This recipe is a spin off of an old one my mom used to make. Please scroll to the bottom for the recipe or read on to learn more about the unfortunate meals of my childhood.

My mom was a planner. She tirelessly planned our nightly meals for 2 weeks at a time and shopped accordingly. She used coupons and often planned our meals around weekly sales. She attached her 2 week menu to the fridge and religiously stuck to it. There was little question about what we were having for dinner and when. 

 For all her hard work and effort, she was a less than average cook. She had a tendency to overcook things. In her defense, it was a well intended effort to avoid giving us food poisoning so you have to give her credit where credit is due. I do appreciate that she didn't want to poison us. I believe this obsession was born out of her own childhood memories when the risk of disease from undercooked meat was much higher. She continued this habit of turning a perfectly good cut of meat into shoe leather until she was no longer able to cook.

She still had many good dishes and was the ultimate champion of the well balanced meal. She is the reason I love greens and other healthy foods. Even though her meat dishes were mostly disappointing, the one exception to the rule was chicken and she had a few really good recipes that I continue to make today. One of those recipes was Chicken Parmesan. It was crunchy goodness on the outside and juicy and tender on the inside. We always looked forward to it when it appeared on "the menu."

A few years back, I started adapting some of her recipes to work in today's world and I think she would love what I have done with her chicken parmesan recipe. The changes are very subtle but are the perfect update. This is Chicken Parmesan 2.0. In contrast, she always used several parts of the chicken and I have found that using just chicken tenders or sliced chicken breast brings a more even consistency to the final dish.  She cooked EVERYTHING at 350° for one hour, (at least).  I turned the temp up to 400° and added a couple of tweaks to the seasonings. 20 minutes and done with a crust that is heavenly. No disrespect to my mom. She had her limitations but she was always 100% dedicated to meal making. 

What to have with your Chicken Parmesan? I  especially love roasted asparagus or any veggie. Fries also work...... Chicken Parmesan is a great addition to almost any salad.

What are the best sauces for Chicken Parmesan? Call me a snob but I think you should leave the ketchup in the fridge unless you are having fries. 

Ranch dressing is my go to but if you aren't a ranch fan (I actually know someone who isn't), you could go with blue cheese or honey mustard. I will update this soon with a couple more sauce recipes that would be complimentary. 

INGREDIENTS

• 2 pounds chicken breast or tenders cut into 1 inch strips
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 2 cups breadcrumbs 
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese 
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 tsp black pepper

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 400°. Coat a baking pan with cooking spray or line it with parchment paper. 

Place freshly washed and sliced chicken on a plate with towel or paper towels underneath to remove excess moisture. 

Combine, breadcrumbs, cheese, and seasonings in a bowl and mix thoroughly. 

Transfer beating eggs to a shallow bowl for coating chicken.

Transfer 1/3 of breadcrumb mixture to a shallow bowl (Use a third at a time instead of the entire mixture to avoid soggy bread crumbs, lumps, and it cuts down on mess).

Add 3 or 4 tenders to egg batter. Remove one tender and roll it into bread crumb mixture until piece is completely covered. Retrieve another from the egg batter and repeat. Add more tenders to the batter and repeat this process until bread crumb mixture is almost gone. Add more bread crumbs and continue to coat chicken until the last of the mixture is gone. If you run out of egg batter before the chicken, beat another egg and continue on (egg sizes vary and you may need another egg). 

Make sure there is a small amount of space between each tender to achieve the ultimate chicken tender crispiness. 

Bake for approximate 20 to 25 minutes. 

In an effort to add crispiness, many chicken recipes often recommend flipping half way through the cooking time but it has been my experience, if you don't have a wire rack, you risk uncrisping the tops when you flip them because of the juices in the pan. No need to worry though, the bottom will be crispy from the heat of the pan. The important part is to let the chicken sit for a few minutes before serving.