Chicken Parmesan

Chicken Parmesan is an Italian American Classic. Serve it up with a Caesar Salad and some Garlic Bread and you’ve got yourself a delicious Italian dinner that will rival your red-and-white checkered tablecloth joint any day of the week.

This Post Last Updated 04/14/2025

Ingredients:

For the Chicken Cutlets

1. 2 or 3 Chicken breasts, sliced in half lengthwise to make two, thinner cutlets – so, you’ll end up with 4 – 6 cutlets total
2. ½ cup flour
3. Kosher Salt
4. Black Pepper
5. Pinch Paprika
6. 3 Eggs
7. 3 tablespoons vodka (alcohol is a binding agent)
8. 3 tablespoons water
9. 1½ cups panko breadcrumbs
10. ⅓ cup parmesan cheese
11. Zest of 1 lemon
12. 1 cup or so vegetable oil, ghee or any other high smoke-point fat: enough to get about 1½ inches deep in a cast iron or other suitable pan for frying

For the Marinara Sauce

1. 1/4 cup olive oil, or however much you need to coat the bottom of the pan you’re using 
2. 2 large shallots or 1 onion, finely minced.
3. 5-6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced longwise
4. Basil sprig 
5. Thyme sprig 
6. Bay leaf 
7. Oregano sprig 
8. Pinch Chile flakes 
9. Orange peel
10. 1 6oz can tomato paste
11. Umami Bomb – at least three of the following, smushed together in a small bowl:
    • 1 tablespoon miso paste
    • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire or Soy Sauce
    • 1 tablespoon anchovy paste
    • 1 teaspoon MSG
    • 1 head of roasted garlic, squeezed
12. Whole plum tomatoes (28oz can), crushed by hand

Instructions

Prepare Chicken Cutlets As Follows:

1. Using a Meat Mallet, pound each chicken cutlet to even thickness (the wider end will need more pounding than the narrow end) – you’re shooting for ¼ to ⅓ inch thickness… so pretty thin. This is important to ensure that chicken is cooked through during the frying process.
2. Set up your dredging station.  You’ll need two, wide shallow dishes and one medium sized bowl.
3. Put the flour in one of the wide, shallow dishes.  Season aggressively with salt and pepper; add paprika and mix until seasoning is well distributed.
4. In the second wide, shallow dish add Panko Bread Crumbs, Parmesan Cheese, and Lemon Zest.  Whisk together until well mixed.
5. Crack three eggs into the medium sized bowl; add vodka and water.  Whisk together until slightly foamy.
6. Set them up in this order:  Flour mixture, egg wash, bread crumb mixture
7. Dredge a chicken cutlet first in the flour mixture (shaking of excess), then dip into the egg wash, and then dredge in the breadcrumb mixture, pressing firmly to adhere to each side and flipping a few times as needed.
8. Transfer to a baking sheet.
9. Repeat this process with all the chicken cutlets. Cover and refrigerate for a minimum of 30 minutes, and up to 8 hours

Next, prepare Classic Marinara Sauce, as follows:

Instructions

1. Put all ingredients except tomatoes, tomato paste, and Umami Bomb (so, that’s ingredients 1-9) into a cold pot or sauté pan 
2. Turn heat on to medium-low. You want to bring all the ingredients up to temp SLOWLY to infuse the oil, but you don’t want stuff to brown too much 
3. Once oil is infused and things are sizzling gently (15 or so minutes), add your tomato paste and umami bomb, and sauté until well incorporated.
4. Crush whole tomatoes by hand, and add to the pot 
5. Fill empty can half way with water and slosh around to capture juices and add to the pot 
6. Stir, and allow to simmer on low, stirring occasionally and adding a little water here and there as needed – this is a “Sunday Sauce” so let simmer as long as you like, but at least for 20 minutes or so in order to let flavors develop.

While the sauce is simmering, finish the chicken cutlets:

1. Preheat oven to 170°F
2. Fill a A 12″ Cast Iron Skillet about 1½ – 2 inches deep with a high smoke-point fat (I like to use vegetable oil and maybe ¼ cup of duck fat or ghee for a little extra flavor)
3. Heat oil to 375°F as measured with an Instant Read Thermometer.
4. Safety Notes:
   • You’ve got super hot oil in a skillet that probably has a handle. Point that handle toward the rear of the stove, angled away from the edges of the stove where it could accidentally be knocked
   • Keep kids/pets and things you can trip over out of the kitchen during this time
5. Carefully lay two or three of the breaded chicken cutlets into the hot oil. A few important notes here:
   • Lay the cutlets away from you so if there’s any splashing it doesn’t go in your direction
   • Lay cutlets in oil slowly – don’t be afraid of it; dropping things in quickly will lead to more spattering/splashing. If you’re nervous, use tongs.
   • Do not overcrowd – you don’t want to drop the oil temperature too much
   • Right when you lay the cutlets in the oil, they’ll sink to the bottom, so use tongs to gently wiggle each cutlet to ensure it isn’t sticking to the bottom of the pan
   • It’s okay if the cutlets aren’t fully submerged – you’re going to turn them over once in a while anyway (see next step)
6. Cook until deeply golden brown on all sides, turning occasionally, around 5-6 minutes (approximately 3 minutes per side)
7. Once cutlets are beautiful, golden, stiff, and crunchy, transfer them to a Rimmed Baking with oven safe wire rack
8. Repeat with remaining cutlets, and transfer to 170°F oven to keep warm while you finish the remaining cutlets

To Finish:

Remove chicken cutlets from oven and spoon some of the Marinara sauce over the chicken cutlets.  Using a cheese grater or microplane grater, grate fresh Parmesan cheese over cutlets.  Pop them under the broiler for 2-3 minutes until cheese is melted and bubbly.  Remove, and serve over the pasta of your choice with remaining Marinara sauce.