Try this easy weeknight dinner recipe for gluten free chicken parmesan and enjoy tender, juicy chicken breasts with the beautifully crisp crust that you remember.
the best recipe
Why you’ll love this recipe
- It’s pretty quick and easy, since I use a rich jarred gluten free marinara sauce (I like Rao’s best, and I buy a bunch when it’s on sale). You can also use pre-grated Parmesan and pre-shredded mozzarella cheese. You can even use thin-sliced chicken breasts.
- It has tons of flavor from dried Italian seasoning, which you can buy at the store or make your own with a few classic dried herbs. We also add rich grated Parmesan to both the breadcrumb mixture and on top before baking.
- The fried and breaded cutlets are so tender and juicy that you can make them up to 3 days ahead of time and then reheat them with the sauce and cheese for the quickest weeknight dinner you can imagine.
what’s in it/substitutions
Ingredient notes & substitutions
Breadcrumbs
I like gluten free panko breadcrumbs in this recipe, but regular, finely ground breadcrumbs would be great, too. If using regular, you’d probably need about 1 cup of breadcrumbs and a bit less olive oil for frying. If you’re using pre-seasoned breadcrumbs, omit the added Italian seasoning, salt and pepper.
There are also quite a lot of brands of packaged gluten free bread crumbs you can buy. I don’t really care for Aleia’s gluten free breadcrumbs, since they tend to be very pale, and very hard (almost stale) quite often. I have tried and liked many gluten free brands, though, including:
- Ian’s brand Panko-style breadcrumbs
- Nature’s Promise (the Stop & Shop grocery store house brand) gluten free is well-priced, nicely browned, and crispy
- Jeff Nathan Creations Chef Gourmet gluten free panko flakes (in the blue jar)
- Kikkoman gluten free panko style coating
- 4C gluten free Panko plain
Egg free
If you can’t have eggs, try thinning some buttermilk with a few drops of water. Milk is too thin, and it will slip right off of the chicken. You can also whisk together 2 tablespoons of superfine rice flour or tapioca starch with 4 tablespoons of lukewarm water into a slurry. Treat these mixtures just like the beaten eggs.
Dairy free
If you need to eliminate dairy from this recipe, you need a replacement for both types of cheese. Fortunately, there are so many good dairy free cheese varieties on the market today. For dairy free Parmesan, I love the Follow Your Heart brand of dairy free grated d. It comes in a shaker canister and tastes exactly like the “real” thing. Violife also makes a really good vegan Parmesan.
For dairy free mozzarella, Daiya is good (and has gotten so much better recently), and so is Miyoko’s Creamery. They both melt quite well.
Gluten Free Chicken Parmesan Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 ( 1.5 pounds ) boneless skinless chicken breasts
- ½ cup ( 70 g ) all purpose gluten free flour blend , any good-quality blend
- 2 eggs , any size
- 2 tablespoons lukewarm water
- 2 cups gluten free breadcrumbs , I prefer coarse, panko-style breadcrumbs here; if you use finely ground crumbs, you’ll use less
- 2 tablespoons dried Italian seasoning , (See Recipe Notes for a homemade blend)
- ¾ cup ( 3 ounces ) finely grated Parmesan cheese
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil , plus more as needed
- 3 cups ( 24 ounces ) jarred tomato herb marinara sauce
- 8 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
Instructions
Prepare the coatings and chicken breasts.
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Preheat the oven to 400°F.
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Place the flour on a large plate or wide, flat bowl.
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Place the eggs in a wide, flat bowl and beat with a fork. Add 2 tablespoons of lukewarm water and beat again to combine.
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Place the breadcrumbs, Italian seasoning, 1/2 cup grated Parmesan, salt and pepper in a large wide, shallow bowl or plate and mix together to combine.
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Pound the chicken breasts gently until each is about 1/2 inch thick. Don’t pound too hard or you’ll tear the breasts. It’s most important that the breasts are each about the same thickness as one another, and across each breast. This will allow them to cook evenly.
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Set a clean fork or thongs in each of the 3 bowls (flour, eggs, breadcrumbs) and handle the chicken with only that fork or those tongs when it’s in each bowl. That will minimize mess as you prepare the chicken.
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Use paper towels to pat the prepared raw chicken breasts dry.
Coat and cook the chicken.
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In a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil until rippling.
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While the pan’s heating up, dredge both sides of the chicken in the flour, one piece at a time. Sprinkle the flour over any bare spots to make sure the chicken is completely coated. Allow the chicken to rest there briefly and dredge it again.
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Remove the chicken from the flour, and dip both sides generously into the egg mixture.
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Let the excess egg drip off briefly, then press the chicken in the breadcrumb mixture on both sides.
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Place one or two breasts at a time in the hot, oiled pan for about 2-3 minutes per side until golden brown on both sides.
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Add more olive oil between batches and whenever the skillet runs dry.
Finish the chicken parmesan.
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Place the breaded chicken cutlets in a greased or lined 9-inch x 13-inch x 2-inch casserole dish.
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Top each cutlet with about 4 ounces of tomato sauce, then 2 ounces of shredded mozzarella cheese and the remaining 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese.
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You can also ladle the sauce into a casserole dish and place the breaded chicken cutlets on top, then top with cheese and bake.
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Place the dish in the center of the preheated oven and bake for 10-15 minutes or until the cheese is melted and bubbly.
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When the chicken is completely cooked, the chicken cutlets must read at least 165°F on an instant read thermometer. I usually aim for them to read about 180°F.
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Serve immediately.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
make ahead/leftovers
Storage & Reheating Instructions
This recipe calls for breading and frying the chicken cutlets in a pan, then topping them with sauce and cheese and baking to finish cooking the chicken and melt the cheese.
Make ahead
The breaded and fried chicken cutlets, which may or may not be fully cooked but are browned and golden, can be made up to 3 days ahead of time, allowed to cool, and then stored in a sealed glass container in the refrigerator. Before serving, allow them to come to room temperature, sprinkle lightly with lukewarm water, then top with sauce and cheese and bake until done.
Leftovers
If you have fully prepared, fried, topped and baked chicken Parmesan, it will also keep quite well in a tightly sealed container in the refrigerator for about 5 days. Allow it to come to room temperature, and sprinkle lightly with lukewarm water, and reheat in a 300°F oven until warmed throughout.
Freezing
For longer storage, you can freeze the cutlets after being fried and baked or just fried for up to 3 months. If you plan to freeze them after frying alone, make sure they read at least 165°F on an instant read thermometer.
Seal tightly in freezer-safe wrap and/or a container. Defrost overnight in the refrigerator, let come to room temperature, sprinkle lightly with lukewarm water, add tomato sauce and cheese if you haven’t already, and reheat in a 300°F oven until warmed throughout.
My Pro Tip
Expert Tips
Keep your breading station tidy
The thing that keeps me from baking and frying breaded chicken and fish for dinner is often the mess it tends to make. But you can keep things tidy in a few ways:
- Use a separate wide, shallow bowl, if possible, for the flour, egg mixture, and breadcrumbs (and remember it’s dry-wet-dry, ending with the crumbs). If you try to stuff a big piece of chicken in a tiny bowl, you’ll make a mess.
- Assign each bowl its own fork or tongs utensil. Use the fork for the flour to flour the chicken, and lift it into the egg bowl. Then, use the egg fork to dip the chicken in egg and transfer. Then, the breadcrumb tongs to coat and transfer.
- You can even combine the flour and eggs into one mixture and only dip the chicken cutlets twice, like we do with our gluten free chicken tenders.
Don’t make the breading soggy
Chicken Parmesan can turn soggy quite easily, but this recipe makes chicken that stays crispy outside, tender and juicy inside, and full of flavor. If you’re going to go to the trouble of breading and frying chicken, you want to be careful with how much tomato sauce you use to bake it. Otherwise, all that deliciously crisp coating is wasted.
To keep the breading on the cutlets crispy, pat the raw chicken dry before dipping it in the flour mixture. Dredge the chicken once in flour once, let it rest briefly, then dredge it again. Use Panko-style breadcrumbs for a thick crust.
Instead of covering the chicken in tomato sauce, you can also place the sauce in a baking dish first, then the fried chicken cutlets on top of the sauce, add the cheese and bake it. That’s one way to leave the top nice and crisp. To preserve that crunchy breading, you could also just place the fried chicken on a baking sheet, top with cheese, and bake until melted. Then serve the tomato sauce on the side.
What to serve with this recipe
You can make your own homemade gluten free tomato sauce to use in this recipe. I often just use Rao’s tomato herb sauce because, even though I love homemade sauce, it tastes nearly as good as homemade. Your favorite jarred sauce would work just as well, and that makes it a weeknight meal.
This chicken parmesan would go wonderfully alongside these pull apart gluten-free garlic knots. If you really wanted to make the ultimate Italian-style spread, serve it with the vegetarian variation of our classic gluten free lasagna—or with fresh homemade gluten free pasta.
