Ready in 12 minutes, this is my current go-to chicken breast recipe. AKA Pan-Seared Country Seasoned Chicken Breast with Butter Sauce, it’s fast, simple, not-boring and you can make it anytime with pantry staples!
Another go-to chicken breast recipe
The temptation to only share exciting, flashy recipes is real. Give me all the shiny glazes, creamy sauces and crunchy crumbs! But the truth is, I make simple back-pocket essentials a gazillion times more. We’re talking boiled eggs. Rice. Salad dressing. Poached chicken.
So today, I’m sharing a recipe that probably won’t get you running to the shops with excitement. But that’s the point! It’s a recipe to make with chicken breast right now that uses pantry staples but is not boring (<- this is important!).
We coat the chicken in a simple seasoning that becomes crispy when pan-fried, then while the chicken is resting we make a 1 minute butter sauce in the same pan so it gets flavour from the residual seasoning. It’s incredibly tasty and incredibly quick!
Bonus – skip the seasoning, or skip the sauce!
One of the appealing things about today’s recipe is that both elements are tasty enough to stand on their own, so you can just use one of them and skip the other.
So – just make the seared seasoned chicken with no sauce (picture below), or just sear the chicken with salt and pepper and serve it with the butter sauce. How’s that for flexibility?!🙌🏻
Ingredients in this Go-To Chicken Breast Recipe
Here’s what you need to make this.
FOR THE COUNTRY seasoned CHICKEN
Chicken breast – Yup, that cut of chicken that ends up in my trolley week after week despite publicly favouring thighs for flavour!
Pantry spices – The ever reliable combination of paprika, onion, garlic, cumin powder plus salt and pepper. This is a lovely savoury blend with country vibes that gives the chicken a warm reddish tinge from the paprika and layers of flavour. Here are some substitution options:
– Paprika: I use regular, but feel free to use smoky or spicy (if you can handle the heat!).
– Onion and garlic powder: substitute with more of the other.
– Cumin: coriander, thyme or other dried herb (crush between fingers to make a bit powdery).Flour (tiny amount) – I know it’s one extra thing, but it’s honestly worth it because it creates an awesome crust on the chicken. We just mix it with the spices then sprinkle on the chicken to coat it. We aren’t dredging separately!
Butter – My cooking fat of choice. Because it’s tastier than oil, and it is what makes this simple recipe so good. I use it for cooking the chicken and making a quick pan sauce. You could also pan sear in olive oil, if you prefer, but stick with butter for the sauce.
For the butter sauce
The sauce gets flavour from the residual seasoning left in the pan after searing the chicken, then depth of flavour from a splash of wine or chicken stock.
White wine or stock/broth – For deglazing* to making the pan sauce. Use any dry white wine you’ve got that’s not too sweet or woody, or even flat champagne. My staple is chardonnay because it’s got more flavour than neutral flavoured wines like sauvignon blanc and pinot gris.
Don’t waste your money on expensive wine!
It’s fairly well documented these days by respected food authorities (like New York Times Cooking’s Julia Moskin) that expensive wine doesn’t typically improve a dish. I use discounted end-of-bin bottles ($15 – $20 discounted to $5 – $7, keeps “forever” even once opened).
* Deglazing just means simmering liquid in the pan after cooking something so the golden bits stuck on the base dissolves into the liquid which adds free flavour. Even if you didn’t know what deglazing is, you do it in your day to day cooking all the time without even realising it! 🙂
How to make my Go-To Chicken Breast recipe
And here’s how to make it. The chicken cooking time is 5 minutes, the sauce takes 1 – 1 1/2 minutes, so that leaves you 5 minutes to split the chicken and mix the 5 ingredient seasoning for a 12 minute dinner. You got this!
Split each chicken breast in half horizontally to form 4 thin steaks in total. To do this, apply pressure by placing your palm down on the breast then cut through the chicken.
There is no need to pound today, we are cooking hard and fast so the inside stays juicy, and you won’t overcook it because the colour of the crust is your built-in timer (golden = perfectly juicy inside, burnt = over cooking!).
Mix the spices, salt, pepper and flour together.
Coat the chicken with the seasoned flour mix. There should be just enough to coat both sides of each piece. Just sprinkle it on and spread with your fingers.
Sear – Melt half the butter in a large non-stick pan over high heat until foamy. Place the chicken in (it’s ok if it’s snug, the chicken shrinks) and cook for 2 1/2 minutes on each side until it’s golden and crisp. Lift and tilt the pan if needed to encourage butter to run underneath each piece.
Remove the chicken onto a plate to rest for 3 minutes. Don’t skip this, it makes the chicken juicier to eat because as it rests, the meat juices to redistribute into meat fibres so it ends up in your mouth. If you skip resting, when you cut the chicken the juices run out onto the plate. Use this time to make the pan sauce (1 minute!), put the chicken onto serving plates etc.
Pan sauce – Essentially we’re making a white wine reduction sauce that is enriched with butter. Just pour the wine (or stock) into the pan and simmer rapidly for about a minute, using a rubber spatula to scrape the base of the pan so the seasoning left from the chicken dissolves into the sauce (it’s free flavour!).
The alcohol cooks out, so the sauce doesn’t taste winey – it just leaves behind a depth of flavour you can only get from cooking with alcohol. Then melt the butter in, mix to combine and that’s it! Ready for serving.
Note: There is not tons of sauce. There’s not supposed to be, it’s not the dousing sort because it’s a pan sauce with more intense flavour. You get about 1 tablespoon per serving which is enough. Also, the seasoning on the chicken does a lot of heavy flavour-lifting here!
So there you have it. Aside from foolproof poached chicken, this is probably the recipe I’ve texted to friends the most over the years. Because if you’ve got wine (or even flat champagne) and butter, you’ve got dinner.
Or if you’ve got paprika, onion and garlic powder, you’ve also got dinner. Just a reminder – you don’t need to make both elements! You can do just the seasoned pan-fried chicken, or keep it simple with salt and pepper and let the butter sauce carry the dish.
Pictured in this post with leafy greens tossed in my Everyday Salad Dressing, plus a new quick-and-dirty focaccia recipe I’m working on. Hoping to bring it to you on Friday. Enjoy! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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My go-to Chicken Breast recipe
Ingredients
- 2 large chicken breasts (250 – 300g/8 – 10 oz each), each cut in half horizontally to form 4 steaks, no need to pound (Note 1)
- 30g/ 2 tbsp unsalted butter or 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
Savoury Seasoned Crust:
- 1 tsp paprika , regular/sweet (or smoky)
- 1/2 tsp onion powder (or more garlic)
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder (or more onion)
- 1/4 tsp cumin (sub coriander, thyme leaves crushed between fingers, or omit)
- 3/4 tsp cooking salt / kosher salt (halve for table salt, +50% for flakes)
- 1/8 tsp black pepper
- 1 1/2 tbsp flour , plain/all-purpose, GF (Note 2)
Butter sauce:
- 1/3 cup dry white wine or chicken stock (low sodium), sub water (Note 3)
- 30g/ 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 tbsp roughly chopped parsley , optional but recommended
Instructions
- Season – Mix the Seasoning ingredients in a bowl. Sprinkle on each side of the chicken, spreading with fingertips to coat evenly, then shake off excess.
- Sear – Melt the butter in a large non-stick pan over high heat. Cook chicken for 2 1/2 minutes on each side until deep golden, or until the internal temperature reaches 67C/153F. Remove onto a plate.
- Pan sauce – Lower then heat to medium high. Add the wine and simmer rapidly for 1 – 1 1/2 minutes, scraping the pan with a rubber spatula to loosen the golden bits into the sauce, until it's reduced by half. Add the butter and let it melt, mixing well to combine. (Note 4 on sauce amount)
- Serve – Serve chicken with sauce and sprinkled with parsley. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes:
My other go-to chicken breast recipes
The ones I make “all the time” because I always have what I need on hand!
Life of Dozer
Colouring Dozer printable! ✏️🌈
This is the constructive sort of stuff we use AI for. 😅 It’s a colouring in stencil that we made to take into the Ronald McDonald House Charities (“RMHC”) at the Sydney Children’s Hospital when we went in last week to make dinner with the children and their families staying there.
Understandably, there is a strict no-dogs policy. And because we couldn’t take the real thing in, we made a Dozer colouring sheet and Dozer stickers for the kids!
We made DIY quesadillas with the kids, and mixed churros batter with them (though we did the frying!).
That’s JB on the left in the photo below, at the quesadilla station Forget chef whites! Bring on the colour!
Oh! And an update on how Dozer’s doing after his dental procedure – WHAT OP?! 🙄 The next day he almost pulled me over lunging after a bush turkey.
I’m so amazed how well he bounced back after the last time when he really struggled, for weeks and weeks, and there were multiple midnight emergency vet runs.
This is the best condition he has been in 18 months, his mobility, his energy, and now his BREATH no longer smells like dead rat. 🥰 I’m so happy HE’S happy!
Thank you everyone, for your Dozer well wishes! Grateful for every day I have him. – N x
PS Looking a bit pooped here because it was post bush turkey lunging session. He forgets he’s 13, not 3.
Hi Nagi, I’m a ten year old who loves your recipes and makes them all the time with my mum, but when I made these the chicken breast didn’t have much flavour?
I think it was because the seasoning didn’t have that much salt.
Abby.😙
Thanks again for the update on Dozer, he looks wonderful. I would also like to have some of those stickers; they are so cute. But then so is he. Always good to have another chicken recipe in your back pocket.
I made this tonight because of course I had everything on hand. My husband’s comment “moist, tasty”. Thanks Nagi another winner
Glad you guys like it!
Love seeing Dozer doing so well. Love you for taking such good care of him. Bless you both.
Hi Nagi! Thank you for all the great recipes. I got happy tears just seeing how well Dozer is doing.
Wow, made it tonight and it was excellent. So easy and delicious. Thanks Nagi
Thanks for the great feedback Debbie!
Hi Nagi!! Hello from Spain!
This chicken breasts looks absolutely amazing!
I have a question though: does paprika not get burnt if you let it fry that long and therefore get bitter to the taste? Thanks so much!! I really love your recipes. You are really so talented!
Morning Marta! That’s a good question. It doesn’t burn, for a few reasons: firstly, the seasoning is filled out with flour so it’s not straight spices, like Cajun Blackening Seasoning which does get very dark and look burnt. Secondly we are using butter not oil (which doesn’t get as hot and burny as oil can) and thirdly, the pan is quite snug with 4 large pieces of chicken which reduces the heat in the pan. If you try to make just one piece, the the pan would get way too hot and yes the chicken surface would burn on high heat so I’d lower to medium high, maybe even medium 🙂 Hope that helps! – N x
Morning Nagi!!
Thanks a lot for your quick response and for the explanation! Thanks for your time!
Your nr. 1 Spanish fan! xx
Hi Nagi! This looks delicious and easy. I have a question if my breasts are only about 5 oz each, should I pound them to even them out, or leave them as is to fry? Dozer is looking wonderful! So great for both of you! Lots of hugs!
Hi Gail, if your chicken breasts are around 5 oz and fairly the same in thickness, you can probably leave them as is. But if they’re a bit uneven, a gentle pound will help them cook more evenly. Hope that helps!
Thank you for such a quick response!
I think we would all like to know how we can get some Dozer stickers!
Margaret, you took the words right out of my mouth – and not for the grandbabies for Me….!!
I’ve been cooking my chicken breasts in the same way for years now! When possible, I use skin on, bone removed, breasts instead. I season the chicken the same way as in this recipe, then cook skin side down first, with a foil wrapped heavy pan or brick on top, until the chicken cooks to the point it releases from the pan. Then I flip it and let it finish cooking. Now, obviously, when cutting the breast in two, one half ends up skinless, but still very tasty. It is up to you which ones you give to which diner. But many people will not want to eat the skin, which makes it easier to decide. LOL
I avoid chicken breast because I find it so boring, but you might actually persuade me to give them another chance!
Also, I know a little girl who will be thrilled to have a Dozer colouring page. Thank you for sharing!
This recipe might just win you over! And I’m so glad the colouring page will be a hit!
A small note to an otherwise delicious recipe……the ingredient list is missing the word BONELESS next to chicken. ❤️
LOVE DOZER! And you too.
Hi Nagi,
Can you please tell me how to stop garlic and onion powder from turning into concrete ?
Hi Kate, keeping them in the fridge will avoid that.
WOW! Thanks for that Chef JB. I simply don’t know how many 3/4 jars of the stuff I have thrown away in the past.
I have not made the recipe yet but will be soon. In answer to Kate’s question about saving garlic and onion powder from concrete, I keep mine stored in the freezer! It is -o-humidity and works really well.
Keep them in the freexer
Not sure how soon Nagi will be able to get back to you, but my experience has been that humidity is a big factor here. You can’t control the weather but using them from the bottle over a cooking dish allows steam into the bottle. That causes the spices to clump up and harden. Put your seasonings in a small bowl or something and use them from there. I hope that helps!
My heart is so happy to hear how well he’s doing. You know you can always reach out if he wasn’t. Dental cleanings aren’t just for smell- that nasty bacteria seeds all of our organs! I’m guessing they used a different protocol as well for his anesthesia. Sorry, going off like the Vet Tech I am!
Question: are we pounding four chicken pieces from the two larger breasts to make a schnitzel like piece? I love my chicken breast that way but your photo looks like a whole breast. Either way I’ll be making this! Kisses and hugs for handsome Dozer. Hugs to you Nagi. 🌹🦋🐾💕🐕
Store them in the fridge! I only found this out recently and it’s awesome
Thank you for your marvelous recipes and sharing your life with Dozer. I look forward to your emails every morning.
Hi Nagi. Thank you for supporting and bringing attention to the amazing charity Ronald McDonald house at Ranwick. After 5 operations in 2 years, weeks in hospital, multiple 1300km round trips to Ranwick Children’s hospital for treatment for my teenage son, we can’t express how thankful we are for the kindness and support we have received from them. Also, for another charity called Little Wings who organised flights for us for every trip. Our heartfelt thanks to you all. ❤
Hi Kimmy, thank you so much for sharing your story, Ronald McDonald House is an incredible organisations. Sending your whole family lots of love.
As I generally eat low carb can I make the recipe without the flour and just mix the spices together on their own? Or could I substitute something like almond flour? Thanks.
#2 in Recipe Notes will answer your question
Thanks, but all the suggested flours are high carb. Still wondering if it could just work without albeit it sounds like it will be less crispy.
I just wanted to send love to you all big hugs to Dozer love sue in the uk thank you i love your recipes xx
Thank you Sue, we will pass on the message to Dozer!
I love reading about all the selfless charitable works you do but I can’t lie – I especially always love reading about Dozer! Years ago when my younger daughter had some issues, we had to stay at a RMH because the hospital was so many hours from home. They were wonderful! I also made a copy of the Dozer coloring page for myself – I hope that’s OK! Keep up your great work! We love you and Dozer!!!
late to the party here but thank you as always, an awesome recipe, also great to see AI being used constructively, and to see slobberchops looking well 🙂 Big hugs from soggy Port Stephens
Isn’t the best colouring page ever!!?