A classic Italian American comfort food favorite, the chicken Parm sandwich, is a go-to meal for busy schedules. It's quick and easy to make and sure to please every diner at the table. The combination of crispy chicken, savory marinara sauce, and melted mozzarella cheese is irresistible, and a few key shortcuts make it a delicious and convenient option for any day of the week.
Sandwiches are almost always a great grab-and-go option when time is of the essence, but a cold sandwich doesn’t always feel like a meal. Not true in the case of the chicken Parmesan sandwich. This hot and comforting dish is sure to satisfy even the biggest of appetites.
Using a few premade, easy-to-find, timesaving ingredients, like Pillsbury™ French Bread and Muir Glen™ Marinara Sauce , or even pre-shredded cheese, makes this homemade meal not only easy to pull together but easy on the pocketbook, as there’s no need to buy a long list of ingredients.
In our chicken Parmesan sandwich recipe, we slather the sauce on top of the melted cheese-covered chicken, which keeps the crispy coating crisp and allows each person to add as much or as little sauce as they like.
You can always turn to our chicken Parm sandwich recipe whenever you need a delicious, convenient meal that satisfies your hunger pains and fits into even your most hectic schedules.
How To Make a Chicken Parm Sandwich
For a meal that tastes like you spent all day making it, our easy chicken Parm sandwich is surprisingly quick and easy to pull together. Many of the ingredients are pantry staples, like flour, panko crumbs, and jarred marinara sauce.
Panko crumbs, they are extra-crispy, extra-light bread crumbs that add the best crunch possible to any dish. They’re our secret ingredient for oven-fried anything, crunchy-topped casseroles and so much more.
We use plain Progresso™ Panko Bread Crumbs in our Parm sandwich along with Parmesan cheese to coat our boneless, skinless chicken breasts, which we cut in half to make thinner, quicker-to-cook cutlets that are the perfect thickness when tucked inside the warm, Pillsbury® French Bread.
We like Parmesan in this chicken Parm sandwich recipe because it has a mild, nutty flavor, but if you like, feel free to substitute Asiago, Pecorino, or any other dry, aged cheese for the Parmesan in this recipe.
Each panko-breaded cutlet is pan-fried to golden brown, crispy perfection, topped with mozzarella, and baked just long enough to melt the cheese. That’s when the marinara sauce is spooned over the top, and then the whole thing is nestled into the warm French bread.
Store-bought marinara is an easy short-cut, but if you have time to make your own sauce this Fresh Bell Pepper Pizza Sauce is a delicious option.
If you want to know more about frying chicken, check out How To Make Fried Chicken for loads of hints and tips for getting crunchy, juicy results.
How To Store and Reheat Chicken Parm Sandwiches
It’s easy to prepare parts of this chicken Parm sub in advance, which can save you lots of time when it comes to getting it on the table for dinner.
You can bread the chicken cutlets, place them on a rimmed baking sheet and freeze them until firm, then transfer them to a freezer bag. The chicken can be pan-fried directly from the freezer. You just have to add a few minutes to the cooking process to ensure your chicken is fully cooked. Then all you have to do is follow the rest of the steps in the recipe to complete the sandwich.
If you are making the chicken Parm sandwich recipe and know you’re going to have leftovers, it’s best to refrigerate the cooled leftover fried chicken cutlets before adding the cheese.
When you’re ready to use them, just top them with the cheese and pop them into the oven, as directed in the recipe, to reheat the chicken and melt the cheese.
It’s best to spoon the sauce over the top just before serving. If you want to give your chicken parmigiana sandwich leftovers a fun flavor twist, you can substitute the marinara sauce with this yummy Lemon Herb Mayonnaise.
Easy Chicken Parm Variations
As much as we love a good chicken Parm sandwich, and hope you try our chicken Parm sandwich recipe, we know that the flavors of this classic comfort food can take on many different forms.
When you’re looking for a hearty meal on a busy night, try this traditional, but ultra-easy Simple Chicken Parmigiana. You can serve it on its own, or over a pile of spaghetti.
We enjoy chicken Parm so much, we even found a way to make it into a soup! Imagine throwing a few ingredients together in the morning and coming home to a house filled with the fragrance of your favorite Italian American deli. That’s exactly what will happen when you make our Slow-Cooker Chicken Parmesan Soup.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Easy Chicken Parm Sandwiches
- Prep Time 30 min
- Total 1 hr 10 min
- Ingredients 13
- Servings 4
Ingredients
- 2 cans (11 oz) refrigerated Pillsbury™ Original French Bread
- 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts (6 to 8 oz each)
- 3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper, divided
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 eggs
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 cup from 1 box Progresso™ Plain Panko Crispy Bread Crumbs
- 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- Vegetable oil
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (4 oz)
- 1 1/3 cups from 1 jar Muir Glen™ Organic Classic Marinara Pasta Sauce, warmed
Instructions
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Step1Bake French bread as directed on can. Cool loaf 10 minutes.
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Step2Halve each chicken breast horizontally so you have 4 cutlets that are evenly thick.
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Step3Meanwhile, season both sides of chicken cutlets with 1/2 teaspoon of the salt and 1/4 teaspoon of the pepper. Position oven rack 4 inches from broiler. Set oven control to broil.
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Step4In shallow pan, stir together flour, remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper. In shallow bowl, beat eggs and water, using whisk. In another shallow bowl, stir together bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, and Italian seasoning. Coat both sides of chicken with flour mixture. Dip chicken into egg mixture; turn to coat. Dredge in bread crumb mixture, coating completely.
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Step5Add enough oil in 10-inch nonstick skillet to come 1/2-inch up side of skillet. Heat over medium-high heat until hot (350°F). Carefully place 2 cutlets in skillet; cook 1 1/2 to 2 minutes or until bottoms are crispy and deep golden brown. Using tongs, carefully flip cutlets; cook on second side 1 1/2 to 2 minutes or until deep golden brown and chicken is no longer pink in center. Transfer cutlets to paper towel-lined plate; repeat with remaining cutlets.
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Step6Place cutlets on ungreased rimmed baking sheet; sprinkle 1/4 cup of the mozzarella cheese evenly over each cutlet. Broil 1 to 3 minutes or until cheese is melted and beginning to brown. Remove from oven.
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Step7Cut each warm loaf in half crosswise and then again lengthwise. You should have 8 pieces to make 4 sandwiches.
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Step8Place chicken Parmesan on bottom half of each piece of bread; top each cutlet with 1/3 cup warm marinara sauce; cover with top half of bread. Serve immediately.
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Nutrition
Nutrition Facts
Serving Size: 1 Sandwich
- Calories
- 990
- Calories from Fat
- 360
- Total Fat
- 40g
- 61%
- Saturated Fat
- 9g
- 46%
- Trans Fat
- 0g
- Cholesterol
- 120mg
- 41%
- Sodium
- 2090mg
- 87%
- Potassium
- 950mg
- 27%
- Total Carbohydrate
- 111g
- 37%
- Dietary Fiber
- 4g
- 15%
- Sugars
- 10g
- Protein
- 46g
% Daily Value*:
- Vitamin A
- 8%
- 8%
- Vitamin C
- 0%
- 0%
- Calcium
- 30%
- 30%
- Iron
- 40%
- 40%
Exchanges:
5 1/2 Starch; 0 Fruit; 2 Other Carbohydrate; 0 Skim Milk; 0 Low-Fat Milk; 0 Milk; 0 Vegetable; 0 Very Lean Meat; 3 Lean Meat; 0 High-Fat Meat; 4 1/2 Fat;Carbohydrate Choice
7 1/2Tips from the
Pillsbury Kitchens
- tip 1
- tip 2
- tip 3
- tip 4
- tip 5
