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Home » Recipes » Food

Published: Dec 6, 2022, By: Melissa, Updated: Mar 20, 2024

The Best Cast Iron Chicken Breast

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This French-style cast iron chicken breast recipe is incredibly easy to make & delivers tender, juicy & crispy-skin chicken. The chicken breasts are cooked in a cast iron skillet in the oven until golden and delicious. Pair this easy dinner with your favorite sides for a complete meal.

crisped up chicken breast in cast iron

This juicy and easy-to-make cast iron chicken is a game changer for how to cook chicken breasts. This French style of cooking chicken is my favorite way to make them because the chicken comes out so juicy and so delicious.

This recipe starts with skin on chicken breasts that are pan-seared skin side down on the stovetop and then finished off in the oven for the crispiest skin.

Unlike a roasted chicken, this recipe only takes about 30 minutes to make which is my kind of recipe.

If you do not have skin on your chicken breasts, I have included instructions below on how to make this. I do hope this recipe gets you to start buying skin-on chicken breasts when you see that delicious crispy skin!

raw chicken breasts with skin

Ingredients needed

This recipe is for skin-on chicken breasts. If you are not familiar with this, you can always find bone-in chicken breasts (also called split chicken breasts) which always have the skin on them, and just cut the meat off the bone when you get home.

Here is what you will need:

  1. Skin on boneless chicken breasts. Or bone in chicken breasts and you cut the meat off the bone yourself.
  2. Kosher salt and pepper
  3. Chicken stock (for pan gravy)
  4. Fresh herbs. I prefer using fresh oregano and fresh sage. You can also use fresh rosemary and thyme.
  5. Unsalted butter
  6. Vegetable oil. You need vegetable oil for this recipe since vegetable oil has a high smoking point that can hold up to the high heat of cast iron.

That is it. This chicken has a delicious pan gravy that is made at the end so there are a couple of added ingredients in the list to do this.

I highly recommend you do not skip this step because there will be so much delicious flavor at the bottom of the pan when the chicken is done cooking.

How to cook skin-on chicken breasts in cast iron

searing chicken breasts in cast iron

Pre-heating the cast iron pan

  1. Preheat the cast iron pan in a hot 400-degree oven for 10 minutes.

When working with cast iron, is one of the most amazing materials for conducting heat evenly. The only caveat is that cast iron is very slow to heat up.

You always want to pre-heat cast iron in the oven for about 10 minutes to ensure the entire cast iron pan is evenly heated through.

Cooking the chicken

  1. Carefully remove the pan from the oven and place on the stovetop over medium heat.
  2. Add vegetable oil to the pan. The oil will immediately glide across the hot pan.
  3. Place the chicken skin side down in the hot oil and allow the chicken to sear for about 6-7 minutes to crisp up the skin nicely.
  4. After the skin has crisped up, flip it over, so it is skin side up, add the fresh herbs and butter to the pan, and finish cooking it in the oven.

That is all there is to it! The cooking time in the oven is only 10 minutes with another 5 minutes of resting when the chicken comes out of the oven.

closeup of crispy skin chicken

The Best Sides To Serve With This

There are so many great side dishes that you can serve with this simple pan-seared chicken. Because there is a pan gravy made at the end, I like to serve side dishes that soak up the juices really well.

Here are some of my favorites.

  • Roasted cauliflower and potatoes
  • Roasted potatoes and broccoli
  • Green Beans with Tomatoes
  • Yogurt biscuits
  • Yukon gold mashed potatoes
  • Southern Green Beans
  • or you can browse more side dish recipes.
cast iron chicken breasts

More Cast Iron Recipes

  • Cast Iron Oven Baked Salmon
  • Italian Baked Meatballs
  • Juicy Boneless Pork Chops
  • Pan Seared New York Strips
cast iron chicken breasts
Print Recipe
5 from 5 votes

The Best Cast Iron Chicken Breast

This French cast iron chicken breast recipe is incredibly easy to make & delivers tender, juicy & crispy-skin chicken. Pair this easy dinner with your favorite sides for a complete meal.
Prep Time5 minutes mins
Cook Time20 minutes mins
Resting time5 minutes mins
Total Time30 minutes mins
Servings: 4 servings
Author: Melissa Oleary

Equipment

  • 1 cast iron pan

Ingredients

  • 4 skin on boneless skinless chicken breasts
  • 2 tablespoon vegetable oil
  • 2 tablespoon unsalted butter
  • 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 2 sprigs of fresh oregano
  • 4 fresh sage leaves

Pan Gravy

  • ¼ cup low sodium chicken stock
  • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Instructions

  • Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.
  • Place cast iron pan in oven for 10 minutes.
  • While cast iron is pre-heating, place chicken breast skin side down on a cutting board and cover with plastic wrap.
    4 skin on boneless skinless chicken breasts
  • With a mallet or rolling pin, lightly pound out the chicken breasts so they flatten to about ¾ inchess thick.
  • Flip the chicken over and sprinkle salt and pepper on skin of chicken breasts.
    1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • When cast iron pan is pre-heated, carefully remove it from the oven and place it on the stovetop over medium heat.
  • Add the oil.
    2 tablespoon vegetable oil
  • Now place chicken breast skin side down into the pan and cook for 6-8 minutes or until the skin is crisped up and brown.
  • Flip the chicken over so it is skin side up and turn off the stove.
  • Add the butter and fresh herbs to the pan and place in the oven for 10 minutes.
    2 tablespoon unsalted butter, 2 sprigs of fresh oregano, 4 fresh sage leaves
  • Once the chicken has cooked for 10 minutes, remove to a plate and cover loosely with aluminum foil for 5 minutes to rest.
  • Place the cast iron pan back on the stovetop over medium low heat.
  • Add chicken stock and butter and whisk together making sure to scrape up any bits from the pan.
    ¼ cup low sodium chicken stock, 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
  • Bring to a light simmer and reduce by half.
  • Pour pan juices into a container.
  • Serve chicken breasts immeditely with pan juices on the side.

Notes

If you are working with boneless chicken breasts without skin:

Follow the recipe the same except only pan sear the chicken breasts for 2 minutes per side before placing in the oven.
 
Make sure chicken is cooked to an internal temperature of 165 degrees.

Nutrition

Calories: 275kcal | Carbohydrates: 1g | Protein: 24g | Fat: 19g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 7g | Trans Fat: 0.5g | Cholesterol: 95mg | Sodium: 658mg | Potassium: 277mg | Fiber: 0.3g | Sugar: 0.1g | Vitamin A: 367IU | Vitamin C: 0.01mg | Calcium: 26mg | Iron: 1mg

Nutrition Values are estimates only.

See full nutrition disclaimer here

Tried the Recipe? We Would Love To Hear From You In The Comments Below!

Course :entertaining, Main Course

Reader Interactions

Comments

    5 from 5 votes (3 ratings without comment)

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  1. Dina says

    December 14, 2022 at 1:37 am

    5 stars
    They were amazing. Everyone loved it

    Reply
    • Melissa says

      December 14, 2022 at 1:01 pm

      Love hearing that!

      Reply
  2. Emily says

    December 06, 2022 at 7:09 pm

    5 stars
    This was the best chicken I have ever made! It was amazing.

    Reply
    • Melissa says

      December 06, 2022 at 7:16 pm

      I am so happy to hear that!

      Reply

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I am so excited you are here. My name is Melissa and I started this recipe website to share easy recipes that I have been cooking for years. I have written hundreds of easy recipes that are tested and perfected. Some of the recipes I learned during my years of working in restaurants, some from owning my own food company, and others from friends and traveling.

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