Easy Pan-Seared Chicken Breasts have a crunchy crust and lots of flavor from Italian seasoning! This easy chicken recipe turns out excellent every single time!
Easy pan-seared chicken breasts is one of my favorite ways to make chicken. You pan fry chicken right in the skillet. So that you can enjoy crunchy crust and lots of flavor! It’s an excellent way to cook boneless and skinless chicken breasts when you are short on time.
How to make easy pan-seared chicken breasts
To make this pan seared chicken, make sure to use thin boneless skinless chicken breasts. You can easily dredge them in the flour mixture. Another selling point is since they are flatter, they retain the coating better. By the way, I also used thin chicken breasts in this Parmesan Crusted Chicken recipe.
Besides, boneless chicken breasts are so easy to find! They are also low in fat and high in protein. So perfect!
To dredge chicken breasts, you will use all purpose unbleached flour. By the way, flour is one of the best coatings for frying or searing chicken. And it always produces nice and smooth coating.
How about whole wheat flour for dredging? Of course, you can use whole wheat flour, too. Whole wheat flour is very flavorful and will taste slightly different.
To make this pan-seared chicken gluten free:
- Use rice flour to get a beautiful golden crust on your chicken.
- Other mild-flavored flours that also work well include: specialty gluten-free flour mixes, corn flour and potato starch flour.
- Or, if you are able to tolerate nut flours, almond flour works great for coating and pan searing chicken. It also gives it a beautiful color.
I also have instructions on searing thick chicken breasts where I don’t use flour at all. In fact, you can compare and see how different the process is when chicken is thicker: How to sear thick chicken breasts.
How to coat the chicken breasts
First, paper towel dry the chicken. Next, in a large bowl, combine flour, sea salt, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and Italian seasoning. Immediately stir well to blend.
Then, using a fork or tongs, coat the chicken breasts in the flour mixture and set aside. The reason why we want to dredge chicken in flour is simple! It’s because we want to make chicken’s surface attain a more attractive brown color. And we also want to get some crisp on the outside.
Additionally, you can also coat the chicken by tossing it with the flour. Use either a plastic bag, a paper bag or a plastic container with a lid.
Or, you can sprinkle the flour onto a plate. Then roll the chicken breasts around in it, while pressing it into the flour.
Searing chicken breasts
This easy pan seared chicken recipe produces a lovely crisp coating. It’s not the least bit heavy. What you really taste is the chicken, not the coating. And that’s how it should be. The coating is just barely there to complement the food.
- First things first, you will heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
- Once the skillet is hot, you will place flour coated chicken breasts in the skillet.
- Next you will sear chicken breasts them for 4 to 5 minutes on each side. They should turn golden brown in color on both sides.
- Finally, I recommend to turn them only once between cooking. And the total cooking time should not exceed 8-10 minutes.
What kind of skillet to use
I recommend using a good quality stainless steel pan, such as this 12 inch pan that comes with a lid. Or, you can also pan sear chicken in a large cast iron skillet, such as this 12 inch cast iron pan.
Both hold heat incredibly well and are easy to cook with. I cooked most of the recipes on this site with one of these two skillets.
Hungry for more chicken recipes?
- Skillet Chicken in Mushroom Sauce
- Herb Roasted Chicken in Creamy White Wine Sauce
- Chicken in Mustard and Wine Sauce
Easy Pan-Seared Chicken Breasts
Ingredients
- 4 chicken breasts (thin, boneless and skinless)
- ½ cup flour
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
Instructions
- Paper towel dry your thin chicken breasts (if you bought thick ones, make sure to butterfly each one). In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and Italian Seasoning. Stir well to blend.
- Using a fork or tongs, coat the chicken breasts in the flour mixture and set aside.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once the skillet is hot, place flour coated chicken breasts in the skillet and cook for 4 to 5 minutes on each side, until golden brown on both sides and cooked through, turning once between cooking, about 8-10 minutes.
- Remove chicken from pan and serve warm with pasta or vegetables.
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy only. This information comes from online calculators. Although whatsinthepan.com attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates.
Our new favorite chicken recipes include this Cajun Chicken and Sausage Penne Pasta dish.
Additionally, we also like this amazing Chicken Spinach and Bacon Alfredo Pasta. In fact both recipes are perfect for midweek dinners!
Absolutely LOVED this dish. It was very simple, healthy, and made a BIG impression 💕Thank you for sharing!!!!! Looking forward to trying your other recipes 😊
Thank you!
Made this tonight! So easy and my husband loved it! This will be in my meal rotation from now on! Thank you!
Diane, so glad you made it for yourself and your husband.
Googled for seared chicken breast to top some alfredo. Honestly, chicken breast has no business being this delicious. Flavorful and juicy! Perfect for my intended use, but completely delicious on its own.
Thank you Dani! Well said:)
So I found this recipe and I don’t have unbleached flour right now so I used the all purpose I did have and it tasted delicious. Can I ask the difference, I’m new with the whole cooking thing. Thanks
Usually, all purpose flour is bleached with peroxide or other chemicals, while unbleached one is not. Both can be used interchangebly in cooking.
I tried this with both breasts and thighs, and both came out so good! Extremely tender and flavorful!
Oh great! I am glad it worked with the thighs as well. I love chicken thighs!
Good recipe! I did add peprika and mustard powder along with fresh basil, I forgot to cut the chicken in halve so once browned I just finished in the oven. Very yummy tho!
Yes – oven is the way to go for thicker chicken!
I’m giving 5 stars with slight reservation because on medium high, in a good pan, my chicken started to blacken in spots in less than 3 minutes. So I turned the heat down and flipped the chicken, but my skillet was so hot that it was well past done in 2 -3 more minutes. My chicken breasts were huge, so I sliced them lengthwise to make them thinner, but they were still not very thin. I did use half ghee and half avocado oil because they have higher smoke point than olive oil. I was worried the breasts would be dry because they were 180-200 degrees in spots, but amazingly, they were still juicy! Next time, I will not go to medium high and I might sprinkle kosher salt on the meat before dredging. But all in all, quite tasty! Thank you for the recipe.
Wow! Kim – thank you for posting such detailed experience. I love hearing the variations in cooking, especially when it results in good, juicy and NOT overcooked piece of protein!
Yum! Instead of the two side dishes, I just eat 2 breasts. Super simple and I think my stomach prefers less variety. Cheers!
And simplicity
Do you cover the chicken while it’s cooking ?
I didn’t cover the chicken.
Made this and absolutely loved it. I am a beginner when it comes to cooking. I think i will try the lemon bath for the chicken next time. Thanks
Thank you Katie! Sounds like you nailed it as a beginner!