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This easy Chicken Parmesan with Vodka Sauce is made with sliced jarred hot cherry peppers, vodka sauce, fresh mozzarella, and breaded chicken cutlets. Baked or air fryer!
Spicy Chicken Parmesan with Vodka Sauce
My baked Chicken Parmesan is always a hit! (I even have air fryer chicken parmesan and an Instant Pot version.) But I have a new obsession in my house – this spicy chicken Parmesan with vodka sauce. A delicious addition to my chicken breast recipes! I’ve been making it for dinner every few weeks per Tommy’s request. He loves this dish! The hot cherry peppers really make it! If you love hot cherry peppers, I also have this Chicken Breasts with Hot Cherry Peppers recipe.
Spicy Vodka Chicken Parm Ingredients
- Vodka Sauce: You can use homemade or store-bought – I prefer Whole Foods’ 365 vodka sauce which is lower in fat than many other jarred brands. Use the one you love, or just use marinara instead.
- Chicken Breast: Cut two 8-ounce chicken breasts in half lengthwise to get four thin cutlets.
- Salt to season the chicken
- Egg to coat the chicken so the breadcrumbs stick
- Breadcrumbs: I use seasoned breadcrumbs, my favorite brand is 4C. If you only have regular, add your own Italian seasonings, like dried herbs, onion powder, and garlic powder.
- Mozzarella: Buy four ounces of fresh mozzarella cheese and slice it into four pieces.
- Spicy Cherry Peppers: I like these jarred hot cherry peppers.
How to Make Vodka Chicken Parmesan
- Prep: Heat the vodka sauce in the microwave or on the stove, and add a little water if it’s too thick. Pound the chicken breasts to make them thinner, and sprinkle them with salt and pepper.
- Dredging Stations: Whisk one egg on a plate, and place the breadcrumbs on another. Put each chicken cutlet in the egg and then the breadcrumbs.
- Air Fryer: Spray both sides of the chicken with oil and air fry at 400°F for seven to eight minutes, turning halfway. Spoon the vodka sauce over the cutlets, top with half of the cherry peppers and one ounce of mozzarella, and sprinkle with the remaining peppers. Air fry at 300°F for another minute or two until the cheese melts and the chicken is fully cooked.
- Oven: Line a sheet pan with foil and preheat the oven to 450°F. Bake the breaded chicken for 20 to 25 minutes, remove the pan from the oven, and top the cutlets as instructed above. Bake them for another five minutes.
What to Serve with Vodka Sauce Chicken Parmesan
Serve this chicken parmesan with pasta like this penne alla vodka, zucchini noodles, or butternut squash topped with vodka sauce. It’d also be great with roasted vegetables, sauteed spinach, or an Italian Chopped Salad on the side.
Variations
- Cheese: Use shredded mozzarella in place of fresh mozzarella.
- Sauce: Use marinara in place of vodka sauce.
More Parmesan Recipes You’ll Love
- Chicken Parmesan Rolls
- Eggplant Parmesan
- Chicken Parmesan Lasagna
- Giant Zucchini Parmesan
- Chicken Parmesan Burgers
Spicy Vodka Chicken Parmesan
Spicy Vodka Chicken Parmesan is made with sliced jarred hot cherry peppers, vodka sauce, fresh mozzarella, and breaded chicken cutlets. Bake or air fry them!
Yield: servings
Serving Size: 1 cutlet with sauce
Ingredients
- ¾ cup vodka sauce, I used 365 jarred vodka sauce
- olive oil spray
- 2 8-ounce boneless chicken breasts, halved lengthwise to make 4 (16 oz total)
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup seasoned breadcrumbs, I like 4C
- 4 slices fresh mozzarella cheese, 4 ounces total
- 1/2 cup sliced hot jarred cherry peppers
Instructions
- Heat the vodka sauce and add a little water to thin if it’s too thick.
- Pound the thicker end of the chicken lightly to make thinner. Season with salt and pepper.
- Place in the egg, then into the breadcrumbs and pat well with the back of a fork.
- Shake and transfer to the air fryer basket or oven. Repeat with remaining cutlets.
Air Fryer Method:
- Spray both sides of the chicken with oil then air fryer 400F 7 to 8 minutes, turning halfway, in batches as needed.
- Spoon the vodka sauce over the cutlets then top with half of the cherry peppers.
- Top each cutlet with 1 ounce mozzarella, then sprinkle with remaining spicy cherry peppers. Air fry 300F until the cheese melts and the chicken is cooked through, about 1 to 2 minutes. Serve hot.
Oven Method:
- Place foil on a sheet pan. Preheat oven to 450F.
- Bake 20 to 25 minutes, until golden and cooked through in the center. No need to turn.
- Spoon the vodka sauce over the cutlets then top with half of the cherry peppers.
- Top each cutlet with 1 ounce mozzarella, then sprinkle with remaining spicy cherry peppers.
- Bake until the cheese melts and the chicken is cooked through, about 5 minutes. Serve hot.
Last Step:
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Nutrition
Serving: 1 cutlet with sauce, Calories: 386 kcal, Carbohydrates: 25.5 g, Protein: 39 g, Fat: 14 g, Saturated Fat: 6 g, Cholesterol: 154 mg, Sodium: 1456.5 mg, Fiber: 3 g, Sugar: 4 g
Finally tried this recipe. It is delicious. Looking forward to making it again.
How spicy are the peppers
Can’t believe I actually made these beautiful cutlets….they were delicious and were visually stunning!
Perfect!
Made with Boves vodka sauce and it tastes like I spent hours cooking instead of about 5 minutes before tossing it all in the oven. This entire website is a lifesaver and this recipe will be in my regular rotation for sure
This recipe has officially earned a top spot on my favorites list! I served it over zucchini noodles that I made with a zoodler and cooked for 5 min in a skillet with light olive oil, salt and pepper until some of the noodles were a little browned. I serve the chicken over the noodles to guests instead of pasta for a lighter, restaurant-quality touch. The flavors worked well together with the chicken. To round out the dish, I added broccolini to the pan, lightly sprayed with olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt. Roasted for 6 min on the high heat- it was the perfect complement.
I kept meaning to make this and finally made it tonight. Whole family loved it!! Used Calabrian chilies I had in the fridge instead of spicy cherry peppers — delish. Thanks, Gina!
Do you flip the chicken in the air fryer at 4 minutes and cook for a TOTAL of 8, or do you flip at 7 or 8 and continue for an additional 7 or 8 for a TOTAL of 15?
I am going to try this today. Looks yummy I don’t see where to add the parm though. So I will add it to the breadcrumbs
This recipe is a winner and is in our regular rotation, just like your first baked chicken parm recipe! I turned it into a sheet pan meal by using an xl sheet pan and added broccoli tossed in a little bit of olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder on the other half of the pan after the chicken had been cooking 5-8 minutes or so. Broccoli gets nice and charred at that heat being in so long. So good!
GREAT!!
My husband and I really like this recipe! It’s easy enough to make and really tasty.
Hi…I would love to make this gluten free…what brand of gluten free breadcrumbs would work best here? Thank you very much. 🙂
4C gf bread crumbs are great!
I just started weight watchers and this meal was delicious but felt indulgent and not a diet!
This recipe has rocketed to the top of our rotation of favorites. It’s phenomenal!
Thanks Aaron!
This is fantastic! Each breast has plenty of sauce and cheese so it doesn’t seem like some of the lighter recipes where I feel like there’s not enough flavor.
The recipe is delicious! However when I add the nutritional information for WW it totals almost double the point value than what is liated.
The recipe builder will give you accurate points (which I linked to in the recipe card)
Good taste but chicken turned out dry at that temp in the oven. Next time will do at 350.
I couldn’t find hot cherry peppers, so I used mild sweet ones and put chili pepper flakes in the vodka sauce. It was excellent! Served with angel hair pasta and Caesar salad.
This is delicious! My 17 year old daughter asks me to make this regularly. A definite winner.
Another hit!! 2nd night in a row of winner Skinnytaste recipes that are boyfriend approved! We had leftover white rice, so I served it over that instead of pasta. Can’t wait to try another either tomorrow or the next night!!
Great 🙂 will make again!
Great recipe! Very satisfying. Reheats beautifully in the air fryer. Will definitely be in regular rotation!
I made this last night for hubby for Valentine’s day. It was SO yummy! The spicy peppers really bring the taste and flavor together so don’t cut those out. It was super easy to make. We did oven style. Adding it to our weekly favorites for a little while!
Super tasty and easy to make! I did it in the oven. Couldn’t find cherry peppers but subbed other jarred hot peppers and left them off my toddler daughter’s portion. Planning on adding this to regular rotation!
I made this tonight minus the peppers and with jarred Raos vodka sauce. Delicious.
I made this tonight with jarred vodka sauce and it was delicious! I will definitely make again.
Easy and delicious. Had to switch a few things but turned out great.
We LOVE this recipe!!
Delicious! Family loved this one.
One of my new favorites!!
What would you recommend as a sub for the Hot Cherry Peppers? I have either fresh Fresno peppers, jarred Mezzetta pepperoncini or jarred Mezzetta Chicago Style Hot Giardiniera? The Giardineira are sometimes bit too much for my husband, even when just used sparingly on a sandwich, but he easily does poblanos on a taco.
Cooked in the oven and was fantastic. Really enjoyed the twist on a chicken parm type meal. We served it with whole wheat pasta.
Delicious and quick. Made this and enjoyed it. I had to make some modifications, not out of disregard fir Gina’s hard work, but due dietary needs. I used GF Breadcrumbs. I find GF Breadcrumbs to be too course, so I added seasonings and pulsed them in a blender to make them a lot less course. I used a gf pasta; ,Banza chickpea pasta. I couldn’t find hot peppers. Sorry, I’m lying, lol. I could only find them at Whole Foods, but they were very expensive, like 9.99 for a small jar. Too cheap to spend that much. I decided to buy sweet peppers and soak them in a little fried chili oil I found at World Market. Lastly, I used reduced fat Swiss cheese instead of Mozzarella because I had the former on hand and needed to use them. Despite all the changes I thoroughly enjoyed this meal. Served it with string beans & almond slivers.
Thank you Gina
Great!
We loved this! I did not have mozzarella but I did have a hunk of Grana Padano so I used thin shavings from the block of it to top off the chicken. Easy, crispy and the timing for the oven-cooking is spot on!
I love this recipe! It has just the right amount of hot and vodka sauce with the fresh mozzarella is perfect. I made mine in the oven
This was sooo delicious! Used my air fryer and loved the results!
This was SO good! I cant find hot cherry peppers in any store near me for some reason but I had calabrian chili peppers on hand and used them. It was delicious with a side of roasted brussel sprouts. Will definitely be making again.
Great!!!
Have made this in the air fryer 3 times. Does not disappoint. Juicy, flavorful and crispy. Even reheats well
Awesome!!
This was a really great recipe and will be part of our rotation going forward. I like that I can make it in the oven for winter and in the air fryer during the summer! (controlling house heat) To eat, it would be great in any season depending on the side dish. I was able to find non-dairy vodka sauce and non-dairy mozzarella for my portion and my husband had the full dairy (like the recipe) version. Both were really good and very easy to do. Thanks for a great way to make it seem like we’re both having the same dinner! (Sometimes I feel left out). This recipe easily scales up or down for more or less people and the ingredients are ones it’s easy to keep on hand. I froze the leftover vodka sauce in ice cube trays then emptied into a ziplock when frozen. That way, if I want to make just one for a lunch, it’s easy!
SO happy you enjoyed it!!!
This is Robin Porter replying to me, Robin Porter! It is now Dec 8, 2023 (!), a year to the day of this review above. I made it just tonight – it is still one of our favorite dishes and my family never gets tired of it. People say they are putting this in their rotation of favorites – but I wanted to give proof! This is one of our “Dinner in 15 minutes go-to” when I’m too tired to cook and too tired to go out! Had it tonight with just a side of steamed veggies. I also got a bulk pack of fresh chicken breasts from Safeway for less than $10 for 10 large breasts, so I now have chicken ready to go in the freezer, individually wrapped. For the two of us, it took about 1/3rd of a jar of vodka sauce, so I used the large silicon ice cube trays (freezes 1/4 cup per cavity) and froze the rest of sauce in there! I’ll empty the cubes into a ziplock and dole them out as we make the dish again. The peppers keep forever, so no worries there. Thank you, Gina, for this recipe!
Thanks Robin!! So glad you both enjoy this!
I just made this and it was so good! I’m freezing the leftovers next time I have people over for dinner this is what I’m serving!
You use the air fryer a great deal. I have a convection oven and it seems to work well with smaller items. Do you think it would work for a larger serving, such as this?
Sure
I just made homemade Vodka Sauce last night and was wondering what to do with the rest. Thanks Gina you solved my dilemma. Definitely making this.
I might make as the Sunday dinner, I just love vodka sauce! And actually I have pickled/jarred jalapenos….I think I’ll you that? Yum, thanks Gina
I was hoping for a recipe for homemade sauce rather than something from a jar.
I have an old recipe with penne here, you can see it in the archives
Awesome! I’ll link to it here but it might be convenient to put the link in the recipe as well. https://www.skinnytaste.com/penne-alla-vodka/
Rude
Yes!! Rude!! People need to have gratitude for these fabulous free recipes!! Seriously!!
Holy cow, chill. I had no intentions of making this because of the jarred sauce as it’s just my preference not to, but now that LA brought it up I can’t wait to make it with Gina’s vodka sauce. I didn’t know she had a recipe for it and I bet it’s perfect for this!