Kyl Haselbauer

12-inch Skillet

The Control Freak™ Home

8-ounce Chef’s Press

Tongs

Digital instant-read thermometer

The Control °Freak® induction cooking system

Neutral oil

Chicken breast(s)

Kosher salt

Unsalted butter

Dialing in doneness: Chicken breasts are quite lean and therefore can be tricky to cook properly. Without much intramuscular fat to act as an insulator and slow the process of <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/types-of-heat">heat transfer</a>, the breasts can quickly overcook in the pan, or even once they’re out of the pan and resting thanks to <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/carryover-cooking-why-you-should-let-meat-rest">carryover cooking</a>, leaving you with chalky and dry chicken.

Chicken breasts also are best served with a crispy skin, so you can’t just cook them like you would a steak or a chop. As with duck breast, the fat between the skin and the breast has to be rendered before the skin can crisp properly.

Maximizing surface contact: Placing a cooking weight on top of the chicken breasts as they sear on the skin side ensures even contact with the pan, which improves <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/mastering-the-maillard-reaction">Maillard browning</a>.

Precision pan-searing for other proteins: This method is optimized for cooking chicken breasts, and it shouldn’t be used interchangeably for other proteins. Want to know how to pan-sear other proteins with precision? Check out our <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/pan-searing-guide">full guide to precision pan-searing</a> and our dialed-in recipes for <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/precision-pan-seared-steak">steak</a>, <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/precision-pan-seared-pork-chops">pork chops</a>, <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/precision-pan-seared-scallops">scallops</a>, and <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/pan-seared-salmon">salmon</a>.

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How to pan sear steak, scallops, salmon, and more.

The Ultimate Guide to Pan Searing With Precision

Before we begin

Juicy and tender (our favorite)
 
Skin-side cook time: 11 minutes
 
Flesh-side cook time: 6–7 minutes
 
Pull temp: [f 150] 
 
Serve temp: [f 150]

Juicy and firm
 
Skin-side cook time: 11 minutes
 
Flesh-side cook time: 10–11 minutes
 
Pull temp: [f 160] 
 
Serve temp: [f 160]

Choose your doneness

Heat a dry 12-inch sauté pan over medium-high heat for 4 minutes. Add oil to pan, swirl to evenly coat surface, and heat until shimmering.

Season chicken breasts evenly on all sides with salt. Add chicken, skin-side down, to pan and immediately place cooking weight on top.

Cook for 1 minute. Remove cooking weight and, using tongs, carefully lift chicken breasts to release skin from pan (if skin doesn’t release readily, don’t force it), swirl pan to redistribute fat so that it evenly coats surface of pan, and return chicken, skin-side down, to pan. Place cooking weight back on top.

Continue to cook, repeating process of moving chicken breasts and redistributing fat every 2 minutes, until skin is deep golden brown, about 10 minutes total.

Sear chicken breasts

We recommend seasoning meat and poultry either just before cooking or at least 45 minutes ahead of cooking.

Salt draws out moisture from proteins and vegetables. Season a steak or chicken breast with salt, let it sit, and, within a few minutes, liquid will begin to accumulate on the surface of the meat, dissolving the salt and creating a concentrated brine. If you continue to let the steak sit, that brine will eventually be reabsorbed by the meat, thanks to diffusion. If you want to get a lot of chefs worked up, you can call this process “dry brining” instead of “salting”; it’s perfect kindling for sparking a comment section debate.

No matter where you stand on the “salting” versus “dry brining” nomenclature debate, there’s no arguing that this process takes time, at least 45 minutes for steaks and chicken breasts.

If you attempt to sear a generously seasoned steak or chicken breast before the brine has had time to be reabsorbed by the meat, then you’ll generally end up with a dry piece of meat with a pale crust. The moisture that has been drawn to the surface won’t make its way back into the steak and instead will cause the surface to steam when you start cooking, inhibiting Maillard browning.

So, you have two options:

• Season and sear immediately, before salt has had time to draw out moisture from the meat. This is the fastest approach, but the seasoning will only be surface level.

• Season and let sit, uncovered on a wire rack set inside a sheet pan, for at least 45 minutes and up to overnight. This more time-consuming approach yields deeply seasoned chicken.

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The Ultimate Guide to Brining Turkey

Seasoning meat: Cook right away or let sit for at least 45 minutes.

Remove weight from chicken and add butter to pan. Continue to cook chicken skin-side down, swirling pan and lifting chicken breasts to distribute fat evenly in pan, until butter is foaming and beginning to brown, about 1 minute.

Finish crisping skin with butter

Reduce heat to medium-low, and flip chicken breasts skin-side up. Continue to cook until thickest part of breasts register target pull temperature on an instant-read thermometer for your preferred doneness 6 to 11 minutes.

Pull temperatures and flesh-side cook times:
 
[f 150]: Juicy and tender, 6 to 7 minutes (our favorite)
 
[f 160]: Juicy and firm, 10 to 11 minutes

Flip chicken breasts and finish cooking

Transfer chicken breasts, skin-side up, to cutting board and let rest for 1 minute. While chicken is resting, you can make a <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/how-to-make-a-quick-pan-sauce">quick pan sauce</a>, if desired. Slice into 3/4-inch-thick pieces and serve.

NOTE: Due to the low-heat finish and short rest time, carryover cooking doesn’t have a significant effect in this recipe. The final internal serving temperature is the same as the pull temperature.

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Chicken pan sauce recipe with chicken bouillon cubes.

Instant Chicken Pan Sauce

How to Make a Quick Pan Sauce

Slice and serve

Pan-seared chicken breasts are best enjoyed immediately. Leftovers can be wrapped tightly in plastic and refrigerated for up to 1 week.

Make-ahead and storage

The perfect pan-seared chicken breast is tender and juicy on the inside, with an actually crispy golden skin on top. Our method relies on a two-stage cooking process similar to how you would cook duck breast. Start the breasts skin-side down over medium-high heat to render fat and slowly crisp the skin while gently cooking the meat. Once the skin is golden brown and crisp, add a knob of butter, flip the breasts, and finish them over low heat, gradually cooking them to your preferred doneness. The heat on the finishing step is so gentle that you don’t even need to account for <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/carryover-cooking-why-you-should-let-meat-rest">carryover cooking</a>. And you’re rewarded with super-tender chicken and seriously crispy skin. With the temperature control of precision induction cooking, this whole process is a breeze—you never have to worry about your pan being too hot that it’ll scorch the skin, and with the gentle heat finish, you can cook chicken just the way you want it, every time.

Precision Pan-Seared Chicken Breast