Chicken Dinner

Its been a long time since I made my breaded chicken recipe.  Mainly because it is too time consuming to make if I am just cooking for myself.  But last night, I was cooking for me and the bf and so I decided to make a lot of it so we would both have leftovers for the next week. 

So glad I did, because I almost forgot how tasty it is.  We paired it with steamed green beans and then decided to get a little fancy by topping it all with homemade cream of mushroom soup. It turned out to be one of those meals that is so good you want to slow down to savor each and every bite but you just can't help yourself. 

This chicken recipe is equally as good used as a base for chicken parmesan or over a salad with some shaved parmesan cheese.  Yes, it takes some effort but the results are well worth it.  Just make sure you make enough to have lots of leftovers, trust me!

Breaded Chicken

Ingredients:
10 boneless skinless chicken breasts
3 extra large eggs
1 cup of flour
3 cups panko breadcrumbs (I use Ian's Italian kind)
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Olive oil (for coating pan)
Sea/kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Put the chicken between two sheets of saran wrap and pound to 1 inch thickness
2. Set up three shallow bowls: one with the flour, one with the eggs, lightly beaten with 1 TBSP water and the third with the breadcrumbs mixture (breadcrumbs, garlic and Parmesan cheese)
3. Season the chicken on both sides with sea/kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
4. One by one, dredge each chicken breast in the flour, shake of excess, then coat in the egg mixture letting the excess drip off before coating in the breadcrumb mixture
5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
6. Heat a large skillet of medium high heat, then generously coat with olive oil
7. In batches, cook the chicken until golden brown on each side and transfer to two baking sheets (the chicken will not be cooked through).  Tip: In between each batch, use a damp paper towel to wipe any browned bits out of the skillet and into the sink then coat again with olive oil
8. Once all the chicken has been seared on both sides, transfer the baking sheets to the oven and cook for approximately 25 minutes (or until cooked through)
9. Enjoy!