Remember my easy recipe for Easy Oven Fried Chicken, but need an alternate chicken dish? Well, how about this for a change? My too easy, oven-baked Chicken Parma. Serve it with salad and chips, with a side of vegetables, or even in a burger bun. Dads and kids love them, don’t they!

Oven Baked Chicken Parmigiana on a wooden cutting board. — Bec’s quick oven baked Parma.

Ingredients needed for our chicken parmigiana

First lets talk about the chicken. I like to use thigh fillets. I know a lot of people like breast, but breast is so easily over cooked, and what happens when you over cook a chicken breast? You get hockey pucks. Trust me when I say it’s harder to over cook a chicken thigh. For this sort of recipe it’s great because it’s hard to see under all that topping. ?
Cheese. I’ve used little bocconcini and some grated cheese in the video. See the instructions as I don’t just pile it all on at once. If you like you can also add a little grated parmesan to the bread crumbs for an extra cheesy flavour. Because it’s a quick easy dinner you could grab yourself a bag of the cheese pictured below. ??

Tomatoes (tinned) I use Annalissa Tomatoes. If you don’t want to open a whole bottle of passata (they’re usually quite big aren’t they!) I use one of these. When you open the can you will see that these tomatoes are sitting in a thick tomato sauce. We only need the sauce for this recipe so the rest can go into the fridge for another night.

Image of a tin of Annalisa Tomatoes — Tinned Annalisa tomatoes

Italian herb blend spices poured out on a white plate. — Italian Herb blend

Herb blend: I have my own Italian style herb blend recipe but there are many blends that will work providing the dried leaves are small.
Mayo: Home made or shop bought. If you usually make your own like I do of course go for it. However I often keep a small jar of shop bought mayo in my pantry for emergencies. How did I get on to this mayo slathering method? I love mayo and I often make it. Hubby doesn’t really like it so I have to eat it myself or thrown it out. Chef’s don’t like to throw out stuff.? I know you’re probably judging me now, but try it first. When you think about making mayo what’s in it? Egg, oil, vinegar, mustard. There’s nothing wrong with those ingredients as a coating on chicken? Oh, if you need a recipe for homemade mayo, let me know in the comments. ?
Fillings for your chicken parma burger: Add what ever you like. Tomato, bacon, pickles and fresh salad leaves.

Chicken Parma step by step

Start by setting your oven to 170°C (fan forced)
Then grab a baking tray, preferably one with not too high sides so the air can circulate.
Line or grease the base of the tray with ether butter or a little oil and set it aside. If you want crunchier bread crumbs a non-stick cooling rack works well.
Now it’s time to crumb the chicken. Whichever method you choose as in Easy oven fried chicken or the more traditional way to crumb, like in my southern fried/baked recipe it’s up to you.
Sit the crumbed chicken pieces in the tray or on the rack.
Add the tomato passata
Sprinkle with the herb mix
Add the fresh mozzarella and bake for 10 – 15 mins
Remove from the oven, sprinkle over the grated cheese. and return to cook through
Bake for a further 10 – 15 minutes depending on the thickness of your chicken.

If you use a flat tray for cooking, the chicken on the base won’t be as crunchie as the top because the lovely juices will leak out of the chicken. My method at home is to use a non-stick cooling rack inside a tray if you have one that fits. Then sit your crumbed chicken on it. That way, the juices can drip through, and the heat can circulate, making them crunchy all over.

I used my brioche burger buns; in this recipe, I also toast the inside of the open buns to get that extra crunch. I like it that way. ?