Pinvestigation: Chicken Parmesan Bake

Just look at this deliciousness. I went to the store and bought the ingredients for the pin immediately.

My stomach started growling at when I saw this. The original recipe is from here but the guy posts a (helpful) video instead of a written recipe. Here it is written:

• 2 TBSP olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• red pepper flakes
• 6 boneless chicken breasts (I used three but they were huge - almost 2 pounds raw - so I cut them up into quarters)
• 2 cups marinara sauce
• 1/4 cup chopped basil (I used dry and at this step in the recipe added more red pepper flakes, salt, pepper, and garlic powder)
• 8 oz mozzarella, shredded (I had fresh mozzarella balls and just cut them up. I ended up probably using about 6oz instead)
• 4 oz Parmesan, grated
• 1 5 oz package of garlic croutons (I could only find garlic and butter croutons and they added so many points [I'm on Weight Watchers] to an already high point meal that I used half of this)

In a baking dish, put in garlic, olive oil, and red pepper flakes. Spread around to cover the bottom. Place chicken breasts (he left them whole but like I said previously, I cut them into quarters). Pour marinara sauce over. Sprinkle herbs/spices on top and then add half the mozzarella and half the Parmesan. Spread garlic croutons over that. Add rest of mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes (may take up to 1 hour depending on the size of the chicken - I did 35 min. and they were perfect).


I put the dish on broil for a couple minutes when it was done to brown the cheese. Here's what it looked like!

Pretty close to the original, don't you think? This dish was SO delicious! And SO easy! I will definitely be making it again. My only complaint was that the majority of the croutons were soggy which was a disappointment. I'll have to see if I can figure that out. I think it was all the croutons that were under the cheese. Maybe it would make a difference if I actually shredded the mozzarella instead of just cutting it up. I'll try that next time. In the mean time, pinvestigation complete!

I'm linking this post up to these parties!