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 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 one (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 our Alexia Sweet Potato Fries as is, though, 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!
Parmesan-Crusted Chicken
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 cups shredded Parmesan
- 4 (6 to 8-oz.) boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- fresh 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 and then press the breasts firmly into the 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.
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!
Alexia Foods offers frozen potatoes, appetizers, breads and side dishes with minimal, but distinctive, real ingredients that serve-up exceptional taste. Alexia frozen sides are a delicious addition to a balanced meal with that little something extra and can be ready in 25 minutes—or less. Sign up for Alexia’s Club 350 newsletter for more great meal inspiration!
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This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Alexia. The opinions and text are all mine.