Easy Chicken Parmesan

I have been craving chicken parmesan for so long and NONE of the restaurants around here have it. Can you believe that? Disgusting. So I decided to make it myself and I was blown away by how easy it really is. I'm not sure I'll ever order it again when I know I can make such a good version at home! Here's the thing though: I didn't make my own marinara, I just enhanced a store bought jar. Whatever, I'm hungry, get over it.

Flipping Chicken

Ingredients: 

Sauce

• 1 cup marinara sauce - I prefer Prego 
• 1/4 c. onion - diced
• 1 Tbsp dried oregano
• 1 Tbsp dried basil
• chili pepper flakes to taste 
• 1 clove garlic
• splash of red wine

Chicken

• 2 (8 oz) bonless skinless chicken breasts (I just defrosted some frozen ones)
• 1/2 c. mozzerella cheese - shredded
• 1 egg
• 1 Tbsp flour
• 1/2 c. parmesan cheese - grated
• 1/2 c. bread crumbs - I used a generic brand with Italian seasonings 
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp dried oregano
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• 3 Tbsp vegetable oil
• a couple leaves of fresh basil (optional)

Enhancing Store Bought Sacue

                  

How To Cook It

For the sauce, I just whip all the ingredients together mix them evenly and let simmer, I think it's a little obvious that I like my sauce flavorful. I should also note that I don't use a ton of sauce, I prefer not to drown the chicken so we never use all of it. 

• preheat broiler setting on your oven
• whisk together the egg and flower 
• in a seperate, shallow dish toss together the parmesan cheese, bread crumbs, garlic powder, oregano, and black pepper
• coat the chicken in the egg/flour mixture
• transfer to the bread crumb mixture and coat both sides, press gently so the bread crumbs stick
• pour the oil into a skillet and heat over medium high heat 
• once the oil is hot add the coated chicken
• fry until the breadcrumbs are a golden brown, then flip the chicken and repeat
• place chicken on an oven safe dish and top with mozzarella cheese
• place in oven for 2 - 5 minutes, but keep a close eye on it
• remove from oven, top with marinara and (if desired) more mozzarella cheese and fresh basil