- 3 eggs (pasture raised)
- ¾ cup almond flour (you can also use coconut flour)
- 1 tablespoon onion powder
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 8 boneless, skinless pasture-raised chicken thighs
- 2 tablespoons grass-fed butter, plus more as needed
- 1 jar organic tomato sauce (with no sugar added)*
- 8 slices mozzarella cheese (we've tried this with grass-fed cheddar cheese, which is also delicious)
- Mixed greens (organic)
- Organic extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar
- Preheat the oven to 450°F.
- Whisk the eggs in a bowl until frothy. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, mix together the almond flour, onion powder, garlic powder, red pepper flakes, and salt.
- Dip the chicken thighs into the eggs, then dredge them in the almond flour mixture.
- Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat.
- Place the chicken thighs in the skillet and cook until golden brown and the juices run clear, about 3 minutes on each side. Cook in batches, if needed, and add more fat to the pan as needed.
- Fill an oven-safe skillet (or 9x13-inch baking dish) halfway with the tomato sauce and place the chicken thighs in the sauce, cover with a lid or foil, and roast in the oven for 10 minutes.
- Uncover and top each piece of chicken with a slice of cheese (if using). Bake, uncovered, for 10 minutes more.
- Serve topped with fresh chopped basil (optional), and a side salad of mixed greens drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. More salad topping ideas: Cherry tomatoes, parmesan or feta cheese, macadamia nut pieces, candied pecans, or red pepper flakes. Have fun with it!
We usually make extra of this recipe so we have enough for leftovers. It also freezes well. If freezing, follow steps 1 - 6 and then freeze in an airtight container. Make a note on the container for the remaining steps needed after defrosting. Enjoy!
So, you thought you had to give up Italian food on The Wild Diet? Think again.
This classic Italian dish is so rich and full of flavor that you’ll never want to go back to a boring old plate of spaghetti and bread again.
Chicken Parmesan is one of my all-time favorite dinners. In fact, it’s usually my birthday dinner paired with a good quality glass of dry red wine, and maybe a bit of Alyson’s cheesecake for dessert.
It makes a romantic dinner for Valentine’s Day or other special occasions.
But this Chicken Parmesan is a far cry from what you might order at your local (or big chain) Italian restaurant. The “classic” recipe is coated in white flour and breadcrumbs, and then fried in processed industrial oils. Then it’s drenched in sugary jarred tomato sauce and served atop a bed of noodles.
Classic-style Chicken Parmesan is a carbohydrate disaster. This recipe is low-carb, gluten-free, nutritious and delicious.
Plus, it can be made Paleo and dairy-free by skipping the mozzarella topping, or nut-free by switching out the almond flour for finely-grated good quality parmesan cheese or coconut flour.
*If you want to make your own tomato sauce, here’s a tasty recipe we recommend:
Homemade Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 small onion (organic)
- 3 organic garlic cloves
- 1⁄4 cup fresh basil leaves
- 2 1⁄2 pounds organic tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons grass-fed butter or ghee
- 1 bay leaf
- 1⁄2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- Sea salt
Directions
1. Peel and dice the onion and mince the garlic cloves. Finely chop the fresh basil leaves. Set aside.
2. Bring a large stockpot half-full of water to a boil. Fill a large bowl with ice and water.
3. Working in batches, cut an “x” on the top of each tomato and drop in the boiling water for 10 seconds. Remove the tomatoes and plunge them immediately into the ice water. Slip the skin off each tomato and remove the seeds. Place the skinned tomatoes into a large bowl.
4. Pour the water out of the stockpot and set it over medium heat. Melt the butter in the bottom.
5. Add onion, garlic, and bay leaf and cook until the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes.
6. Add the tomatoes, basil, thyme, oregano, parsley, red pepper, and salt to taste.
7. Simmer on low until the sauce thickens, stirring occasionally, about 2 hours.
8. Cover and refrigerate for up to 5 days.
A Fat-Burning Tribe member made this dish for a luncheon with some very skeptical friends and family—and it was a huge hit!
Once you start leaving the noodles off the plate, you realize that all the flavor is in the other stuff. Ever try eating a plate of plain noodles? Pretty boring.
Try this recipe and you’ll see how delicious Italian food can be without the pasta… and if you’re looking for more simple and delicious fat-melting recipe videos like this one, join us in the kitchen for our Wild Diet Cooking Class!
Down and dirty, quick and easy, these are the meals we cook for ourselves every day. Try our favorite pumpkin bread, sample our bacon-wrapped scallops, and stock up on our delicious protein power cookies!
We’re not gourmet cooks, we’re just regular people in our kitchen cooking up good food—just like you! We cook for ourselves every day, so we thought we’d share everything we’ve learned about how to make some of our favorite foods healthy, gluten-free, and paleo-friendly.
Order the Wild Diet Cooking Class now and get 6 awesome bonuses absolutely FREE: including the Cooking Class Cheat Sheet, a done-for-you 30-Day Meal Plan, the Wild Kitchen eCookbook, and more!
Get the Cooking Class and all the bonuses now before the offer expires!
See you in the kitchen!
What other comfort foods can we make healthy for you guys? Comment below to let us know.
Julie says
Made this for dinner, so good, even the parmy connoisseurs though it was great. So a big thanks!
Abel James says
Woohoo! So glad you liked it, Julie. 🙂
Krystal Z says
This was SO amazing. Thank god for your recipes this “diet” has been a breeze and losing weight has NEVER been this easy or tasted this good. We will have our biometric screenings done at work at the end of February will be interesting to see how are number turn out.
Tiffany says
Wow. We made this tonight for us and our 4 children. It was so incredibly delicious, better than any restaurant. The kids loved it, too. Thanks for such an amazing, healthy recipe.
alicia says
I cook a lot and this is the best chicken parmesan I’ve tasted. You couldn’t tell it is made with almond. Sooo delicious! I’ve used a bottle of primavera sauce but added fresh basil. The mix with almond is enough for 6 chicken breasts so next time I’ll make less or add more chicken. Thank you for this recipe.
Abel James says
Wow, that’s a HUGE compliment Alicia. I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Alyson says
Thanks for the feedback Alicia. I agree, there was extra of the dry mixture. We adjusted the recipe so it should be the perfect amount now. It’s great to hear you enjoyed the recipe!
Gina says
This chicken was so delicious! I made the double batch for the 30 day meal plan but the leftovers may not last until lunch. Even my three-year-old was asking for seconds and thirds.
Jason says
This recipe looks great! Is there an alternate flour you could recommend for people who have tree nut allergies?
Shaunna says
I used coconut flour and it turned out great
Jason says
I just noticed the alternative to almond flour above. I should have read more closely. Sorry!
Abel James says
No problem, enjoy Jason!
Cindy says
This is ridiculously delicious! My 7 year old devoured it and licked his plate – between each serving! He’s asked to take leftovers for his school lunch tomorrow.
Abel James says
Awesome! So glad the kids love it, Cindy. 🙂
Micah says
We bought your book today at Barnes and Noble, where can we find more recipes?
Alyson says
Hi Micah, here’s where you can find more of our recipes:
The Recipe section of this website: http://fatburningman.com/category/recipes/
Fat-Burning Tribe (just $1 for your first month) — we have new meal plans each month along with an evolving Recipe Library: http://fatburningtribe.com/
Wild Diet Cooking Class — a series of cooking videos Abel and I whipped up for you: http://fatburningman.com/cooking/
We also have an app with Abel’s buddy George Bryant’s recipes here — Caveman Feast: http://cavemanfeastapp.com/
And we teamed up with the best cooks in Paleo to bring together The Fat-Burning Chef, which you can get here: http://fatburningchef.com/
Cheryl says
Being deathly allergic to alliums I will have to fix this recipe a bit with celery or asafoetida powder before eating but it sounds delicious! I was wondering how many of the cooking class recipes feature alliums, just so I know as reworking recipes does get tedious sometimes. Thanks!
Amanda says
This recipe was amazing. My picky 2 yr old even liked and had seconds. Thanks for this great recipe
Teresa says
Is it OK to swap chicken breasts for thighs? I noticed in most of your recipes they call for thighs.
Alyson says
Hi Teresa, yes – you can make it with chicken breasts. It’s delicious, but a little more dry than if you’re using the thigh. Let us know if you try it and what you think!
Patti H. says
This was delicious! I was skeptical about adding two full tablespoons of garlic and onion powders to the almond flour, but it didn’t overpower the dish at all. I also added a generous handful (didn’t measure it) of grated Parmesan cheese to the flour. I used eight boneless skinless chicken thighs, and ended up with lots of extra four mixture. (Next time I’ll probably make up only half.) I don’t know how many times I’ve tried to make chicken with a crispy browned crust and had it either fall off in the pan or end up soggy. This turned out perfectly crispy, stayed on the chicken, and held up really well in the sauce. I topped the finished chicken with fresh mozzarella and sprinkled it with some chopped oregano I had in the fridge. At the request of my family, this one’s going on the regular rotation. Thank you!!!
Alyson says
Yay! It’s great to hear the family enjoyed this recipe, and it worked well for you. We adjusted the recipe so you won’t have a bunch of leftover flour mixture. Thanks for the feedback!
Ruth says
Hi! My teenaged son made a decision to “go paleo” to lose weight and do something good or his health (so proud of him). I am in the process of learning new ways of cooking to support him in this new adventure and our family decided to go paleo as well to support him and better our health as well. I am always looking for new recipes to try and Chicken Parmesan happens to be one of our favourites. Your version looks absolutely delicious and I will try this recipe out tonight. So glad I discovered your website and look forward to trying many more of your amazing looking recipes. Love watching your cooking videos – I think you two are just great! 🙂 Have a blessed day!
FaylinaMeir says
I was super excited to try this. I normally don’t eat chicken anymore (funny since I used to refuse red meat!) but I had to have this. I did however make some changes to this. Firstly I only added 1/4t of salt which was more than enough. I also only used a teaspoon of onion powder and garlic powder in the breading. I also added some black pepper.
Frying the chicken in the pan was a royal pain in the butt LOL I was terrified I screwed it up because the breading didn’t stick very well. The chicken also took about 5 minutes per side to cook. I ended up just putting the pieces on-top before I added the sauce. This actually worked pretty good since the sauce hid the mistakes.
My sauce recipe is:
1 can diced tomatoes with juice
6 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 bay leaf
black pepper, red pepper, and salt to taste
I mixed and cooked until slightly reduced and then removed the bay-leaf.
On top I used a mix of shredded provolone and whole milk mozzarella (what I can buy in the stores) and I used about 6 ounces. I followed the cooking directions and then right before servings I added a cup of fresh shredded basil.
My husband was nervous as I went to take a bite (I’m super picky) and I’ll be damned… it’s chicken Parmesan! It blew my away. SUPER filling and I’ll be making this a lot.
M Sanders says
I make my crust with ground pork rinds – it is delicious and carb free!
Alyson says
Yum, that sounds amazing.
Barbara Schlatter says
The camera always was on you two, never on the chicken, lol ! Why ?
Thank you for the recipe !
Tricia Denning says
We recently made this with sweet potato noodles. It was awesome!
Cindy says
How can you eat one chicken thigh and be full? I would starve, what would you recommend as a side?
Alyson says
Serving size varies from person to person based on size and activity level. It’s best to focus on eating until you’re just about full, but not stuffed. I usually eat 2 thighs when we we make this, and serve it up with a giant salad.
Melissa says
I’ve been on the AIP for 30 days, and have been waiting to try this once I got back to regular paleo-ish (I allow myself cheese). It was even better than I imagined. All the flavors just blend so well!! I used coconut flour because it’s what I had on hand…and I couldn’t even pick up on any coconut flavor. Served it with zoodles and felt like I was eating at a fine Italian restaurant. Can’t wait to try more of yalls recipes! Thanks for sharing creative ways to fuel our bodies.
Cindy says
I have been on the ketogenic diet for almost 5 months and I am looking for more recipes…
Do you have the nutrition break down in your recipes, and or ebooks? as I must know the fat,
carb and & protein ratios…
I have made this twice now, its delicious. If possible could we get the nutrition values as well.
Thanks guys
you two are a hoot
Christine says
Made with coconut flour….it was awesome my whole family loved it!
Kim says
Yum! You two are so adorable together in these videos!! I’ve gotta make this.
Floranet says
Your work seems to be informative. Thanks!
Varun Sharma says
This is so amazing. I like it. Thanks for sharing this Italian recipe.
Giftbasketworldwide says
All your projects are very impressive. Looking forward to see what is next.
Sven Liebenhold says
Totally delicious!
I think this is the best chicken parm I have had…
Added a rustic mix of Parm, Romano, and Asiago + the mozzarella.
Thank you!!