’ve come across call for wheat-containing bread crumbs, so it was my mission to create a gluten-free version. While I wanted a way to make it gluten-free, I didn’t want it to taste like it. To get that similar texture on the crust of the chicken, I used one of my favorite gluten-free breads, Dempster’s Gluten Zero, the whole grain version. It worked well because its a lighter bread, and not very dense like many other gluten-free breads. I think the key to getting a great bread crumb texture is toasting the bread beforehand, allowing it to fully cool, then making them into crumbs.
It simply wouldn’t be chicken parmesan without the marinara sauce and cheese on top. But I did go the less traditional route of serving it on spaghetti squash instead of pasta to make it more carb conscious. The method I cook my spaghetti squash is easy and quick, so it only takes a few more minutes than cooking a pot of pasta, and without a pot to wash after! So here’s how I do it…
Kristine’s method of cooking spaghetti squash:
1) Take your spaghetti squash and poke it all over with a fork…don’t be shy.
2) Place on a microwave safe tray, and place in the microwave for 10 minutes on high. (for a small to medium sized squash)
3) After the 10 minutes are done, flip over the squash and cook another 5 minutes.
4) Done! The squash should be soft to the touch.
5) Immediately cut in half, scoop out the seeds, let the steam escape for a few minutes, and scrape out the flesh with a fork.
- 4 slices Dempster's Gluten Zero Whole Grain Bread
- 4 10 oz boneless skinless chicken breasts, or 6-8 5 oz breasts
- 2 Tbsp grated parmesan cheese (I used the powdered-style cheese)
- 2 tsp dried parsley
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 Tbsp butter, melted
- ½ cup marinara sauce (I used Newman's Own Marinara)
- ½ cup part-skim or lower fat mozzarella cheese
- Cooking spray
- Before you're going to start the recipe, a couple hours (or even up to a day before), toast your gluten free bread in the toaster until dark brown but not burnt. Allow to fully cool, and blend into breadcrumbs.
- When you're ready to make the recipe, preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.
- Pat your chickens breasts dry with paper towel until they are very dry.
- Assemble the breading. In a shallow dish, add the breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese, parsley, onion powder and garlic powder. Toss to combine.
- Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray.
- Melt the butter, and with a brush, brush melted butter on one side of a chicken breast, but the buttered side in the crumbs, then brush the other side with butter, and flip the breast in the crumbs to coat the other side. Do your best to pat additional crumbs on the chicken breast to get them fully coated.
- Place the chicken breasts on the baking sheet, and give the tops a quick spray with cooking spray.
- Place in the oven and bake for 18-20 minutes. Adjust cooking time based on the size of your chicken breasts. Mine were very large and thick. For smaller chicken breasts, 14-15 minutes should be sufficient.
- After the 20 minutes, flip over the chicken breasts. Add the marinara sauce to each one, and sprinkle with the mozza cheese.
- Bake 5 more minutes until the cheese is melted and chicken is cooked through.
* You will probably have some crumbs left over you'll need to discard. I didn't include this in the nutrition as everyone will be left with different amounts of crumbs. So the actual nutrition of your serving is probably lower if you had leftover crumbs.
* This recipe was created for Dempter’s, but my experience and opinions are my own.