I received a call from my dear friend at 6:30pm on a weeknight. For those of you who do not have school-aged children, 6:30pm on a weeknight is a bad time to have a phone conversation. It’s smack dab in the middle of dinner prep. For precisely this reason, I took the call because it meant that she had something important (good or bad) to tell me.
So she starts out the conversation, “I realize this is probably the worst time to call, but I have to tell you about the dinner I just made and besides the fact that I burned the **** out of my hand when I took the pan out of the oven, it was amazing.” This is the same friend who was so obsessed withRed Lentil Soup with Lemon so I urged her to go on. Within 2 minutes, she efficiently listed the ingredients and explained the cooking procedure for a chicken parm dish and finished with, “I have to go but I’m obsessed.” Later that night she took a picture of the recipe Baked Chicken Parmesan from the cookbook One Pot of the Day (Williams-Sonoma) and texted it to me.
Once again, my friend handed me another winner. This is one of the quickest meals I’ve made. It looks like I labored to make it, but it took all of 10 minutes before I finished it off in the oven (for another 15 minutes).
Besides the ease of preparation, it’s every bit as delicious as the breaded and fried version, if not better. The chicken is moist and the added bonus is that this dish is low-cal with no guilty or overly-full feeling at the end of the meal.
P.S. Remember that the pan-handle will be extremely hot when and after you take the dish out of the oven. It’s easy to forget. I always try place an oven mitt over the handle after I take the pan out of the oven to avoid severe burns and blisters. It’s happened to me twice and is extremely painful.
One-Pan, Lo-Cal Baked Chicken Parm
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This is a delicious but quick weeknight meal. I chose to butterfly the chicken breast, as I prefer a thinner cut. Although not necessary, try to use a good quality jarred marinara sauce as it melds the whole dish together. My absolute favorite, hands down, is Rao's. It's the BEST EVER.
This is a delicious but quick weeknight meal. I chose to butterfly the chicken breast, as I prefer a thinner cut. Although not necessary, try to use a good quality jarred marinara sauce as it melds the whole dish together. My absolute favorite, hands down, is Rao's. It's the BEST EVER.
