Easy Pan Roasted Chicken Breasts with Thyme
How to perfectly pan roast chicken breasts with butter and thyme. Jump to the Easy Pan Roasted Chicken Breasts with Thyme Recipe or read on to see our tips for making it.
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How to Pan Roast Chicken Breasts
Pan roasting is one of our favorite ways to cook chicken. We use the same method for cooking these lemon chicken thighs. It’s basically a two-part process. Sear the chicken in an oven-safe pan on top of the stove then slide it into the oven to finish cooking.
If we can find them, boneless skin-on chicken breasts are our go to for this recipe. Although, 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 the golden-brown skin is my favorite part.
For this recipe, we cook the chicken in butter and add lots of fresh thyme — other herbs like rosemary or sage are also excellent. After generously seasoning the breasts, place them skin-side down into the hot pan.
When it’s golden brown, flip, add butter and thyme. Then spoon the melted thyme butter on top. Slide the pan into the oven so the chicken can finish cooking. While it roasts, open the oven door a couple times and spoon the butter on top of the chicken to keep it moist.
Recipe updated, originally posted December 2011. Since posting this in 2011, we have tweaked the recipe to be more clear. – Adam and Joanne
Easy Pan Roasted Chicken Breasts with Thyme
- PREP
If we can find them, boneless skin-on chicken breasts are our go to for this recipe. Although, 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 the golden-brown skin is my favorite part.
Makes 2 servings
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 degrees F.
Pat the chicken breasts dry and season generously with salt and pepper. Heat oil in an oven-safe skillet over medium-high heat.
Carefully place chicken breasts into hot skillet skin side down. Cook without moving until skin is deep golden brown and crisp, about 6 minutes. Carefully flip the chicken then add the butter and thyme. When the butter has melted, spoon it over the chicken several times.
Transfer skillet to the oven. Cook chicken until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the chicken breasts registers 165 degrees F, 10 to 15 minutes. Spoon the thyme butter over the chicken a couple times while it bakes.
Remove skillet from oven and transfer chicken to a cutting board. Let it rest about 5 minutes before serving. Serve with butter from the pan spooned on top as well as a squeeze of lemon.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Nutrition Facts: The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. We have used the USDA Supertracker recipe calculator to calculate approximate values.
If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #inspiredtaste — We love to see your creations on Instagram and Facebook! Find us: @inspiredtaste
Nutrition Per Serving: Calories 397 / Protein 43 g / Carbohydrate 0 g / Dietary Fiber 0 g / Total Sugars 0 g / Total Fat 24 g / Saturated Fat 8 g / Cholesterol 137 mg
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Easy and delicious. A keeper. Followed exactly, and especially liked the crispy thyme sprigs at the end.
Excellent, easy and a keeper. Followed instructions exactly, and loved the results, including the crispy thyme at the end.
Is it necessary to puncture the skin prior to browning? I’ve heard that if the skin isn’t punctured that the fat layer beneath won’t properly render.
Hi John, This is not something we do in our kitchen and find that the fat renders beautifully and the skin browns nicely with this recipe.
This dish is absolutely amazing. I love the flavor,it was easy to make, and fast to cook. Most importantly my picky teenager like it as well. Thank you so very much!!!
Absolutely loved how easy and fast this was to make. It’s a new favorite dish at our house.
The timings in this recipe are perfect! Very juicy and tender chicken.
This recipe was easy and it tasted great! I used thighs instead and served it with zuchini and couscous. This recipe is a keeper!
This recipe is great. I love simple recipes but using the best ingredients. Thank you for sharing your expertise. My house smelled so good and I used this roasted chicken breast for enchiladas.
Hello, can you advise what we did wrong? We used a cast iron skillet since I’m not sure if I have any other oven safe skillets. The chicken took close to 40 minutes to get to 165 in the oven. I have had a hard time with recipes and the chicken breasts that I’ve tried cooking and it’s frustrating. The chicken breasts I have are boneless skinless chicken breasts and are close to the correct weight.
Hi Cade, A cast iron pan is perfect for this recipe. Are you sure the oven temperature was correct? The chicken should have come to 165F in the time you mentioned. It’s also possible the thermometer used is uncalibrated. I hope that helps a bit! Another recipe for chicken breasts (which works really well with boneless, skinless chicken breasts) is this Lemon Chicken Breast Recipe. We cook them on the stove and they turn out really juicy and tender. This Baked Chicken Breast Recipe is also a favorite.
We also used cast iron and it took 35 minutes to reach 165- the chicken was definitely raw after 15 minutes, as I cut into it to check after my thermometer didn’t register above 130. Very Good, but did not cook in the time indicated.
You didn’t use frozen chicken, did you?
This was so good I made it twice in two weeks. Really fancy enough for company.