Chicken Parmesan Sandwiches – A pretty simple & extremely tasty recipe for chicken parm sandwiches with garlicy cheese goo, bacon, lettuce, tomato & basil on a ciabatta bun. Yum! I made two pounds of chicken tenderloins – way more than we’ll eat in one sitting. I froze the leftovers which will reheat nicely & quickly in a 400 degree oven for about 8-10 minutes, saving me time during the week. This recipe is pretty easy. Actually, my 14 year old step-daughter did all of the breading, mixing and some of the frying.

Chicken Parmesan Cutlets or Nuggets

2 lbs chicken breast tenderloins
3 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup flour
About 1/2 inch of vegetable oil in the bottom of a frying pan – or use your deep fryer

Breading:
1 cup Italian bread crumbs
1 cup panko bread crumbs
1/3 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup shredded Romano cheese
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp garlic salt
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp onion powder
2 tsp chopped fresh basil
4 tbs chopped fresh parsley

The chicken should be pounded flat, then sprinkled with salt – leave original size for cutlet/full chicken size strips or cut into pieces for nuggets. Place all ingredients for breading into a large bowl. Mix well. In a separate small bowl, mix eggs and milk together. Place flour in another separate small bowl – then begin to bread the chicken.

1. Flour – coat the chicken with plain flour (or season it if you’d like)
2. Eggs, dip it into the egg & milk mixture
3. Set into bread crumbs. Grab a small handful and sprinkle it on top of the chicken. Press down lightly with your hand to coat the whole piece very well.
4. When your chicken is ready and your oil is **HOT**, drop chicken in, being careful not to crowd the pan. Nugget sizes will take 2-4 minutes per side to cook; strip/cutlets take 4-6 minutes. This can vary greatly with different size pans and different stoves. Always do a test drop to calculate how long yours will take. They should be a deep golden brown color all around.
5. Place onto a cookie sheet with a cooling rack on top, in a warm oven (200°) to keep chicken warm and crispy until you’re done frying.

Simple Garlicy Cheese Goo
2 tbs chopped fresh basil
4 tbs chopped fresh parsley
4 oz cream cheese
4 oz Ricotta cheese
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup Romano cheese
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp garlic powder (you can absolutely use fresh garlic – my garlic pasting grater was broken so I used powder)
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper

Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and keep in the refrigerator until ready to serve chicken.

When the chicken is cooked, serve on room temperature or toasted rolls. Coat the top of each roll with a nice layer of Garlicy Cheese Goo and add hot chicken. Add tomato slices, **bacon**, whole basil leaves and lettuce for a spectacular sandwich!

Happy cooking! Enjoy your day!

-Amelia

**Notes**
**HOT hot hot oil – definitely. Warm oil doesn’t fry – hot oil does. Your stove should be set to medium-high or high. When is the oil ready to fry? Simple. Take the handle end of a wooden spoon and set it down in the hot oil. If bubbles begin to quickly come out of the spoon, the oil is ready.

BACON – I made my first attempt at microwaving bacon. In a pinch for a few slices of bacon to put on a sandwich, it’s not a bad option. However, I probably won’t use this method when making bacon to have with pancakes for breakfast, but will stick with my Oven Cooked Bacon – Perfect Every Time method. I found that the microwave bacon was reminiscent of bacon from a fast food restaurant. It was simple though – paper towel on plate, bacon on paper, another layer of paper towel on top. Cooked 2 minutes for soft/soggy bacon, 4 minutes for crispy bacon. 5 minutes netted me inedible bacon.