Baked Chicken Parmigiana
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 35 minutes
Serves: 4
- 500g/1.1lb total weight or 4 Chicken Breast Schnitzel fillets
- 90g/3ozs panko breadcrumbs
- 1.5 teaspoons Knorr chicken broth powder
- 1 egg or 2 egg whites, beaten
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- Extra virgin olive oil spray
- 600ml/21flozs your favourite tomato pasta sauce (I use my home made marinara with chilli)
- 8 slices ham
- 8 slices tasty or cheddar cheese
- 1/2 cup/60g/2ozs mozzarella, grated
- 1/4 cup/30g/1oz parmesan cheese, grated
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley to sprinkle on top
Step 1 - Preheat oven to 160C/320F fan forced and spread out the panko breadcrumbs on a baking tray. Toast in the oven for 8-10 minutes until golden. Place in a wide, shallow bowl and mix with the chicken broth powder. Whisk the egg with the mustard in a wide, shallow bowl.
Step 2 - Increase oven temperature to 180C/350F fan forced and line a large baking tray with parchment and spray with olive oil spray. Pound each chicken schnitzel fillet with the smooth side of a mallet until an even thickness. Dip the chicken all over in the egg and then dip in the toasted crumbs making sure to get crumbs pressed in all over on both sides. Place on the prepared tray and repeat with the others. Spray with olive oil spray and bake for 10 minutes. Carefully turn over the chicken, spray and then bake for another 3 minutes.
Step 3 - While the chicken is baking, spread half of the pasta sauce on the base of a large ceramic baking dish. Carefully lift the chicken schnitzel on top of the tomato. Then top each chicken fillet with 1 slice of tasty cheese, then 2 slices of ham, then another slice of tasty cheese. Place an extra ladleful of sauce on top and then sprinkle mozzarella and parmesan evenly across all four fillets (I added the final scoop of sauce at the end because I love my schnitzel to be as crunchy as possible). Bake in the oven for 10 minutes until melted. Dress with parsley and serve.