A Trip To The Freezer Aisle Will Help Make Chicken Parmesan In A Flash

The art of cooking has always had mixed reviews; some people see it as an exciting hobby, while others view it as an arduous task they will avoid at all costs. While cooking can be a great skill to learn, it can also be time-consuming to prepare the perfect meal. Thankfully, there are plenty of shortcuts and cooking tips that will allow for an easy dinner that you can still consider homemade.

Chicken Parmesan is an Italian-American staple that pleases even the pickiest of eaters due to its simple, palatable ingredient profile: breaded chicken, tomato sauce, and mozzarella or Parmesan cheese. Despite it being such a basic concept, it can be a bit of a nightmare to make homemade breaded chicken, with plenty of cleanup and the concern over safely handling both the raw chicken and raw eggs.

Whether you're short on time or just don't want to deal with the hassle of breading your own chicken, your grocery store's freezer section holds the secret to a simpler meal: pre-breaded chicken cutlets that will make your chicken Parmesan so much easier.

If you want the decadence of crispy, cheesy chicken Parmesan with half the prep time, the answer is to cut out the bulk of the work — and that means eliminating the part where you bread and fry your own chicken. Admittedly, homemade breaded chicken cutlets might taste a bit better than the freezer variety, but they're a pain to prepare. Between having to use separate bowls for the eggs, flour, and breading, plus having to worry about oil splattering all over your stovetop, some things just aren't always worth the effort. In this case, settling for pre-breaded chicken will keep the dish simple; you won't even taste much of a difference if you still use high-quality tomato sauce and mozzarella.

For the base of the chicken Parmesan, you can use frozen chicken cutlets if they're available, or breaded chicken tenders. For a kid-friendly version that costs even less, breaded chicken patties are also a good alternative. Simply add the frozen chicken to an oven-safe dish and cook according to package instructions (double check that the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit if the package asks to do so). Top the chicken with tomato sauce and fresh mozzarella and pop it back into the oven or under the broiler until the cheese is melted.

Although the freezer section is easy and affordable, if you are cooking for a dinner party, you might want to go with something of higher quality to impress your guests. Try purchasing freshly made chicken cutlets from your local Italian market (if you don't have one nearby, a specialty grocer such as Wegmans is a good alternative). Then, you can prepare the chicken Parmesan the same way you would have if you'd used frozen chicken, but the quality will be top-notch — maybe even better than if you'd made the breaded chicken yourself.

Of course, you can also buy prepared chicken Parmesan from your local market, but purchasing only the chicken cutlets will allow you to save some money on catering while still letting you tell your guests that the dish is technically homemade (what they don't know won't hurt them).