Healthy chicken parmesan? It’s cheesy, saucy, crispy, and sits on top of delicious zucchini noodles.
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Made this last night and it was so delicious! And definitely quick to put together! I could definitely see this becoming a go-to weeknight meal 🙂
What do we want from chicken parmesan? Great question. We need it to be super cheesy and deliciously saucy with crispy golden brown bits peeking through to really bring the whole thing home.
Turn that into a relatively wholesome little veg-party with a bed of fresh zucchini noodles and have the whole thing come together in about 20ish minutes? Okay, you HAVE OUR ATTENTION.
As you know, in general, real noodles have our hearts but this is just a really lovely, really fresh way to health up one of our favorites and we are here for it. It also has a pretty darn short ingredient list and is, like, Monday-night easy to put together, so that’s the type of thing we can always get behind.
In This Post: Everything You Need For Healthy Chicken Parmesan
- Ingredients for Healthy Chicken Parmesan
- How to Make Chicken Parmesan
- What to Serve with This Dish
- Healthy Chicken Parmesan: Frequently Asked Questions
Ingredients For This Healthy Chicken Parmesan
As promised, this is a relatively short ingredient list. We rely on store-bought sauce and though we did spiralize our own zoodles (ugh, equal parts fun and terrible to say!), you can sometimes find those pre-packaged as well!
- zucchini (spiralized or cut into thin strips)
- chicken breasts
- mozzarella cheese
- mixture of whole wheat & panko breadcrumbs
- tomato sauce (we love the DeLallo Creamy Vodka variety, but any fave marinara sauce will do! )
- Parmesan cheese
- dried Italian herbs
How To Make Healthy Baked Chicken Parmesan
Getting that chicken golden-crisp is the most involved process here, but even that is pretty quick and easy. The rest is just kinda thrown together and piled up, especially if you got your hands on some ready-made zucchini noodles. Here we go:
- Chicken: You’ll want to mix up your breadcrumbs plus the parm, & herbs in a bowl and then dredge the chicken in that. Add the chicken to some hot oil in an oven-proof skillet and fry for a few minutes on each side until golden brown (you’re just looking for that crisp, it will finish fully cooking in the oven).
- Zucchini: While your chicken is baking, spiralize the zucchini or, if you don’t have a spiralizer, you can use a food processor attachment or just slice it really thin with a mandoline or knife. We keep our zoodles raw here so that they don’t get watery. We don’t want to be overly reminded that they are not pasta, you know?
- Saucy/Cheesy: Once the chicken is fully cooked, add the sauce and place a slice of mozzarella cheese on top of each piece of chicken. Return to the oven for a few more minutes or until the cheese is bubbling and lightly browned.
After you have achieved maximum bubbly cheese goodness, serve the chicken and sauce over the raw zucchini noodles (they’ll soften but keep a nice crunch), and shower with Parmesan and parsley.
What To Serve with This
It’s already like you’re getting a nice little salad with those raw zucchini noodles but you could certainly also include this simple green salad [link] or maybe you want a hunk of no-knead bread [link] to swoop through any missed saucy cheesy bits. You are eating zoodles here so if you’d like a little extra carb-partner, she’s a good one.
And if you are worried about being too veg-forward, fear not. You are still getting that crispy chicken and bubbly cheese and delicious sauce which is the prize we’re all here for, but if you are absolutely not willing to part ways with pasta for this one (trust us, we get it), you could certainly toss the chicken on top of some spaghetti and that would still be simple and amazing.
Yay for chicken parmesan and yay yay YAY for it being a little healthier and definitely weeknight-simple.
PS. Big love to my bestie, Ang, for sending me a snap of recent chicken parm creation and inspiring this easy, healthy Chicken Parmesan into a blog post! Friends who love food are the best kind of friends.
Healthy Chicken Parmesan: Frequently Asked Questions
Before baking, if you have a lot of stray crumbs in the pan, I would suggest removing the chicken, draining out the excess oil and breadcrumbs, and then returning the chicken to the clean pan to avoid a burnt breadcrumb situation in the oven.
If you really want the chicken to stay crispy, heat the sauce separately and add it over everything at the end. The chicken loses a little crispy exterior as it bakes in the sauce – I didn’t mind it, but just something to think about if you want the crispy chicken.
I leave the zucchini noodles raw because otherwise, I felt like they got too soggy and watery. When you add the warm chicken and sauce, the noodles will soften but keep just enough crunch to still be appetizing.
20 Minute Healthy Chicken Parmesan
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Description
Healthy Chicken Parmesan made with spiralized zucchini noodles, lightly breaded chicken, Parm cheese and herbs, plus your fave sauce!
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup whole wheat breadcrumbs
- 1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
- 1 teaspoon dried Italian herbs
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 4 chicken breasts (about 1 pound)
- 1 1/2 cups DeLallo Creamy Vodka tomato sauce (or any tomato sauce – but that vodka sauce is YUMMY)
- 4 slices fresh mozzarella cheese
- 2 zucchinis
Instructions
- Prep: Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Toss the breadcrumbs, panko, and Parmesan in a shallow dish with the Italian herbs, salt, and pepper. Heat the oil in a medium ovenproof skillet over medium heat.
- Fry: Cut the chicken breasts into a total of four pieces (for example, if there are two breasts, cut each in half – pound them a little thinner and wider if you want) and dredge the chicken in the breadcrumbs so that they stick all over the surface of the chicken. Add the chicken to the hot skillet and fry for 3-4 minutes on each side. You want the outside to be golden brown – the inside can finish cooking in the oven.
- Bake: Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake for 5-10 minutes or until the chicken is fully cooked. Add the sauce and place a slice of mozzarella cheese on top of each piece of chicken. Return to the oven for a few more minutes or until the cheese is bubbling and lightly browned.
- Finish: While the chicken finishes, cut the zucchini into thin shreds or use a spiralizer to create zucchini noodles. Serve the chicken and sauce over the raw zucchini noodles and sprinkle with Parmesan and parsley.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: Italian-Inspired
Keywords: chicken parmesan, healthy chicken parmesan
More Easy-To-Make Chicken Recipes
- The Best Chicken Tinga Tacos (spiced to perfection!)
- Best Anytime Baked Chicken Meatballs (easy to prep and throw in the freezer for later)
- Sheet Pan Chicken Pitas with Tzatziki (part bowl, part salad, part sandwich – fully delicious)
One More Thing!
This recipe is part of our collection of easy zucchini recipes. Check it out!
Need egg wash to have breading stick
Can I use all panko instead of a mix breadcrumbs?
Yes, should work just fine!
Great recipe. Anytime ind a low cal recipe this easy and delicious I consider it a gold mine! Thanks so much.
Looks delicious—one question though, it looks like there is no step about when to add the sauce, so when should this be done?
Hi, Helen! You’ll add the sauce in step 3. 😉
I’m going to make this for dinner tonight! I’m going to make it on the stove instead of the slow cooker, though. Thanks for the lovely dinner inspiration! 🙂
I love chicken parm!! Making this now and the crunch is falling off in the pan while sautéing. Not sure if it will even have any at final stage. Help!!
Hi, Resa! Perhaps you had just a bit of extra breadcrumbs on your chicken. This can happen sometimes when you have a little bit of extra stuck on there. We’d recommend just shaking it off a bit next time before putting it in the pan.
Was looking for a quick and easy way to use up some boneless chicken breasts and decided to give this a try. Wow! I’ve tried other, labor-intensive, messy chicken Parmesan recipes that were just okay. Not this one. It was simple and the texture and flavor of the chicken was amazing. I skipped the zoodles because I didn’t have any zucchini. I also used an organic, jarred marinara from Sam’s Club and grated a block of mozzarella. A keeper for sure.
Glad to hear it!
I just stumbled upon your recipe – great idea! We didn’t have zucchini in the house so I had it over spaghetti squash- also awesome!
Spaghetti squash with this sounds delicious! Thanks for the tip, Danyel!
Wow. Made this last night for my family. Was really terrific. Chicken was moist, cheese was gooey. Yes, using bottled sauce was quicker, but next time, I’ll make a quick marinara (really doesn’t take that much longer!)
I was fine with my “zoodles” cold, with the sauce and chicken heating them up, but my wife & daughter thought they needed a little warming, so through them in the microwave for a bit. To each his or her own. But a real nice meal. Thank you!
Glad to hear that, David!
yum!!! looks delicious, it’s on my list to cook.
I made this recipe as written, including the zoodles. It was very good! It was great that it didn’t need egg like most recipes. I definitely used more than 2 tbsp of oil, though. Make sure to add lots of seasoning to the dredging mixture to make it flavourful. I’ll be adding more spices next time.
I’ve been cooking for many years now. And never in a billion years, would I have thought about Chicken Parm over Zucchini noodles! I’m making this for the family tomorrow! I can’t wait! Thank you sooo much.
821 mg sodium? Trying to raise our blood pressure through the roof?
This chicken parma is great i got a really good ark for it at school. Only I needed to change the sauce and found out that the tomato paste you put on pizza is a good substitute.
Jolly Good Fun
Hey Lindsay could you find a recipe for watermelon sorbet I have to do a project at school and I am going to make watermelon sorbet but I can’t find a decent recipe.
Try Stella Kitchen Spiralizers they are great.
Just made it….only I sauted the zoodles….AMAZING!!! Tastes like you are literally eating something naughty!
I tried the spiralizer you didn’t try….in case anyone has one i used a towel to hold the vegetable as i turned it and it worked, but like you i don’t recommend that 🙂 That said, because i found you and this page, i’ve purchased the padermo!!! I’m waiting for it’s arrival 🙂 can’t believe I didn’t try this when I was vegetarian. Thank you for an awesome write-up. I can’t wait to make some of your recipes!!!!
My husband made this dish last night and it was amazing!! One of the best meals I have had in a long time. He used gluten free bread crumbs. He also sauteed the zucchini for a few minutes to soften it. Yum!
My husband made this dish last night and it was amazing!! One of the best meals I have had in a long time. He used gluten free bread crumbs. He also sauteed the zucchini for a few mintues to soften it. Yum!
Lucky
I made this tonight and everyone LOVED it!
I have a spiralizer. I have also heard of using a regular peeler to do the same thing. There are hand held peeler out there that have spacial blades for spiralizing.
YUM! So, so good. This one will become a frequent flyer in our recipe rotation.
Just made this for lunch today and it was very good and it’s definitely a keeper.
Glad to hear it, Diane! 🙂
I’m going to be a kill-joy, but any kind of sauce out of a bottle ain’t healthy!
Be healthier – cook up some garlic, chilli and onion then add can of crushed tomatoes, add about 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar and one can of water (like use the empty tomato tin)