Quick, easy, tasty: Parmesan chicken with just 3 ingredients

Wondering what's for dinner tonight? Mandy Collins's super-simple Parmesan Chicken uses 3 ingredients, takes 20 minutes, & it's a hit with the whole family!

Dinner tonight will take you 20 minutes!

I know, I know! This is a publisher and bookstore website… Why am I giving you advice for dinner tonight?!

Honestly, it’s lockdown level 3, the kids are still at home doing classes online, the work just seems to be piling up for us all, and we never seem to get to the bottom of the laundry basket. We all need a little break, don’t we?

So I’m here to give it to you.

This is Mandy Collins’s perfectly brilliant, family-friendly, quick-as-a-wink Parmesan Chicken recipe from her family feeding programme (or book, as some people like to call it) Dinner time! Fast, fuss-free, family-friendly food – I’ll give you more details on that a bit later in this dispatch.

If you like this recipe and Mandy’s no-nonsense approach, you’ll enjoy her latest project, The Cuttings Collection, in which she challenges herself to work through the drawer of recipes she’s been collecting for years. Check it out, and let me know what you think.

Until next time, happy reading! And happy cooking 🙂

Sarah

Parmesan Chicken by Mandy Collins

Hands-on time: 15-20 minutes
Start to finish: 15-20 minutes

Mandy says: Okay, so I know that proper Parmesan cheese is expensive, and you are going to use a lot for this recipe. At the time of writing, this dish costs about R150 to make. Compare that with the price of take-aways for the whole family, however, and I think you’ll see why I don’t mind making it once a month.

Even though it looks a bit fiddly, it’s incredibly easy (if messy) to make, deeply delicious and, most importantly, only takes a short time. It also stretches four chicken breasts pretty far – I’d reckon on comfortably feeding five to six with this, assuming there are at least two children included.

I have one simple request, though, repeated here in case you didn’t read the book’s introduction.

Please, please don’t buy those revolting packets of Parmesan that look and taste like sawdust. If you can’t find proper Parmesan, pecorino will do the job, as will any cheese designated “Italian hard cheese”. This dish cannot be made with sawdust.

I would serve this with the plainest of vegetables – boiled baby potatoes and some steamed or stir-fried vegetables in season. Put the potatoes on to boil first, and start the chicken when the water begins to boil.

Ingredients:

4−5 boneless, skinned chicken breasts (ie. one standard supermarket pack / about 500g)

2 egg whites

200g−250g finely grated Parmesan cheese

Method:

  1. Move one of your oven racks to the very top rung and preheat your grill.
  2. Remove the mini-fillet from each chicken breast and set to one side.
  3. Slice the chicken breast into thirds (or even quarters, if large and plump) lengthwise, so that you have three (or four) very thin fillets. This helps to cook the chicken faster.
  4. Tip the grated Parmesan cheese onto a plate, and whisk the egg whites lightly in a bowl until slightly frothy.
  5. Spray a baking sheet (or two if necessary) with non-stick spray. Line up your ingredients in order – chicken, then egg white, then Parmesan. Dip the chicken in the egg white, and then roll around in the Parmesan cheese before laying each fillet on the baking sheet.
  6. Place under the grill for five minutes until crisp and golden brown, and then turn and grill the other side for five minutes until just cooked through. Serve immediately.

Get Mandy’s life-changing book, Dinner time! Fast, fuss-free, family-friendly food from the Clockwork Books store now. You won’t regret it, I promise.

“28 days’ worth of easy, quick recipes, many of which come with variations, plus a host of extra recipes that can be thrown together from ingredients you probably have in your cupboard already. There are hints and tips and shortcuts that will make life easy for even the most kitchen-phobic, grudging cook. There are even weekly shopping lists so you can be sure you have everything you need.”

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