This 5-Star Chicken Parm Has 6,000+ Reviews | Melissa Clark | NYT Cooking

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Chicken parm is the ultimate comfort food — cheesy, hearty, gooey and satisfying. Baked until brown-edged and bubbling, Melissa Clark layers breaded cutlets, bright tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese in a casserole dish. It’s soul warming. And, if you needed any more convincing, this cozy, five-star recipe has more than 6,400 ratings on NYT Cooking.

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“This is a dish that you make
when you really want everybody to come over. Everybody’s going to
come over and say, yes. You want the family together,
you make chicken parm.” [MUSIC PLAYING] “Hi. I’m Melissa Clark. I’m a food reporter
for The New York Times, and I am in the NYT Cooking
Kitchen Studio today to make chicken parm. Chicken Parmesan is a classic
Italian-American dish. It was developed in the
early 20th century by Italian immigrants using the flavors
from the old country, the tomatoes, the garlic,
the mozzarella, the Parmesan. It is a classic comfort food
dish that everybody loves. It’s impossible not to eat the
entire pan when it comes out of the oven. I am using thighs
for this recipe because I like the richness. But if you want
to use boneless, skinless chicken breasts,
it’s a direct swap, same instructions. So you do you. I’m doing me. I’m going to flatten them
down so they’re all even, and then they’ll cook evenly. And they’ll cook really
quickly too, which is good. I love to hit things
with rolling pins, only inanimate things.” [POUNDING] “If you have a meat pounder,
go ahead and use that, too. You could also use
the bottom of a jar. You’ll see it’s between a
quarter and a half-inch thick. Lay it here and continue
with the rest of them. And again, don’t worry about
it being 100 percent even. As long as it’s mostly
even, it’s good.” [MUSIC PLAYING] “So we’re going to dredge
the chicken in coating. And the best way to do that
is to start with flour. Then do the eggs, and
then do the breadcrumbs. So I’m using kosher
salt right here. O.K., we’re going to dredge. Now, I have a trick. Dry hand, wet hand. I don’t want to have both
hands covered with egg and flour. Like say I need to move the tray — this hand. O.K., into the egg. So the flour and then
the egg make this glue that holds the
breadcrumbs in place so that you get the crunch. Panko is a really
fluffy, white bread crumb that just gives it a lot
of texture, a lot of crunch. But you can use any kind
of breadcrumb here as long as it’s unseasoned.” [MUSIC PLAYING] “Oops. As I make a mess
all over the floor. O.K., so now the fun
part, the frying. Well, it’s actually all fun
because chicken parm is fun. I am frying in olive oil. And you want to
get enough depth, so the oil should come halfway
up the sides of the chicken cutlets, about half
an inch deep here. Drop a little
breadcrumb into the oil. It should sizzle immediately. And then we know the
oil is hot enough. I’m going to do two at a time. Give it lots of space. I know it’s tempting to
squeeze another little guy in there. But resist, resist the urge. You don’t want
to crowd the pan. That’s really important
because you need to give them room to get crisp. If you squish
them into the pan, then they’re going to steam,
and they’re not going to be crisp. Of course, then
again, we are going to cover them with sauce
and cheese and bake them. So crispness is a suggestion. Just a couple of minutes until
it’s really nice and brown, and then we’ll flip it. Not yet. You want to move these around
also because generally, your oven top is
probably going to be a little uneven
so move them around so they cook evenly.
Another reason not to crowd your pan. There we go. That’s nice. So definitely don’t walk
away and check your email. This goes fast. At this point, the chicken
is probably 90 percent cooked on the inside. And then you’re going
to put it in the oven. So it’s going to finish. So you’re really just
looking for color. You’re not necessarily
looking to cook it through. It’s almost a shame not to
just eat them immediately, right? They’re so beautiful. Pretty much like
layering a lasagna, you start out with your
sauce, a little bit on the bottom of the dish. This one is my
homemade version. I have a really nice
homemade marinara sauce recipe at NYT Cooking, if
you want to look it up. But you can also just
use whatever you love. Some parm. I’m going to layer
half of my cutlets. This is fresh mozzarella. I just pulled it apart. I didn’t even
bother grating it. Don’t get the pre-grated
kind for this. You want the moisture
in a fresh mozzarella. You’re not looking
necessarily for browning. Like with pizza sometimes,
you want the browning, so you want a drier cheese. But for this, you
just want the goo. I mean, the thing is,
honestly, the order in which you build this is
not hugely important. You just want to make sure
everything gets covered with cheese and sauce. And then the rest of the parm. And then into the oven. Yum. I mean, you could
gussy this up with some herbs, a
little more olive oil, or some black pepper. But I don’t think it needs it. I think chicken parm is
just perfect as it is. Mmm. You know, I don’t make this enough. It is so good. And especially with the
dark meat, it’s just — it’s so tender. It’s so juicy. The sauce is garlicky. The cheese is gooey. I mean, it’s perfect. You can find this recipe
and the recipe for the sauce and about, you know, tens of
thousands of other recipes at NYT Cooking. Or there is a link below. Find us, make it,
leave us a comment. We want to hear from you. And now we want to eat
more chicken parm.” [MUSIC PLAYING]