Lazy Girl Chicken Parmesan

Once upon a time, I was in high school.

My mom was a single-parent mom in the military and we were stationed in Germany. And my little brother was in elementary school and rocked frosted tips. Hey! It was the late 90’s people! The era of N’*Sync and Backstreet Boys!

I was a pretty good teenager. Of course, there were rough spots here and there. I was active in school, got good grades, was mostly responsible. And with a nearly 10 year difference between me and my brother, Ryan, I grew into a second mother role, and less of a sister role.

When we weren’t subsisting off of toaster strudel and lean pockets and I would occasionally actually want to make a half assed dinner, I would often find myself making a cheaters version of chicken parmesan.

I don’t know if you guys know this about me but I’m pretty much obsessed with chicken nuggets. I love them. I used to order the 20 piece from McDonald’s with 5 packs of sweet n’ sour and go to town. Disgusting, I know. Luckily, I don’t do that anymore but every now and then I find myself craving those little nuggets of goodness. And when we had a $5 off when you spend $15 on frozen goods, I loaded up on frozen greens and treated us to a box of Chik’n  nugs for “free”.

I’m pretty sure we found this recipe on the back of a chicken nugget bag at some point but it is genius and totally easy. And I already want to make it again.

So you line your casserole dish with nuggets. I used an 8×8 but back in the day, we rocked a 9×13 and could easily dominate it. I’m not proud.

Ok, maybe I am a little.

We used to use a jar of prepared spaghetti sauce but I don’t buy those anymore cuz we’re cheap but it would probably add some more flavor. So I’d recommend that if you have it.

Instead, I opted for a can of plain tomato sauce then sprinkle some herbs and garlic powder on top.

Yep, just pour it all over the nuggets. You want them completely smothered, and then some.

I think we used to make it by putting an entire bag of mozzarella on top but since I can’t do mozzarella, I put some goat cheese on there and that was actually really freakin’ good.

And it can’t be chicken parmesan without some parmesan. (I would have used grated if we had some but we didn’t.)

Throw it in the oven at 350* for 20 minutes. In the mean time, boil up some noodles to go with.

The thing I really like about this lazy-girl parmesan chicken is that a) obviously it is ridiculously easy but also b) it is ridiculously moist. The chicken is just so tender and the breading gets a bit soggy and somehow that makes it better.

This 8×8 gave us 3 solid servings but I’d be lying if I didn’t say I have been dreaming about this ever since we have it. I want more. I really don’t know what it is. I’m sure you could gussy it up with some fresh herbs or something if you want but really, the simplicity of it is what’s so fantastic.

And this will always make me think of my little brother. Who’s not so little anymore.