Lower Calorie, Lower Carb Chicken Parm that still tastes good.

welcome back to episode 3 of the lower-calorie series today we are covering the lovely chicken parmesan first we'll make the classic deep-fried restaurant version to establish a baseline of calories and more importantly understand the underlying techniques of how it's made then we'll analyze where we can make lower calorie substitutions while maintaining the same volume of food and the highest level of taste adherence to the original version in addition this lower Cal version is significantly lower in carbs as well as it has 23 less grams of carbohydrates so let's learn how to make it hey everyone I'm Ethan a home cooking nerd who likes to find better ways to cook and share them with all of you this morning I woke up to 100,000 subscribers which is pretty nuts considering that two weeks ago we were just around 20k and so I just got to say a huge shout out to everyone who has liked commented subscribed and decided to follow along in this journey I've never been more motivated to provide you the best in practical and functional home cooking content but anyway today's video is all about chicken parm let's hop into the restaurant style version first so here's what a classically deep-fried chicken parm may look like first the chicken is sliced in half without going all the way through so it opens like a book which will promote even cooking this is generously seasoned with salt and then set aside while we set up a classic breading station - one plate plain flour is added to the second plate beaten egg and to the final plate panko bread crumbs along with dried oregano some grated parmigiano-reggiano and a pinch of garlic powder using the wet hand dry hand technique the chicken is first dipped in the flour followed by the egg and lastly the seasoned breadcrumbs meanwhile oil has been heated to 350 degrees Fahrenheit in a large wok then the cutlet is carefully lowered away from you and fried on one side until golden brown it is then flipped over and fried on the other side and then once it is golden crispy all over it is laid on paper towels to catch excess oil now we need some sauce for basic red sauce olive oil is added to a pan then diced onions carrots and celery and a little pinch of salt this is cooked until the onions are translucent then I blended up some whole tomatoes and poured those in simmer over low for about 20 minutes stirring it occasionally and raise the heat up a bit to her stronger simmer until it is well reduced and thick tomato sauce turn off the heat and adjust the salt to taste and sugar if it's a little bit too acidic to assemble the chicken parm place the fried cutlet on a baking sheet topped with a couple heaping spoonfuls of that tomato sauce some parmigiano-reggiano and some low moisture mozzarella from melting place the whole thing under the broiler for round five to seven minutes until bubbly goodness arrives cheesy saucy crispy chicken it's oh so delicious let's take a look at the calorie breakdown for this chicken parm I'm calling it two servings since it is almost nine ounces of chicken so for one serving or half of the cutlet the restaurant style version comes in at 567 calories 22 grams of carbs 34 grams of fat and 42 grams of protein now we'll say this one was kind of a pain to calculate accurate calories because there's a little leftover flour egg and breadcrumbs from the coating then for the oil I had to weigh how much I added in the beginning then weigh how much I had left then weigh the starting weight of the paper towels and then weigh them how much they weighed after absorbing oil and add that back to what oil I had left so I did my best to get an accurate reading for these anyway let's talk about the substitutions first up I will not be deep-frying the local version and instead baking them with some cooking spray as the source of oil this saves about 140 calories per serving by my estimates but the question is what are we lose by not deep-frying this one is all about texture from the food lab we learn that as soon as food is dropped into hot oil the water inside the food rapidly evaporates which is released via steam bubbles as the water moves out oil is absorbed then the protein is rapidly coagulated in our egg protein breading setting that crust in place next the mayor or browning reaction takes place giving us that beautiful golden-brown crust we know and love in about 6 to 8 minutes with the baking of the chicken all this stuff will happen but much much slower you see hot oil contains more energy than hot air because it has more molecules you can stick your hand in a 500 degree oven and not get instantly burned but try that in 350-degree oil and you'll end up with a gruesome injury oil also creates convection patterns around the food constantly transferring the energy faster this is the same idea behind convection ovens or air fryers which move air around the food crisping it up faster but it's still nowhere near as fishing as deep-frying with the chicken baked in the oven the water takes longer to evaporate so the crust doesn't set as well on the chicken and it takes longer for the Maiar reaction to start happening for that golden brown and crispy crust here's a little comparison of the crust that I was able to get from both the deep frying and deep baked version when that Chris finally gets a little bit crispy which took around 25 minutes in the oven for me that chicken is going to be well overcooked as well so while the chicken texture may not be ideal I can confirm it is still mighty delicious and you do save quite a bit of calories on to the next one I decided to use pork panko aka ground-up pork rinds instead of traditional breadcrumbs it comes in at just 20 less calories per serving but there are no carbs and it has a lot more protein which is a plus for me they Brown up a little bit differently than regular panko but part of that is due to the cooking method itself and the taste is more preference than anything lastly I made a lower calorie red sauce using butter instead of olive oil you heard me right per tablespoon of butter has 20 less calories and olive oil and since I use 42 grams of butter instead of 56 grams of olive oil one serving comes in at forty five less calories and this is something that I picked up from marchello Hassan's book and I actually prefer the creaminess the butter gets the sauce instead of olive oil anyway I think it's time for our step by step recipe and then we'll do this side by side calorie breakdown first let's prep our basic red sauce chop the onion in a quarter and just remove the outer skin then add a whole can of peeled tomatoes to a food processor and blitz them up until they are smooth at the stove add the tomatoes onions and 42 grams of butter to a saucepan over medium-low heat you're gonna let this simmer for around 45 minutes stirring it occasionally once the sauce has reduced and is nice and thick turn off the heat and now for the most important part taste it add salt and sugar to taste salt is the more important of the two so add that first bit by bit until you enjoy it if the sauce is too acidic from the tomatoes just add a little bit of sugar and if you were using basil add it right at the end of cooking with the sauce off the heat to preserve the breakdown of the basil flavor and now we can go back to our chicken using a sharp knife slice halfway into the chicken without slicing all the way through leave a hinge on the chicken so it folds open like a book and lies flat to promote even cooking if needed you can flatten the chicken by smashing with a pot but I find it's not necessary generously sprinkle with coarse kosher salt and set this aside prepare the breading station with three plates or large bowls to the first plate add 15 grams of flour to the second plate add the beaten egg and to the third plate at a serving of the pork rind panko some dried oregano parmigiano-reggiano and a pinch of garlic powder or whatever seasonings that you like using the wet hand dry hand technique pick up the chicken with your right hand and drop it into the flour toss the flour on the chicken to evenly coat the exterior so it's completely dry all about then pick up the chicken from the flour and drop it into the egg and again turning the chicken over to completely coat it with the eggs lastly drop the chicken into the seasoned panko and toss the breadcrumbs on the chicken to ensure you get even coverage all around the exterior of the chicken and if you need to add or sprinkle a little bit more in certain places do so and don't be afraid to really press those bread crumbs all over the chicken so we get a nice bread move the breaded chicken to a wire rack over a baking sheet and just spray the exterior of the chicken with three 1-second sprays add the chicken to a 500 degree fahrenheit oven or 475 on convection or if you have an air fryer you're gonna bake this for about 10 minutes and then turn the oven on the broiler setting and bake it for about 8 minutes each keeping an eye on it while at Browns flip it once more and bake under the broiler for another 8 to 10 minutes until it starts to get browned and crispy to your liking and I do want to note the timing will depend on the oven setting and the size of the chicken breast so just use your best judgement you can let it go longer for a crispier crust but the chicken will become quite overcooked however do what you prefer to assemble the chicken parm place the cutlet on a baking sheet or oven safe plate then spread on the sauce and topped with parmigiano-reggiano and low-moisture mozzarella for melting you're gonna place this under the broiler until the cheese is melted and starting to brown around 5 to 7 minutes and then top this with minced parsley if you would like and you can serve it and enjoy so while it's not deep-fried it's still cheesy saucy and oven fried chicken that is mighty delicious for the calorie breakdown again I'm gonna be calling this two servings but if you are a hungry boy like me sometimes it's just one anyway for one serving or half of the cutlet it comes in at 387 calories 10 grams of carbs 18 grams of fat and 44 grams of protein which is definitely pretty solid this is the dish I'll definitely be making the next time I cut and lastly here's the side by side calorie breakdown with the restaurant style version and again these calories are for the same volume of food also finally it is paste this time let's give a couple bites of each and then break them down and compare these differences so I've got the restaurant style one here on the right then I have the lower cow low-carb version here on the left nice little crunch on the edges that I left uncovered by the tomato sauce which was purposeful because I always get soggy of you if you coat the entire thing [Music] both are absolutely delicious let's break them down based on taste and texture so as far as taste goes the deep fried one it has that like classic like chicken parm you would order in a restaurant it's I mean that's that's kind of what I've expected but the lower cow version is actually really really darn close the pork panko crumbs don't actually throw off the flavor really hardly at all that I noticed I bet if I actually deep-fried these with pork panko it would taste very very similar um maybe a little bit porky but really not too much and then other than that I mean we kept most everything the same you know the sauces are very similar to this one just butter we kept the cheese is the same we kept the BRIT breading is basically the same but the big big difference in these two is the texture it's wildly different we got both of them a little crunchy right like the exterior on this one there are some crunchy bits but throughout the deep-fried one it's so much more crispy and it's just a much more pleasing crisp eNOS texture than this one this one is a little bit crispy I don't know if you guys could pick it up when I was biting it but it's kind of like chewy crispy it's not exactly that nice crisp coating like this one has and then as far as the actual chicken goes 1,000% the deep fried one is better and it's because this was in the oven for so long I think it told this ended up being in the oven for like 25 to 30 minutes because we had to develop that crust and since it happens so slowly in the oven that chickens gonna get way overcooked and it is it's tough it's dry but this one it was only in the oil for about seven minutes eight minutes and it's tender it's still a little bit juicy and absolutely delicious so really it's all about that texture the deep fried one is much better and this is kind of similar lines to if you guys solve the oven fry video I did it's it's a similar concept right because they're spending so much I'm in the oven to get that crisp eNOS like the fries they kind of get dried and cooked out and they don't taste as good and like fluffy in the fries or as juicy as the deep-fried chicken that's really all that it comes down to but to wrap this video up I just have to say a huge thank you again to all of you for a hundred thousand subscribers the support has been absolutely ridiculous from YouTube to my patreon supporters comments on Instagram all that so I truly do appreciate it I basically just want to keep bringing the best home cooking content to YouTube that is the goal I want people to fall in love with cooking as much as I am and learning these techniques I feel like is what makes cooking most and fun to me so hopefully you guys enjoyed keep sticking around keep watching I will catch you in the next one bass [Music]

Channel: Ethan Chlebowski

Views: 581,767

Keywords: Ethan Chlebowski, chicken parmesan, low carb chicken parmesan, low calorie chicken parm, chicken parm recipe, how to make chicken parm, low carb chicken parm, chicken, deep fried chicken parm, baked chicken parmesan, chicken parmesan recipe easy, lower calorie chicken parm, lower carb chicken parm, chicken parm with sauce, lower calorie series, ethan chlebowski low calorie

Id: XfJ0TOUQWkM

Length: 13min 46sec (826 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 15 2020