I mentioned in my last post that my Dad visited last weekend. When I was younger he was a bit of a snacker. I remember one time I was selling cookies for a cheerleading fundraiser and I walked into the living room after I woke up. He had a giant plate of peanut shells resting on the arm of his chair and when he stood up, they all fell and made a huge mess on the floor. When he jumped up to clean, TWO packages of my cheerleading cookies fell out of his sweatshirt pockets. All I could think to say was, “You better pay me for those cookies.” It is still one of the funniest things I can remember and perfectly describes where I got my snacking habit.
I bought some Sun Dried Tomato & Basil Wheat Thins for his visit becasue, well, they are so amazing to snack on. I think they may be one of my favorite crackers of all time. When he left, I had quite a few left over and was wondering what I could do with them. I thought about maybe smashing them up and using them as a breading and I figured it would work with chicken parmesan. I’ve never actually made chicken parmesan before, so this was all new to me. But after looking at quite a few recipes online, I came up with my own using all the things I like and the Wheat Thins for the breading.
Wheat Thins Chicken Parmesan Recipe:
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 eggs
1 box of Sun Dried Tomato & Basil Wheat Thins, crumbled
1 lb. spaghetti
Marniara sauce (see recipe)
Mozarella cheese for topping
Read my full Tomato Basil Chicken Parmesan Recipe
Preparation:
- Add the 2 Tbsp. olive oil to a medium saucepan
- Add garlic and onions to oil (I pureed my onions in the food processor because I HATE chunks) and sautee until onions are translucent
- Stir in basil and oregano
- Add chopped tomatoes and bay leaf and let simmer on low for 1-2 hours, stirring occasionally
- Since I cannot stand chunky sauce, I used an immersion blender to turn mine into a smoother sauce
- Pre-heat oven to 450-degrees
- Get your water on to boil your pasta before you start any of the chicken prep. The pasta is what threw my timing off when I made this, so just get your water boiling early!
- Put your Wheat Thins in a sealed bag and use a rolling pin to crush them into small crumbs. It was helpful if I rolled the bag up and sort of smashed them using the rolling pin and the other crackers. I don’t know why, but it helped ;)
- Get about an inch of olive oil in a oven safe skillet on a burner set to medium heat
- Set up an assembly line with your flower (I put mine on a dinner plate), your eggs (I used a shallow Tupperware dish) and your crushed Wheat Thins (also on another dinner plate)
- Coat your first piece of chicken in flour on both sides
- Dunk it in the egg on both sides and let excess drip off
- Coat your chicken in the Wheat Thin crumbs, set aside and do the rest of the chicken breasts
- Place all 4 coated chicken breasts in the hot skillet making sure no pieces are overlapping
- Cook for 4 minutes on each side
- Spoon marinara over the top of each breast and top with shredded mozzarella cheese
- Add your spaghetti to the boiling water
- Place skillet in 450-degree oven and bake for 10-12 minutes, checking the cheese periodically. I obviously forgot to check mine near the end (because of my stupid timing with the noodles) and it got a little extra brown. It was delicious, but not as pretty as I had hoped
- Once your cheese has browned, pull the skillet out of the oven and serve each breast over spaghetti. I added a bit more sauce over the noodles as well
