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 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!
Bill says
Its my 3rd time fixing this recipe and i think its GREAT!!!
Olya says
That’s wonderful Bill!! Thank you so much for your 5-star rating!
Bridget says
Easy peasy and delicious. I served this with fettuccine Alfredo. Definitely a keeper.
Olya says
With fettuccine alfredo is so YUM, Bridget!
Lena says
Amen sista!! Not a very nice comment sbaker! The world’s a mess as it is with all the meanness out there…be kind and considerate.
Patti says
This is now in our weekly rotation. It’s easy and doesn’t take much time at all. Perfect for busy workdays. Thank you!
Olya says
Yes – no nonsense weeknight protein – thank you!
Melissa says
Can I use boneless skinless chicken thighs?
Olya says
Yes, absolutely!
Sidney says
medium high heat blackened my chicken within 2 minutes and scorched my stainless steel pan. definitely need to adjust based on your stove type. otherwise tastes fine
Sbaker says
Maybe you don’t know how to cook.
chicken says
sbaker, was that necessary? you sound like a jerk.
this is a recipe for basic skillet chicken, do you expect people coming here to be gordon ramsey?
Fred Fernald says
I agree with you. What a stupid thing to say as a reply to you. I agree with you. The internet is full of mean and hateful people. Each individual stove/pan can be different but I’m trying this recipe. Thank you.
Charlie Sims says
STFU both of you.
Mary Jo Karleskint says
This is a super easy recipe! It didn’t take much time & was really tasty. Love the fact there aren’t a lot of calories.
Olya says
Thank you Mary Jo! Skinless chicken breasts are amazing low calorie protein!
Donna says
Crusty and spicy and so easy and fast. I’m glad I found this recipe. My husband doesn’t really care for chicken but he likes this. Cooking it for the third time tonight.
Olya says
So glad you and your husband enjoyed this!
Terri says
Thanks for the recipe! Very yummy and so easy! I like the idea of swapping out the Italian seasoning and using Jamaican Jerk!
Olya says
Worthy swap, Terri!
Elliott says
This will be my new go-to easy chicken recipe! The flavor is amazing.
Olya says
Thank you Elliott!
Niks says
It’s a really tasty recipe. The chicken is moist.
Olya says
Thank you!
Luke says
Swap Jamaican Jerk season for the Italian and you’ve got some killer bbq chicken.
Olya says
This maybe the absolute truth, Luke