Tasha’s Chicken Parmesan Bake

Charlie, our daughter, has been in our lives now for six months. My husband, Ronnie, and I both work pretty demanding careers in sales. 

Neither of us plans to give up our careers at this point, nor do I see our ambitions waning. What does this mean? The marathon of Monday through Friday is our new normal, and to be honest between wake up, daycare drop, working out, work, playtime, dinner time, and finally bedtime, there’s not a ton of space in our days anymore. So we have to be pretty optimized to get through. 

The weekends afford us the luxury of time, time to reset our home, our fridge, our nervous systems, and most importantly, time for us to spend time doing the things we love – for me, that’s cooking, creating, and writing. 

One of my new things is preparing “bakes” (ahem, casseroles) each week, so we have healthy-ish, homemade-ish, dinner options ready to go from freezer to dinner table with absolutely zero effort in under an hour.

I give all the credit to my bestie Tasha for teaching me the art of the bake. She’s the best. 10/10 recommend putting “have a bestie like Tash” on your bucket list.

Okay, so today, I’m going to share with you one of our favorite weekly dishes, the Chicky Parm.

Serves: 6

Prep time: 20 minutes

Download recipe: here

What you’ll need: 

• For Chicken Parm Dredge

  • 2 lbs chicken tenders

  • 1 lb fresh mozzarella, sliced

  • 2 cups italian bread crumbs

  • 2 cups parmesan cheese, shredded

  • 8 tbs olive oil

  • 1 tbs oregano

  • 1 tbs red pepper flakes

  For Casserole Base

  • 1 lb bag of five cheese tortellini

  • 4 cups marinara sauce

  • 1 cup broccoli florets, chopped

  For Garnish

  • 1 cup parmesan cheese, shredded

Instructions: 

• Preheat your oven to 350°F.

  • First, get your chicken parmesan dredging station ready

    • Cover the bottom of one bowl in olive oil, you will use this instead of an egg wash. Cover the bottom of the other bowl in breadcrumbs, oregano, red chili flakes, and parmesan cheese, stir to mix thoroughly.

  • Next, prepare your casserole base in the baking dish

    • Coat the bottom of your baking dish with marinara sauce (~1.5 cups), and unload the tortellinis and chopped broccoli over the sauce, cover your tortellini and broccoli mix with more sauce (~1.5 cups).

  • Now, you’re ready to dredge your chicken, and place in baking dish

    • Dip one chicken tender, front and back, in olive oil, until fully coated. Then, dredge in your bread crumb mixture, pressing the chicken tender firmly into the bread crumbs, and turning once or twice until , pressing each time, until fully coated. Once coated, rest chicken parmesan tender atop your tortellini and broccoli in the baking dish. Repeat until all chicken tenders have been dredged and placed in baking dish.

  • Next, finish your chicken with marinara and mozzarella topping

    • With all of your chicken tenders sitting atop the tortellini and broccoli dish, pour more marinara sauce over the top (~1 cup) and add 1-2 mozzarella slices on each tender, to taste.

  • Finally, you’re ready to bake! (or stick in the freezer for a rainy day)

    • Bake at 350°F for ~45 minutes, or until cooked through (Chicken is cooked through at an internal temperature of 165°F) and the mozzarella on top is starting to crisp. (If you decide to freeze the casserole, bake at 350°F for ~90 minutes).

  • Note, this comes out piping hot, so let it cool before serving, and serve with a sprinkling of cold, shredded parmesan cheese on top!