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Peyton Beckwith
In the canon of chicken dinners, Chicken Parmesan is one of the best. I love ordering the dish—a fried cutlet blanketed with tomato sauce and melty cheese—at Italian-American restaurants, but hate making it at home. However, our very own Nicole McLaughlin’s Smashed Chicken Parm Texas Toast recipe changed my perspective. Her reinvention of the classic (seasoned ground chicken spread on toast and topped with marinara and shredded mozzarella) is now one of my favorite dinners to make. Here’s why the dish deserves a spot in your recipe rotation, too.
What Is Smashed Chicken Parm Texas Toast?
In lieu of the traditional breaded chicken cutlet, McLaughlin’s riff on Chicken Parm features ground chicken slathered on a store-bought garlicky Texas toast and fried like a smashburger in a pan with a little oil. The bread is then crowned with marinara and shredded cheese, which also melts in the hot skillet.
My husband (a huge frozen garlic bread fan) and I raved about the Smashed Chicken Parm Texas Toasts, which taste like well-seasoned chicken meatball open-faced sandwiches. It’s the perfect quick meal to throw together on a busy night or when you’re craving the Italian classic, but don’t want to go through the trouble of breading cutlets.
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How to Make Smashed Chicken Parm Texas Toast
Season the ground chicken with Italian seasoning, garlic powder, grated Parm, crushed red pepper, salt, and black pepper and spread the mixture on the Texas toast (no need to thaw the bread first). Heat a little oil in a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat and place the toasts, chicken side down, into the pan. Gently press down on the toasts with your spatula, like you’re frying a smashburger.
Cook the toasts for about four minutes, until the chicken is well seared and flips easily without sticking to the pan. Flip the toasts; turn the heat to low; and top each one with a spoonful of marinara and a layer of cheese. Cover the pan, turn the heat off, and let them sit until the bottoms are golden brown. Repeat with the remaining toasts!
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Tips and Variations
Patricia Kaowthumrong
- Be patient. Allrecipes community member lwm says “Easy to make and so tasty!” but recommends cooking the toasts for a little longer than directed in the recipe after flipping them (about four minutes instead of two minutes). I totally agree with this tip—leave your toast in the skillet until the cheese is melted and the bottom of the bread is nicely brown.
- Don’t crowd the toasts. How many you cook at once depends on the size of your pan, but be sure there’s space between the slices of bread to ensure you get a nice sear on the chicken.
- Use the air fryer. We threw a couple toasts in the air fryer—a great option if you don’t want to turn on the stove—and they crisped up nicely.
- Prep and freeze. This is a great make-ahead recipe. After spreading the ground chicken onto the Texas toast, put each one in a sandwich-sized zip-top bag, and freeze them until you’re ready to cook. Then all you have to do is increase the pan-fry time by a couple of minutes and top the toasts with sauce and mozz.
- Make meatballs instead. The flavorful ground chicken mixture just begs to be made into meatballs, which you can pan fry, air fry, or brown in the oven for pasta or sandwiches! Just omit the last four ingredients of the recipe and serve them with whatever sauce you want.
Get the recipe: Smashed Chicken Parmesan Texas Toast
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