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Seared chicken in a skillet with parsley
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5 from 65 votes

How to Pan Sear Chicken Breast

Tired of boring, dry chicken breasts? Never again! Master the skill of making delicious juicy pan seared chicken breasts every single time with this tutorial! These Pan Seared Chicken Breasts are flavorful, simple and perfect for any meal.
Prep Time5 minutes
Cook Time10 minutes
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: American, Brazilian
Keyword: cast iron, chicken, chicken breasts
Servings: 2 Servings
Author: Aline Shaw

Ingredients

  • 1 pound Boneless, skinless chicken breast 2 chicken breasts
  • 2 teaspoons of kosher salt or less if you are sensitive to salt
  • 2 teaspoon of your favorite unsalted seasoning I use Brazilian Chicken Seasoning
  • 2 tablespoons of cold unsalted butter
  • Olive oil to drizzle
  • Black pepper to taste

Instructions

  • Pound the chicken with the mallet to flatten out the thickest part. You want the chicken breasts to be roughly the same thickness so they cook evenly. Do not pound them too thin.
  • Season the chicken with salt. Sprinkle them with an even layer of pepper and salt on one side. Let the breasts sit until you can't see the salt anymore. (This will take a few minutes.) Flip the breasts and season the other side.
  • Season with the unsalted seasoning, too. Massage gently into the chicken to ensure it's distributed evenly on both sides.
  • Heat a cast iron skillet over high heat, and drizzle with olive oil
  • Add the chicken. Lower the heat to medium-high, and let it sear undisturbed for 2 minutes.
  • Flip after 2 minutes, then reduce to medium. Add a pat of cold butter on top of each breast, and sear undisturbed another 2 minutes on this side
  • After 2 minutes, turn off the heat and cover the pan cover. Let it sit undisturbed 6 minutes to allow the residual heat to finish the cooking.

Bom Apetite!!

    Notes

    We start at high temperature then reduce as we go, until we continue to cook off of residual heat. The cast iron retains a lot of heat, so we just need to control it so it does what we want it to do... My range is electric, so if you are working with a gas range, it may take about a minute or so longer per step. Use your strongest burner.