Baked Chicken Parmesan

I have died and gone to Italy. No, really. OK, not really - I'm sitting in my kitchen in PA but it smells like what I would think Italy smells like. Enough of that, let's discuss this dish. This was too easy to taste as good as it did. I was skeptical about using croutons to replace the breading on the chicken but they were amazing. They were so crunchy on the top but soaked up the marinara sauce on the bottom to create the most melt in your mouth flavor. Really, the chicken didn't even have to be in this dish. Cheese, marinara and croutons - you've got yourself a winner. Also, I threw it together in under 10 minutes!

Ingredients:
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
hot red pepper flakes, to taste  (optional)
6 boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 cups marinara sauce
1/4 cup chopped basil
8 oz mozzarella, shredded
4 oz Parmesan, grated
1 (5-oz) package garlic croutons (I used Texas Toast brand Garlic & Butter)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Drizzle olive oil on the bottom of a 9x13 dish. Smoosh around the crushed garlic. If using them, sprinkle the red pepper flakes on top of the garlic and olive oil.

Place chicken on top. Then marinara sauce. Then basil.

Sprinkle 4oz of mozzarella cheese and 2 oz of Parmesan on top of the marinara. Top with croutons and sprinkle the remaining cheeses on top.

Bake for about 30 minutes - depending on the thickness of your chicken.

Serve over a bed of spaghetti.

recipe comes from Chef John at Food Wishes