Venice Nutrition is has an amazing chef on staff who whips up beautiful, balanced and tasty recipes for a living. While I love to do this on my own at home, I don’t always have the time to figure out all the ratios to perfection, which is why I love having a monthly membership to Venice Nutrition’s online software. Since I came across this yummy Chicken Parmesan recipe, I’ve prepared it dozens of times. My kids just love it! When you’re craving real Italian cuisine without all the extra calories, this Chicken Parmesan is the perfect fix. Lean chicken breasts are coated with panko bread crumbs for extra crispiness and are pan fried in heart healthy olive oil. Add your favorite tomato sauce, melted mozzarella cheese and sweet basil, and you’ve got a deliciously nutritious version of an old school favorite. Get ready for a new staple; you will LOVE this one!
- 4 large skinless, boneless chicken breasts (sliced in half lengthwise to create two thin chicken cutlets) or 8 large pre- cut chicken cutlets
- fat free cooking spray
- ½ cup flour
- 1 tablespoon Kosher salt plus more for seasoning
- ¼ tsp. fresh ground black pepper
- ½ cup egg beaters
- 1 ½ cups Panko bread crumbs
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley
- 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 cups of your favorite, high quality marinara or tomato sauce
- 2 cups of Kraft Reduced Fat (Part Skim) mozzarella cheese
- 3 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
- Preheat oven to broil.
- Cover a large sheet pan with tinfoil and spray it gently with fat free cooking spray. Set aside.
- Set up 3 shallow dishes or pie plates. In the first dish, whisk together the flour, kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper until well combined. Pour egg beaters into the second dish, and give it a quick whisk. In the third dish, stir together the Panko bread crumbs, thyme and parsley.
- In between two pieces of plastic wrap, pound out chicken breasts with a mallet until they are a uniform 1/3 of an inch. If using chicken cutlets and they are already a uniform 1/3 of an inch, you can skip this step. Set chicken aside.
- Spray large frying pan with fat free cooking spray over medium heat. Once hot, add olive oil.
- Meanwhile, start preparing to coat the first four pieces of chicken. Place chicken cutlet in seasoned flour first, flip chicken over and shake the pan gently to coat both sides of the chicken evenly. Next coat both sides of the chicken in egg beaters. Lastly place chicken in Panko herb mixture. Flip chicken over and make sure chicken is evenly coated. Repeat this process with the first four chicken pieces.
- Once oil is hot (the chicken should sizzle when it hits the pan), carefully place the chicken pieces in the pan. Allow to cook approximately 3 or 4 minutes on each side until golden and crispy. Keep an eye on the pan, making sure that the oil on bottom is not burning or smoking. While the first set of chicken is cooking in pan, start preparing the remaining chicken breasts according to Step #6.
- Once first batch of chicken is cooked, remove from pan and place gently on prepared sheet pan with foil. Season lightly with kosher salt if desired. If the oil from the pan is dried up, spray again with fat free cooking spray and add a little more olive oil if necessary. Repeat the cooking process with second batch of chicken.
- Cover each chicken cutlet with ¼ cup of tomato or marinara sauce, and ¼ cup of the mozzarella cheese.
- Place chicken in preheated oven and broil for a few minutes only until cheese is bubbling and lightly golden brown (keep a close eye on the chicken to prevent over cooking).
- Once cheese is bubbling and lightly golden, remove chicken from the oven and top with fresh chopped basil. Enjoy!
Though this recipe has a good balance of protein, carbohydrate and fat, you can add a light carbohydrate to round out the meal. Some suggestions for a low fat, low starch carbohydrate for this meal would be sautéed spinach (use fat free cooking spray), any green veggie or greens dressed with a very low fat or fat free dressing.
- Nutrition Per Serving
- Calories:329
- Protein:27 grams
- Carbs:19 grams
- Fat:14 grams (slightly higher than most people have in their ratios, so you could cut back on the cheese and oil or simply have a few more fat grams at that meal)
