Crispy Chicken Parmy - Budget Dinners

Crispy Chicken Parmy with Leftover Tomato Sauce

A fakeaway classic made from humble leftovers, this Chicken Parmy is crispy, cheesy, and smothered in rich tomato sauce. If you've been following along, you'll recognise the sauce from earlier in the week, it’s had time to deepen in flavour and now becomes the hero of this dish. It’s comfort food on a shoestring budget, but no one would ever guess!

Serves: 2
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes
Total time: 25 minutes
Special Equipment: Air fryer or grill (optional)

Let’s learn how to make it

This budget-friendly Chicken Parmy proves that you don’t need to spend a fortune to enjoy something special. With a crispy breadcrumb coating and bubbling cheese on top, it’s the ultimate end-of-week reward. If you’ve got leftover sauce from your bacon bone pasta, perfect. If not, any tomato sauce will do!

Ingredients

• 2 chicken breasts

• Tomato sauce (leftover bacon bone pasta sauce works beautifully – just reduce it a little if it's too thin)

• Cheddar cheese, sliced or grated

• 1⁄2 cup plain flour

• 1 egg (or a splash of vegetable oil if you're out)

• 1 cup breadcrumbs

• Salt and pepper

• A few leaves of iceberg lettuce to serve

Method

1. Prep the chicken:
   Slice each chicken breast in half horizontally, then flatten gently with a rolling pin or meat mallet. Season with salt and pepper on both sides.

2. Crumb coating:
   Set up three shallow bowls, one with seasoned flour, one with beaten egg (or a little veg oil), and one with breadcrumbs. Dip the chicken pieces first into flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs, pressing firmly to coat.

3. Pan-fry:
   Heat a pan with a little oil over medium heat. Fry the crumbed chicken until golden and crispy on both sides (around 3–4 minutes per side). Because you’ve flattened them, they should cook through quickly, but do check they’re cooked through.

4. Top & melt:
   Spoon some of your reduced tomato sauce over each crispy fillet, add cheese on top, and pop them either under the grill or into the air fryer (220°C for about 4 minutes) until the cheese is melted and golden.

5. Serve it up:
   Plate your Chicken Parmy with a handful of iceberg lettuce, this is pub-style comfort, made for less.

Chef’s Tip:
If you don't have any bacon bone tomato sauce don't worry, you can still make it from a cheap can of chopped tomatoes, add some herbs and saute off some onion and garlic, cook it down and season it and you’ll still get that same indulgent flavour hit.

Enjoy

Del x

If you are looking for the shopping list to make these 3 budget dinners you can find it here. Plus the Bacon Bone Pasta , which you use your leftover sauce for this dinner and also a winter warmer Pea and Ham soup.