Easy Pan Roasted Chicken Breasts
- PREP 10min
- COOK 20min
- TOTAL 30min
Perfect pan-roasted chicken breasts cooked with butter and thyme. The chicken is golden brown, juicy in the middle, and tastes incredible! We love using boneless skin-on chicken breasts for this recipe if we can find them. Chicken thighs would also be great. If you cannot find chicken breasts with the skin left on and the bone out, you can make this with bone-in breasts. You can also use skinless breasts, although I have to admit that golden-brown skin is my favorite part.
You Will Need
2 boneless skin-on chicken breasts (6 to 8 ounces each)
Salt and fresh ground black pepper
1 tablespoon neutral oil, like grape seed or canola
2 tablespoons butter
Handful fresh thyme sprigs
Half of a lemon, for serving
Directions
Heat the oven to 400° F (204° C).
Pat the chicken breasts dry and season generously with salt and pepper.
Heat oil in an oven-safe skillet over medium-high heat, and then carefully place chicken skin side down into the hot skillet. Cook without moving until skin is deep golden brown and crisp, about 6 minutes.
Carefully flip the chicken, and then add the butter and thyme. When the butter has melted, spoon it over the chicken several times.
Transfer the skillet to the oven. Cook chicken until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the breasts registers 165° F, 10 to 15 minutes. Spoon the thyme butter over the chicken several times while it bakes. If you are cooking bone-in chicken breasts, expect they will take a bit longer; I’d expect somewhere between 25 and 35 minutes.
Remove the skillet from the oven and transfer the chicken to a cutting board. Let it rest for about 5 minutes before serving. Serve with butter from the pan spooned on top and a squeeze of lemon.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Nutrition Facts: The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. We have used the USDA database to calculate approximate values.