Air fryer chicken parmesan
Crunchy parmesan-crusted cutlets under melted mozzarella and marinara, with spaghetti on the side and no frying pan full of oil.
- 45 min total
- 30 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $2.41 a serving
- 650 calories
Dolly says: Read the steps once before you start. Everything goes smoother after that.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 2 chicken breasts
- 1 large egg
- ¾ cup panko breadcrumbs
- ⅓ cup grated parmesan
- 8 oz spaghetti
- 2 cups marinara sauce, divided
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella
- ¼ cup fresh basil, leaves (optional)
From your pantry
- 1¼ tbsp salt, divided
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Each serving has about 650 calories, 47 g protein, 68 g carbs and 19 g fat, and costs about $2.41 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No chicken breasts? Boneless chicken thighs or chicken tenderloins work.
- No grated parmesan? Parmesan wedge works.
- No spaghetti? Fettuccine works.
- No shredded mozzarella? Provolone slices work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Fill a large pot with water, add 1 tablespoon of salt, and bring it over high heat. the air fryer to 380°F.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
Preheat. Preheating means turning the oven on before you start, so it’s fully hot when the food goes in. Food that starts in a cold oven cooks unevenly and doesn’t brown the same.
How you’ll know: The oven beeps or its light clicks off, usually 10 to 15 minutes after you turn it on.
High heat
each chicken breast through the middle, parallel to the board, to make 4 thin cutlets. them dry, with the rest of the salt and the pepper, and wash your hands.
Slice. Slicing means cutting food into flat pieces of about the same thickness. Even slices cook evenly, so none are raw while others burn.
How you’ll know: Lay a few side by side: they’re close to the same thickness from one end to the other.
Pat dry. Patting dry means pressing paper towels onto food to soak up the moisture on its surface. Wet food steams instead of browning, so this is how you get a good sear and crisp skin.
How you’ll know: The surface feels tacky, not wet, and the last paper towel comes away barely damp.
Season. Seasoning means adding salt, pepper or spices to bring out a food’s flavor. A little at a few stages tastes better than a lot all at the end.
How you’ll know: When you taste it, it tastes bright and like itself, not flat and not salty.
Dolly’s tip: Press the breast flat with your palm and use long, slow strokes. Even cutlets cook evenly.Food safety: Wash your hands, the board and the knife with hot soapy water after touching raw meat, and don’t rinse raw chicken in the sink.
Set out three shallow bowls: the flour, the egg beaten with a fork, and the panko mixed with the parmesan and Italian seasoning.
Dip each cutlet in the flour, then the egg, then press it into the panko on both sides. the oil over the tops.
Drizzle. Drizzling means pouring a thin, slow stream over the top of something. A thin stream spreads a little flavor a long way.
How you’ll know: You see thin lines across the food, not a puddle collecting underneath.
Air fry 2 cutlets at a time for 10 to 12 minutes, flipping halfway, until and the thickest part reads 165°F.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Timer: 11 min
Food safety: Chicken and turkey are done at 165°F in the thickest part. A thermometer is the only sure check. Without one, cut into the thickest piece: it should be white all the way through, with no pink.
While the chicken cooks, the spaghetti until , about 9 minutes, then it and with 1 cup of the marinara.
Boil. Boiling means heating a liquid until big bubbles rise and break all over the surface. It’s the fastest way to cook pasta, potatoes and eggs, because it’s as hot as water gets.
How you’ll know: Bubbles are breaking across the whole surface, not just at the edges, and steam is rising.
Al dente. Al dente is Italian for “to the tooth”: pasta cooked until tender but with a slight firm bite in the center. It holds up in sauce and keeps softening a little after you drain it.
How you’ll know: Bite a piece a minute before the package time: tender, with a slight firm bite in the middle and no crunch.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
High heatTimer: 9 min
Spoon 2 tablespoons of marinara over each cutlet, top with the mozzarella, and air fry 2 minutes more, until the cheese .
Melt. Melting means gently heating something solid, like butter or cheese, until it turns liquid. Low or medium heat keeps it from browning or burning.
How you’ll know: It’s smooth and liquid, and butter may foam a little but hasn’t turned brown.
Timer: 2 min
Dolly’s tip: Put all four back in together for this part. A little overlap is fine now.Serve the chicken on the spaghetti with torn basil on top.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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