I suppose someone somewhere can cook up a gluten free version of any food, but I am certainly NOT that person. Since our family went gluten free about three years ago, there are certain things I pine for and miss oh, so terribly. We can’t just go to a restaurant and have our favorite foods, either. We have to go to certain restaurants to get certain foods and it’s all so very sporadic.

But sometimes, my husband or I (usually my husband) will figure out a good (gluten free) recipe for a food not usually of the gluten free variety, and we all celebrate and ask him to make it again and again and again.

One of those recipes is for gluten free chicken parmigiana. Okay, so it may not be very traditional, but the crispy, fork-tender bites are delicious and safe for us to eat and the entire family loves when he makes it.

He starts with fresh or thawed boneless skinless chicken (either tenders or breasts), puts them in a clean food storage bag (one at a time) and pounds them gently with the side of a hammer (or, I suppose if you have a meat tenderizer, that would be more “official” or “classy” or something, but we don’t).

He has a bowl with a couple of cups of milk and a egg, beaten together, set to the side. Once each piece of chicken is evenly thinned, he puts it into the bowl to soak for a few minutes.

He then mixes up a bowl of gluten free flour (he likes to use half flour or baking mix and half tapioca flour because it’s fine and covers the chicken well), a couple of heaping spoonfuls of Italian Seasoning, a pinch of salt and pepper, and about a teaspoon of onion powder and garlic powder, and generously coats each chicken piece, patting it down to make it stick well.

While he’s coating the chicken, he heats up a large pan with oil on medium to medium-high heat, until a pinch of the flour will sizzle (letting him know it’s hot enough for the chicken). He fries the chicken pieces, a few at a time to avoid overcrowding, flipping them after a couple of minutes, until the chicken coating is golden brown and the chicken is cooked through. He then places them on a baking sheet covered with foil and tops each piece with pasta sauce and a generous helping of mozzarella cheese.

It’s then baked at 350 degrees for about ten minutes, or until the cheese is melty and you can’t stand not eating it anymore.

Serve it over your favorite gluten free pasta or rice and pity those who aren’t gluten free. 😉

Ingredients

• skinless, boneless chicken breasts or tenders
• 2 cups of milk
• 1 large egg
• two cups flour mixture (we use half brown rice flour/half tapioca flour, but you can use whatever you have on hand, including a pancake/baking mix like Pamela’s)
• 2 TBS Italian Seasoning*
• 1 tsp onion powder*
• 1 tsp garlic powder*
• salt and pepper to taste
• your favorite Ragu pasta sauce
• 1-2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

*make sure your seasonings are gluten free (we like McCormick’s).

Thank you to Ragu for sponsoring today’s post and inspiring us to discover our gluten free favorites.