Cheesy Chicken with Mushrooms

The boyfriend has been finding lots of new recipes for us to try lately.  This is one of the recent ones.  I wasn't thinking clearly at the store that evening, so I grabbed regular chicken breasts - next time I will definitely take the poster's advice of getting tenderloins.  A bit of browning the breadcrumbs on the chicken and layer in the pan with mushrooms and mozzarella cheese - add a bit of broth to keep it moist and you're done!

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup (112 grams) Italian bread crumbs
• 16 ounces sliced mushrooms, divided
• 4 tablespoons (57 grams) salted butter, divided
• 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 8 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 1 cup (237 ml) chicken broth

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Spread half of the sliced mushrooms over the bottom of a 9×13-inch baking dish.
3. Place the eggs and bread crumbs in two separate shallow dishes (pie plates work great for this).
4. Dip the chicken breasts in the egg, then into the bread crumbs, patting them to adhere.
5. In a 12-inch skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of the butter over medium heat until melted. Add half of the breaded chicken to the pan and saute until golden brown on both sides, about 5 minutes. Remove the chicken from the skillet and place on top of the mushrooms in the baking dish. Repeat with the remaining butter and chicken breasts.
6. Sprinkle the remaining sliced mushrooms over the chicken, then top with the shredded mozzarella cheese. Pour the chicken broth into the bottom of the pan.
7. Bake until the cheese is melted and browned, and the chicken is cooked through, about 30 minutes.

RECIPE NOTES:

• I recommend using the thin sliced chicken breasts, or chicken tenders.
• This dish is also great with Swiss cheese instead of mozzarella.
• You can choose to cover the dish with aluminum foil while baking to retain the juices, however the mozzarella cheese will not brown.