Grilled Chicken Parm Recipe (2024)

I wish the TImes would stop always specifying San Marzanos as if they're the only edible tomatoes. Do some blind tasting! There are canned Roma tomatoes from New Jersey (Sclafani, for example) and California (Hunts) that are every bit as wonderful as $5-per-can San Marzanos.

Can you make it with chicken breasts. My family doesn't like thighs.

Not sure I can agree with that Tom. A DOP San Marzano, even in the hand, has a softer, mellower feel and taste. I think suggesting San Marzano as the best way to go is not saying that other brands are "inedible" but rather acknowledging what the chef uses and what they feel as better. Always fine to substitute but not sharing the chef's preferred ingredient could put the dish off the mark.

This recipe is an adaptation of the one used at Speedy Romeo, and tested on home grills -- both gas and charcoal. And it's designed for INDIRECT cooking -- that is, not directly over the heat source. You don't want "a super hot grill." Not at all. And that, Mr. B, is easy to do at home.

Nowhere does the recipe say to season the chicken directly with salt, which kind of blows my mind. The early application of salt to poultry both seasons and tenderizes it, and I can't imagine enjoying this dish without doing such an application. I'm always so surprised when recipes don't encourage cooks to salt poultry early and liberally-- it's so transformative to chicken, yet it seems to be a trick only professionals utilize.

Marinated thighs in olive oil mixture reserving a little bit of it. I muddled thyme garlic & lemon for more flavor. Reduced my crushed tomatoes in a skillet on stove added garlic,little onion& sprig of basil. Preped everything in am. Used baby arugula, not sautéed but tossed in reserved oil. Made pasta which I stirred into some of the sauce. Mixed in toasted panko. I used direct low heat on my grill. To assemble -arugula, sauced pasta, more sauce, chicken with mozzarella. Yummy!

I agree. My grandparents were from Italy and never used San Marzano tomatoes. Our Sunday sauce was amazing with Redpack tomatoes in the can. Or Grandpa's fresh tomatoes from the garden. What is the big deal about San Marzano tomatoes other than being the most expensive and hard to find? I tried them many times and like other brands better for flavor and density. I do like the POMI brand from Italy in the paper carton. Very fresh and low acid.

I've never seen boneless chicken thighs with skin on in the grocery store. Do you have to de-bone them yourself?

Ann, of course. It's in the neighborhood of 6 to 8 ounces -- or 170 to 226 grams. That's on the stalk. If you're buying bagged kale, which is generally sold in pound units, I'd use half a bag.

I detest kale too, and am sure that sautéed spinach or broccoli rabe would be good substitutes. I wish that our national obsession with kale would be over already.

Of course you can. Just be careful not to overcook them. (Pounding them out slightly so they're of a uniform thickness will help.)

Can you be clearer about the amount of kale? "1 medium-sized bunch" is not helpful if you're buying either loose or bagged kale -- and I suspect many of your readers are. Personally I haven't seen a "bunch" of kale in my supermarket in quite a while. It would be incredibly helpful for all recipes to indicate weight!
This recipe sounds healthy & delicious. So, how much kale are you recommending?

Is it possible to cook this on a stovetop? It sounds wonderful, but I do not grill.

Delicious. I'm on the fence about the necessity of cooking the tomatoes over the grill in the pan. It's nice to have the extra space on your stove and the thrill factor of simmering sauce on a cookie sheet in your grill is definitely a thing, but unsure about the value of the outcome. Also, consider adding a sprinkling of oven dried crunchy bits of Kale (with olive oil,salt and lemon) on top at serving for color and another layer of interest.

I made this tonight and we all loved it. So sorry - a few tweaks, but maybe they’ll be helpful to others. We’re grill challenged, so I seared the chicken, skin side down, until golden brown and then popped them into a 425 degree oven for 18 minutes. I put the mozzarella on for the last four minutes. Per Kenji, I used a good low moisture whole milk mozzarella (Polly O). It melts much better than fresh mozzarella. I used spinach. Most importantly, I used Marcella Hazan’s tomato sauce.

I have a hard time finding boneless skin on thighs at my local grocery store I had to make it with skinless. I added some grated garlic to the sauce. I thought this was delicious and a healthy alternative to breaded and fried chicken parm. Next time I would add a little bit of salt to the chickens marinade. I added some sautéed green beans that I sautéed in the pan the kale was in while the chicken cooked and it was filling and so good! Love this one.

So to solve the canned tomato debate... just roast your own nice quality tomatoes (I confess I used a fresh garden small plummy sized variety). Cut them into one inch pieces (I used about three cups for two servings) and broil for 10 minutes; then add salt, plenty of roughly chopped garlic and a good handful of fresh (torn) basil leaves and bake on 250 for an hour or less. Truly Scrumptious.

Unfortunately this dish had virtually no flavor, even after I added more salt than was called for. Anyway, a chicken parm dish that involves no breaded chicken...should have raised my suspicions from the get-go.

Delightful. A number of different steps but worth it. I probably didn't broil the tomatoes long enough as the sauce was a bit watery. I used super greens as I didn't have kale and it was a fine substitute. Much preferred over breaded chicken parmigiana.

Very good. I just used pre made sauce since I live off grid and don’t have a food processor. I found the grilling method took a really long time, and eventually moved the chicken closer to the coals. Still, really yummy. And loved the kale base.

Where on earth do you get boneless chicken thighs with skin on?

San Marzano DOP tomatoes are the best for any Italian sauce. I appreciate that the chefs relayed this intel. I've tried numerous fresh and canned tomatoes, and nothing comes close for a great marinara.

The cooking times on this are wildly off. It took us over 45 minutes on the grill, only to find them still pink and we had to microwave them to be able to eat them.

I make this by rolling the thighs with cheese inside -grated parm, too- then skewering the rolled thighs -2 to 3 per skewer- and cooking on the cool side of my charcoal grill, with skewers suspended over the edge of my cast iron pan, with fire shut down to medium heat. I partly grill, partly smoke with alder, for about an hour. The result is perfectly cooked, nicely browned thighs that I then finish as recipe states. Suspending over pan ensures even cooking. They can be flipped halfway thru.

3 pans, a blender, a broiler, and a grill, yikes! Skip all that nonsense, do the kale in olive oil in a decent pot, pull it out when done, do the tomato in same pot, chop em up while they are in there. Throw the chicken on the grill, Bob's you uncle.

Thank you, Sam. I don’t think I will ever go back to breaded chicken Parmesan again. This was significantly easier and more delicious. I used what I had on hand, which was chicken breasts and chard from the garden. It was divine.

Kale substitute?

Used skinless thighs, worked out fine. In my little toaster/broiler oven, it took about 20 minutes for the Pomi diced tomatoes to reduce, but they tasted great! I put the cheese on the chicken after grilling, and popped the entire serving platter under the broiler for a minute to melt the cheese. Worked great. Due to family preferences, next time i'll leave out the greens and serve a salad on the side, but all the components worked well together. We'll make this again.

Made this tonight. It was great! Thanks Sam. I put the fresh basil from the garden in the tomato sauce instead of mixing it with the Kale. We'll have leftover sauce to use with pasta sometime.

Would like to use fresh tomatoes from garden. Would I use about 2 lbs in place of canned?