This recipe is sponsored by RAGÚ®. We’re using their RAGÚ Simply Traditional Sauce to make today’s easy chicken parm casserole. Weeknight-friendly chicken parmesan casserole! Those words have to be the best thing you’ve read on the internet today. Mostly because when I say things like ‘weeknight-friendly,’ I mean 10 ingredients, 45 minutes of cooking time, and one saucy, flavorful casserole! Traditional chicken parmesan is made with crispy breaded chicken cutlets, fried until golden on the outside and tender on the inside. They’re topped with marinara sauce, fresh mozzarella cheese, and baked until the cheese just melts and the sauce heats through. I’ve gone ahead and tossed all of those flavors together with pasta, loaded it up with the most flavorful RAGÚ sauce and added more garlicky breadcrumbs for good measure. We’ll bake it till the whole thing is hot, melty and saucy. It’s absolutely perfect for busy weeknights and great to assemble and drop off for a family member or a friend that needs a little baked casserole of comfort in their life.
Ingredients for easy chicken parmesan casserole:
Pasta: You can use a variety of pasta shapes for this recipe. Rotini, rigatoni or even penne pasta work well for this recipe and hold onto the sauce.Chicken Cutlets: You can use store-bought breaded cutlets to make this dish really quickly or you can use thinly slice chicken breasts and bread your own if you have time. I’ll provide ingredients and directions if you prefer to make your own – this casserole is extra special that way!Olive Oil: A few glugs of olive oil to help cook the chicken cutlets.RAGÚ Simply Sauce: I love using the RAGÚ Simply line of sauces! They’re made with quality ingredients, like vine-ripened tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, and Italian spices. And, there’s are no added sugar, no artificial colors and no high-fructose corn syrup. They come in four delicious sauce varieties provide versatility and work great as meal starer that gives anything you make a “from-scratch” flavor!Mozzarella Cheese: I prefer to buy a block of low-moisture mozzarella and just shred it myself. Pre-shredded mozzarella is often coated in starches to keep it from sticking together, which doesn’t allow it to melt as beautifully in the oven as cheese shredded from a block of mozzarella does. Though, either option will work here!Butter: We’ll toss breadcrumbs, parmesan and garlic powder with the melted butter to help create a crunchy topping for the casserole.Panko breadcrumbs: I like to use panko over Italian breadcrumbs, as it gives the casserole another added layer of crunch.Parmesan Cheese: What would chicken parm be without an abundance of parm? We’ll add it to the breadcrumb mixture and sprinkle it on top so that it adds more crunch right when you dig in!Garlic Powder: A pinch of garlic powder is added to the panko mixture to give it more flavor.Parsley: We’ll sprinkle the casserole with fresh parsley as a garnish to give the casserole a bit more eye appeal when it’s bubbly out of the oven!
Chicken parmesan casserole recipe:
A big thank you to our friends over at RAGÚ for sponsoring this post. We love working with companies that make good, wholesome foods!
If you’d like to make your own cutlets: you’ll need 1 lb. thinly sliced chicken cutlets. Season chicken with ½ teaspoon kosher salt, ½ teaspoon garlic powder and ¼ teaspoon onion powder. Dredge seasoned cutlets in ⅓ cup flour, then a beaten egg, and finally a mixture of ¾ cup panko + ¾ cup parmesan. Place the first cutlet on a clean surface and bread remaining cutlets the same way
