Want to indulge in chicken Parmesan while still skimping on the calories and fat? Yes please! Skinnytaste’s take on chicken parm is crispy baked chicken breast smothered with a layer of marinara sauce and sprinkled with mozzarella cheese. Oh, and butter is still involved where it really counts. Get started on this kid-friendly dish your whole family will love.
Skinny Chicken Parmesan
Ingredients
- Cooking spray or oil mister
- 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (8 ounces each), fat trimmed
- 3⁄4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1⁄2 cup seasoned whole wheat bread crumbs, homemade (see page 110) or store-bought
- 3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 teaspoons melted unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 cups Quickest Marinara Sauce (page 94) or store-bought marinara sauce
- 9 tablespoons part-skim mozzarella cheese
Directions
Preheat the oven to 450°F. Lightly spray a large baking sheet with oil.
Slice the chicken breasts in half horizontally to make 6 cutlets. Season both sides with salt.
In a shallow bowl, combine the bread crumbs and Parmesan. In a small bowl, combine the butter and olive oil. Brush the butter and oil on both sides of the chicken, dredge the chicken in the bread crumb mixture, and put the chicken on the prepared baking sheet. Lightly spray oil on top of the chicken.
Bake until golden on the bottom, about 20 minutes. Turn the chicken over and bake until the center is cooked through and the bottom is golden, 5 to 6 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a large, deep covered skillet, cook the marinara sauce over medium heat until heated through, 2 to 3 minutes.
Place the baked chicken in the skillet and top each piece with 11⁄2 tablespoons of themozzarella. Cover the pan and cook until the cheese melts, 3 to 4 minutes. Serve hot.
Nutrition Information
Serves: 6 | Serving Size: 1/2 chicken breast
Per serving: Calories: 163; Total Fat: 10g; Saturated Fat: 3g; Monounsaturated Fat: 2g; Cholesterol: 27mg; Sodium: 751mg; Total Carbohydrate: 11g; Dietary Fiber: 3g; Sugars: 5g; Protein: 11g
Nutrition Bonus: Potassium: 67mg; Vitamin A: 9%; Vitamin C: 3%; Calcium: 9%; Iron: 4%
Gina Homolka is the founder of Skinnytaste.com, the award-winning blog that’s been featured on Fitness, Better Homes and Gardens, Glamour.com, and FineCooking.com, among other media outlets. She lives on Long Island with her husband and their two children. Look for Gina’s new cookbook, The Skinnytaste Cookbook: Light on Calories, Big on Flavor on sale September 30, 2014.
Photo courtesy of Penny De Los Santos. Original recipe published in The Skinnytaste Cookbook.
13 Responses
This sounds great I am wondering if I can adapt it to use my eggplants from my garden. We planted them before I started losing weight and before I added up the calories in my homemade eggplant parmesan.
can you please post the Quickest Marinara Sauce recipe too?
I can’t find quickest marinara recipe, help
Where is page 110?
SO GOOD! Thanks for the recipe. Served it over spaghetti squash, and it was a big hit.
Skip the bread crumbs – Use pork-rind crumbs instead.
I just saved this recipe, and the chicken saved as ( 8 oz. of chicken breast) which should actually be 24 oz. if your using 3 breasts… just thought I should let you know, the calorie count comes out to 244 calories per serving, not 163.
I ran this through MFP recipe calculator using the same amount of protein, bread crumbs, butter, and oil, but used 8 tbsp (4 oz) mozzarella, 1 cup marinara (store bought), panko (store bought, 50 cals per 1/4 cup instead of 120 for whole wheat). The lowest count I got for servings was 261 cals, 12g fat, 10g total carbs, 2g fiber, 34g protein.
If I am using less ingredients, why are the calorie counts one and a half times higher?
This recipe loads into MFP as 8oz TOTAL chicken divided by 6 servings. Once you bump up the chicken to the correct total ounces the calories will go up to the correct amount also.
Has anyone tried this with gluten free breadcrumbs?
If 1 tbsp olive oil is 120 calories, why is 1 serving only 163 calories? You have to add the calories of oils when you cook.
Wow! Do the math 120/6 and that is the amount of calories per piece darrrr