Delicious Pan Sauce Chicken Breasts Are Ready in 35 Minutes

  • By Jess Dang
  • November 11, 2013

Chicken with Pan Sauce Recipe by Cook Smarts @cooksmarts

We featured this pan-seared chicken with pan sauce on our August 26th meal plan menu. It was such a hit that we had to bring it back for our recent Favorites Week.

A few of my favorite reviews below:

  • “I was skeptical when I saw this dish. But it was SO freaking good! I love that sauce!” – Rosemary
  • “Amazing!! Definitely one of my favorite things I have cooked.” – Jessica
  • “Yum! I ate and ate – very flavorful!” – Melissa
  • “Our first dinner using Cook Smarts and it was a major success! So delicious! Excited to make this again!” – Kimberly

I could let our reviewers go on and on, but I think you get the idea. The chicken was delicious, and it had a lot to do with the sauce. I know some of y’all think that sauces are elements reserved for fancy restaurant kitchens. Not true. Any home cook can easily make one at home – you likely have all the necessary ingredients – and it will transform a plain old chicken breast into something that you just might find on a restaurant menu.

Every time you don’t deglaze a pan to make a sauce, you’re leaving some of the magic behind. Deglazing simply refers to scraping up the delicious bits that have formed on the pan with some sort of liquid. It can be as simple as H2O or it can be as fancy as wine or somewhere in between like a chicken stock. This liquid scrapes up all those flavorful brown bits which yield a flavorful sauce. It’s really that simple.

COOKING Smarts

This video feature a different way of cooking chicken breasts and a different pan sauce recipe but it’ll give you a great idea of how easily one is made:

Video

The Making of the Perfect Chicken Breast

Learn to make the perfect, juicy, tender, and tasty chicken breast.

Use this skillet or saute pan for great searing action.
Buy this skillet

Serve this dish over our mashed sweet potatoes.

1 4

Seasoned Chicken Recipe with Pan Sauce

You'll feel like a professional chef making your own pan sauce to go over these chicken breasts.

Prep time: 15 min

Cook time: 20 min

Total time: 35 min

Serves: 4

Ingredients

  • Crushed garlic - 1 tsp.
  • Thyme sprigs - 2
  • Soy sauce - 2 tbs.
  • Worcestershire sauce - 1 tbs.
  • Olive oil - 2 tbs.
  • Chicken breasts - 3 to 4
  • Garlic soy marinade - Ingredients listed separately
  • Parsley - 2 tbs., chopped
  • Corn starch - 2 tsp.
  • Cooking oil - 2 tbs.
  • Thyme sprigs - 2
  • White wine - ¼ cup
  • Chicken stock - 1¼ cup
  • Dijon mustard - 2 tsp.
  • Lemon - ½, juice of

Instructions

Prep

  1. Marinade – Mix marinade ingredients together. (Can be done up to 5 days ahead)
  2. Chicken – Tenderize with a fork and marinate (ideally overnight) in the garlic-soy marinade. (Can be done up to 2 days ahead)
  3. Parsley – Chop. (Can be done up to 3 days ahead)
  4. Corn starch mixture – Mix corn starch with 2 tbs. cold water.

Make

  1. Heat a saute pan over medium-high heat. Add cooking oil, and then chicken to heated oil. Sear on both sides for 3 minutes.
  2. Lower heat to medium, and add 2 more thyme sprigs, white wine, and chicken stock, scraping up any brown bits that may have formed on the pan. There will be some steaming action, so be careful! Cover and cook for another 4 to 6 minutes, until chicken has reached an internal temperature of 165 degrees. Instead of using a thermometer, I use touch. Press down on the chicken and if it has a little bit of give, it’s done. Rock hard is overcooked, really squishable is still too uncooked.
  3. Remove cooked chicken from pan and add mustard and corn starch mixture to the pan. Bring to a simmer and let sauce cook until it’s thickened. Turn off heat, and add lemon, parsley, and season to taste with salt and pepper, and serve over chicken.

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