A great make ahead meal... Lightened Up Chicken Parmesan

After this post, I've been trying to deliver on my promise for fast and healthy recipes.  Combining that with this post and the picture disaster, I found it appropriate to re-post this recipe.  I also made it oh-so practical by subbing my favorite canned tomato sauce for the homemade one.
{however the homemade one is still amazing and the recipe is here}

Now on to why this is such a great make ahead meal.  You can basically do all the cooking and prepping before, refrigerate and pop it in the oven for broiling whenever you are ready to eat.  Makes it pretty perfect to put together right before dinner time.  The total prep is not hard either so if you have about 30 minutes, you can put this altogether at one time.

From my little kitchen to yours... Enjoy.

p.s. This is my favorite pasta sauce for absolutely everything...  Bertolli Olive Oil and Garlic







Lightened Up Chicken ParmesanRecipe Notes
If your broil browns things extremely quickly, you can put the setting on 500 degrees F to let the cheese melt instead of putting it on broil.  If you have a great french skillet and are making 4 or less chicken breasts, follow the instructions about putting the pan in the oven.  If you don't have a great pan, you  have more than 4 portions, or if you are making it ahead of time and are going to be refrigerating, cook all of the chicken as directed and then transfer chicken to a glass casserole dish before adding sauce and cheese.
Ingredients
For the chicken
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary leaves
1 teaspoon fresh oregano or thyme leaves
1 teaspoon fresh Italian parsley leaves
Salt & freshly ground black pepper
4 chicken cutlets (or if they are really thin and small, use 8)
Thin slices of fresh mozzarella (1 or 2 per piece of chicken) OR 1/2 shredded mozzarella
4 teaspoons grated parmesan
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 1/2 cups favorite jarred marinara sauce (see my favorite above)
Step by Step
Preheat the oven to broil.

In small bowl, stir the oil and herbs to blend.  Season with salt and pepper.  Dip each chicken cutlet in the olive oil herb mixture until well coated.  Heat a large oven-proof skillet over medium high heat.  Add the cutlets and cook just until brown, about 2 minutes per side.  Remove the skillet from heat.  (see recipe note if you are not using a high quality, heavy duty pan or if you are making this for later).

Spoon the marinara sauce over and around the chicken.  Lay a slice of mozzarella on each piece of chicken or place a small amount of shredded mozzarella on each.  Top with a teaspoon of parmesan on each piece.
Broil until the cheese melts and sauce is bubbling, about 1 minute.

Share this post