Chicken Parmesan Muffins
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Chicken Parmesan muffins are an easy way to get all the flavors of the Italian-American favorite with a lot less time and work. Make these chicken Parmesan muffins for you family and watch them fall in love with every bite.
My husband is an enormous chicken Parmesan fan. He orders it at practically any Italian restaurant we go to. I find the traditional recipe to be a lot of work for an at home meal so I created these chicken Parmesan muffins. These muffins have all the flavor of the original but with a lot less time and effort needed to get them to the table.
What is Chicken Parmesan?
Chicken Parmesan (also known as chicken parmigiana) is a dish that consists of a breaded chicken breast covered in tomato sauce and mozzarella, Parmesan, or provolone cheese. Typically, the chicken breast is pounded thin before breading.
For these chicken Parmesan muffins, I use ground chicken in place of chicken breast and the breading is replaced with panko crumbs. All of the ingredients get mixed together and then baked in a muffin tin.
Mini Chicken Parmesan Ingredients
- Ground Chicken – Replacing the traditional chicken cutlet with ground chicken means there is no pounding or cutting involved with the meat.
- Egg – The yolk of the egg helps serve as a binder for the ingredients.
- Panko Breadcrumbs
- Olive Oil
- Garlic
- Onion – I usually use my box grater to grate the onion but you can finely dice it.
- Parmesan Cheese
- Fresh Mozzarella – You can substitute shredded mozzarella here.
- Marinara Sauce
These “muffins” have all the delicious flavors of Chicken Parmesan but with little to no work involved in actually making them. Plus, just like my meatloaf muffins, kids love the little size. Oh, and did I mention they freeze like a dream so you can make a double batch and keep some on hand for later.
Storage and Reheating
The muffins can be assembled up to one day in advance. Store in the muffin tin in the refrigerator until ready to bake. Remove from the fridge while the oven preheats.
These muffins can be baked up to three days ahead of time. Store the baked muffins in an airtight container in the refrigerator and reheat on low heat in the microwave when ready to serve.
You can freeze the unbaked or baked muffins. If freezing them unbaked, freeze in silicone cups in a muffin tin for an hour. Remove from the muffin tin and transfer to an airtight container or ziploc bag. Freeze for up to 3 months. Transfer back to muffin pan and let thaw prior to baking. To freeze baked muffins, transfer the cooled muffins to an airtight container and freeze for up to three months. Thaw before reheating for best results.
What to Serve with Chicken Parmesan Muffins
- Classic Caesar Salad
- Cucumber Salad
- Spaghetti
- Roasted Broccoli
These muffins are definitely a favorite in our house. My husbands favorite dish is chicken Parmesan but I rarely have time to actually make it so these are a great substitute that I can make even on weeknights.
More Great Italian Inspired Recipes
If you love these chicken Parmesan muffins, be sure to check out these other great twists on Italian classics:
- Chicken Parmesan Stuffed Zucchini
- Creamy Chicken Marsala Casserole
- Turkey and Swiss Lasagna
- Roasted Asparagus Carbonara
If you make these chicken Parmesan muffins or any other recipe from the blog, I’d love to hear about your experience. Let me know in the comments or snap a photo and tag it #MySuburbanKitchen on Instagram or Twitter.
Chicken Parmesan Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground chicken
- 1 egg yolk lightly beaten
- 1/3 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 small onion very finely minced OR grated
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese divided
- 4 ounces fresh mozzarella cut into cubes {1/2 cup shredded works too}
- 1/2 cup marinara sauce
Video
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 12 cup muffin tin with cooking spray or use silicone liners.
- In a small pan, heat 2 teaspoons oil over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and lightly sauté for 1-2 minutes. Allow to cool for 5 minutes.2 teaspoons olive oil, 1 small onion, 2 cloves garlic
- In a large bowl, mix ground chicken, egg yolk, breadcrumbs, onion mixture, dried herbs, salt, pepper and 1/2 cup grated Parmesan together. Gently mix with hands. {You can use a spoon but, honestly, hands work the best}1 pound ground chicken, 1 egg yolk, 1/3 cup panko breadcrumbs, 1 teaspoon dried basil, 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme, 1 teaspoon dried oregano, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, 2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- Fill each muffin cup about 1/3 full with meat mixture. Place one cube of fresh mozzarella one top of meat mixture in each muffin cup. Then, evenly divide the remaining meat mixture on top of the mozzarella.4 ounces fresh mozzarella
- Cover the top of each “muffin” with marinara sauce and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.1/2 cup marinara sauce
- Bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes or until fully cooked.
Nutrition
This is a great idea- my family will love it! Pinning!
MMMmm, these look perfect for a weeknight dinner. I like using my muffin tin for more than just muffins, so thanks for this recipe.
I love this recipe. I’m a big fan of muffin recipes partly because I have a two year old and we’re always on the go. We have a bunch of sweet muffins we eat for breakfasts, but this might come in handy for our lunch outtings. I love that you use ground chicken and just deconstructed the chicken parm idea! Such genius. Thanks so much for sharing this, Shannah! Glad I found you on ladies collective today!
Oh man, these look awesome! I totally need to try them. My toddler would LOVE these!
These look so yummy! Thanks for linking up with What’s Cookin’ Wednesday!
Boy, do these look fun! One of the problems I have with thinks like chicken loaf (or salmon) is by the time a larger loaf is done in the center, the outside is dry and crusty – this solves all that! They look delish…Thanks for bringing this by Throwback Thursday!
Mollie
These look wonderful. And what a terrific idea to do a TBT series. I’m featuring these at our weekly link party! http://www.thelifeofjenniferdawn.com/2016/02/bite-sized-recipes-for-desserts-and.html
Would this work with processed leftover chicken?
Do you mean leftover chicken that you chop in the food processor? I have never tried that but I certainly think it would work! You wouldn’t need to cook them as long though since your chicken is already cooked.
I really want to try this recipe. Are you using the mini muffin tin or the regular sized muffin tin? The picture looks mini. I would love to serve these as an appetizer next time I have company.
Hi – I use a regular muffin tin usually. You could totally use a mini muffin tin and just reduce the cooking time though. They would make great appetizers.
How do these freeze? Has anyone tried making a large batch for the freezer?
Hi! I have frozen them before and they do great. I have frozen them in muffin tins and also frozen them in silicone cups in the muffin tin and, once frozen, transferred out of the muffin pan to ziploc bags.
Looking very delicious.
Hello, Shannah! I make a variation of this with “Meatball Muffins” as we call them and once they’re in the muffin pan, I freeze and then put the frozen muffins into a gallon Ziploc. I’ve baked them frozen just by putting them into a muffin tin and baking at a lower temp for about 35-40 minutes. Can’t wait to try this recipe!!
What a good idea! Thank you for sharing!
“I always not only drain my meat, but rinse it with hot water. This will get all of the grease off. Then I leave it sitting in the collander over couple of paper towels for a few minutes to get as much water off as it can. Then I will bag or freeze it.
And we always do salt, pepper, and garlic in all of our ground beef recipes.”
I’d love to try to recreate some of their recipes! They look delicious!
Just wanted to say thanks for this recipe. I enjoy the firecracker chicken and having just attempted this for the first time, I have to say it tastes 99% the same! Would have never been able to figure out how to make it myself!
What can I substitute for egg yolk in this recipe since my son is allergic to eggs.
I have heard others have success with cheerios soaked in water or milk.