Chicken parm should be chicken parm – and using chickpea crumbs as a breading certainly doesn’t sound exciting – but Passover is here and this picture looked so pretty and it actually turned out DELICIOUS – like I ate it for the next three days hot, cold, whatever. Gluten free or not, this was a winner winner chicken dinner, so use whatever breading you want!
I found Watusee Chickpea Crumbs at my local organic market and figured I’d give it a try with the 3 remaining chicken breasts in the fridge. The key (as usual) – SEASON- every step of the way.
SHOPPING LIST: boneless/skinless chicken breasts, chickpea crumbs (or any breadcrumbs), eggs, tomato sauce, shredded mozzarella, vegetable oil, salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic salt, dried oregano, honey (optional)
You’ve heard this all before, but pay attention to the seasoning steps here. First thing you are going to do is slice your chicken breasts in half horizontally to get more of a “cutlet”. Layer each half of chicken breast between two pieces of plastic wrap and use a small jar or any other kitchen tool to pound the chicken breast thinner. Season both sides of the chicken breast with salt and pepper.
Next, set-up you breading station. In one bowl, whisk 6 eggs together with salt, pepper and onion powder. In a second bowl, empty out the entire package of chickpea crumbs (or about 2 cups of your chosen breading). Each flattened chicken breast goes into the eggs, and then into the breading, and then reserve each breaded piece of chicken on a cutting board. When all 6 chicken cutlets are breaded and displayed on the cutting board, use a large piece of paper towel to press the breading down into the chicken – I also recommended doing this in the Seared Tuxedo Tuna recipe because for some reason I’m convinced this bit of pressure helps the coating stick better.
In a wide saucepan, add enough vegetable oil so it goes about 1/4 inch up the sides of the pan and heat over high-heat. Set up a drying rack over a baking sheet to allow your chicken to properly cool after removing from the oil. Once your oil is super hot, fry 3 cutlets at a time so you don’t overcrowd your pan. It will take about 4 minutes per side or until each side is golden brown and crunchy! Season the cutlets with garlic salt immediately after removing them from the fryer. This is true for anytime you are frying food – you always want to season it right away!!!
To assemble your chicken parm you are going to use a baking dish. If you like your parm extra saucy, you are going to want to coat the bottom of your baking dish with tomato sauce. (I do NOT prefer to make my parm this way, as seen above, because I like the crunchy part of the chicken to be as crunchy as possible and the more the breadcrumbs touch the sauce the softer they will become). Top each cutlet with tomato sauce and then top the tomato sauce with a GENEROUS amount of shredded mozzarella. Finish each compiled chicken parm cutlet with a sprinkle of garlic salt and dried oregano. The dried seasoning here is key to this dish as it gives the parm a pizza-like quality. Bake at 375 for 25 degrees.
I served mine with honey since I’m a complete convert after being introduced to this combo at Quality Italian – I do the same thing with the Whole Eggplant Parm as well or anytime I eat a piece of pizza. If you’ve got Mike’s Hot Honey I recommend that, or else I just combo plain honey and red pepper flakes – works like a charm.
The Kitchen Koach 