Healthy Chicken Parmesan

I LOVE Italian food, it is by far on my list of Top 10 foods in the world to eat.  However, I find that most Italian dishes are loaded with extra fat and calories so you can only enjoy a little to stay in a healthy calorie range.  In this recipe, I make a healthified version of Chicken Parmesan by getting it “crispy” in a little good fat (Extra Virgin Olive Oil) and lightening up using a healthy sauce with reduced fat cheese.  It is baked to perfection and in the end, I am pretty sure that your friends and family will not even be able to tell that it was “baked” not “fried”.

HEALTHY CHICKEN PARMESAN

INGREDIENTS:

Four 4 oz Chicken Breasts

1/2 c Italian Bread Crumbs

1/2 tsp Garlic Salt

1/4 tsp Freshly Ground Black Pepper

1/4 tsp Crushed Red Pepper Flakes

2 Egg Whites, lightly whipped

1 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 c Marinara Sauce (Homemade or Canned ~ TJ’s Low-Fat Tuscan works great)

1/2 c Shredded Reduced Fat Mozzarella

2 Tbsp shredded parmesan

Nonstick cooking spray

INSTRUCTIONS:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray a 9×13 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. 

2.  Place chicken breast between two sheets of saran wrap and pound using a meat tenderizer until approximately 1/4 inch thick.

3.  Pre-heat a nonstick pan with Extra Virgin Olive Oil over medium heat.  Combine bread crumbs, garlic salt, pepper and crush red pepper and spread on a plate.

4.  Dip chicken in egg whites then bread crumbs.  Turn to coat both sides and place in pan.  Brown chicken on both sides until lightly browned, approximately 4-5 minutes per side.

5.  Add 1/3 of the marinara to the prepared 9×13 dish then add the chicken.  Top the chicken with the remaining marinara and both cheeses.  Bake in oven for 15 minutes until bubbling.  Remove and enjoy alone or over your favorite pasta.

Makes 4 servings, 1 chicken breast and a 1/4 of the sauce.

** Make it VEGETARIAN, by using Morning Star Chick Patties and follow step 5.

Nutritional information per serving (6 Weight Watcher Points – Omit the parmesan and it becomes 5 points per serving):

Calories 278.8, Total Fat 10.8 g, Saturated Fat 2.2 g, Cholesterol 48.0 mg, Sodium 1,093.6 mg, Potassium 185.1 mg, Total Carbohydrate 20.7 g, Dietary Fiber 3.0 g, Sugars .8 g, Protein 25.1 g

Enjoy and don’t forget to SpringIt to add it to your recipe file as a MUST TRY!