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Baked chicken parmigiana

Breaded, baked, and finished under a blanket of cheese

Medium20 min hands-on · 45 min totalServes 2
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A dish of baked breaded chicken topped with tomato sauce and melted, golden mozzarella.

Scales up tray by tray for four, but keep the pieces spaced apart so the coating stays crisp rather than steaming.

Parmigiana usually means aubergine, layered and fried, which puts it out of reach here twice over. This version borrows only the name and the topping: chicken breast beaten thin so it cooks evenly, pressed into egg and then breadcrumbs, baked until the coating sets pale gold, then finished under a spoonful of passata and a thick layer of mozzarella and Parmesan until it bubbles at the edges. Baking instead of frying means less standing over a pan, and a coating that stays put rather than sliding off into the sauce. Flatten the chicken properly before it goes into the crumbs. An even thickness is what makes it cook through at the same rate the coating turns golden, rather than one racing ahead of the other.

Suits after surgery, chemotherapy diarrhoea, a new stoma, after a low anterior resection

Tags High protein · Easily fortified

Ingredients

Contains: Gluten, Egg, Milk

  • 2chicken breast fillets, skin removed
  • salt
  • 1egg, beaten
  • 80 gwhite breadcrumbs, fine, for coating
  • 20 gunsalted butter, for the dish and the sauce
  • 1 clovegarlic, peeled and finely sliced
  • 300 mlpassata
  • 1 pinchsugar
  • 125 gmozzarella, torn or thinly sliced
  • 25 gParmesan, finely grated

Method

  1. Heat the oven to 200°C fan (220°C).

  2. Put each chicken breast between two sheets of cling film and flatten with a rolling pin to an even 1.5 cm thickness. Season both sides with salt.

  3. Dip each breast in the beaten egg, letting the excess drip off, then press firmly into the breadcrumbs so they coat evenly on all sides.

  4. Butter a baking dish large enough to hold both breasts without them touching, using about a third of the butter. Lay the chicken in and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until the coating is pale gold and the chicken is very nearly cooked through.

  5. Meanwhile, melt the rest of the butter in a small pan over a low heat. Add the garlic and cook gently for 2 minutes, until soft with no colour. Stir in the passata and the sugar, season with salt, and simmer for 8 to 10 minutes, until thick enough to hold a line drawn through it with a spoon.

  6. Spoon the sauce over the baked chicken, dividing it evenly, then scatter over the mozzarella and Parmesan.

  7. Return to the oven for 8 to 10 minutes, until the cheese has melted and turned golden in patches, the sauce bubbles at the edges and the chicken is cooked through with no pink at the thickest point. Leave to stand for a couple of minutes before serving.

Watch-points

  • Use fine white breadcrumbs for the coating. Panko is fine too if the label confirms it is a white, not wholemeal, version.
  • Use passata rather than chopped or whole tomatoes, so there is no skin or seed in the sauce.
  • Cook the garlic until it is completely soft with no colour or crunch before the passata goes in.

Make it more nourishing

  • Use a whole 150 g ball of mozzarella instead of 125 g, and add an extra 15 g of Parmesan on top.
  • Stir a tablespoon of butter into the passata sauce as it simmers, for extra calories with no extra volume.
  • Serve it over 60 g of dried white pasta, cooked soft, or a mound of sieved mash, to make the plate go further.

Swaps

Instead of chicken breast, use 4 flattened chicken thigh fillets, skin removed
thigh stays juicier under the crumb and cooks in about the same time
Instead of mozzarella, use Cheddar
it melts as readily and brings a sharper flavour
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