Easy Baked Chicken Parmesan Sandwich

These easy baked chicken parmesan sandwiches are such a killer addition to our rotation. My whole family’s OBSESSED. I tend to stick to grilled chicken because I usually prefer it to baked… but sometimes I just don’t want to open that back slider. Especially since it’s still 100 degrees right now when it’s time for dinner. NO JOKE.

And I know people always say you don’t want to turn the oven on when it’s hot. But if Ross isn’t here to man the grill… I’d rather battle the oven draft than stand over an open flame outside when I’m essentially living IN an open flame. THE WORST.

Having said that, don’t worry I’m sure I’ll grill a giant bag of Costco chicken tomorrow.

BUT THESE SANDWICHES– So good! and so easy- it’s like this:

• Butterfly some thawed chicken breasts (or just using tenderloins would work too)
• Spread em out on a sheet pan, season, bake!
• You’ve got like twenty minutes to make your basil mayo which takes two. So you’e got 18 more to slice some bread, heat a bowl of marinara, pull out your arugula and kick up your feet.
• When the chicken’s done you’ll top with cheese and throw it in the warm oven for a sec.
• Then quickly broil a pan of thin sliced french bread that’s been misted with olive oil spray and sprinkled with garlic powder… I buy the fresh loaves of french bread from Costco and cut it as thin as I can– you’ll never miss the thickness but can easily eat half the bread you would have naturally!
• Spread, pile, top, BUILD — build your sandwich and trust me –the sum of the whole is greater than the parts. And it’s all on a couple of pans in under thirty.

That light basil garlic mayo makes it so rich and tasty… you’ll swear it’s naughty.  I used to be so skeptical of low fat sauces or dressings but I’m amazed how well this pulls off the real deal.  Especially on a toasty, saucy sandwich.

I happen to think everything tastes better squished between two pieces of bread. But if you want to save the carbs, have your chicken and marinara atop some spaghetti squash… or all wrapped up in a low carb wrap like this blistered tomato crunch wrap! Or just eat it with a fork. You savage.

Easy Baked Chicken Parmesan Sandwich

This is so simple and so tasty! Didn’t even miss the fully breaded chicken! And I love that it can pretty much be done on a couple of lined sheet pans.. so I don’t even really have to wash them. Ha.

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Author Lillie

Course Sandwiches

Cuisine American, Italian

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes minutes

Servings 8 -10

Calories 339 kcal

Ingredients

For the Chicken

• 2 lb chicken breasts- butterflied
• 30 g parmesan
• 30 g bread crumbs
• Kosher salt
• pepper
• garlic powder
• italian seasoning*
• *If you don’t have italian seasoning just sprinkle on some oregano, dried basil, parsley, whatever you’ve got!

For the Sandwich:

• French or italian bread sliced extra thin. I used the fresh loaf of crust french from Costco
• Favorite jarred marinara I love Costco’s Victoria- and it’s got better macros than lots at only 6 carbs per serving- Trader Joes Rustico is also good.
• Lite provolone cheese
• EASY Skinny basil garlic “aioli”
• Arugula

Instructions

• Cut breasts in half horizontally to butterfly (to make fillets that are half as thick)
• Spread out on parchment lined baking sheet, pat dry, and sprinkle 5 grams or about a tsp (each) of parmesan and breadcrumbs on the top of each piece- don’t flip
• Sprinkle all of the tops liberally with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and italian seasoning
• Bake in preheated 400 degree oven for 15-20 minutes- until juices run clear and chicken isn’t pink inside!
• Cover with half a slice of lite provolone or mozzarella if you prefer, turn off the oven and put the chicken back in for just a minute or two to melt.
• Slice french bread as thin as you can!
• Lay bread on a baking sheet and spray with mist of olive oil spray, and sprinkle with garlic powder
• BROIL for a minute or two until golden brown on the top. Remove.
• Heat a bowl of marinara (I just use the microwave!)
• Build sandwich by starting with one piece of bread, toasty side out/soft side in. Layer with 22 g (1.5 tbs) of basil aioli, then 114g chicken (that’s including the half slice provolone), ¼ cup marinara sauce, and arugula.
• Top with another piece of toasted bread, soft side in and ENJOY!

Notes

1. My exact MFP logging for this SANDWICH will be for 50 grams of french bread, ¼ cup marinara, 22 g fat free basil aioli, 100 g cooked chicken and ½ slice of provolone (which those two together will come to the 114 g of chicken parm off the pan) and a handful of arugula.  You can search “Lillie Eats and Tells Easy Baked Chicken Parmesan Sandwich” if you want to try and match it and just log the one item for ease!
2. OR you can search “Lillie Eats and Tells Easy baked chicken parmesan” for the chicken ALONE (including bread crumbs and parm, but not the half slice of provolone.) That way you can build your sandwich in the quantities you want.

How to log bread without a label?

• I’ve gotten in the habit of weighing my bread, even when it’s pre-sliced with a nutrition label because those slices can vary a lot! I’m not that precise about everything I eat but I got in the habit of weighing my bolillo roll for my daily turkey sandwich which made me realize I could eat any bread I wanted to. No need to buy “low-carb” breads I didn’t even like— it really didn’t even save me that many carbs if I was comparing like-sizes. It’s so much more about the weight.  So if you have a label, it’ll usually tell you the macros for a serving and specify that the serving is 37g for instance. So say you’re using 50 g for this sandwich, you can either:
  • See if MFP has a 1 gram option for servings so you can log your 50 grams? or
  • Just do some quick math 50/37=1.35 servings (when MFP is giving you the 37g serving size)

What if you don’t have a nutrition label on your bread? 

• Along with my love of bread has come a lot of experience tracking it. Ha. And what I’ve learned is they’re all so similar! So if I grab bolillo rolls or pane rolls or even a french baguette or italian bread… I’ll search My Fitness Pal for the one I bought (but won’t stress if I have to grab one of the others) with a “g” after the name to try and find an option in grams. I might add a well known name to get a reliable hit. Like “La Brea french baguette g” or “bolillo walmart g” even if I got my bolillo at Ralphs. It’s all about the weight of it!  For this one Costco’s country french bread had a label in grams and an MFP listing with 1 gram servings so it was easy! But don’t stress. Use another white bread option if needed and you’ll be so close.

Nutrition

Serving: 1sandwich as describedCalories: 339kcalCarbohydrates: 33.8gProtein: 35.1gFat: 5.5g

Keywords aioli, baked, basil, chicken, french bread, light, parmesan, sandwich, skinny

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