The Light Twist Giada De Laurentiis Puts On Her Chicken Parmesan
There's a reason that Giada De Laurentiis is in the pantheon of kitchen goddesses we pray to when attempting a new dish. Not only is she the master of tried-and-true baking hacks, she also has a trick for elevating pantry staples like store-bought pasta sauce. With her special knack for Italian dishes, it shouldn't be surprising that Giada has perfected a chicken parm recipe that completely eliminates the difficulties of breading from the equation.
Giada De Laurentiis' "skinny chicken parmesan" is featured on both her website, Giadzy, and her TikTok, where she whips through the steps of preparing it effortlessly. The twist? Her chicken is simply seasoned and pan-fried, not breaded. In fact, she cooks the whole dish in one skillet! Watching De Laurentiis bang out a mouthwatering chicken parmesan in a 42-second reel is enough to convince us mere mortals that we, too, can pull off a scrumptious, weeknight version of a normally-indulgent family fave.
De Laurentiis' chicken parm comes together easily
Giada De Laurentiis begins the process by taking flattened chicken breast cutlets and painting them in a marinade of EVOO, Tuscan salt, and a dried thyme, rosemary, and parsley blend along with black pepper. She pan-fries the cutlets until they're golden on each side, then spoons a healthy dollop of marinara on top of each breast.
@giadadelaurentiis Skinny chicken parm- a healthier version of the classic chicken parm #healthyrecipes #sundaydinner #recipetok #fyp
Finally, she crowns each piece of chicken with fresh mozzarella and a soupçon of grated Parmesan (you just know our bougie Food Network queen is using the authentic kind with the dots on the wheel) before broiling the whole skillet for a few minutes to make the dish bronzed, bubbly, and gooey. Voila: Add a leafy green salad, and dinner is served.
Breading chicken parm is normally one of the most fraught steps in making the dish, since the coating falls off if you so much as look at it the wrong way. Not to mention how tricky it is to keep the breading crispy under all that sauce and cheese. That's why we kind of love De Laurentiis for cutting out the tedium of breading altogether. The result is a quick, accessible dinner that shaves off some of the heaviness while also keeping the mess contained to one skillet. You really can't ask for a better meal.