Let’s get one thing straight: We love chicken Parmesan, but we’ve had our fair share of mediocre versions. So we took it upon ourselves to do a deep dive into this iconic dish. Six weeks, 20 pounds of chicken, and several arguments later, we came up with our Platonic ideal.
Each step and ingredient in BA’s Best Chicken Parmesan is given its due: We kept the butterflied cutlets on the thicker side, so they don’t overcook. We marinated them in lemon, olive oil, and garlic to tenderize the meat as much as flavor it. We then opted for panko over Italian breadcrumbs, for their superior crunch, and gave the breaded cutlets a shallow fry to achieve an evenly golden-brown crust. When it comes to that blanket of simple yet rich tomato sauce, we added tomato paste for extra depth. (Just make sure to leave a few patches of cutlet uncovered by sauce so they stay extra crispy.) And for the melty ooey-gooey layer (the reason we’re all here), we landed on a combo of Parmesan cheese, for its salty edge, and low-moisture—not fresh—mozzarella cheese, for its creamy texture.
A word to the wise: Although you’re only using four breasts, this chicken parm recipe will feed up to eight people—more if you’re serving it with accompaniments like a big green salad, high-quality pasta, or great bread! But don’t fret about leftovers: They make for a great sandwich the next day.
Ingredients
6–8 servings
Tomato Sauce
½
1
8
2
¾
2
2
1½
Chicken and assembly
4
5
⅓
¼
1½
4
1
1
4
2
12
8
2
Preparation
Tomato Sauce
Step 1
Heat oil in a large Dutch oven or other heavy pot over medium. Add onion and garlic and cook, stirring often, until softened but not browned, about 5 minutes. Add tomato paste and red pepper flakes and cook, stirring, until paste is slightly darkened in color (it should start to fry in the oil), about 1 minute. Add tomato purée, salt, and sugar, and bring to a simmer. Partially cover pot with a lid (to avoid splattering), reduce heat so sauce is at a very bare simmer, and cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened, 40–50 minutes.
Do ahead: Sauce can be made 2 days ahead. Let cool. Transfer to an airtight container; cover and chill.
Chicken and assembly
Step 2
Working one at a time, place a chicken breast on a cutting board so a short side is towards you and holding a chef’s knife parallel to breast, slice along the middle of a long side to make a slit. Continue to slice until you are about ½" from the other side. Open breast up like a book and place between 2 sheets of wax paper or plastic wrap. Using a meat mallet or a rolling pin, pound until ⅓" thick (not making it super thin will keep it from overcooking).
Step 3
Combine garlic, lemon juice, and olive oil in a large baking dish. Season chicken cutlets all over with salt (about ¾ tsp. Diamond Crystal or ½ tsp. Morton kosher salt per cutlet). Add to marinade and turn to coat. Let sit at least 20 minutes and up to 1 hour. (The lemon juice will turn the flesh opaque, but that’s nothing to worry about.)
Step 4
Make a dredging station: Whisk eggs, garlic powder, onion powder, ½ tsp. Diamond Crystal or Morton kosher salt, and 2 Tbsp. water in a large shallow bowl (cake pans or pie plates work great). Place panko in another large shallow bowl and flour in a third. Whisk remaining 1 tsp. Diamond Crystal or ½ tsp. Morton kosher salt into flour.
Step 5
Working with 1 cutlet at a time and letting any excess marinade drip back into baking dish, dredge cutlets in flour, knocking off excess, then dip into egg wash, letting excess drip back into bowl. Dredge in panko, pressing firmly to adhere, ensuring no bare spots remain. Gently shake off excess and place cutlets on a rimmed baking sheet. Chill at least 20 minutes and up to 8 hours.
Step 6
Set a wire rack inside a second large rimmed baking sheet. Grate mozzarella on the large holes of a box grater into a medium bowl; add Parmesan and toss to combine.
Step 7
Pour vegetable oil into a large high-sided heavy skillet to come 1" up sides. Heat over medium until an instant-read thermometer registers 400°. Working in batches to avoid crowding the pan and returning oil to 400° after each batch, very carefully lower cutlets into skillet with tongs and cook until deep golden brown, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer cutlets to prepared rack; season with salt.
Step 8
Heat broiler. Arrange cutlets side by side in 2 large baking dishes or separately in 4 smaller baking dishes. Generously spoon some sauce over each cutlet (you want to mostly cover them but allow some corners and edges to remain uncovered). Spoon remaining sauce into baking dishes around the cutlets. Cover cutlets with cheese mixture (again, leaving some of those crispy edges uncovered). Broil until cheese is melted, bubbling, and browned in spots, about 4 minutes. Remove chicken from broiler. Let cool slightly and sprinkle with parsley.
Editor’s note: This recipe was first printed in May 2020. Head this way for more of our best chicken breast recipes →
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Reviews (140)
Back to TopWho doesn't love chicken Parmesan? After making this recipe, following directions and amounts exactly, I have to say it is certainly not my favorite. And the amount of time and work was not worth it. I will say, however, there were a couple of small innovations I thought I might use next time I make chicken Parm. One is marinating the chicken which is a nice touch of flavor. However, I think thin sliced chicken breasts from the grocery store are so much more convenient than pounding. The other suggestion from this recipe I'd incorporate is grating the mozzarella (vs. slices) with the grated Parmesan, then broiling. However, rather than the low moisture mozzarella, I'm a big fan of fresh mozzarella. This makes a big difference. To me, at least. Also, I'm not a fan of a tomato puree. I'd much rather make my own marinara, as I often do, with two cans of San Marzano tomatoes I hand crush. My niece loves this recipe so I tried it. But it did not live up to the hype.
Jeff
Great Neck, NY
1/26/2024
Yes, this recipe takes a lot of time, but it's also broken up into stages making it very manageable. I work from home, so I was able to do the sauce, and set it to simmer while I did some work. I tweaked it slightly to my personal taste, but stuck pretty close to the recipe as written. (The key, I think, is the right canned tomatoes!) Quick break from work, I knocked out the marinade, butterflied the chicken breasts, coated them and popped them in the fridge to do their thing. A citrus juicer and garlic press made the marinade quick to pull together. Went back to work. Another break, I assembled the dredging station. Didn't measure the panko or flour, as it's pretty easy to eyeball if you've ever made fried breaded chicken. For the egg mixture, I seasoned as directed and used a handheld milk frother to quickly pull it together with no streaking. Shake off marinade, flour dredge, shake, dip and slather in egg mixture, shake, shake, then panko - dredge, pressssss, shake, dredge, press more until shaking results in minimal fallout with a gentle shake. Took maybe 10-15 minutes total. Tossed all the breaded chicken on a rack and into the fridge, gave the sauce a stir, and went back to work. After work - showtime! The frying was super quick, back to the rack for a few minutes, then in the dish, topped with sauce (leaving edges crispy! Do this part!), pre-shredded mozz and eyeballed the freshly grated parm for the cheese mixture. Piled on the cheese, into the oven on broil while opening a nice white wine, finished with a sprinkle of parsley before serving. Turned out FANTASTIC! I paired it with crusty bread topped with an herb-y, lemony wine and shallot compound butter. 10/10 will make this again! Excellent recipe!
Anonymous
Tacoma, WA
1/10/2024
This was an excellent meal. My wife and I loved dit. However, I won't be making it again. It took forever and dirtied every pot in the kitchen. I like to make big dishes, but all together this must have taken five hours over two nights. Part of the problem was I was making roasted potatoes to go with it, and it is pretty difficult to get something else going that needs an oven and some range space. going.
Zendog3
the Villages, Fl.
11/9/2022
See how the coating is coming loose from the chicken. If you want to stop this, SKIP the flour dredge as it always keeps the coating from sticking no matter how firmly you press the panko or crumbs onto the meat. It's a very tasty chicken otherwise.
Stu
Sault Ontario Canada
10/24/2022
I made about half this recipe for my husband and myself, and it was delicious! Marinating the chicken made all the difference. I don't think you have to be too particular about the amount of flour and panko you use as long as there is enough to keep the bottom of your dredging dish covered. I use this technique often for chicken and pork. (I have used GF flour and panko in the past, and it works very well, if you need that option.) Frying the tomato paste in oil is what my family has always done for tomato sauce, and it really deepens the flavor - don't skip it! Hubby loved it, and this will go into our repeat rotation.
AFK
Goodyear, AZ
9/8/2022
Recipe calls for way too much bread crumbs and flour. Cut the amount in half. Besides that delicious
Joe
Buffalo
6/2/2022
I had never made Chicken Parm before I made Molly's version and this was EXCEPTIONAL! I watched her video that she was making it with Adam. I was going to attach the video here, but it disappeared into the 'other side'. Follow her instructions to the T and your chicken parm will be everything and then some that you were expecting!
BEST CHICKEN PARM!!!
AZ
5/18/2022
I’ve made this recipe when I saw Molly Baz making it on IG live and it was insanely perfect. I want to make again but the recipe keeps disappearing even when I’m logged in :( please fix this bug!
Jayna Lou
Los Angeles
5/7/2022
thought i needed this recipe. found out i didn't. my family has been making it this way since before i was born!
ed
14450
5/7/2022
So true about the recipe disappearing! I logging twice and it still disappeared
Anonymous
5/7/2022
Made exactly as written. The chicken is delicious. The marinade is so smart and makes the chicken moist and super flavorful. Worth the time. What I didn’t love was the sauce. It’s too sweet and doesn’t add to the dish. Next time I’ll make the chicken exactly as written but use NYT recipe for raos sauce. ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil 2 ounces salt pork, thinly sliced 3 tablespoons minced onion 2 garlic cloves, minced 2 28-ounce cans imported Italian crushed tomatoes 6 leaves fresh basil, torn into small pieces Pinch of dried oregano Salt and ground black pepper Make the sauce: Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-low heat, then add the salt pork. Sauté until fat has rendered, about 5 minutes. Remove and discard salt pork. Add onion and sauté until translucent, about 3 minutes. Add garlic and sauté just until softened. Add tomatoes with their juice and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer until sauce is slightly thickened, about 45 minutes. Add the basil, oregano and salt and pepper to taste. Cook for 1 minute more.
Z
Aspen
4/25/2022
it would be nice to see the recipe for more than one second, signed in 3 times, still no recipe just reviews :(
bob
boston
2/12/2022
This was delicious just as everyone states. I took a lot of different routes to this after a point. I made my own sauce (yumms), cut my chicken too thin so the breading did not stick well when flipping, and because the chicken was too thin, there was a hefty amount of breading in the sauce once it was cooked. Still delicious, tender, and juicy, just make sure you don't cut or pound out the chicken too thin! :)
alexis
Arkansas
10/22/2021
OMG! I rate every Italian restaurant based on how good their chicken parm is. Honestly never had better than this recipe, even in NYC. Thank you very much for sharing this!
Larry Grosman
Greensboro, NC
10/17/2021
So so so so so good. Worth the time and effort, for sure!
PG
Scranton, PA
7/31/2021