Easy chicken parmesan roll-ups stuffed with mozzarella cheese and topped with crispy breadcrumbs.
Chicken Parmesan Roll-Ups
Sometimes it’s good to get tripped up. Like, say you go to the grocery store because you really want to make chicken parmesan, but you’re kind of in a fog going through the motions and you mistakenly pick up a package of thin-sliced chicken breasts instead of the regular chicken breasts. Of course, you don’t discover this error until you get home, at which point you get all frustrated trying to figure how you can use these super-thin sliced chicken breasts to make chicken parmesan. You can’t get past the idea that you need whole chicken breasts so you can bread them, top them with cheese, and bake them up. You consider stacking the thinly sliced ones on top of each other in an effort to fashion something that looks like a whole chicken breast. But then you think that’s a weird idea and how will it ever work and it will be so obvious that you did something strange with the chicken breasts and they just won’t look right.
And then it hits you… chicken parmesan roll-ups!
Yeah! That’ll work! You lay the sliced chicken breasts flat, pile in some and then roll them up into a neat little package. Then you top each of them with some bread crumbs and stick them in a pan with some tomato sauce. While they’re baking you pour a glass of wine to celebrate your creativeness and jump online to see how many other people have thought of chicken parmesan roll-ups.
Google returns 417,000 results…
For the rest of the world it’s old news, but for you? For you, the roll-ups represent a moment of kitchen brilliance! How proud are you to contribute the 418,000th chicken parmesan roll-up recipe?
So proud.
More Easy Recipes
PrintChicken Parmesan Roll-Ups
Thin sliced chicken breasts rolled up with cheese and topped with seasoned breadcrumbs. It’s a fun way to do chicken parmesan!
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 6 roll-ups 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
For the Chicken
- 1 cup jarred marinara sauce
- 1.5 pounds thin-sliced boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, divided
- 3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
- 6 tablespoons shredded mozzarella cheese
For the Breadcrumb Topping
- 1/4 cup dried breadcrumbs
- 1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Spread the marinara sauce in the bottom of a square baking dish (8″ to 10″ will work fine).
- To prepare the chicken: cover the chicken breasts with plastic wrap and pound them until they are 1/4” thick. The number of pieces you have in your package may vary (mine usually have four) so you may need to cut the large pieces in half so you have six total. When you’re done, you should have six pieces that are large enough to roll up.
- Season one side of the chicken with 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper. Place the grated Parmesan and shredded mozzarella cheese in the center of the chicken. Don’t spread it out too far to the edges – leave a space around the edge. Carefully roll-up each piece of chicken so the cheese stays inside. Place the chicken rolls seam-side-down in the pan with the sauce and sprinkle another 1/4 teaspoon of salt and pepper over the top.
- Cover the baking dish with foil and bake the chicken for 30 minutes. While the chicken bakes, mix all of the ingredients for the topping in a small bowl. The mixture should look like damp sand once you’ve mixed in the oil.
- After 30 minutes, take the chicken out of the oven and remove the foil. Sprinkle the breadcrumb mixture on top of each chicken roll, lightly pressing it so it adheres. I really like to pile it on – if any falls off it will help thicken the sauce in the bottom of the pan.
- Place the dish back in the oven, uncovered, and bake the chicken for 10 more minutes or until the breadcrumbs are golden and crispy and the chicken is cooked through.
- To serve, you can spoon the sauce over the chicken or spoon it on the plate and place the chicken on top of it.
Notes
You can also use regular chicken breasts for this recipe, it just takes longer to pound them. You can use three large ones, pound them thin and them halve them to make six roll-ups.
Every oven is different, so the best way to know if your chicken is done is to check the internal temperature. It should read 165°F.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 chicken roll-up
- Calories: 219
- Sugar: 2.5g
- Sodium: 843.4mg
- Fat: 7.7g
- Saturated Fat: 2g
- Unsaturated Fat: 4.2g
- Trans Fat: 0.1g
- Carbohydrates: 7.5g
- Fiber: 1.1g
- Protein: 28.4g
- Cholesterol: 88mg
Keywords: easy chicken parmesan, chicken roll-ups recipe
Susan says
funny … I only use thin sliced chicken breasts when I make chicken parm. I searched what to do with thin sliced breasts bc I wanted to do something different with them. I think I’ll try these just the same … thanks!
★★★★★
Denise says
This is super easy to make and very yummy! Serve with a salad and garlic bread. Better than any Italian RESTAURANT! Don’t forget a few candles!
★★★★★
April Anderson says
So happy you liked it!
Hara says
Made this recipes last night for my family. It was easy and fun to make. I like that I didn’t have to fry the chicken. The bread crumb topping was flavorful and crispy and was just as good baked. I used a sauce that had parmigiana and reggiano cheese in it which had great flavor tossed with spaghetti. Will definitely make this again. I also bought thinly sliced chicken breasts so it was quickly made.
★★★★★
April Anderson says
I’m so glad you liked it! Thanks for letting me know and for sharing your rating 🙂
Teri Kerr says
You initially mentioned mistakenly purchased thinly sliced boneless skinless breaststroke, but instructions talk about pounding out the beast. Will the thinly sliced breasts take as long as your recipe calls for?
April Anderson says
So, it depends on the chicken. I’ve made this many times since first posting it and sometimes the “thin-sliced” chicken isn’t very thin and needs to be pounded out. I wanted to be sure and include that in the instructions because the thickness matters. In terms of time to make the recipe, if you have very thin chicken pieces it will take less time to make. The 15 minute prep time includes the time to pound out the chicken – hope that makes sense!
Trish says
Can I make this with shaved chicken breast? Husband bought wrong chicken!! It is paper thin. All the recipes I see for shaved chicken breast are for varies sandwich types. We don’t care for sandwiches
Thank you, Trish
April Anderson says
Are they thin-cut chicken breasts? If so, they’ll work but they’ll need less cooking time and be smaller. Or you could double up on the chicken (use two slices) and that would work, too.
Tracy’s kitchen says
We didn’t have much left after making 20 of them. Not one person complained. So would I make it often no but it will be periodically.
★★★★★
April Anderson says
Glad you liked it!
Shanda says
Very good
Melissa @ Bits of Umami says
Literally laughed out lous when I read “How proud are you to contribute the 418,000th chicken parmesan roll-up recipe?” My thoughts exactly when I google anything I think to create and realize its been done countless times. These roll ups look amazing! It just took 418,000 times to get them right! PINNING!!!! 🙂
★★★★★
Medha @ Whisk & Shout says
I always google my ‘brilliant and totally original’ ideas and always find AT LEAST one result that’s identical. Well. It was original to me, okay? Jokes aside, this is such a lovely dinner idea and I love your pics 🙂
April says
Thanks, Medha! Google keeps me humble in the kitchen – I always laugh when I think I’ve come up with a totally original idea just to find out a million people have thought of it already! Although, that’s what I love about cooking – so many ways to put your own spin on things 🙂
Rosemary @anitalianinmykitchen says
Hi April, great job! Doesn’t matter what number you are these look amazing. Have a great weekend.
Thalia @ butter and brioche says
Love the combination of chicken, herbs and melted cheese. These chicken roll ups look so incredibly delicious.. and I bet they taste even better than their perfect appearance too!