My go-to Chicken Breast recipe
Recipe video above. 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!Simple country-inspired seasoning tossed with the tiniest amount of flour so the chicken gets a lovely crust on it, served with a butter sauce made in the same pan so it gets flavour from the residual seasoning.Mix and match magic: Skip the sauce and just serve the seasoned chicken, or skip the spices and let the butter sauce shine with a simple salt-and-pepper seared chicken.
Servings: 4
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!
Notes
To double the recipe, use 2 separate pans, if you try to cook the chicken in 2 batches the precious fond in the pan will burn during the second batch (don't even think about wiping that flavour away! :) )
1. Chicken - This recipe will also work with boneless chicken thighs. Just increase the cooking time to cook the chicken through.
2. Flour creates a lovely light crispy crust and also creates a surface that the sauce clings to. Regular plain/all-purpose flour works best (gluten-free flour is fine too), or bread flour, self raising flour. Cornflour / cornstarch is a good substitute.
3. Wine - Any dry white wine is fine here, just avoid anything too sweet or too oaky. My default I always have on hand is Chardonnay. Don't waste expensive wine on this, I get heavily discounted end of bin bottles.
Flat bubbles is also great - never waste leftover champers!
4. Sauce amount - There's not a stack of sauce, which is the way it is with quick pan sauces like this. What it makes up for in volume you get in flavour. :-)
Leftovers will keep for 3 days in the fridge, or freezer for 3 months (though not the best, chicken surface gets soggy).
Nutrition calculator is broken at the moment, will update when it's up and running again!