Servings: 4 Prep: 10 mins Cook: 12 hrs Total: 22 mins
A few months ago, my mother sent me the recipe for Chicken Piccata and said it was a favorite of my fathers. The recipe was actually my mother’s twisting of Giada de Laurentiis’s, which is, itself, probably a twisting of Veal Piccata. In any event, I tinkered with it to make it low-carb, then added it to my site. It was really quite popular! SO popular, in fact, that I went back and asked my mother for another suggestion. This time, she came back with Parmesan Crusted Chicken {Hellmann’s Mayo Recipe}, which is, itself, a twisting of the recipe from Hellmann’s recipe.
Here we have my re-tooling of THAT particular recipe!
Because there is so much fat from the mayonnaise, I decided that it’s a super juicy and flavorful recipe, no matter how you slice it. So, I chose to butterfly it. This will allow it to cook that much faster and give a little more surface area for the toppings. It also just makes it look like a much bigger portion that it is. Optical illusion!
Also, because breadcrumbs are considered dark and evil within a low-carb landscape, I needed to replace them with SOMETHING. It’s so common for people to use almond meal, in place of flour and/or breadcrumbs. I decided to go with hazelnut flour for 2 reasons: 1. I frankly prefer the taste and 2. to be different. NORMALLY, I LOVE the way hazelnut flour works in recipes, but … in this instance, the end result was a bit of a speckled mess. It was absolutely delicious and was devoured within seconds of the photo being taken, but I confess to not loving the appearance of this particular chicken recipe. It looks like someone dropped it at the beach. A lighter almond meal, or even crushed pork rinds, will certainly yield a more attractive chicken dinner, but I’m not convinced that it will TASTE any better.
No matter what you do, though, smothering seasoned chicken with mayonnaise, parmesan cheese and almond meal, hazelnut flour or pork rinds, the end result will be a luscious taste explosion!
Photo Note: The photos are taken with Roasted Spaghetti Squash and Marinara Sauce.
Thanks, Mom! ☺
Parmesan-Mayo Baked Chicken Butterfly
Print RateIngredients
- 2 tsp fresh oregano (thyme rosemary, sage and/or marjoram), chopped
- 1/4 cup parmesan cheese grated
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 4 each boneless chicken breasts (or equivalent thigh meat - skin optional)
- 2 tbsp hazelnut flour
- salt and fresh cracked black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 450 F.
- Mix together your chopped herb and parmesan cheese with your mayonnaise in a bowl. Set aside.
- Butterfly your chicken breasts, so that they are thin sheets of chicken.
- Lightly season both sides of your chicken with salt and pepper.
- Place your chicken on a baking tray with a rim.
- Evenly spread your mayonnaise mixture on each chicken breast.
- Evenly dust your chicken with your hazelnut flour.
- Bake for about 12 minutes, or until your chicken is cooked through.
- Serve!
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* Learn More: More about this recipe and nutrition …
Instead of ‘butterfly’, which you don’t explain, but which I assume means slice horizontally, pound your chicken breast. This is the traditional way to get it thin.
Hi Me Again, Yep! I suppose that’s true. I didn’t explain butterflying. Yes, though, you’re correct. Split it horizontally, but without slicing all the way through. Open it like a book, which will result in a shape similar to that of a "butterfly". It’s a fairly common technique. From there, you can pound it even thinner, if you’d like! I often do this by placing it between two sheets of plastic wrap and whacking at it with the bottom of a pot. This will make it thinner, tenderize it and increase the surface area. Just don’t do it so much that the meat becomes unrecognizable! Sorry for neglecting to include this in the original recipe!
Very tasty and healthy recipe. My wife makes this but uses Almond flour. Hazelnut would be a nice change-up.
We just had this for dinner. It was so moist and tender. Used a little almond flour instead. At the end, broiled for a few minutes to crisp the almond flour on top. Then added a little more parm. Served with roasted veggies and garlic coated in coconut oil and the same spices for the chicken. Baked in a separate pan along side the chicken. Family loved it so it now is marked as a fav…Great way to get the benefits of thyme and rosemary…
Made this for dinner last night. It was delicious!!
I’m glad to see everyone enjoying this so much! 🙂
hi i was wondering if you could substitute this with almond flour over hazelnut flour?
Sure can, Nicole! No difference, really. I just happened to have the one and not the other.
hey there! found your site through pinterest- I’m totally stoked about it, too! I am doing an eating plan called Trim Healthy Mama and well, I see loads of recipes here that are on-plan for me! yay! newest fan! ok- caffeine much tonight. sorry. at any rate- I make a variation of this recipe, and I sub in 1/2 almond flour and 1/2 flax meal (about 1/2-1 c total)(flax meal is GREAT for weight loss) I also use a bit of extra herbs- like parsley to help punch up the flavor w/ some red pepper flakes for color- so pretty!
Welcome Megan! I’m likewise stoked you’re finding some good options! 😉 I’m usually pretty close, if you’ve got any other questions or comments. Great little tips in your comment. Thanks for that. Again … WELCOME! 🙂
This sounds amazing but I don’t have fresh herbs. What would be your recommendation for dried? We do a lot of business entertaining, and eat out often. Keeping fresh herbs around sounds lovely but isn’t practical for our lifestyle. Thanks!
Hi McDonna, typically the suggestion is to use 1/3rd the amount of dried herbs. Because they’re little more than the same herbs, without water, they’ve got a concentrated flavor. So, I’d suggest a scant tsp of dried herbs (technically 2/3rds of 1 tsp). Just enough to give it some character, but not so much that all you taste is herbs. I hope this helps! Ah, while I’m thinking about it … what I do is buy the fresh herb blends at the store. I’ve found that I never need a lot of fresh basil, or oregano, but … there are little fresh herb packs called "chicken" or "pork", and these have several different herbs within them. These always get used. I just pick them apart and use them individually. The heartier herbs like thyme and rosemary tend to last for quite a while. Just a thought. 🙂
I loved this chicken,but the skin was soggy. I made it again without skin and it was much better !
Debby, I think that makes sense. With the breading and everything else, the skin wouldn’t have time to render out and get crispy. I’d never thought of that. Thank you for pointing it out!
My mom did a similar thing with Tilappia. I think you could sub sole or similar whitefish
DJ – do we spread the mayo & dust the nut flour on BOTH sides of the chicken, or just one? Thanks!
—Reply posted by DJ on 6/3/2015
Hi Julie. Just the one side. Sorry for the confusion! :/
I have used a similar recipe but sub plain Greek yogurt for the mayo.