Crispy Parmesan Chicken With Ritz Crackers is the perfect easy and delicious weeknight meal. It’s easy, cheesy, chicken thighs baked to crispy perfection and served with a side of carrots for a healthy and balanced weeknight meal.
Chicken Parmesan is a great dinner dish to make for your kids and to serve the whole family. Chicken Parmesan goes great served with vegetable and you can top it off with some marinara sauce.
Ritz Parmesan Baked Chicken
Melt in your mouth Ritz Parmesan Baked Chicken is every bit as moist as fried chicken, but it’s as easy as baking it right in the oven! Using Ritz, or any other butter cracker, and parmesan cheese creates a to crispy golden brown crust as it bakes while Greek yogurt locks all the juices in!
My feelings about baked chicken!
You guys, this is the first baked chicken recipe I’ve added to this blog. To be honest, we don’t eat chicken very often. When we do we almost always use My Best 3 Ingredient Grilled Chicken recipe. Baked chicken usually seems rubbery and dry to me…not with this chicken though!
When I tell you this chicken recipe is completely melt in your mouth, ultra moist, and has spot on flavors that’s really saying something. Because my family isn’t the biggest baked chicken fans in the world! They gobbled this one right up!
This one is a must try chicken recipe!
Planning meals with reduced carbs.
I want to know if you serve a starch as a side dish for almost every meal?
We’ve been trying to limit our carbs a bit and it’s a huge adjustment for me. I’m used to adding Loaded Crash Potatoes, Three Cheese Mashed Potatoes, Simple Parmesan, Spinach, and Lemon Orzo, or Easy Parmesan & Garlic Dinner Rolls to every single meal. It’s the good stuff!
Vegetables are actually on of my favorite foods and they are typically included in every meal. Vegetables AND carbs. Not just vegetables. I’m having a hard time getting used to doubling up on the veggies and skipping the starches.
I know Ritz Parmesan Baked Chicken isn’t 100% keto friendly or carb free, but it’s close (I think) and that’s good enough for me! It’s completely scrumptious served with a cripsy green salad! With this recipe I didn’t really even miss those taters…at least not too bad!
How do I make ultra moist baked chicken?
The secret to keeping the chicken ultra moist in this recipe is plain Greek yogurt. Generously coat each chicken breast with plain Greek yogurt.
There are two benefits from doing this. First, it will help tenderize the chicken breasts. I don’t know the science as to why, I heard it somewhere and it works! Second, it helps seal all those juices inside as the chicken bakes. It’s magic!
How do I get a crispy crust on baked chicken?
After coating chicken in Greek yogurt, roll it in crushed Ritz crackers mixed with Parmesan cheese and parsley flakes and spices. Yes, you can use any other brand of buttery crackers. Or you can be adventerous and use any kind of cracker. Goldfish? I bet it would be tasty!
The next step is important! Set a slice of butter on each chicken breast! It will help create the most amazingly golden brown, and crispy crust ever! You can’t ever go wrong with butter!
What to serve with Ritz Parmesan Baked Chicken?
Well, like I said ealier I have a whole blog full of carb lovers side dishes to serve with this main dish! In the spirit of trying to limit that carby goodness here’s a few healthier, or at least less carby sides!
- Parmesan Roasted Green Beans
- Easy Grilled Zucchini Packet
- Marinated Cucumbers
- Tomato Herb Salad
- Buttery Garlic & Bacon Peas (please don’t tell me green peas have loads of carbs because I want to believe they don’t!)
- Dilly Dip and Salad Dressing with a relish tray
- Cheesy Broccoli and Bacon Dip with Celery Sticks or Peppers
RITZ PARMESAN CHICKEN
A quick and easy family friendly meal that is packed with flavor and everyone will love!
Life is pretty busy lately with a newborn around the house. My life revolves around her schedule. And she seems like she is eating all of the time. Her cute little cheeks and thighs are proof of that and she is so dang cute! I feel like I am just getting into the routine of things and made a goal to have a meal every night for my hard working hubby. 🙂
I love, love, LOVE finding meals like this one. It is ready in just 30 minutes and is so easy to throw together. The flavor of this chicken was fantastic! It had a crunchy ritz and parmesan outside and the chicken was juicy and tender. It tasted so good it was hard to believe it was so easy. It instantly turned into one of my top favorite recipes. The entire family loved it. This is one we will be making over and over!
RITZ PARMESAN CHICKEN
A quick and easy family friendly meal that is packed with flavor and everyone will love!
PREP TIME: 10 MINUTES
COOK TIME: 20 MINUTES
TOTAL TIME: 30 MINUTES
AUTHOR: ALYSSA RIVERS
SERVINGS: 4 SERVINGS
Ingredients 1x2x3x
- ▢4 chicken breasts boneless skinless
- ▢1/4 cup mayonnaise
- ▢1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
- ▢30 Ritz Crackers about 1 cup, finely crushed
- ▢1/4 cup parmesan cheese grated
- ▢2 teaspoons basil leaves dried
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with foil and spraying with cooking spray.
- In a small bowl mix together mayonnaise and lemon juice. In another bowl, mix together crushed ritz crackers, parmesan cheese, and basil.
- Dredge the chicken in the mayonnaise and then coat them in the ritz crumbs. Place the chicken on the baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes or until chicken is cooked throughout and no longer pink.
The Best Oven Baked Chicken Breasts!
These oven baked chicken breasts combine two of my all time favorite recipes and are made in 5 easy steps! A quick assembly makes them the perfect mid-week meal. Moist and flavorful this chicken has a golden, crunchy, buttery coating.
Chicken is the most common type of poultry in the world and one of the most popular proteins to cook. I would bet you have many recipes in your culinary arsenal, but this is definitely one you need to add. Last night I was in the mood for my parmesan chicken (schnitzel), but I had no eggs. So of course it got me to thinking how I could rectify that without going to the store. For years I cooked a similar chicken recipe without the flour mixture and breadcrumbs. Well, why not combine the two recipes and lo and behold it is perfection!
Oven baked chicken breasts are so easy to make it lends itself to a quick weeknight dinner. The chicken is so moist and flavorful from the butter and all the seasonings. It has a crunchy coating with a buttery taste from the crackers, golden brown from the panko and a light salty bite from the parmesan cheese. I promise this will become one of your new favorite ways to cook chicken.
The Method Of Oven Baked Chicken Breasts
INGREDIENTS:
- thin cut chicken breasts
- flour
- garlic powder
- paprika
- kosher salt
- fresh ground pepper
- butter
- grainy mustard
- Dijon mustard
- Ritz crackers
- Panko breadcrumbs
- parmesan cheese
DIRECTIONS:
Step 1: pound out the chicken breasts to 1/8-1/4 inch.
Step 2: dredge each chicken breast in the flour mixture. (flour, garlic powder, paprika, salt and pepper)
Step 3: pass the floured chicken breasts through the butter mixture. (butter, grain mustard, Dijon, garlic powder, paprika and pepper thoroughly emulsified)
Step 4: coat the buttered chicken breasts in the breaded mixture (Ritz crackers, Panko and parmesan cheese)
Step 5: let coated chicken breasts rest for 20 minutes in refrigerator, then bake at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes.
Cook’s Notes:
TIPS FOR SUCCESS:
Thoroughly emulsify the melted butter, mustards and spices by whisking or using an immersion blender.
Make sure to let the chicken breasts rest before baking. This allows everything to adhere properly.
RECIPE VARIATIONS:
Try chicken tenders or little chicken nuggets. Serve with a honey mustard dipping sauce or BBQ sauce and your kids will love it.
SERVING SUGGESTIONS:
I love a good mashed potato with this, but other alternatives that would be great are my Irish Shamrock Pub Salad, Fingerling Potatoes or my Artichokes Au Gratin.
STORING:
This chicken will stay fresh in a refrigerator for 2-3 days if wrapped in an air tight container.
Wrap in cling wrap, then foil and freeze for 2-3 months. When ready to use, defrost completely and reheat in an air fryer or in the oven until warmed.