Chicken fillets breaded twice, in flour, egg and a mix of breadcrumbs and parmesan, then fried until golden. The second pass through the egg and crumbs is what makes the crust thick enough to stay crisp.
The second pass is the recipe
Three plates: flour, beaten egg, and breadcrumbs mixed with parmesan, salt and pepper. The fillet goes through all three in order. Then, and this is the part that matters, it goes back through the egg and back through the crumbs.
A single coating is thin. It sits directly against wet chicken, takes on moisture from it, and by the time it reaches the table the crispness is gone. A double coating has enough thickness that the outer layer never touches the meat, so it stays crisp while the chicken steams underneath it.
Press it on with your hand at every pass. Coating that is not pressed into place comes off in the oil.
Parmesan in the crumbs, not on top
The cheese is mixed into the breadcrumbs before anything is dipped, along with a little salt and pepper. It does not go on afterwards.
Cheese in the crust browns as the crumbs brown and its salt seasons the coating from the inside. Grate it fine: coarse shreds do not bind and end up in the pan rather than on the chicken.
Hot oil, and how to check
The recipe says hot oil and leaves it there. The test is a pinch of the crumb mixture dropped in: it should sizzle straight away.
Oil that is not hot enough gets absorbed instead of driven off, and the crust ends up heavy and greasy rather than crisp. Once the fillets are in, leave them alone until one side is properly golden before turning them. Moving them around early is what knocks the coating loose.
A cup of crumbs for two fillets
It looks like too much and it is deliberate. Coating works best when the fillet can be pressed down into a deep bed of crumbs and turned over into more of them.
Scraping a thin layer around a plate gives patchy coverage and bare spots that burn. The leftovers are thrown away, which is the cost of doing it properly.
More breaded chicken
- Breaded chicken breasts — without the cheese.
- Baked chicken milanese — the oven version.
- Breaded chicken — the basic method.
- Parmesan rice — to serve alongside.
Parmesan Chicken FAQ
Thickness. Flour, egg and crumbs gives a thin coating that softens against the chicken as it sits. Going back through the egg and the crumbs a second time builds a crust with enough body to stay crisp, which is the whole point of the recipe.
Because a shallow layer runs out. A cup of each means you can press the fillets into a deep bed of crumbs and get even coverage instead of bald patches. Whatever is left in the plate gets thrown away, and that is expected.
Drop in a pinch of the breadcrumb mixture. It should sizzle immediately. If it sits there and soaks, the oil is too cool and the crust will absorb it instead of crisping.
Yes, at every pass. Press it with your hand so it sticks. The old instruction said to soak the chicken thoroughly, which is the opposite of what helps: a waterlogged coating slides off in the pan.
The recipe is written for a skillet, and the fat is what turns the crumbs golden. Baked, they dry out rather than fry, so they come out paler and harder. If you do bake them, oil the crust first.
Grated, and the finer the better. Coarse shreds do not bind into the breadcrumbs and fall off in the pan. It is mixed into the crumbs along with salt and pepper before any chicken touches it.
📖 Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 chicken breast fillets
- 1 cup breadcrumbs
- 1 cup parmesan cheese (grated)
- ½ cup wheat flour
- 2 eggs (beaten)
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- Oil (for frying)
Notas
Instructions
- Set out three plates: flour in the first, the beaten eggs in the second, and the breadcrumbs mixed with the parmesan and a little salt and pepper in the third.
- Pass the fillets through the flour, then the egg, then the breadcrumb and cheese mixture.
- Now do it again: back through the egg and back through the breadcrumbs, pressing the coating on with your hand so it sticks.
- Heat oil in a skillet and lay in the fillets. Let them brown on one side, turn them and brown the other. Once they are golden, lift them out, drain them and serve immediately.
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