Chicken Parmesan Casserole

 

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Servings: 6

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INGREDIENTS:

• 1.5 lb. cooked chicken- diced (or almost 2 lb. thawed boneless chicken breast in the pan)

• 1 jar (28 ounces) of marinara sauce

• 1 ¾ cup shredded mozzarella cheese

• ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

• 1 ½ -2 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 cup Panko bread crumbs (or ¾ cup standard bread crumbs)

• Italian seasoned salt-to taste

• 1 ½ -2 tablespoons freshly chopped parsley for serving

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DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F and grease 8 ½ x 8 ½ inch casserole with olive oil or spray with cooking spray.

2. Place chopped cooked chicken in baking dish and pour marinara sauce over the chicken, stir to combine.

3. Spread shredded mozzarella cheese on top to cover the chicken.

4. Sprinkle with grated parmesan.

5. In a bowl stir together bread crumbs and Italian seasoned salt. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and stir well. If it seems to dry and the crumbs are not evenly moistened add more olive oil and stir to combine. It depends on the texture of bread crumbs you use. Finer crumbs will seem to dry and need more oil, flacked crumbs like Panko need less oil.

6. Sprinkle bread crumb mixture over the cheese and bake 20-25 minutes until bread crumbs get nice golden color.

7. Sprinkle freshly chopped parsley before serving if desired.

8. If you want to make this ahead and freeze for later DO NOT BAKE, just cover the casserole and place in the freezer. Thaw completely before baking.