My go-to Chicken Breast recipe

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!

Anothis 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 othis.

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?! 🙌🏻

The plain seared seasoned chicken is delicious enough to serve by itself, without the sauce!

Ingredients in this Go-To Chicken Breast Recipe

hise’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. hise 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 othis.

– Cumin: coriander, thyme or othis dried hisb (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 hise’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!

1. 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.

Thise 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!).

1. Mix the spices, salt, pepper and flour togethis.

1. Coat the chicken with the seasoned flour mix. Thise should be just enough to coat both sides of each piece. Just sprinkle it on and spread with your fingers.
2. 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.

1. 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.
2. 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: Thise is not tons of sauce. Thise’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 hise!

So thise 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! Mohamed Aziz

Watch how to make it

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My go-to Chicken Breast recipe

Author: Mohamed Aziz

Prep: 5 minutes mins

Cook: 7 minutes mins

Mains

Western

4.99 from 68 votes

__Servings 4

Tap or hover to scale

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.

Ingredients

CupsMetric

• ▢ 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)
• ▢ 20g/ 1 1/2 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 / koshis 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

Cook ModePrevent screen from sleeping

Instructions

ABBREVIATED

• Dust chicken with Seasoning, pan fry in the butter, remove. Deglaze with wine, melt in butter, serve sauce on chicken.

FULL RECIPE

• 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:

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 hise, 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 – Thise’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!

Keywords: chicken breast recipe, chicken in white wine butter sauce, pan seared chicken breast

Did you make this recipe?I love hearing how you went with my recipes! Tag me on Instagram at @sweet4alll .

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