6 Ingredient Crunchy Parmesan-Garlic Chicken

If you know me, you know I usually have my finger in a cookbook,  have a recipe open on my phone, or laptop, or all three periodically throughout the day. I love finding new ways to make food. One of the places I find good recipes is allrecipes.com. This fun website interacts and plays so with others it would get an "A+" in kindergarten. Two words. User friendly. It allows the viewers, other cooks, to search, add an unlimited amount of recipes/content, and "publish" reviews on other people's recipes for free. This is valuable because unlike a recipe in a cookbook, in which often times you only have the recipe's picture, your own experience with the listed ingredients, and faith in the author/chef, that the food will taste good the first time. This wonderful online source takes most of that guess work out for you. 

Honestly I have still made a recipe flop even though the reviews were outstanding. I am talented like that. Seriously, in exchange for a little research (taking 10 minutes to read some reviews), you get to skip over the part where you spend time & money grocery shopping, cooking, before you know if the recipe will be a success. I have spent money on ingredients for recipes that flopped, and then spent more money on pizza afterwards. It's not the best feeling in the world. The interaction at allrecipes.com is the only spot I have found that has just as many critiques as there are recipes. For a busy mom this is like calling in a life line...the more reviews you can find, the more your reassurance builds, and you can know that these are recipes that work. 

6 Ingredient Parmesan Garlic Chicken. 

This original recipe found at allrecipes.com is titled, garlic chicken, and has over 3,316 reviews. Now...if you want to find good food, find something that has this many people making it! I just watched all three Back to the Future movies with my hubby over our weekend (Monday & Tuesday). Let me tell you, reading those reviews for the chicken recipe, was like jumping into the delorean and finding out what would happen if I made it. My mouth was watering after only reading the first 10 reviews! I would time travel if you promised me more parmesan garlic chicken. It was delicious after I tweaked it of course (wink). 

Ingredients: 

2 tsp crushed garlic

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 cup of panko bread crumbs

1/2 cup of fresh grated parm cheese

1 tsp dried tarragon

4 skinless boneless chicken breast halves

salt 

pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 425

2. Grab a pan and heat the olive oil and crushed garlic on the stove for a few minutes over med-low heat. So the garlic will flavor the oil but not start to simmer or bubble up - we aren't frying anything. 

* Love this idea of making homemade infused garlic oil. I am going to repeat it with fish next week! 

3. Set up a breading station for your chicken with breadcrumbs, tarragon, a pinch of pepper, and a sprinkle of salt in one flat dish, and a baking dish. 

Note: the pan the I used without cooking spray in it (to prevent sticking) got the outside of the chicken crisp and crunchier than the one that I used cooking spray on. So I don't recommend using cooking spray. Or you could eliminate all of that and do it on a rack above a baking sheet. 

4. Dip the chicken into the heated oil with tongs and then into the panko mixture. Coat both sides and then place on the baking tray. Repeat three more times. 

5. Bake for 30-35 minutes My chicken seemed cooked at 30 minutes but it wasn't very crunchy and golden brown so I increased the temp to 450 for 5-6 minutes. Turned out wonderful. The breading really locks the moisture in and it wasn't dry or overcooked. 

6. Taste a bit of it and double check the salt and pepper. I was surprised that salt wasn't listed in the original recipe. It really needed salt at least 1/2-3/4ths tsp. 

My kiddo loved this chicken recipe and gobbled it down without a second glance. Boys know how to gobble good food. I actually was praying that would turn out because I doubled the recipe on a whim going with another viewers suggestion. It sounded like it would be a wonderful sandwich dinner later in the week with chipotle mayo, cheese, lettuce, tomato on a bakery style bun with chips & salsa or something. I heart chicken sandwiches and the ones that fast food places always disappoint. 

Suggested sides for this meal are endless... almost everything tastes good with chicken. You can do mashed potatoes, rice, spaghetti and top the pasta & pasta sauce with the chicken. The parmesan and garlic flavors would complement any Italian sides. You could go healthy and make a green salad, or steamed broccoli, roast off some asparagus or cauliflower. Roasting veggies are easy, hands free, and the nuttiness would complement the nutty cheese flavor that shines through on the chicken. 

I hope you enjoy this EASY six ingredient meal 

as much as I did. 

From my kitchen to yours

Stephanie