This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Alexia. The opinions and text are all mine.
Easy weeknight meals are a must in our family, but this is about the time of year when we're all tiring of our favorite slow cooker recipes. So what to do?
A few nights ago, in a moment of desperation, I pulled an oldie but goodie from Rachael Ray out of my recipe box -- parmesan-crusted chicken...
When my husband and I were newlyweds, 30-Minute Meals was can't miss TV. What can I say? I was a Food Network junkie! Needless to say, we tried lots of recipes from the show each week, with these simple parmesan-crusted chicken breasts being one of our faves.
I'm not sure when or why I stopped making them, but they're definitely going back into our regular rotation after the welcome my kids gave them! I can't find the original recipe online any longer, but it's very similar to this Parmigiano-Reggiano crusted chicken piccata (minus the sauce). Don't worry, though, I'm going to share my version with you. :)
For simplicity's sake, I typically prefer to keep our weeknight meals to a protein, a veggie, and a starch. In this case, I served these delicious chicken breasts with roasted Brussels sprouts and Alexia Sweet Potato Fries with Sea Salt.
Sure I can make my own homemade sweet potato fries, but honestly, sometimes I just don't feel up to wrestling with a sharp knife and hard-to-cut sweet potatoes, so I keep a bag or two of these delicious fries in our freezer at all times -- waaayyyy in the back, because if I don't, my darling 10-year-old daughter is likely to make an afternoon snack of them.
Rather than just serve these frozen sweet potato fries as is, I decided to dress them up a bit with the leftover parmesan cheese and chopped parsley from the chicken. It really makes for such a pretty color combination, adding a pleasing presentation to this quick and easy dinner option!
A couple of things to note:
- Use real shredded parmesan cheese that comes in a tub, not the shelf-stable ground stuff. You can typically find it in the deli area of the grocery store.
- Don't salt the chicken breasts, just season with ground pepper. The parmesan cheese is plenty salty on its own.
- Chopped fresh parsley is totally optional, but it adds a touch of freshness and dresses this dish up a bit. Plus you can then use both the leftover parmesan cheese and chopped parsley on your side of sweet potato fries!
Parmesan-Crusted Chicken Breasts
Ingredients
- 4 (8-ounce) boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 cups shredded parmesan cheese
- freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Pound the chicken breasts out slightly to make them a uniform thickness for faster cooking.
- Roll out a piece of waxed paper or foil, and pile the shredded parmesan cheese on top.
- Add the olive oil to a large nonstick skillet and heat over medium high heat until very hot.
- Season your chicken breasts with black pepper. Then press the breasts firmly into the parmesan cheese, coating both sides with as much cheese as possible.
- Set the chicken breasts in the skillet and cook for about 7 minutes on each side, until cheese forms an even, golden casing and the chicken is cooked through.
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