Hi guys, I'm Laura Vitale on this episode of Laura in the Kitchen I want to show you
how I like to make a chicken parm meat loaf.
I shared a photo of my dinner not too long ago on Instagram and I had everybody asking
me for the recipe so I'm going to share it with you today, it's really easy and simple
but it's really delicious and great for company, it's something that you can put together really
quickly and everybody loves it, if you love chicken parm, which is the classic chicken,
bread, well bread and chicken or regular grilled chicken with sauce and cheese, then this is
the perfect recipe for you and you can make it for a lot of people in no time and no effort,
and there's no frying, there's not a lot of bread going on so it's low carb, which I've
been getting a lot of questions from you about wanting to see more low carb recipes and I'm
going to start sharing them with you.
But you do need a little bit of bread crumbs to keep it all together, but for two pounds
of ground chicken or ground turkey, you only need a half of a cup and it goes a long way.
Speaking of, let's go through the ingredients, you need ground chicken or ground turkey,
make sure it's not ground chicken or ground turkey breast, it's way too lean and not going
to give you enough flavor.
I've got a little bit of breadcrumbs and some Italian seasoning, an egg, some onion and
garlic, I've got some pre-made marinara sauce here, you can use store bought or homemade,
parmesan cheese and a little bit of salt and you're also going to need some more sauce
and some shredded mozzarella for the very end but not for right now.
I've got my oven pre-heated to 375F.
And I am ready to get going.
It comes together in like 5 minutes.
You just add everything in, so you've got your breadcrumbs, and your Italian seasoning,
one egg, marinara sauce, this is going to be flavor, and it's also going to help you.
Instead of adding an extra egg, I just like to add a little bit of marinara sauce and
it makes perfect delicious juicy yumminess of a meatloaf.
Then a good grating of parmiganno reggiano - I'm actually going to use my coarse grater.
A good grating of that.
You want about a quarter cup maybe, but you're also going to need some more for the top.
I'm going to grate in some garlic, you can also go ahead and chop it, but if you've got
one of these rough graters, then two for one because I'm also going to grate in some onion.
I love that onion flavor that you would get from a lot of marinara sauce on your chicken
parm, but I don't want to chop it in here because it'll be too coarse and I also don't
feel like sauteing it, so by grating it in you get a little bit of that onion juice,
a little bit of that onion flavor, but without any work whatsoever.
You just need about I would say a tablespoon or so.
And then just a really good pinch of salt, and then with your hands, you just go in and
you mix it all together until it's well combined.
Now, a meatloaf of this size, this is about 2 pounds of ground chicken, or ground turkey
whichever you choose to use.
It'll make a good six to eight slices, so it goes a long way and I'm going to serve
it with - you can serve it with pasta of course, you can serve it with cauliflower rice, you
can serve it with just simple green salad and a loaf of baguette, I mean it's just really
a lovely dish that you can serve with company or make it for just you and your husband,
you know you and your partner, or family and keep the leftovers to make killer chicken
parm sandwiches.
But without the chicken parm, you're just using a meatloaf, which is just as good if
not even better!
Okay, alright that looks good, I don't want to over mix it.
Bring my baking sheet closer to me, I've got a baking sheet with a little bit of olive
oil at the bottom just so that nothing sticks.
And now all that I'm going to do is just form this into a meatloaf.
Just like so.
Okay, and then what I like to do because I'm going to be topping this with some sauce,
I just like to run my fingers in the center and kind of make a little divot in the center.
Like that.
That way the sauce holds better a little later on.
Now a lot of people make meatloaf in a nine by five inch loaf pan, I don't do that because
I find it a little bit difficult to cut the meatloaf, and then especially if I'm using
beef, I like to do it on a baking sheet or even a slotted baking sheet so that the grease
can fall through because if I don't do that and I make it in a loaf pan, then the meatloaf
is swimming in its own fat and I don't want that so if you've ever been curious as to
why I make my meatloaf this way instead of a pan, which I've gotten those questions before,
now you know why!
Okay, this looks perfect and I'm going to pop this into my oven which I have pre-heated
at 375F for about 45 minutes and I will show you what it looks like when it's there.
Going to wash my hands first and pop it in.
I just took my meatloaf out of the oven, it was in there for 45 minutes and now what I'm
going to do is I'm going to top it with some marinara sauce, if it dribbles down the sides
that is perfectly fine.
I also have some extra that I'm going to serve it with.
Just like that.
And then you can top it with provolone, Asiago, mozzarella, a mixture of all of them, by all
means use whatever you have on hand.
Use whatever you prefer.
This is your meatloaf, I'm not telling you what to do.
Then I'm going to top it with some shredded mozz.
Right along the center.
How beautiful is that?
That just makes me happy to look at it.
And then freshly grated parm.
On top of there, and this is going to go back in for 15 to 20 minutes until all of the cheese
is melted beautifully, and I'll show you what it looks like when it's done.
It's a real beauty, I promise.
I mean, come on, once I put the cheese on it I put it back into the oven for 15 minutes
and it is gorgeous and perfectly ready to go.
Now what I have here is the tray I'm going to serve it in , and I like to layer the bottom
with some more marinara sauce, and I'm just serving it with some paparadelle but you could
use whatever side dish you want, like I said you don't have to use a side dish at all.
My mouth is salivating, before I transfer this I'm going to cut myself a slice because
I literally cannot take this anymore.
It looks ridiculous.
Let's cut into it.
It's going to be juicy and gorgeous.
Yes.
Oh, yeah.
Look how beautiful.
Look how beautiful!
Going to steal some of this sauce and this cheese.
Because why not?
You know what I'm saying?
I gotta cut into this right now.
It has a really beautiful crust on the top.
Mmm.
Oh my goodness, if you're really missing that crunch from a traditional chicken parm, what
you can do is you can put some breadcrumbs on top of the cheese and a small drizzle of
olive oil and that'll give you a nice crunchy topping, but it doesn't need it, it's so flavorful,
the meatloaf itself is so juicy, I mean it's just - it's absolute perfection.
Go to LauraintheKitchen.com to get the written recipe, I hope you've enjoyed sending time
with me, follow me on Instagram or social media if you don't, particularly Instagram
because that's where I show what I eat a lot, you know what I eat throughout the week and
sometimes it's things I've never shared here on Laura in the Kitchen that I just come up
with out of nowhere.
And if you request it then I'll share it with you.
So it's a good way for you and I to have conversations and kind of see what I'm up to on a day to
day.
I hope you've enjoyed spending time with me and I'll see you next time.
Bye!