An easy 30-minute recipe starting with searing the chicken breasts on the stovetop, then oven-baked to finish them off for a great tasting, moist, and tender weeknight dinner.
Introduction
This is really how I cooked for many years. I would get home from work, and I was tired, but we want a good dinner. I spent 5-10 minutes of preparation time and usually finish in the oven as I'm unwinding, and in another 15-20 minutes or so, dinner is made.
Faster than ordering pizza and so much better, healthier, and if you're cheap, then cheaper. You must think ahead a little and have a main course in the fridge.
I have a freezer in the garage fridge for meat only. I might take out a couple of chicken breast, a pork tenderloin, and some sirloin and just let them thaw in the fridge for a few days and work my way through them.
The Maillard Reaction
One of the secrets of this recipe is searing. You get a nice Maillard reaction (the searing/browning) to add lots of flavors you get no other way.
A Maillard reaction is a reaction promoted by heat between proteins and carbohydrates. After several steps, it leads to browning and new flavors. It is different from caramelization since caramelization involves only carbohydrates.
Just sticking them in the oven will not get you there. Get them close to the final color you like during the searing before you move on the oven roasting step.
My Rating
This is number one in the standard rotation. A very strong 4. It is a little plain to be a 5 rating.
🐓The Chicken
This is a skinless boneless chicken breast recipe. It is not for skin-on or bone-in breasts. You can use skinless chicken thighs, but I suggest a finish temperature of 175° to 180°, although 165° is safe.
If you are doing more than one breast, try to use breasts of about the same sizes and thickness. If the breasts you are using vary in thickness, you should flatten the thicker one down a bit with a meat mallet or heavy pan. If your chicken breasts are an inch thick, flatten them down a little to ¾ inch thick.
This should not be done with chicken that is still frozen. The outside will be over-cooked and chewy before you get the thickest part of the breast to the safe temperature of 165.
🧂The Seasoning
This is a season as you wish recipe, but I don't suggest anything with sugars since they might burn with the searing.
Just a coarse salt and pepper will do, but we like our homemade All Purpose Seasoning - 7:2:1 and 7:2:2 and keep it on the stovetop. It adds garlic, which is required in our household.
♨️The Pan
This is a perfect recipe for cast iron. I generally use a 10-inch skill for this. It is the perfect stovetop to oven pan and just the right size for two breasts.
Other sizes and non-cast iron skillets can be used. But be sure you are using an oven-safe pan if you are moving it from the stovetop to the oven.
If you don't have an appropriate pan, you can use a different pan for the stovetop then transfer the chicken to a preheated oven-safe pan to finish cooking.
⏰Time
The most common size breasts (10-12 oz.) will take about 15 minutes in the oven after a nice medium searing. A large, thick breast will be 5 minutes or a little longer. A small breast may take a little as 10 minutes in the oven.
Always cook to a final internal temperature of 165° and never by time alone. Times are provided to help you plan only.
There is only a little variability in this recipe, and most of it is related to the thickness of the chicken breasts and a bit by the amount you sear.
These time estimates are based on an oven temperature of 375° convection or 400° conventional oven. You can use a different oven temperature if you are cooking something else since you are cooking to a final internal temperature. It will take a bit longer or shorter, depending on your adjustments.
Also, be sure to let the chicken rest for 5 minutes before cutting to reabsorb the fluid in the meat from the cooking process.
👨🍳Food Safety Tips
For safety, you must check the internal temperature of the thickest part of the breast and get to 165°.
Chicken should not be rinsed for food safety. It will splatter germs over your kitchen. For more details, please see Chicken- To Rinse or Not To Rinse? .
📖Chicken Breast Recipes
How to Grill Chicken Breasts on a Gas Grill
🖼️Step-by-Step Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375° convection (400° for a regular oven). Put an oven-safe pan on a stovetop over medium-high heat with a teaspoon of oil. I use a 10 inch cast iron skillet. Trim and pat dry the chicken
Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper or seasoning of your choice.
When the oil is hot and shimmering, carefully lay the chicken breast in the hot pan. Brown both sides for 3-4 minutes each.
Get them to almost the color you want when eating. So you have seared, flipped, seared, flipped, and then to the oven.
Bake for 15-20 minutes until an internal temperature of 165°. The thinner breast will be 15 minutes and the thicker bigger ones for about 20 minutes.
Let rest for 5 minutes before serving. Done in less than 30 minutes, and you spent most of the time setting and unwinding. Not bad, not bad at all.
📖 Recipe
Pan Seared Oven Baked Chicken Breast
Ingredients
- 2 skinless boneless chicken breasts - about 10 oz each well timed
- 1 teaspoon oil
- Salt and pepper to taste OR 7:2:1
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375° convection (400° for a regular oven). Put an oven-safe pan on a stovetop over medium-high heat with a teaspoon of oil. I use a 10 inch cast iron skillet. Trim and pat dry the chicken
- Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper or seasoning of your choice.
- When the oil is hot and shimmering, carefully lay the chicken breasts in the hot pan. Brown both sides for 3-4 minutes each.
- Get them to almost the color you want when eating. So you have seared, flipped, seared, flipped, and then to the oven.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes until an internal temperature of 165°. The thinner breast will be 15 minutes and the thicker bigger ones for about 20 minutes.
- Let rest for 5 minutes before serving. Done in less than 30 minutes, and you spent most of the time setting and unwinding. Not bad, not bad at all.
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips:
- Do not try with frozen chicken.
- Try to use breast of about the same size and thicken. If over ¾ inch thick, flatten them a bit with a meat mallet or bottom of a heavy pan.
- Season as you want but I suggest nothing with sugar that may burn. We use All Purpose Seasoning - 7:2:1 and 7:2:2.
- Start searing with a preheated pan, not cold. The oil should be shimmering. You may need more oil if you don't use well-seasoned cast iron or non-stick skillet.
- Sear in the pan to approximately the final color you want.
- First, sear with the smooth side up, then flip, sear, then one final flip as it goes into the oven.
- The oven time can vary by size and thickness. Usually, 15-20 minutes but you must check for the final internal temperature of 165°. Thinner breasts may take as little as 10 minutes.
- Rest for 5 minutes after cooking before cutting.
To adjust the recipe size:
You may adjust the number of servings in this recipe card under servings. This does the math for the ingredients for you. BUT it does NOT adjust the text of the instructions. So you need to do that yourself.
Nutrition
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Editor's Note: Originally Published August 28, 2011. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.
Working mom
I appreciated this recipe for the technique of searing then finishing in the oven. I never had much luck with oven baked chicken breasts before (always dry / overcooked). I used marinated breasts from Wegmans (lemon-garlic). After I seared them, I added a diced zucchini to the pan, sprinkled just the zucchini with a little olive oil, salt and pepper and threw the whole thing in the oven as you suggested. The result was delicious roasted zucchini and chicken in a one-pan meal. Added a baked sweet potato for a very easy and tasty dinner. Thanks again!
DrDan
Great. I still do this recipe frequently but occasionally add some extras.
Dan
Katee
I LOVEEEEEEE this simple recipe!!! It has become a staple in my house! So easy to make! My family loves how perfectly tender the chicken comes out and the seasoning makes it so yummy. I usually add some Italian spices, a sprig of fresh Rosemary and a spring of fresh thyme to it. Thank you for posting
Sparks
A shot of butter and a pat or two of butter in the hot pan while the chicken is resting on a tented plate will make a fast and tasty reduction to sauce the chicken or a little pasta or vegetable on the side.
DrDan
I do love butter and great idea to get all the flavor. I would make me eat my veggies.
Thanks for the note
Dan
Traci Wells
Can I put the seasoning mixture in a grinder to make is more convenient to use on other things also?
Vince
best recipe for chicken breasts. I have been cooking this daily. I use a cast iron when cooking for myself. When cooking these breasts for my family, I use a big stainless steel pan to cook more at the same time. Everyone loves it. My picky eater 6 year old son eats a whole breast to himself when prepared this way!!
Deni
BY FAR the best cast iron skillet recipe for chicken I have ever came across. I found this last night while I was in a rush to find a good recipe for a crispy juicy chicken breast without breading. This is now my new way of making chicken! Thank you very much for sharing this recipe with us!
DrDan
I do so love cast iron. Everybody should have some. I do the same method for pork tenderloins, country style boneless ribs, and steak. If you look around the site you will find those.
Thanks for the note
DrDan
Mom of 4
Hello,
I'm curious about to cover or not when in the oven. From pics it looks like that's a no. And- I want to do about 8 chicken breasts. I have a large dutch oven. Would you do 4, (sear, flip, sear, flip, oven) at a time so the entire surface is touching the bottom? Or could I sear, flip, sear, flip 4 then 4, and then put all 8 in the oven? Covered? Not?
hah. thanks!!
DrDan
First uncovered.
The Dutch oven can only do 3-4 so I would have something like a rimmed baking sheet in the oven. Preheat the tray with the oven. Do the stovetop part on the first 4 and put in oven on tray and immediately do the other 4 and place in the oven. Keep track of the first in so they will be the first out and tent them to keep them hot while the others finish.
DrDan
Amanda
Ok I am not one to ever leave a comment (usually just lurk!) but between this and the filet recipe that is done similarly, my boyfriend and family think I am some extravagant chef! Ha! I have this bookmarked and use it at least once a week. So I wanted to say thank you for sharing! We love it! Xo!
DrDan
Thanks Amanda... you made my day. It reminds me why and what I'm doing.
Dan
Ashley
Making this now. I added some thyme and rosemary as well as searing the sides of the breasts along with the top and bottom. Wanted that nice golden color everywhere. I also had to add more olive oil. The 1t. cooked off too quickly and they were almost burning so I added the oil and good :) can't wait to eat them. They're in the oven now!
Windy
Can you give me some tips on what to cook a picky autistic 4 year old help
DrDan
OK... Give me the simple ones. I have many of these kids and they all are different so no stock answer. But I believe you should pick what the other kids like. My best suggestions come from what parents have shared in the comments. First the oven baked drumsticks ( https://www.101cookingfortwo.com/the-art-of-drummies-oven-baked-chicken/ ) always get high praise from parents. Second the chicken nuggets at https://www.101cookingfortwo.com/healthy-baked-chicken-nuggets/
The mac and cheese is alway a favorite but not so healthy. I'll try the think of more.
Dan
Becky
Can I also roast this low and slow with gravy? How would you recommend I do this?
DrDan
Lean meat (like this chicken breast) should usually be quick. Fatty meat with lots of marbling like a pork butt is where low and slow should be used. If I were brazing this I would do it in chicken broth then make that into gravy.
DrDan
J
Great cooking method, I discovered it on your site a couple years ago and now I always use it to cook the chicken for my salad.
Debbie
Used this tonight with the exception of I replaced the chicken with wild turkey and it was AWESOME!! Can't wait to try more of your recipes.
DrDan
I have never tied it with wild turkey... I had 6 of them as I left the driveway this morning. Maybe step on the gas instead of the brake tomorrow...
A similar technique should work well for almost any lean meat as long as you pay attention to internal final temperature. I have posts for pork tenderloin, boneless ribs and this one for chicken breasts.
Thanks for the note.
DrDan
Try to cook
I read thru this recipe sor searing the chicken, then I got to the part about the convector oven and I was like ohhh no! I only have a regular old stove. Chef Ramsay has me in the mood for searing and finishing off in the oven this week. However, I've got two huge breasts and wasn't sure how long to do them, I'm going to give them extra time because they are large and I dont have convection. Love your site!
hunnydew
I just discovered your site. Thank you for sharing such delicious and easy recipes! I appreciate the fact that most of your recipes ingredients that everyone probably already have in their kitchen. I can make healthy meals for my family without spending all day in the kitchen.
Elizabeth
FINALLY a quick chicken that isn't dry. My husband is extremely picky when it comes to poultry and he loves this. 6 stars!
DrDan
I still do this one over and over.
Thanks for the note and the rating.
DrDan
cathy
hello!! I have tried numerous times to print recipies but nothing prints.. am I missing something on this web page that I
need to do in order to print. thanks,cathy
DrDan
Hi Cathy, Sorry you're having a problem. I checked the log and I think you're using Internet Explorer. Try flushing the cashe by pressing Ctrl-Shift-Delete and then choose to delete the temporary internet files. That usually works. If not then next try right clicking on the print button and see if it will open in another window and then you should be able to print that with the print function.
The print function is Java script controlled by a "plug in" which means there is not much else I can do.
Hope that helps.
DrDan
Teddy Winston
Dr. Dan,
I'm an Opera Singer, who tours approximately 250 days out of the year. when and wherever possible, I always request a suite that has a kitchenette or at least a stove top... I've always been extremely paranoid about undercooking chicken breast, so the unfortunate flip side has been done, yet rubbery chicken... Until I tried your method, my chicken breasts were perfect!!! My suite did not come with an oven, so I modified your instructions ever so slightly, by cooking each breast 5 to 6 minutes on each side until golden brown, then letting them rest covered for 10 minutes. just before plating, I added a fine chop of fresh chives, and a light sprinkle of paprika. Then, in a separate saucepan, I brought to a boil some high end chicken stock, then added some store bought canned biscuits and made some very large dumplings! and by adding just a little cornstarch, wine and heavy cream to the stock, I created a velvety sauce, bringing it all together with thinly sliced organic carrots! A triumph! Thanks to you!!! You've helped me to conquer my fear of fowl and given me a new favorite thing.
Teddy Winston
DrDan
Hi Teddy,
Thanks so much for the note. It sounds wonderful and so very creative. I always say recipe are just guidelines not rules. I'm so glad it works for you.
DrDan