This is just the simplest, best-tasting chicken. A former Pan Am stewardess gave me the recipe – you know it’s got to be good!
The fingerling potatoes are the right size to finish cooking when the chicken is ready, making a tremendous sheet-pan dinner. It’s ready in about 25 minutes, which is easy for a work night. It’s an elegant meal and can easily feed a crowd. Allow one chicken breast and two small potatoes for each person.
I have made this with chicken breasts and boneless, skinless chicken thighs. You can use either one, the one you and your wallet like best.
It is best to make this in a disposable foil pan. Because of all the cheese, it tends to get sticky. If you don’t want to use a disposable pan, all you need is a half-sheet pan and parchment paper. But a disposable pan is your best bet.
Serve this with a little salad or your favorite vegetable. It goes very well with white wine for the adults and lemon water for those too young to partake in the wine.
Email Me the Recipe
Nancy’s Garlic Parmesan Crusted Chicken with Fingerling Potatoes
Equipment
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Ingredients
- 6 Chicken breast, boneless and skinless
- 4 ounces unsalted butter, 1 stick melted
- 3 cloves Garlic, Large
- ¼ cup Parmesan, grated
- ¼ cup Panko bread crumbs
~~ — Potatoes — ~~
- 8 fingerling potatoes, scrubbed
- 1 tablespoon *Olive oil
- ½ teaspoon Salt, Kosher or Sea Salt preferred
- ½ teaspoon Black pepper, freshly cracked
Instructions
- Mise en place
- Preheat the oven to 350 °F (177 °C)
- 3 cloves GarlicChop the garlic as small as possible. An electric chopper or small food processor will do the trick nicely.
- 4 ounces unsalted butterPut the melted butter and garlic in one of the breading trays.
- 1/4 cup Parmesan, 1/4 cup Panko bread crumbsPut the cheese and bread crumbs in another breading tray.
- Put a cake rack over a plate or paper towels.
- 6 Chicken breastDip a chicken breast in the butter mixture and add some garlic to the breast.
- Put the breast into the bread mixture and coat it on both sides.
- Place it on the rack.
- Do this with the remaining chicken pieces and let them sit on the rack for about 5 minutes.
- Do not throw away the remaining butter or crumbs.
- Put the chicken in the pan, brush with the remaining butter, and pat the remaining crumbs on top.
- 8 fingerling potatoes, 1 tablespoon Olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon Salt, 1/2 teaspoon Black pepperPut the potatoes in a bowl. Toss them with the oil, salt, and pepper, then put them in the same pan as the chicken/
- Bake the chicken in the oven for about 25 minutes, or until it reaches 160 °F (71 °C) degrees, on an instant-read thermometer.
- Remove from the oven and immediately plate up to prevent sticking.
Nutrition
I have a wonderful friend, Nancy, who makes the best chicken, Garlic Parmesan Crusted Chicken. Nancy was a Pan Am stewardess. As part of her volunteer work with Kiwanis, she invited my son to help her be a Guest Chef at Ascencia, the local homeless shelter. My son was too interested in playing with the other children who had also been invited to help her. I don’t think the kids did much helping; they just played a lot.
She made this moist, crusty chicken that everyone loved. I got to be on the clean-up team, but I’m not a forensic chef, so I didn’t know quite how she made it. None of those children noted how she prepared that chicken, either.
When I saw Nancy again, I asked her for the recipe, and she wrote the recipe down for me. I asked her if it had bread crumbs, and she said no. Well, I decided to change the recipe just a bit and add Panko bread crumbs. I like Panko bread crumbs because they stay nice and crisp, and they have minimal flavor of their own.
When I made this, my local corner store had some lovely fingerling potatoes at the counter when I checked out, and I picked some up. Potatoes go very well with chicken, and these little ones are done at the same time the chicken will be done.
