Chicken Parm Shell Taco
A totally new way of eating everyones favorite Italian American dish, this chicken parm shell taco uses the chicken as a vessel to shovel the pasta and meatballs right into your face! These are the flavors you know and love- crispy chicken, savory meatballs and pasta, parmesan cheese and so much tomato sauce. All inside a handheld package! A package of chicken!
The idea for this recipe
A lot of you have been asking, and yes, I obviously tried the Naked Chicken Chalupa. I would say within the first week or so. I mean come on. It looks like something I would have come up with here on TFimB. I really liked it, but I wanted to make my own version. I came up with the idea of using chicken parm as the shell and filling it with meatballs, pasta, cheese and basil and got to work. In the end, this is really just a handheld version of the classic dish. I was laughing as I was eating it thinking that it is almost as if I made a plate of chicken parm and then decided to pick it up and eat it with my hands. It was a really fun new way to eat one of my favorite foods.
Forming the chicken parm shell
Slice the chicken breast in half the long way as seen below.
Then pound it out between two parchment paper sheets.
Pound it out with whatever blunt object you have around. I used my potato ricer. Make an effort to make it round if you can, and you can trim it up later. Nice and thin so it can fold later!
Frying the chicken
Bread the chicken and fry it. Yum! This is a typical breading of flour first, then egg, then a breadcrumb-parmesan mixture. Making sure it is nice and large and thin is key to making great chicken parm shell tacos
Just a shallow pan fry, flipping the chicken when it gets brown.
Make the spaghetti and meatballs
I just made these with my favorite recipe. I usually have some of the sauce in my freezer ready to go anyways.
You think I made enough? You only need one meatball and about 1/2 cup of pasta per taco.
Build up the chicken parm shell tacos
Build the chicken parm shell tacos with meatballs first, then pasta, then cheese and basil.
Serving the chicken parm shell tacos
Wrap the The chicken parm shell tacos parchment to help it hold the shape. Then serve immediately!
These are really fun to eat. A handheld chicken parm!
The chicken parm shell taco has all the flavors you know and love from the classic dish just served in a new way. Check out the video for the whole process!
Twists on this dish
I think it would be fun to make this with other pasta flavors. Chicken piccata would be awesome! You could also do a lot of shortcuts here. Store bought meatballs, store bought tomato sauce. I am sure you could even get some nice thin chicken cutlets and have a fun family dinner night making different chicken shell tacos!
I love making fun twists on chicken parm. Check out my chicken parm sliders on pasta buns, or this chicken parm scotch egg! I also love this epic double chicken parm with spicy giardiniera!
Chicken Parm Shell Taco
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 chicken breasts
- 4 eggs
- 2 cups flour
- 2 cup breadcrumbs
- 1 cup grated parm
- 2 cups prepared spaghetti and tomato sauce
- 4 meatballs also in the tomato sauce
- 1 cup grated mozzarella cheese
- 1/2 cup chopped basil
Instructions
- Cut the chicken breast in half the flat way so you have two thinner pieces of chicken. Place a piece of wax paper on the counter and place a piece of the chicken onto it. Top with more wax paper. Pound the chicken either with a kitchen mallet or really any blunt object. Be gentle and try and make it as round and thin as possible. The thinner the better. After you are done, you can cut some of the edges off to make it more round.
- Put the flour and eggs into 2 seperate shallow bowls and season with salt and pepper. In a third bowl, mix the breadcrumbs with the cheese.
- Dip the chicken into the flour to evenly coat. Shake off the excess. Next dip it into the egg and allow the excess to fall off. Finally coat with the breadcrumbs and make sure to fully cover and coat.
- Put about an inch of oil in a frying pan and bring to 375. Fry the chicken about 3 minutes on each side to brown and cook through. Remove from oil onto a rack or plate lined with paper towels and season with salt.
- Cut the meatballs into quarters and add to the top of one of the chicken rounds. Next add the pasta, then the cheese, then the basil. Form into a taco shape and wrap with parchment paper to hold the shape.
Think if I tried this with eggplant it would be strong enough to hold the pasta?
Stop! I need this right now! Looks so good ?
Thanks for sharing this fantastic recipe. I am going to try this.
Very good recipe. Had a little problem folding my chicken but guess it depends on a chicken and practice.