If you like a good chicken parmesan dish, then you’ll probably love this chicken parmesan wrap. Succulent chicken breasts drizzled with a herby tomato marinara sauce and topped with warm melted cheese.
Great for grab and go lunches or family dinners.
Summary
Prep: 20 minutes
Cooking: 10 minutes
Ages: Toddlers to Teens
Difficulty: Intermediate
Makes: 4 chicken parmesan wraps
Ingredients
Chicken breasts
- 2 chicken breasts
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning (a salt-free blend)
- Olive oil or oil spray
Marinara sauce
You can use store-bought marinara sauce if you prefer. This is our recipe for homemade marinara sauce.
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 x 400 gram can tomato puree or passata
- 1 teaspoon dried Italian herbs
- 1 teaspoon honey
For the wrap
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ¼ cup fresh basil (added to marinara sauce)
- ½ cup fresh spinach leaves (added to marinara sauce)
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese, grated
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese, grated
- 4 wholegrain wraps
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
Homemade marinara sauce
You can buy store bought marinara sauce for this recipe. In this case heat it up in a saucepan until boiling and add in the spinach and basil until softened. Then remove from the heat.
If you prefer to make it homemade then you can follow the instructions here:
- Heat the olive oil in a small saucepan.
- Saute the diced onion for a few minutes until soft.
- Add in the minced garlic and Italian herbs. Stir for a minute to release the flavours.
- Add in the tomato passata, honey and salt and pepper to taste.
- Cover and simmer for 10 minutes or until the sauce thickens.
- At the end, add in the spinach and basil leaves and simmer for a few minutes before taking it off the heat.
Cooking chicken breasts
Chicken breasts need to be cooked before they’re put in the wrap and our recipe below should keep them succulent and tasty. But if you have your own way of cooking chicken breasts, then skip this step and move onto the next section.
- If you have the time to do some prep then ideally soak the chicken breasts in salted water for 1 hour or overnight before cooking. 80 grams salt to 1 litre water is a good brine mixture. Remove and pat dry when you’re ready to begin.
- Place the chicken breasts between two pieces of parchment paper and hit the chicken with a flat instrument like a rolling pin or a skillet until it’s an even thickness.
- Spray the fillets with oil spray or rub them down with oil. Add salt, pepper and some Italian herbs.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a frying pan, and sear the chicken fillets on each side until brown. This should take about 3-4 minutes.
- Once browned, carefully add about 1 cm or ½ inch of boiling hot water to the pan. Cover and cook for about 7 minutes.
- Remove the chicken from the heat and break it apart with a fork to make it shredded. If you prefer to have your chicken in cubes or thin slices then these also work.
Putting together your chicken parmesan wrap:
- Lay one soft wrap out on your counter top.
- Sprinkle ¼ cup of fresh grated mozzarella cheese in the middle. Leave space around sides.
- Spoon 1 tablespoon of marinara sauce over it. The basil and spinach leaves should already have been added to the marinara sauce (see tomato marinara sauce method).
- Add on a quarter of your shredded or sliced cooked chicken on top.
- Sprinkle on a tablespoon of grated Parmesan cheese.
- Fold the sides of the tortilla inwards and then fold the other sides on top of that to close the wrap.
- Do the same with the other 3 tortillas, adding the right amount of ingredients for each one. You should have 4 nicely wrapped tortilla parcels.
- Heat some olive oil in a frying pan.
- Place the wraps in the pan, 1 or 2 at a time, and cook for a minute in the oil. Then flip and cook on the other side. The sides should be golden brown and the cheese inside melted. Enjoy!
Chicken parmesan wrap – our step by step guide:
Two main ingredients of our chicken parmesan wraps need to be cooked separately beforehand:
- Tomato marinara sauce (you can also buy ready made marinara sauce from the store if you prefer and simply add in the spinach and basil leaves)
- Cooked chicken fillets.
Both of these methods are shown first. If you have these ready made then skip to the section labelled Make your chicken Parmesan wrap.
Homemade marinara sauce (optional)
For store-bought marinara sauce, heat it up in a saucepan until boiling and add in the spinach and basil leaves. Simmer for a minute until they have collapsed into the sauce.
For homemade marinara sauce follow this guide:
Sautee the onion, garlic and herbs.
Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to a saucepan and set onto a medium heat.
When hot, add the diced onion, garlic and herbs. Stir them for a minute until browned.
Add the remaining ingredients
Add the tomato passata, 1 teaspoon of honey and salt and pepper as desired. Simmer the sauce for about 10 minutes or until it becomes slightly thicker.
When it’s nearly ready, add in the spinach and basil leaves and simmer for a minute until they collapse into the sauce. Remove the marinara from the heat.
If you would like to make the sauce completely smooth, then you can also blend it with a handheld mixer.
Cooking the chicken fillets
Soak the chicken (optional)
If you have time, create a salt mixture of about 8% (so 80 grams per liter of water) and soak the chicken breasts in the mixture for 1 hour or overnight.
This helps the chicken retain some water so that it doesn’t dry out as much when you cook it, and hopefully it will keep the chicken nice and succulent.
When you’re getting ready to cook the chicken, remove it from the brine and pat it dry.
Flatten the chicken fillets
Place the chicken fillets between two pieces of parchment paper on a flat and protected surface.
Pound it with a flat instrument like a rolling pin until it’s all a uniform thickness.
Cook the chicken fillets
Spray with oil spray or coat with some olive oil, salt and pepper. Sprinkle on some Italian herbs.
Sear the fillets on each side in a frying pan until browned.
Then add about 1 cm of boiling water to the pan and cook for another 7 minutes after that on both sides, or until cooked through.
Make your chicken parmesan wrap
Lay out the soft wraps and mozzarella cheese
We used wholewheat ones but use whichever large soft wraps you prefer.
Lay them out on a flat surface.
Take a quarter cup of grated mozzarella cheese and sprinkle it vertically down the middle of your wrap. Leave some room at either end.
Add the tomato marinara sauce
Take 1 tablespoon of tomato sauce and spoon it over the grated cheese.
Add the cooked chicken and Parmesan
Add one quarter of your prepared chicken (which is about half a cooked chicken fillet) to the wrap and sprinkle longways on top of the cheese.
We shredded our cooked chicken fillets with a fork, but if you prefer cube or slice the chicken.
Take 1 tablespoon of grated Parmesan cheese and sprinkle it evenly on top.
Fold and cook the wraps
Take each side of the soft tortilla wraps and fold them inwards. Then fold the other sides on top of that to close the wrap.
Continue to fold the remaining 3 tortillas in the same way after you’ve added your ingredients to each one.
Add some olive oil onto a medium heat in a frying pan. Place the wraps on them and cook for a minute or two. When browned, flip them and cook for another minute on the other side.
The wrap should be golden and the cheese inside gooey and melted.
Chicken parmesan wrap
Ingredients
Cooked chicken breasts
- 2 chicken breasts
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- Olive oil or oil spray
Tomato marinara sauce
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion diced
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1 400 gram can of tomato puree or passata
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1 tsp honey
Chicken parmesan wrap
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- ¼ cup fresh basil
- ½ cup fresh spinach leaves
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese grated
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese grated
- 4 wholegrain wraps
- salt and pepper
Instructions
Homemade marinara sauce
-
You can buy store bought marinara sauce for this recipe. In this case heat it up in a saucepan until boiling and add in the spinach and basil until softened. Then remove from the heat.
-
If you prefer to make it homemade then heat the olive oil in a small saucepan.
-
Saute the diced onion for a few minutes until soft.
-
Add in the minced garlic and Italian herbs. Stir for a minute to release the flavours.
-
Add in the tomato passata, honey and salt and pepper to taste.
-
Cover and simmer for 10 minutes or until the sauce thickens.
-
At the end, add in the spinach and basil leaves and simmer for a few minutes before taking it off the heat.
Cooking chicken breasts
-
If you have the time to do some prep then ideally soak the chicken breasts in salted water for 1 hour or overnight before cooking. 80 grams salt to 1 litre water is a good brine mixture. Remove and pat dry when you’re ready to begin.
-
Place the chicken breasts between two pieces of parchment paper and hit the chicken with a flat instrument like a rolling pin or a skillet until it’s an even thickness.
-
Spray the fillets with oil spray or rub them down with oil. Add salt, pepper and some Italian herbs.
-
Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a frying pan, and sear the chicken fillets on each side until brown. This should take about 3-4 minutes.
-
Once browned, carefully add about 1 cm or ½ inch of boiling hot water to the pan. Cover and cook for about 7 minutes.
-
Remove the chicken from the heat and break it apart with a fork to make it shredded. If you prefer to have your chicken in cubes or thin slices then these also work.
Putting together your chicken parmesan wrap
-
Lay one soft wrap out on your counter top.
-
Sprinkle ¼ cup of fresh grated mozzarella cheese in the middle. Leave space around sides.
-
Spoon 1 tablespoon of marinara sauce over it. The basil and spinach leaves should already have been added to the marinara sauce (see tomato marinara sauce method).
-
Add on a quarter of your shredded or sliced cooked chicken on top.
-
Sprinkle on a tablespoon of grated Parmesan cheese.
-
Fold the sides of the tortilla inwards and then fold the other sides on top of that to close the wrap.
-
Do the same with the other 3 tortillas, adding the right amount of ingredients for each one. You should have 4 nicely wrapped tortilla parcels.
-
Heat some olive oil in a frying pan.
-
Place the wraps in the pan, 1 or 2 at a time, and cook for a minute in the oil. Then flip and cook on the other side. The sides should be golden brown and the cheese inside melted. Enjoy!
Enjoy these chicken parmesan wraps while warm!
