Olive Garden Chicken Lombardy Recipe

Make this Olive Garden inspired Chicken Lombardy for your family. An Olive Garden Copycat Recipe that your family will love!

Our youngest son recently celebrated his 19th birthday. For his birthday dinner, we all went to Olive Garden. He and my Lenny both ordered the Northern Tour of Italy dinner, which included Chicken Lombardy with smoked cheeses and a creamy Parmesan sauce, Asiago Tortelloni with Meat Sauce, and Fettuccine with Creamy Parmesan Portobello Sauce. Well, my Lenny liked the Chicken Lombardy so much, that he asked me if I could re-create the Olive Garden Chicken Lombardy Recipe.

The Chicken Lombardy from Olive Garden is topped with smoked mozzarella and provolone cheeses, a creamy Parmesan sauce and bacon. I searched online and couldn't find anything that even closely resembled the Olive Garden Chicken Lombardy, so I improvised and developed the following recipe. I omitted the bacon (skimping on calories) and made my own Creamy Parmesan Sauce.

The Chicken Lombardy is a lightly breaded, but very moist chicken. I made my own bread crumbs using whole grain bread, lemon zest and thyme. First, you'll want to remove the crust from the bread and then pop the bread in your toaster. Tear the toasted bread into pieces and put in your food processor. Pulse the bread until you have fine bread crumbs. Add some grated lemon zest and thyme to the bread crumbs and pulse a couple more times.

Chicken Lombardy Recipe

Kitchen Equipment

You'll need a way to toast your bread. So, either a toaster, toaster oven or your oven and a food processor. It'll also be helpful to have a couple of small saucepans, a larger skillet for frying, baking pan and wire rack. As this recipe calls for grated lemon zest, you'll also need a way to grate your lemon.

It's also helpful to have a meat pounder, some waxed paper and three shallow bowls.

Ingredients

The ingredients for Chicken Lombardy are not complicated. You probably have all the spices on hand at home already. You'll need some whole grain bread (you can use white or whole wheat), dried thyme, grated lemon zest, salt, pepper, all-purpose flour, eggs, chicken and some oil for frying.

Instructions:

Step One - Prepare the Chicken

First, you'll want to prepare your chicken breasts by trimming the fat and pounding them with the flat side of a meat-pounder  so they're all the same thickness. For this recipe, I used four large boneless-skinless chicken breasts. Once you have your chicken breasts all nicely pounded, pat them dry and lightly salt and pepper both sides of the chicken breasts.

Step Two - Prepare Bread Crumbs

To make bread crumbs:  Remove the crust from the bread and then pop the bread in your toaster. Tear the toasted bread into pieces and put in your food processor. Pulse the bread until you have fine bread crumbs. Add some grated lemon zest, thyme ¾ teaspoon salt and pepper to the bread crumbs and pulse a couple more times.

Step Three - Bread the Chicken

You'll want to put the flour, eggs, and the bread crumbs in 3 separate shallow dishes. Dip each breast into the flour, then shake off the excess. Next, run the breast through the egg to coat it lightly and then hold the chicken over the liquid to let any excess egg fall back into the bowl. Finally, lay the chicken in the bread crumbs, turn it over and press it into the breading to coat. Lay on a piece of waxed paper.

Step Four - Cook the Chicken

Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the oil. Once your oil is heated (takes just a few minutes), place two chicken breasts smooth-side down in the pan. Cook the chicken without turning until beginning to brown or about 2 minutes. Turn the chicken and cook until equally brown on the other side, about two minutes more. Repeat with the remaining two breasts. Transfer chicken to a paper towel lined plate to drain. Place all 4 breasts on a rack over a baking pan and bake until firm to the touch, about 6 to 8 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve.

My Lenny loved this recipe. He said it tasted exactly like Olive Garden's, only better. And the Creamy Parmesan Sauce - I'll be sharing that recipe soon you can find the recipe here! It's his favorite sauce now.  I just can't seem to make enough and he's eating it on everything!

More Recipe Ideas

If you enjoyed this Olive Garden Chicken Lombardy Recipe, you might also like these recipes from The Birch Cottage blog:

• Creamy Parmesan Sauce (Better than Olive Garden!)
• Garlic Parmesan Sourdough Bread
• Crockpot Tuscan Soup

I hope you'll give this recipe a try and, if you do, be sure and let me know how you liked it.

Til next time...