Name: Chicken Parmesan Pasta Skillet
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: 1 tbsp olive oil; 2 cloves garlic (minced); 2 Portobello mushrooms (sliced); 1 1/2 cups dried orzo; 1 cup water; 1 (700mL) jar tomato/spaghetti sauce; 1 cup shredded mozzarella; 1 cup chopped baby spinach; 4 chicken cutlets; 2 eggs; 1 cup flour; 1 cup breadcrumbs; Salt & pepper to taste

This Chicken Parmesan Pasta Skillet is an easier way to make this classic Italian dish – and it comes together in about 30 minutes in one pot!

Ingredients in chicken parmesan

Chicken parmesan is relatively simple to make, and now it's made even easier by cooking everything in a skillet! No more breading, baking, boiling the pasta and cooking up extra veggies on the side. Everything is done in one pot for your convenience! Here's what you need to make this chicken parmesan pasta skillet:

chicken cutlets
eggs
flour
breadcrumbs
garlic
portobello mushrooms
orzo pasta
spaghetti sauce
mozzarella cheese
spinach

How to make chicken parmesan

There are two parts to this recipe technically – first you will need to make the chicken parmesan itself (breading the chicken), and then you'll add in your veggies, pasta and sauce. Here's how to prepare your chicken parmesan:

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
Meanwhile, coat each chicken breast in egg, then in flour, then in breadcrumbs. Sprinkle with salt & pepper, then place in skillet and fry for about 3-4 minutes per side.
You want to wait until you have a fried breading before adding anything else to the skillet – this should only take a few minutes as noted above!

Making the chicken parmesan pasta skillet

Now it's time to add the rest of the ingredients! Here are the steps below:

When the chicken breading becomes a bit more solid, continue to fry chicken in the middle of the pan and add garlic and mushrooms around, sautéing for about 5 min.
Add pasta, water and spaghetti sauce, then bring to a boil. Lower heat to medium, then cover skillet with well-fitting lid and let simmer for about 12-15 min, checking and stirring often until orzo and chicken is completely cooked through.
Remove lid and add cheese to the tops of each chicken breast. Stir in spinach and cover with lid again, cooking for another 1-2 minutes. Serve and enjoy!

Ingredient substitutions and add-ins

This recipe is pretty versatile so you can switch up the ingredients as you need to! Here are some recipe notes below.

Pasta – I used orzo pasta in this recipe, but you can use any pasta shape you'd like, whether large or small! I personally like the orzo because it soaks up a lot of sauce and complements the veggies well but you can easily switch it up here.

Tomato sauce – To keep things simple, use your fave brand of spaghetti sauce so you don't have to make a sauce from scratch.

Chicken – You'll need to use chicken cutlets for this recipe. You'll want 4 cutlets, or you can use 2 whole chicken breasts and slice them in half lengthwise down the middle to create your own cutlets.

Veggies – I used portobello mushrooms and spinach but bell peppers would also work really well here! You could also do a fine dice on celery and carrots as that will complement the spaghetti sauce while sneakily adding in some veggies. If you add those two veggies, be sure to saute them with the garlic in the beginning.

Cheese – You will need to use mozzarella cheese to get the authentic chicken parm experience, but you could also add some more cheeses like Swiss and parmesan.

Breadcrumbs – For a crunchier crust on the chicken, use panko breadcrumbs instead of regular breadcrumbs.

Storing and reheating

This chicken parmesan pasta skillet will last in the fridge up to 5 days. To reheat, sprinkle some water overtop and then reheat in the microwave for 2 minutes or so. Sprinkling water overtop will prevent your chicken and pasta from drying out as you reheat it! You can also reheat in a 375 F oven for 15 minutes or so.

Freezing chicken parmesan

You can freeze this dish and reheat right from frozen! To do this, freeze in glass bowls and then microwave for 6-7 minutes, stirring halfway through. Remember to always add water overtop before reheating! You can also reheat in a 375 F oven for 30-40 minutes – make sure to store in aluminum containers so you can go right from freezer to oven.

More Italian style recipes

Here are some more Italian-inspired recipe ideas:

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Meal prep tools for this recipe

Grab some glass meal prep bowls if you plan on packing this dish up for leftovers
Freeze this recipe in glass microwave-safe bowls up to 3 months
Or these aluminum foil containers are perfect for re-heating straight from the freezer to oven
And of course I get all my free range chicken breasts from Butcher Box!

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Chicken Parmesan Pasta Skillet