The Secret’s in the Breading!
Everyone loves Chicken Parmesan! Whether it’s on a sub or on a plate of spaghetti, it’s delicious in every way! Unfortunately for us keto-ers, an order or chicken parm from our local pizzeria or Italian restaurant usually means trouble. From the sub or spaghetti to the breading and even the tomato sauce, you’ll find carbs all over this dish. What is a keto eating, chicken parm lover to do?!
The hidden carbs in the breading and tomato sauce are what we need to watch out for. Tomatoes are fruits that are high in sugar (not as high as, say, bananas, but nevertheless high). Their sauces are often full of added sugar as well, sometimes upwards of 10 grams of carbs per 1/4 cup, depending on the brand. It is incredible how many carbs are hidden inside a jar of tomato sauce! Ketchup alone is usually cut out of a low carb diet because of all the sugar that it can add to meals. A tablespoon of ketchup alone has 5 grams of carbs! Who knew those tomatoes could be so dangerous.
We love using Rao’s Homemade Marinara Sauce in most of our Italian/pizza/tomato sauce dishes. It’s low in sugar, has real, pronounceable ingredients and tastes great. It is on the expensive side, but we’ve found it more affordable to buy in bulk at BJ’s!
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The Secret to the Keto Breading
Now onto the breading! Traditional chicken parm is covered in a crispy outer breading. This alone can add 20-30 grams of carbs to your day, and that’s not including the pasta or bread that may come with it! We’ve got a way to fix that 🙂
We’ve experimented in the past with ways of breading chicken and fish to add a bit of different texture to it. We’ve used almond flour, coconut flour, Parmesan cheese and other forms of “crumbs” to achieve the texture of traditional breading. They were all close but had their downfalls. For example, almond flour peeled right off our baked chicken time and time again. However, we have finally found the perfect ingredient for breading chicken.
Enter: pork rinds.
Crushed up pork rinds make for an amazing breading! They add the much-needed crunch and texture we were looking for! We figured about a 1/2 oz of pork rinds per chicken breast as well as a tablespoon of Parmesan cheese crushed up in a NutriBullet would work well. And it did!
Our “breading” baked up into a lovely, crispy, golden-brown crust and stayed put- we were able to cut the chicken breast as any normal breading would allow. It could’ve fooled anyone!
Make this even more authentic by cooking up some spaghetti squash to go with your low carb chicken parmesan!
| Servings: servings |
- 1 oz pork rinds
- 2 tbsp Parmesan cheese
- 1 egg
- 1 lb chicken breast
- 1/2 cup marinara sauce
- 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
- salt
- pepper
- oregano
- garlic powder
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Crush up pork rinds and Parmesan cheese in a food processor or Magic Bullet. Pour out your "breading" into a shallow dish for later. Don't blend for too long, the mixture will become wet, you want it coarsely crumbed/ground.
- Lay some cling wrap over the chicken breasts (to avoid splatter) and pound them until they are an even 1/2 inch.
- This is to ensure the chicken is cooked evenly, without the edges being too dry and the middles being under-cooked.
- Beat an egg in a bowl and set it next to the "breading". Submerge one chicken breast at a time into the egg wash.
- Then press it firmly onto the breading dish, covering all sides well.
- Place the chicken breasts onto an oiled baking sheet and season the tops with salt, pepper, oregano and garlic powder.
- Bake in the oven for about 25 minutes. You should see a golden brown crust forming.
- Take the chicken breasts out of the oven and pour marinara sauce over each one.
- Top with a sprinkling of mozzarella cheese and place back in the oven for 15 more minutes so that the chicken finishes cooking and the cheese melts nicely.
- Once time's up, serve immediately with some spaghetti squash, zoodles or a bed of spinach! Enjoy!
Loved this recipe? Let us know! Something didn’t quite turn out right? Ask us in the comments below or contact us– we respond to comments every day and would love to hear from you and help you out! And check out all our low carb dinner recipes to learn to make more delicious and healthy meals!
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The content on this website should not be taken as medical advice and you should ALWAYS consult with your doctor before starting any diet or exercise program. We provide nutritional data for our recipes as a courtesy to our readers. We use Total Keto Diet app software to calculate the nutrition and we remove fiber and sugar alcohols, like erythritol, from the total carbohydrate count to get to the net carb count, as they do not affect your blood glucose levels. You should independently calculate nutritional information on your own and not rely on our data. The website or content herein is not intended to cure, prevent, diagnose or treat any disease. This website shall not be liable for adverse reactions or any other outcome resulting from the use of recipes or recommendations on the Website or actions you take as a result. Any action you take is strictly at your own risk.
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When do you use the Parmesan?
In the second step, you pulse the Parmesan cheese and pork rinds together to create the “breading”.
OMG! This is a very tasty recipe!! I am not sure how I lived without ever trying this! I have used boneless chicken thighs instead of chicken breast, but it turned out heavenly! My friend actually asked me to pack her more for lunch!
Delish and on point! My gf is extremely picky and does not like pork rinds so she was very skeptical. We both loved it so much we made another batch after the last bite!
Only difference is I put the seasoning in the bullet with the rinds and parm. I used Italian seasoning, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper.
Thank you for the great recipe and thank everyone for the positive reviews which gave us the confidence to try it.
Thant’s great to hear, Michael! Thanks for letting us know how much you enjoyed it 🙂 I hope you and your gf try out some more of our recipes!
Great recipe! I’m new to this low-carb odyssey & since I’m an avid cook I’ve been frustrated about what I can’t have anymore so finding tasty & good substitutes has been my ongoing quest. This was awesome! It really hit the spot. I can honestly say that this recipe is one of the better ones that I’ve tried. Thank you!
So great to hear you enjoyed it, Lynn!
https://fr.openfoodfacts.org/produit/3222473452613/sauce-napolitaine-casino
I used the sauce in the link. Only 6.5g carbs per 100g serving compared to 12 g of normal sauces. It has a very mild natural flavor. I’ll sweeten it up with truvia next time when I do eggplant parm Also, I had no cooking oil so I greased my baking sheet with coconut oil. It worked very well. My wife doesn’t like chicken breast but she loved it!
Thank you for a wonderful recipe.
I have been using pork rinds for years now I also use the flavored type for more kick vinegar lime for mexican dishes BBq flavor for sharachia fish and on and on of course my two favorites chicken parm and veal or chicken or pork Marsala
That sounds heavenly! Thanks for sharing the tip 🙂
Hi Vicky!
I tried your recipe last weekend, and it was so good that I’m making it again tonight!
But I have a question: Do you think this recipe can be done with meat sauce? Like adding some ground turkey to the marinara, or not?
I’m asking because my grandma will be eating with us, and she’s particular about her Italian food (she likes pasta + sauce, no extras) and is unlikely to eat the chicken parm. But I’m afraid that meat sauce will just be too much or taste funny.
If you don’t think it will taste right, then I’ll just make a separate sauce just for her.
I’m going to have to make separate pasta for her anyway because she’ll likely not want to easy the zucchini noodles I’m using either!
(The things we do for the ones we love!?)
Besides, I can always put extra meat sauce to good use.
Thanks in advance!
You can definitely add a meat sauce to this Chicken Parm! I’d recommend breaking up the meat into super small chunks so it still gives the flavor without the distracting texture.
The low carb chicken parm is my new favourite keto recipe, the chicken was super moist! I don’t like pork rinds at all, but you can’t even taste them! My mom and grandma loved it too??
Thanks for your comment! We’re so glad you and your family enjoyed it 🙂
I just started a low carb high fat diet after being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes (A1C 8.0) and it helps to have all of this info a search away, thanks for the recipes
How do you total out at 3g of carbs when spaghetti squash has 10g of total carbs per cup? Were your numbers only for the chicken?
Yep, this recipe is just to show how to make the Chicken Parmesan. We suggest spaghetti squash but you can also do cauliflower mashed potatoes, asparagus or cream spinach. Whatever you prefer 🙂
Sounds wonderful, I forgot about the versatility if pork rinds.
They’re truely magical 🙂
I made this last night and the whole family loved it! Thank you for the inspiration.
Glad you loved it!
Hi! I’m from Ecuador and I would like to know where can I find the marinara sauce?
Try your local store! If you can’t find marinara sauce, just get your favorite tomato sauce and this should still taste great!
That was so good ! I think I’ll eat it once a week! 🙂 thank you!
You’re very welcome, Nancy!
Yummy! I substituted pork rinds for almond meal and it was delicious! I also paired with cauliflower breadsticks and it was a great Italian substitute! Thanks for the recipe!
Sounds awesome! Glad you enjoyed!
Thanks for the recipe! I made it tonight and it was delicious, and super easy to make! Will be making it again.
It’s one of our favorite recipes! Glad you like 🙂
Why are the macros and calories so high? Would not think there is much in here that would shoot the calories up to 600 cal….
Hey Kathy, we happened to use quite a large chicken breast for this recipe, but if yours is smaller, you could adjust the protein to your liking – that would save a few calories. The pork rinds, Parmesan & mozzarella cheese plus some fat from the chicken breast all add up to a lot of calories as well.
Hope this helped! Feel free to adjust the recipe to reduce the calories a bit if you need!