Lemon Chicken Romano
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This cheesy Lemon Chicken Romano is comfort food at it’s best! You get these thin chicken cutlets that are coated with romano cheese, extra crispy panko bread crumbs, fresh oregano and lemon zest then they are pan fried in olive oil to a perfectly golden brown color.
And then they’re finished off in the oven with mozzarella and provolone cheese melted on top. Talk about abundance of deliciousness!
The Crispiest Lemon Chicken
If you love the crispy coating on fried chicken then you won’t be able to resist this chicken! Rather than being breaded in flour this version is bread in panko crumbs and fried in olive oil, then it’s finished cooking through in the oven. I just can’t get enough of that crispy crunch!
And there’s a lot more flavor here than in southern style fried chicken, so if you were to ask me to pick one over the other I’d definitely go this route!
So what’s with the name Lemon Chicken Romano? It’s not really a thing just something I threw together based off the ingredients in the recipe :). But now it’s a thing and you’re going to love it!
Ingredients You’ll Need for this Recipe
- 2 larger chicken breasts
- Panko bread crumbs
- Mozzarella, Romano and Provolone cheese
- Fresh oregano and (optional) parsley
- 1 lemon
- Garlic powder
- Olive oil
- Egg
- Flour
- Salt and pepper
How to Make this Lemon Chicken Romano
First you will slice the chicken breasts through their thickness horizontally (thicker breasts will work better here), then let rest at room temp 10 minutes.
Then pound the chicken to even the thickness.
Then whisk together the egg and flour and one dish and the panko, romano, oregano, lemon zest and pepepr in another dish. Dredge the chicken in the egg mixture first to act as the glue then the panko mixture second. PACK on those crumbs!
Pan fry to coated cutlets at a time in half of the olive oil until golden brown on each side. Then repeat with remaining two.
Transfer to baking sheet (really you don’t need parchment that was mostly for look here and even the spray isn’t a must). Cover with each with a mound of cheese.
Then bake until cheese is nice and melted and the internal temp of chicken is 165. Serve warm with lemon wedges for serving and minced herbs.
Variations on this Recipe
- If you don’t want to use fresh oregano you could use dried. I’d use 1 tsp in the panko then just skip adding any at the end. You could also just use an Italian herb blend if that’s what you have on hand.
- If you don’t want to buy three kind so of cheese you can omit the provolone and just add more mozzarella or vice versa.
- Then if you want to cut the calories down a bit you can omit the cheese topping altogether, but don’t skip the baking step because the chicken still needs that time to cook through.
This is one of those recipes you won’t want to lose! It does require a few steps but it should go pretty quickly, and the end result is worth the few extra dirty dishes.
Just be sure to serve these with the lemon wedges because that generous spritz of juice is what brings a lot of the fresh lemon flavor here. And for a simple side serve it with steamed asparagus or broccoli.
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Lemon Chicken Romano
Ingredients
- 2 (8 - 9 oz each) boneless, skinless chicken breasts, halved through their thickness, and pounded to 1/2-inch thick
- 1/2 cup (2 oz) shredded Whole Milk Mozzarella cheese
- 1/2 cup (2 oz) shredded Provolone cheese (or more mozzarella)
- 1 large egg
- 1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup Panko bread crumbs
- 1/3 cup (packed, 1.25 oz) finely shredded Romano cheese
- 1 Tbsp minced fresh oregano, plus 1 more tsp for garnish
- 2 tsp lemon zest (from about 1 lemon)
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 4 lemon wedges for spritzing each serving (you can just use the one that was zested)
- 2 tsp minced fresh parsley (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sprinkle each side of the chicken cutlet lightly with salt and let stand at room temperature 10 minutes.
- In a shallow dish, whisk together flour and egg until smooth. In a separate shallow dish, toss together Panko bread crumbs, Romano cheese, oregano, lemon zest, garlic powder and 3/4 tsp pepper.
- Pat chicken dry with paper towels then working with 1 chicken cutlet at a time, dredge chicken in egg mixture coating both sides and allowing excess to run off, then immediately transfer to Romano mixture and coat both sides with mixture, while pressing to allow plenty of crumbs to adhere.
- Transfer chicken to a plate and repeat process with remaining chicken cutlets. Pour olive oil into a 10-inch non-stick skillet and heat over medium-high heat.
- Once oil is shimmering, add 2 coated chicken cutlets and fry without moving them until bottom is crispy and golden brown, about 2 minutes, then using metal tongs rotate to opposite side and cook until golden brown, about 2 minutes longer.
- Transfer chicken to a rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment or spritzed with non-stick cooking spray, repeat process with remaining 2 pieces of chicken.
- Toss together Mozzarella and Provolone cheese and sprinkle in a mound over chicken
- Transfer to preheated oven to bake until internal temperature registers 165 degrees on an instant read thermometer, about 8 - 10 minutes.
- Remove from oven, sprinkle with remaining 1 tsp oregano and the parsley if using and serve warm with lemon wedges for spritzing over each serving.
- Recipe Source: Cooking Classy