Million Dollar Chicken Parmesan - the ultimate chicken parmesan! Crispy chicken topped with a creamy cheese mixture and baked in marinara sauce. Serve the chicken over pasta for a meal that is better than any restaurant. Spaghetti sauce, flour, eggs, panko, Italian bread crumbs, parmesan, garlic salt, chicken, cottage cheese, cream cheese, pesto, sour cream, mozzarella. All you need is a salad and some garlic bread for a meal the whole family will enjoy.
Preheat oven to 375ºF. Spray a 9x13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
Pour the jar of spaghetti sauce into the baking dish. Set aside.
Set up three shallow dishes. Place flour in one, eggs in one, and combine panko bread crumbs, Italian bread crumbs, grated parmesan, and garlic salt in one.
Dredge chicken breast into flour, dip into eggs, and finally coat in breadcrumb mixture.
Heat olive oil in a large skillet on medium-high heat. Add chicken to the skillet. Brown well on each side, about 3 minutes per side. Remove the chicken from the pan and place it in the baking dish on top of spaghetti sauce.
Combine cottage cheese, sour cream, cream cheese, and pesto. Spread over chicken breasts.
Top chicken with shredded mozzarella cheese.
Bake for 20 minutes, until the chicken has reached an internal temperature of 165ºF and the cheese is melted.
Notes:
My favorite store-bought spaghetti sauces are Trader Joe’s Roasted Garlic Marinara (green label), Rao’s, and La Famiglia DelGrosso.
You can use freshly grated or canned parmesan cheese.
You want the cream cheese to be very soft so it gets fully incorporated into the topping. Microwave the cream cheese for 15 to 20 seconds if you are short on time.
If you are short on time and need a shortcut, you can substitute frozen breaded chicken breast for the freshly breaded and pan seared chicken breasts in this recipe.
For a gluten-free or low-carb dish, substitute crushed pork rinds for bread crumbs.
Can Million Dollar Chicken Parmesan be made in advance? You can pan-sear the chicken ahead of time and refrigerate it overnight. When you are ready to bake the chicken, finish assembling the dish and bake.