Easy Baked Stuffed Chicken Parmesan Recipe – This delicious, lighter chicken parmesan is baked to cheesy perfection with no gluten or grains, and tons of flavor! Tender juicy baked chicken with tons of gooey cheese for a lighter chicken parmesan the whole family will love.
One of my favorite meals ever is Chicken Parmesan, hands down.
I love the salty, cheesy, ooey-gooey, sauce-filled bliss that is a good chicken parm. But let’s face it- chicken parmesan, as ordered out, isn’t the most healthy – it is loaded with carbs and extra calories from the breading and frying – making it a poor choice if you’re trying to stick to a low carb eating plan.
Traditional chicken parmesan is also a bit of a pain to make – all the pounding, breading, and frying – I much prefer this easy Baked Chicken Parmesan recipe!
The delicious Baked Stuffed Chicken Parmesan recipe I’m sharing today is a lighter, insanely easy version you can make at home with just a few minutes prep time. And it is just as delicious, cheesy, gooey, and addictive – PLUS it works with keto diets, paleo diets, and low carb diets – even though it’s delicious enough for anyone to enjoy and ask for again and again.
We’re using any type of pasta sauce you like- please check labels if you are gluten-free to avoid contamination especially if you are celiac and are interested in this recipe because its a naturally gluten free chicken parmesan recipe.
Baked Chicken Parmesan Recipe Variations
Like most of my recipes, this is a completely adaptable dish.
Love pasta sauce, but prefer thyme or oregano to basil? Add those instead. Want a super garlic flavor?
Load that chicken up with big chunks of fresh garlic. Want just a little garlic taste?
Simple a bit of garlic powder with your salt and pepper. You could also swap a red pepper or marinara sauce for standard pasta sauce- or even try a creamy alfredo chicken parmesan!
You can serve this with zucchini spaghetti or classic spaghetti for a complete meal, or eat over a salad, in a wrap, or even as a sandwich!
This is a delicious, easy meal that is easy enough to prepare for a crowd and completely versatile. Enjoy changing it up- and let me know what works well for you!
I prefer to bake this recipe on a small Wilton Broiler pan I have that has an insert that has small holes in the bottom – so the juices can run off without making the chicken and cheese soggy.This isn’t necessary, but it does make a big difference.
If you want to use the pan I use, you can buy it here:
How to Bake Chicken Breasts Without Drying It Out
Dry, bland chicken breasts are the #1 complaint when making baked chicken – but it doesn’t have to be!
By taking a couple simple steps while preparing your baked chicken breasts, you can have perfect tender and juicy baked chicken breasts every time. These tips are great in this baked stuffed chicken parmesan recipe – but also work with other baked chicken breast recipes, too!
- Take the temperature.
- Chicken breasts vary wildly in size and shape – even when you’re using chicken breasts in the same package. The times listed in this recipe can be very different than times you might end up cooking your chicken for – make sure to take your chicken’s temperature often to check the cooking progress.
- Don’t overcook your chicken – pull it from the oven at 160 degrees, not 165 – because it will continue to cook after we remove it from the oven.
- Marinate.
- If you’re looking for the most flavor you can get from a baked chicken breast, marinate it for a couple hours or up to overnight.
- My favorite easy and foolproof chicken marinades are either a bottle of Italian dressing, or the juice of a lemon + 1/2 cup of olive oil and some sea salt or a tablespoon of Italian herb blend.
- Dry Poach the Chicken.
- Keeping boneless, skinless chicken breasts juicy in the oven is no small feat – even when bathed in sauce and cheese.
- To keep this Stuffed Chicken Parmesan from drying out and having more tender chicken flavor, we need to dry poach the chicken breasts by using a sheet of parchment paper laid across the pan you’re cooking your chicken breasts in.
- Simply lay a piece of parchment paper across the pan over the chicken (take extra care here – with any other chicken it is ok if the parchment paper touches the chicken, but with cheese on top, you want to give the cheese room so it doesnt pull off when removing the parchment paper.
- The Parchment paper acts to seal in the chicken’s natural juices and helps to cook it faster by trapping in the heat and moisture from cooking.
Additional Cooking Tips for Baked Stuffed Chicken Parmesan
- Lift chicken breasts off the pan
- Uncover at the end
I used very large chicken breasts in the video recipe – so I reduced the number from 4 to 2. This isn’t a complicated recipe – you can easily adjust amounts without throwing the whole thing off.
Some people will want more cheese and sauce, some less- some will want fresh herbs, some are fine with dry- some might like red pepper flakes on it, some might not – be creative and have fun, and go with what you know you’ll like!
Baked Stuffed Chicken Parmesan Recipe
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To watch me make this simple baked chicken parmesan recipe, be sure to watch the video as it scrolls, or click below if it doesn’t autoplay:
Stuffed Chicken Parmesan Recipe
Easy Baked Stuffed Chicken Parmesan Recipe - This delicious, lighter chicken parmesan is baked to cheesy perfection with no gluten or grains, and tons of flavor! Tender juicy baked chicken with tons of gooey cheese for a lighter chicken parmesan the whole family will love.
Ingredients
- 4 medium chicken breasts, butterflied (if using large chicken breasts, as in video, only use two - keep all other ingredients the same. Serving size will still be 4.)
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1 cup+ pasta sauce, i prefer a spicy basil sauce
- 1 tsp basil
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp celtic sea salt
- 1 tsp thyme
- salt, pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Carefully slice chicken breasts in half, keeping them in-tact, so they open like a butterfly.
- Salt and pepper liberally, add spices (if you like extra garlicky chicken parm, you can add as much as 2 cloves per chicken breast!)
- Add sauce and cheeses, as well as some chopped basil (I sometimes put in whole basil leaves- but that is up to you and how much basil you like.)
- Add to an elevated pan (the kind that drips down below) or wrap in foil and bake for 30 minutes. Cover pan with parchment paper.
- Check chicken's temp at 30 minutes and adjust cook time if needed to get to 160 degrees.
- When chicken is 160 degrees, sprinkle a little extra cheese on top and continue baking (if you're baking in foil, make sure the foil is open at this part or remove parchment paper from top of pan) for another 15 minutes, or until chicken is fully cooked and juices run clear.
- Top with additional chopped basil and enjoy!
Nutrition Information
Amount Per Serving Calories 338Saturated Fat 8gCholesterol 116mgSodium 1580mgCarbohydrates 5gFiber 1gSugar 3gProtein 40g
Andrina Mathew
Stuff chicken, I love this. so yummy. I serve this to my guests.
color switch
I will try it tonight. I like the simple recipes that are great for you.
geometry dash
Cooking is an art. Thank you for your great recipes. It’ s so good.
Jenny
Wow this was lovely. Adapted a little as no chicken breasts available. Used chicken thighs, seasoned them both sides with all the spices and lay them on the riased and pricked foil, pasta sauce on top, crushed garlic, basil leaves torn up, then the cheeses to which I mixed parsely in, baked until golden gooey brown, it all held together and was wonderful. Thankyou for the idea.
Scott Groth
Hi Courtney:
I love your recipe for Stuffed Chicken Parmesan! I’m putting together a recipe roundup and would like to feature your recipe link with the image. We will not repost the recipe and will also link the image to your site as well. Please let me know if this is ok- thanks! Scott
Jamie
Do you wrap each individual chicken breast ?
Katikate
This chicken recipes is one of my favorite!! I actually mentioned it in one of my blog post if you want to go check it out here it is http://www.katikate.com/what-i-eat-in-a-day/ 🙂
Judith
I’ve made this for my son last week, as he needed a quick meal before dashing out. He liked it so much that he asked for it again a few days later. It was really easy to make and enabled me to use up some Marinara sauce I had lurking in the fridge. A great recipe.
Rachel
Alright, after eating… Definitely be generous with the garlic paste, if you want garlicky flavor. The cheeses mellow it. It took me an hour and fifteen minutes to get it to the table, once it went into the oven. Taste wise, it was good (with five children 15 and under, it received positive comments, so that’s good). Something to repeat, but only when I makes sure that I have plenty of time.
Courtney ODell
Thanks Rachel- I will update with a note. I use pretty small chicken breasts- so I think that was what was off. I will add a note to up the time to 400 if its a big juicy chicken! 🙂
Valerie
I made this and it was good where it had the sauce and cheese.. But when u are thru eating the middle u are stuck with a plain piece of baked chicken. May want to put marinara over the whole piece along with cheese for extra yumminess
Rachel
I had really high hopes for this recipe… Unfortunately, the cooking time is WAY off, unless your chicken breasts are really small and thin. At 15 min, mine had barely started to cook, at 30 min, okay, we’re seeing some cooking, and at that point, I cranked the oven to 400, set the timer for (another) 30 min, and made the family their salads, in the hopes that that would hold them until the chicken was ready. Very frustrating! I know that my oven temp is good (we have previously tested it, my DH is a big foodie). So it is either the recipe itself, or the chicken density. Hopefully it will be cooked after an hour, and I can put the cheeses on top. Be forewarned! I will post back about the taste, later.
Christina
Despite your assertion, I’m going to go ahead and suggest there’s something very wrong with your oven. Boneless chicken breasts will easily cook through in 15 minutes, 20 max. I can see adding on a few minutes because the breasts are stuffed, but the meat itself is half its original thickness on either side so an hour would be waaaaaay too long to cook it!