Baked Chicken Marinara

ByTammi Published Updated
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The Best Baked Chicken Marinara recipe is made with breaded chicken topped with a tomato basil marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese!

food, with Baked Chicken Marinara

I love finding new ways to sass up a family favourite meal. Especially when it’s an easy recipe. 

Take the classic Chicken Parmesan for instance. When I make this dish, I use whatever spaghetti or pasta sauce that I have on hand. Yet, I really have to spice it up to make it robust. 

A while back I had a jar of Marinara sauce to use up {from making my Zucchini Fries recipe}, and thought it would make a killer sauce for Breaded and Baked Chicken – score!

The flavour in this Baked Chicken Marinara recipe is THE BOMB. It’s the perfect weeknight meal.

So if you are looking for easy dinner ideas, I got you!

  • EASY RECIPE – With simple ingredients, this is a restaurant-style dinner that is made in under 1 hour.
  • FAMILY FAVORITE – The entire family will love this classic pasta meal.
  • HEALTHIER – This baked chicken dish is healthier than a fried version.

The whole family said it’s ‘better than our favourite pasta restaurant’.

In fact, the kids requested it again just a few days later for another weeknight dinner. Even the picky eaters!

I am a complete pasta-lover, so it’s no surprise that this has become one of my favourite recipes – ever.

Follow the recipe, complete with my tips to make one of our favorite recipes a success.

I’m sure it’s going to be your new favorite dish as well, and your go-to dinner often.

What’s the difference between chicken marinara and chicken parmesan?

They are quite similar, yet not exactly the same. Chicken parmesan is typically breaded and fried and typically uses a tomato sauce. This recipe is baked not fried and uses a marinara sauce instead.

Ingredients Required

This easy recipe takes simple ingredients. As always the full steps for making easy chicken marinara are on the printable recipe card at the end of the post.

  • boneless chicken breasts, sliced in half to make thinner chicken cutlets
  • breadcrumbs or panko bread crumbs
  • parmesan cheese
  • dried oregano
  • melted butter, or olive oil
  • shredded mozzarella cheese
  • marinara sauce
  • fresh basil for garnish, optional but recommended
steps to make Baked Chicken Marinara

How to Make this Recipe

Preheat oven to 450° and spray a large baking sheet with cooking spray. You can also line a baking sheet with parchment paper instead.

Have the pan right next to what will be the breading station, or the assembly line to coat the chicken and place on pan. You will want both at arms reach.

Combine breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese and oregano in a shallow bowl or deep plate. Melt the butter in a seperate bowl or deep plate.

Dip the chicken into the butter and then into the breadcrumb mixture, coating all sides of the chicken.

Place coated chicken on prepared baking sheet, and repeat with the remaining chicken pieces placing them in a spaced single layer.

Cook for 20 minutes, turning over if desired at 10 minutes.

For best results, use a meat thermometer to be certain the baked chicken breasts are cooked. The internal temperature of the chicken should be at least 165 degrees.

Remove the golden brown crispy chicken from the oven, and spoon marinara sauce on top of the chicken. Then top each with shredded mozzarella cheese.

Place the baking dish back in the oven and cook for another 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Top with fresh chopped basic, Italian seasoning, or additional parmesan cheese (optional), and serve.

chicken on pasta, with Baked Chicken Marinara

What to Serve with Marinara Chicken

We love to serve our favorite recipe with pasta such as cooked angel hair pasta, penne pasta, fettuccini or spaghetti. A side salad and garlic bread are always great options as well.

This tasty meal is great for special occasions to an easy weeknight meal.

Chicken Marinara Sauce Recipe

Marinara is a simple sauce seasoned only with garlic, crushed red pepper and basil. The seasoning for homemade marinara sauce is more robust and flavourful than a tomato sauce.

Tomato sauce (typically used in a chicken parm recipe)contains way more ingredients including vegetables and usually salt pork so the seasonings are more muted.

Storage

Place leftovers in an airtight container or cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for up to 3 days.

If you have leftovers for the next day, just add more marinara sauce to the bottom of a deep dish and re-bake until a desired temp has been reached.

When it’s done re-heating, I add more cheese to the top and bake uncovered until it melts. Yes, I said even more cheese. How could you not?

More Pasta Dishes

A plate of food on a table

Baked Chicken Marinara

Yield: 1
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes

Baked Chicken Marinara chicken pieces coated with Parmesan and bread crumbs, fried and covered with a tomato basil marinara sauce, and topped with melted Mozzarella.

Ingredients

  • 4 Chicken Breast, sliced in half to make 8
  • 1 cup Breadcrumbs
  • 1/3 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
  • 2 tsp Oregano
  • 3 tbsp Butter, or olive oil, melted
  • 3/4 cup Mozzarella Cheese, shredded
  • 1 1/2 cup Marinara Sauce
  • Fresh chopped Basil for garnish {optional but recommended}

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 450° and spray a large baking sheet with cooking spray.
  2. Combine breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese and oregano in a shallow bowl or deep plate
  3. Melt the butter in another shallow bowl or deep plate
  4. Dip the chicken into the butter and then into the dry mixture.
  5. Place on prepared baking sheet and repeat with the remaining chicken pieces.
  6. Cook for 20 minutes, turning over if desired at 10 minutes.
  7. Remove from oven and spoon marinara sauce over each piece of chicken and top each with preferred amount of mozzarella cheese
  8. Place back in the over and cook for another 5 minutes or until cheese is melted
  9. Serve warm oven cooked pasta noodles with a sprinkle of Basil

Notes

~ You have to half each chicken breast to make 2 - or else it won't cook evenly and you might have an undercooked middle with burnt edges.
~The chopped basil is optional yet it does give a really nice flavour to the meal, I would personally make a trip to the store to get some if necessary, I very much like what it adds to the dish

Nutrition Information:
Yield: 4 Serving Size: 1 Servings
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 562Total Fat: 26gSaturated Fat: 12gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 12gCholesterol: 151mgSodium: 1069mgCarbohydrates: 29gFiber: 3gSugar: 7gProtein: 50g

Did you make this recipe?

Please leave a comment on the blog or share a photo on Pinterest

© My Organized Chaos
Cuisine: American / Category: Main Dishes
A close up of a plate of food, with Chicken marinara and Sauce

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98 Comments

  4. This recipe combines all of my favorites, printing it off for the weekend. Thanks!

    Reply

  6. Oh this looks amazing, thank you so much for sharing! I guess I know what’s dinner tomorrow night!

    Reply

  8. When your family love, you know it’s a winner. Thanks for another great recipe Tammi!

    Reply

  10. This sounds really good, I just pinned it. Will definitely be on the menu once we get through the holidays! Love Chicken Parm!

    Reply

  11. Hubby loves veal parm but it is so expensive. Chicken has a nice texture and gives the parm flavour that he loves. I am stuck with my own recipe but I am giving this one a shot. Thank you.

    Reply

  13. Oh that looks wonderful. We love pasta in our house and this looks like an awesome recipe.

    Reply

  27. I love how quick and easy this is as compared to some ‘traditional’ chicken parmesan recipes. The end results looks and sounds delicious!

    Reply

  29. I’m a huge chicken parm fan, but I don’t make it very often (because I fry the chicken) I love this because it’s baked, and definitely easy!

    Reply

  30. Noodles and chicken are 2 of the few things my kids love. Inspiration for a future dinner.

    Reply

  31. This looks great and sounds very easy to make. I have to make this as I am a pasta lover too!

    Reply

  35. ive always thought chicken parm was a lot harder to make, this makes it seem so easy! Thanks for the great recipe

    Reply

  36. This looks so appetizing & fairly easy to make. And YES to more cheese please! (I pinned this recipe, thanks!)

    Reply

  37. Looks very yummy and I love how simple it seems to make. I am not a very advanced cook so I love things that look fairly easy to make.

    Reply

  45. marvellous! And to think there was no such thing as pasta for us as children, I can’t even remember there ever being rice, it was always potatoes. I really must make this – it’d be a double portion for me (one breast) but I’m sure I can freeze the other half for another day. Thanks so much for sharing.

    Reply

  48. Your dish looks so delicious, I am a pasta fan too. The recipe is pretty easy which is surprising because it looks so awesome. I know that Hubs would really enjoy this meal.

    Reply

  53. Bookmarking! It should be interesting to try… I never dipped chicken in butter prior to coating and baking… eggs, mayo, mustard, but never thought of butter…

    Reply

  58. I , too, love Pasta and this sounds like a delicious recipe. I love Basil as well. This would be a splendid meal on a Cold day for sure.

    Reply

  59. Sounds delish! I haven’t tried to make this one yet at home but will definitely give it a try.

    Reply

  63. Excellent post this looks really lovely and so easy so a sure winner for me and mine!

    Reply

  64. This looks delicious and is one of my favorite meals. I can’t wait to try this recipe.

    Reply

  65. Sounds good. Thanks for the tip about slicing the breasts in half – I think I’ll try that with some of my other chicken breast recipes too.

    Reply

  66. I know I’ll enjoy making your recipe because love Chicken Parmigiana and Pasta…you have included everything I love and with Marinara sauce and cheese..I’m in heaven!!!

    Reply
  72. Pingback: Baked Chicken Spaghetti - My Organized Chaos

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