The Secret’s in the Breading!

Everyone loves Chicken Parmesan! Whether it’s on a sub or on a plate of spaghetti, it’s delicious in every way! Unfortunately for us keto-ers, an order or chicken parm from our local pizzeria or Italian restaurant usually means trouble. From the sub or spaghetti to the breading and even the tomato sauce, you’ll find carbs all over this dish. What is a keto eating, chicken parm lover to do?!

The hidden carbs in the breading and tomato sauce are what we need to watch out for. Tomatoes are fruits that are high in sugar (not as high as, say, bananas, but nevertheless high). Their sauces are often full of added sugar as well, sometimes upwards of 10 grams of carbs per 1/4 cup, depending on the brand. It is incredible how many carbs are hidden inside a jar of tomato sauce! Ketchup alone is usually cut out of a low carb diet because of all the sugar that it can add to meals. A tablespoon of ketchup alone has 5 grams of carbs! Who knew those tomatoes could be so dangerous.

We love using Rao’s Homemade Marinara Sauce in most of our Italian/pizza/tomato sauce dishes. It’s low in sugar, has real, pronounceable ingredients and tastes great. It is on the expensive side, but we’ve found it more affordable to buy in bulk at BJ’s!

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The Secret to the Keto Breading

Now onto the breading! Traditional chicken parm is covered in a crispy outer breading. This alone can add 20-30 grams of carbs to your day, and that’s not including the pasta or bread that may come with it! We’ve got a way to fix that 🙂

We’ve experimented in the past with ways of breading chicken and fish to add a bit of different texture to it. We’ve used almond flour, coconut flour, Parmesan cheese and other forms of “crumbs” to achieve the texture of traditional breading. They were all close but had their downfalls. For example, almond flour peeled right off our baked chicken time and time again. However, we have finally found the perfect ingredient for breading chicken.

Enter: pork rinds.

Crushed up pork rinds make for an amazing breading! They add the much-needed crunch and texture we were looking for! We figured about a 1/2 oz of pork rinds per chicken breast as well as a tablespoon of Parmesan cheese crushed up in a NutriBullet would work well. And it did!

Our “breading” baked up into a lovely, crispy, golden-brown crust and stayed put- we were able to cut the chicken breast as any normal breading would allow. It could’ve fooled anyone!

Make this even more authentic by cooking up some spaghetti squash to go with your low carb chicken parmesan!

Low Carb Chicken Parmesan Final
Low Carb Chicken Parmesan
Votes: 76
Rating: 4.5
You:
Rate this recipe!
Print Recipe
Macros per serving:
• 600 Calories
• 32g of Fat
• 74g of Protein
• 3g of Carbs
Serves
2 servings
Prep Time
10 minutes
Cook Time
40 minutes
Serves
2 servings
Prep Time
10 minutes
Cook Time
40 minutes
Low Carb Chicken Parmesan Final
Low Carb Chicken Parmesan
Votes: 76
Rating: 4.5
You:
Rate this recipe!
Print Recipe
Macros per serving:
• 600 Calories
• 32g of Fat
• 74g of Protein
• 3g of Carbs
Serves
2 servings
Prep Time
10 minutes
Cook Time
40 minutes
Serves
2 servings
Prep Time
10 minutes
Cook Time
40 minutes
Servings: servings
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
  2. Crush up pork rinds and Parmesan cheese in a food processor or Magic Bullet. Pour out your "breading" into a shallow dish for later. Don't blend for too long, the mixture will become wet, you want it coarsely crumbed/ground.
    Crush pork rinds
  3. Lay some cling wrap over the chicken breasts (to avoid splatter) and pound them until they are an even 1/2 inch.
    Cover in cling
  4. This is to ensure the chicken is cooked evenly, without the edges being too dry and the middles being under-cooked.
    Pound chicken
  5. Beat an egg in a bowl and set it next to the "breading". Submerge one chicken breast at a time into the egg wash.
    Dip in egg
  6. Then press it firmly onto the breading dish, covering all sides well.
    Press into crumbs
  7. Place the chicken breasts onto an oiled baking sheet and season the tops with salt, pepper, oregano and garlic powder.
    Season chicken
  8. Bake in the oven for about 25 minutes. You should see a golden brown crust forming.
  9. Take the chicken breasts out of the oven and pour marinara sauce over each one.
    Add marinara
  10. Top with a sprinkling of mozzarella cheese and place back in the oven for 15 more minutes so that the chicken finishes cooking and the cheese melts nicely.
    Add mozzarella
  11. Once time's up, serve immediately with some spaghetti squash, zoodles or a bed of spinach! Enjoy!
    Low Carb Chicken Parmesan Final
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Loved this recipe? Let us know! Something didn’t quite turn out right? Ask us in the comments below or contact us– we respond to comments every day and would love to hear from you and help you out! And check out all our low carb dinner recipes to learn to make more delicious and healthy meals!

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The content on this website should not be taken as medical advice and you should ALWAYS consult with your doctor before starting any diet or exercise program. We provide nutritional data for our recipes as a courtesy to our readers. We use Total Keto Diet app software to calculate the nutrition and we remove fiber and sugar alcohols, like erythritol, from the total carbohydrate count to get to the net carb count, as they do not affect your blood glucose levels. You should independently calculate nutritional information on your own and not rely on our data. The website or content herein is not intended to cure, prevent, diagnose or treat any disease. This website shall not be liable for adverse reactions or any other outcome resulting from the use of recipes or recommendations on the Website or actions you take as a result. Any action you take is strictly at your own risk.

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Vicky Abrams
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