Known as Melt-in-Your-Mouth Chicken, Mayo Parmesan Chicken is oven-baked, skinless boneless chicken breasts coated with garlic, Parmesan, mayonnaise, and a sprinkle of Panko bread crumbs. A fast and easy-to-make recipe that's crunchy, moist, and tender baked mayo chicken breasts for a perfect weeknight dinner.
🐓Ingredients
Chicken breasts
Mayonnaise
Parmesan cheese
Italian Panko bread crumbs
Pantry ingredients—seasoning salt, garlic powder, black pepper
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Featured comment from Katherine:
"Five-stars. This recipe has been a go-to since you first posted it. Comes out melt-in-your-mouth perfect every time!"
You can never have too many great chicken recipes; this one has everything. It's extraordinarily moist, has a great taste of Parmesan, and a slight crunchiness. Plus, it has a skill level of 2/10. Anybody can handle this easy dinner recipe.
Sometimes called "melt-in-your-mouth" chicken, this baked garlic Parmesan chicken is perfect for a healthy low-calorie. And since it is a lightly breaded, it is also a great low-carb chicken recipe.
👨🍳How to Make Mayo Parmesan Chicken
Preheat the oven to 375° convection or 400° for a regular oven. Trim and pat dry skinless boneless chicken breasts. If thick, thin it to ¾ inch with a meat mallet.
Mix mayonnaise, Parmesan cheese (freshly shredded or grated preferred), seasoning salt, garlic powder, and black pepper.
Prepare a cooking sheet with aluminum foil (to help clean up) and a rack (not required).
Dry the chicken with paper towels. Dip the chicken in the mayonnaise Parmesan mixture.
Lightly sprinkle with some Italian bread crumbs on both sides.
Bake until an internal temp of 165°—about 40 minutes. At 20 minutes into baking, flip the breasts with a fork.
For more details, keep reading. See the Recipe Card below for complete instructions and to print.
Baked Chicken Recipes
Check out some of my favorite chicken breast recipes, like How to Bake Chicken Breasts in a Convection Oven, Baked Parmesan Crusted Chicken Breasts, and Pan Seared Oven Baked Chicken Breast.
🐓Ingredients options and variations
Chicken options
This recipe uses skinless boneless chicken breasts. You can use skinless chicken thighs, chicken cutlets, or tenders, but the cooking time varies.
TIPS: Try to use breasts of about the same size and thin if over ¾ inches thick. For other forms of chicken, cook to 180° for thighs for tenderness, but 165° for other chicken.
Mayonnaise options
Use good quality since cheaper versions may be more watery and not stick as well.
Other possible bases for the coating are Miracle Whip®️, Greek yogurt, sour cream, or even cream cheese. People worry about the mayonnaise taste, but even the "mayo haters" love it in this recipe—see the comments.
TIP: DO NOT apply the mayo layer too thick. It will lead to the coating not sticking well and "melting" off. A light coat only, please.
Cheese options
Parmesan cheese is the most commonly recommended cheese. Other cheeses like Ramono, cheddar, or Asiago may be used.
TIP: Grated cheese is usually used, but I prefer shredded cheese for added texture.
Bread crumb options
Panko-type bread crumbs will add some crunch. I prefer the Italian spiced bread crumbs, but use what you want.
TIP: Keep the bread crumbs light. You are not making "Panko chicken."
Seasoning options
Seasoning salt, garlic powder, and black pepper, but modify to your taste.
↕️How to make this a "for two" or "family size " recipe
The recipe is now set for two chicken breasts. But this is a very easy recipe to scale to any size. Make it for one, two, or a crowd.
- Use the recipe card and adjust the number of servings to the number of breasts you are cooking.
- Use the amount of ingredients in the ingredient list, not the instructions—those do not adjust.
- Cooking instructions remain the same.
🍴Serving
Serve with rice, potatoes, or noodles as a starch—hot vegetables like broccoli, brussels sprouts, or asparagus. A side salad and some crusty bread will round out a complete meal.
Check out these recipes for ideas: Roasted Asparagus with Parmesan, Oven Roasted Baby Potatoes, and Easy Dinner Rolls.
👨🍳How to get the coating to stick better
- Nothing sticks well to wet chicken, so dry the chicken before coating.
- The mayonnaise needs to be of good quality. Cheap mayo will have more liquid.
- The mayonnaise coating must be thin—too heavy of a coat will melt off the chicken.
- If the chicken is still partly frozen, it will release fluid, and the coat will fall off.
- Never pick up coated or breaded meat with tongs—it will rip off the coating.
❄️How to store leftovers
Store leftovers in an airtight container for 4 days refrigerated or 4 months frozen, but the crunchiness will suffer.
Reheat in a convection oven or an air fryer for best results.
❓FAQs and Tips
I'm adding a suggested flip of the chicken halfway through the cooking. Some (not me nor many others) have problems with a soggy bottom.
A couple of possibilities occur to me. First, previously frozen chicken or older chicken can release more fluid. Also, too much or thinner mayo could contribute. Or nothing they did.
Either way, the flip should help those cases and won't hurt. Use a fork for the flip. Tongs may remove some coating.
You can cook directly on PAM-covered foil, but it will have a soggy bottom. A rack will help prevent this.
I love cooking my chicken on a rack. You really need to get a rack. For a few dollars, you will become a much better cook. But get one that is "oven-safe." Some racks are cooling racks only and have a coating.
If your local store does not have them, Amazon will. I list a few in Cooking for Two Shop, but others will work.
If you have time, brining it will make the chicken more moist and tender.
The ratio for a brine is 2 cups of water and one tablespoon of table salt. Some people will add some brown sugar equal to the salt. Remember that all salt is not identical, and 1 teaspoon table salt = 1 ¼ teaspoon Morton kosher salt = 2 teaspoons Diamond Crystal kosher salt.
As little as 15 minutes makes a big difference. But you can brine for up to 2 hours if you want. This is a "heavy brine" in the amount of salt and matches the Cooks Illustrated suggestions. You may see longer brine times suggested, but please limit it to 2 hours maximum.
If you brine, be sure to wash off the salt gently. Also, instead of seasoning salt, use paprika in the coating.
Food safety
Raw chicken and other poultry should be considered contaminated and handled with care. Wash your hands carefully before and after touching raw chicken.
We do NOT wash raw chicken routinely due to water splatter. See Chicken... To Rinse or Not To Rinse? for more information.
You must cook chicken to an internal temperature of 165° for safety—see the USDA for more information. You need to check this with an instant-read thermometer.
Most recipes (including this one) include estimated cooking times. These are provided for planning purposes. You can not cook safely by time—you must use a thermometer.
📖 Recipe
Mayo Parmesan Chicken
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Ingredients
- 2 skinless boneless chicken breasts trimmed
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- ¼ cup Parmesan cheese - grated - fresh preferred
- ¼ teaspoon seasoning salt - Lawry’s
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ cup Italian Panko bread crumbs - Very light coat
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375° convection or 400° for a regular oven. Trim and pat dry 2 skinless boneless chicken breasts. If thick, thin it to ¾ inch with a meat mallet.
- Mix ½ cup mayonnaise, ¼ cup Parmesan cheese (freshly shredded or grated preferred), ¼ teaspoon seasoning salt (I used Lawry's), ½ teaspoon garlic powder, and ¼ teaspoon black pepper.
- Prepare a cooking sheet with aluminum foil (to help clean up) and a rack. The rack will help crispness all around. You can do without the rack, but the bottom will not be crispy. Give the rack a good spray of PAM. If you don't have a rack, they can go directly on PAM sprayed foil.
- Dry the chicken with paper towels. Dip the chicken in the mayonnaise Parmesan mixture. Be sure to get all surfaces coated. Finger use is allowed, but wash well before and after. Note: keep the coating light.
- Lightly sprinkle with some Italian bread crumbs on both sides. You are not coating them but just adding some crispy flavor—about ¼ cup for two breasts.
- Bake until an internal temp of 165°. This will vary by oven but mainly by the size of the chicken. At 20 minutes into baking, flip the breasts with a fork. The total cooking time of about 40 minutes for medium to large. 45 minutes for huge. Let rest for 5 to 10 minutes before serving.
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips
- Try to use chicken of about the same size. If over ¾ inch thick, flatten it out a bit with a meat mallet.
- Be sure to pat dry the chicken. Very dry. The coating will stick better.
- Keep the coating light and bread crumbs light. You may not need all the coating.
- I added a flip in the middle of the recipes. Some appear to need it. Use a fork, please. Not mandatory.
- Miracle Whip, Greek yogurt, sour cream, or even cream cheese may be used.
- Obviously, an easy recipe to adjust.
- Common problems: Not drying enough, too much coating, too many bread crumbs, cheap mayonnaise, previously frozen chicken will release more fluid.
- Be sure to cook to the final internal temperature of 165°. Or cook to 180° if using chicken thighs for tenderness.
- Storage for 4 days refrigerated or 4 months frozen, but the crunchiness will suffer.
- Reheat leftovers in a convection oven or air fryer.
Your Own Private Notes
To adjust the recipe size:
You may adjust the number of servings in this recipe card under servings. This does the math for the ingredients for you. BUT it does NOT adjust the text of the instructions. So you need to do that yourself.
Nutrition Estimate
© 101 Cooking for Two, LLC. All content and photographs are copyright protected by us or our vendors. While we appreciate your sharing our recipes, please realize copying, pasting, or duplicating full recipes to any social media, website, or electronic/printed media is strictly prohibited and a violation of our copyrights.
The "inspired by" for today goes to Melt in Your Mouth Chicken Breast at Food.com.
Editor's Note: Originally published December 12, 2012, it has been buried on the blog for a while and needs to see the light of day. The pictures are re-edited. The text is rewritten and buffed up.
Deana says
I cooked this for dinner tonight but I added the frenches onions on top with the bread crumbs and let me tell you it turned out amazing!! I will be making this dish many more times. The entire family lived it!! Thanks for sharing this recipe.
DrDan says
This is one of my favorites... Thanks for the comment.
DrDan
Mario says
Becoming a regular very quickly - yesterday you explained very well the rationale for unsalted butter.
Several of your recipes are intriguing with the use of a cooking rack. When I google baking racks the description is usually for cooling baked foods. Are these racks appropriate for oven cookin? What do you use? Do you have any suggested sources for cooking racks (and I would also want non stick type).
Thanks again - I have a good appreciation for the effort you provide in sharing tasty and easy to prepare meals. Mario
DrDan says
Hi again Mario, most cooling racks are "oven safe" but I suspect not all. I have several cooling racks with plastic coats. I have mostly nonstick and chrome racks that were labeled as either baking racks or oven safe. Mine came from Meijer's. Many are available from Amazon.
Dan
Mary Beth says
Delicious! Made this tonight and your oven baked Blackened Tilapia last night. Both winners! 2 for 2! Love the photos and the easy to follow recipes.
DrDan says
Thanks for the note. Keep working though them... about 400 to go... but you did pick two of the best.
DrDan
Laurie says
This is delicious, but I wanted it to be low carb, so instead of sprinkling with bread crumbs, I sprinkled with the powdered Parmesan cheese in a jar. It was amazing AND extremely low carb. Getting ready to try this with shrimp. Hope it's just as good.
E. clements says
Amazing! I am a newlywed and have zero experience cooking. Husband had no idea how well I could cook.
DrDan says
Thanks so much for the note and rating. Check out the recipe index for some other get ideas.
DrDan
Amy K. says
Just have to weigh in on this amazing recipe. This has become my go-to chicken recipe. Easy to throw together during the week, the coating keeps the chicken so moist and the flavor is SO GOOD. Thanks Dr. Dan!
DrDan says
It is so easy and never fails. I have lost count of the number of times I have done this.
Thanks for the note
DrDan
RR says
Hi!
Where did you buy the Panko bread crumbs that is in the picture above? I am having a hard time finding any brand of Panko Italian seasoned bread crumbs.
DrDan says
I think Meijer's but really don't remember. If you can't find them, just use regular Panko and it should be fine.
DrDan
Charlotte says
Thank you for creating this website, it's become my go-to for dinner recipes and I love the pictures, so helpful esp for a newbie cook like me. Tried this recipe tonight but the mayo and cheese mixture did not stick to the bottom of the chicken (i used the rack too), could it be that i put too much mayo? Other than that the chicken came out moist and tasty.
DrDan says
Thanks for the note. A heavy coat of the mayo could cause it or not enough PAM on the rack. I spray the heck out of it since I hate to scrub.
DrDan
Unknown says
This was DELISH! I would not add the salt next time because Parm tends to be salty, anyways. Also, after breading and flipping it to the second side, I piled the remaining mixture so not to waste incredible yummyness.
DrDan says
Thanks for the comment. I felt there was enough salt in the Lowery's. In some of my other recipes, I "piled it on" but didn't think about it here.
This is still a house hold favorite here since it has great taste and is very easy
DrDan
Sara says
This recipe is also good with boneless pork chops .I also use grated parmesan and sometimes I'll put a pack of ranch mix into breadcrumbs
Heather Clem says
I came across this recipe after looking at tons of other similar ones your variation seemed better. I like that you cook it on a rack so both sides are crispy and the seasoning you added no other recipes did that. I feed 9 and we just got tons of boneless skinless chicken breast very cheap and kids are complaining chicken again I made soups, tacos, sliced fried chicken breast but there tired of the same old dry chicken. My boys and me are excited to try this recipe, looks so fresh moist and yummy can' t wait for there feed back.
DrDan says
This is one of my wife's favorites and mine too. It is just so easy and tasty.
rae87 says
Made this for my family tonight. I was a hit. Tasted amazing and was really moist. GREAT recipe! Thanks
Kym Bozarth says
I just stumbled on this, looks delicious, making it right now!
Dan Mikesell says
It is one of my favorites.
Dr Dan says
To Unknown... I'm a "visual" guy and love big pictures to tell the story.
Samantha, I think the sprinkle of bread crumbs sets this apart. I had a similar issue with my wife. We had eaten two and a half of the three breast and were done. We usually treat the dog at that point and I reached for the half for him and got scolded since she was saving it.
Samantha Rickabaugh says
This is seriously amazing. It's taking pretty much all of my willpower and love for my husband to restrain myself from eating his piece. I've had this before but not the same recipe, and your recipe completely blows that out of the water.
Unknown says
Hello ...
Just want to say thank you for the recipie. The weird thing is...I didn't know, would never have guessed, that one can use mayonnaise i cooking!?
Tonight I cooked 3 small chicken (boneless/skinless) breasts. Following your recipie. Yes, they came out moist and really delicious. Who knew :-)
WOW!!!!
Unknown says
P.S I forgot to mention,...the photos came really handy. Thank you again
Patricia says
Fish is excellent this way too ... squeeze lemon on too and black pepper .. no breadcrumbs.. I do it plain with the mayo and some herbs.
Janice says
It does look great! Kind of a combination of 2 other chicken recipes I have - I'll have to try it!
marla says
This looks yummy though I do hate mayo. I may try a mixture of sour cream and some greek yogurt. TKU for sharing!
dawn says
My boyfriend absolutely HATES mayonaise so I slyly made this for him and he absolutely raved about it. Said it was the best chicken he has ever had.
Patricia says
You need the richness/oil of the mayo that is not in the yogurt. It will be very dry and tasteless with the yogurt. The mayo is non detectable and when cooked & does not taste like it does when it comes out of the jar. It just adds another dimension and richness. FISH is excellent this way too.. add lemon. Please try to mayo. YOU WON’T BE SORRY !!
(Is it mayo that you hate, or Miracle Whip? I don’t like Miracle Whip but it has its place in some recipes). Use a good quality/tasting mayo. I use Hellmans.