Chicken Pizzaiola is a cheesy and delicious family-style Italian meal. Golden-brown crispy floured and fried chicken cutlets, finished in a tomato and peppers sauce. This meal is all done in one shallow saucepot to make for an easy clean-up and a delicious dinner. Serve it over some spaghetti and your whole family will be ready for dinner.
I remember this dish was served at a restaurant I used to go to as a kid. Anything with peppers in I HATED. I would literally eat only the sausage out of sausage and peppers. I love this one for kids though because you can chop up the peppers however you like and it is quite possible they won't even notice they are there.
Chicken Pizzaiola is one that I will make for family and friends visiting or meal prep for the week. It's easy to make large batches of it! All you need is a larger pan and you can do this one for a whole party. It's something different than the same old chicken parmesan we have at EVERY. SINGLE. EVENT. But, it's still something everyone will like!
Here's what you'll need to make it!
- 3 chicken breasts, sliced in half
- 1 28 oz can peeled tomatoes pureed.
- 6 cloves garlic, whole
- 1 green pepper, sliced
- 1 red pepper, sliced
- 1 tbsp oregano
- 1 tsp salt
- ⅓ cup vodka
- 1 cup mozzarella
- 6 basil leaves
- chopped parsley for garnish
- 1 egg
- ½ cup flour
- salt and pepper for chicken
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Substitutions
Peeled tomatoes pureed. You can substitute a can of pureed tomatoes but I'm not a huge fan of the texture of canned pureed tomatoes, so I just puree the peeled tomatoes.
Vodka. Feel free to substitute white wine. Vodka gives a bit of a cleaner and less sweet taste than wine will give. Either is fine though.
How to make Chicken Pizzaiola
Don't think too much about this one. It's sauce and cheese. It's going to come out fantastic. Just follow along and you got this.
Frying the chicken
Start by seasoning both sides of the chicken cutlets with salt and pepper. Dip it in egg and coat it in flour. Don't do this too far in advance. The flour will soak into the egg and chicken and will not fry well.
In a large saucepan, add extra virgin olive oil and bring the pan to medium-high heat. Par-fry chicken in the pan until golden brown on both sides and then set aside. Don't worry about the chicken reaching 165℉ just yet because we will finish it in the sauce.
Developing the Sauce
After frying all the chicken in batches, add a little more olive oil to the pan and add peppers and whole garlic cloves. Saute for 5 minutes or until the peppers are glistening and still brightly colored. You don't want them to become soft or caramelized. Just slight black edges and bright-colored peppers.
Add the vodka to deglaze the bottom of the pan, scraping up any brown bits. Let the vodka simmer off until a thickened sauce develops on the bottom of the pan.
Add the tomato puree, basil, salt, and oregano, then bring the sauce to a boil, slowly. Then lower the heat and return to a simmer. Add the chicken on top of the sauce. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Then remove the cover, add the mozzarella cheese on top of the cutlets, cover, and simmer for 5 more minutes to melt the cheese.
Remove from the pan and serve. Serve the sauce over your favorite long pasta, like spaghetti or angel hair!
Chicken Pizzaiola is a great family dish. It gets the vegetables in for the little ones and it tastes great. I try not to "hide" vegetables from my son too often, but we do it with some foods! For his muffins, my wife always bakes zucchini or carrots in them. With Chicken Pizzaiola, if you chop up the peppers instead of slicing them, it will be like they're not even there!
Here are some other Classic Italian Restaurant dishes you should try!
Restaurant-Style Chicken Marsala
Restaurant-Style Chicken Francese
Pasta Primavera with Broccoli and Asparagus
Classic Linguine Alla Puttanesca
If you love this recipe for your family, please leave us a review or comment below! Follow us on Instagram @vindelgiudice or Tiktok @alwaysfromscratch.
📖 Recipe
Chicken Pizzaiola
Ingredients
- 3 chicken breasts, sliced in half
- 1 28 oz can tomato puree, or peeled tomatoes pureed I don't like the texture of canned tomato puree so I just puree the whole tomatoes
- 6 cloves garlic, whole
- 1 green pepper, sliced
- 1 red pepper, sliced
- 1 tablespoon oregano
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ⅓ cup vodka
- 1 cup mozzarella
- 6 basil leaves
- chopped parsley for garnish
- 1 egg
- ½ cup flour
- salt and pepper for chicken
- 3 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Start by seasoning the chicken with salt and pepper, then dip it in egg, and coat it in flour. In a large saucepan, add extra virgin olive oil and bring to medium-high heat. Par-fry chicken in the pan until golden brown and then set aside. Don't worry about the chicken reaching 165℉ just yet because we will finish it in the sauce.
- After frying all the chicken in batches, add a little more olive oil to the pan and add peppers and whole garlic cloves. Saute for 5 minutes or until the peppers are glistening and still brightly colored. Add the vodka to deglaze the bottom of the pan, scraping up any brown bits. Let the vodka simmer off until a thickened sauce is developed on the bottom of the pan.
- Add the tomato puree, basil, salt, and oregano. Bring the sauce to a boil slowly. Then return to a simmer. Add the chicken on top of the sauce cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Then remove the cover, add the mozzarella cheese on top of the cutlets, cover, and simmer for 5 more minutes.
- Remove from the pan and serve. Serve the sauce over your favorite long pasta!
Adi
Made it today smells delicious. Going to serve to good friend. I know will taste fantastic just by the aroma!