Make Pan Sauce for Chicken
For a quick, easy weekday dinner, it's hard to top pan-seared chicken breasts. But these can sometimes seem a little bland or boring if you leave the chicken on its own -- enter a delicious pan sauce. By using the same pan from cooking the chicken to whip up a sauce, you take advantage of all the rich flavor that the meat left behind. Mix in some shallots, wine, stock, and butter, and you have a simple but delicious sauce that can have even the pickiest eaters asking for seconds.
Contents
Ingredients
- 4 chicken breasts
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 tablespoons (15 ml) olive oil, plus more as needed
- 1 whole shallot, minced
- ¼ cup (59 ml) white white
- ¾ cup (177 ml) chicken stock, plus extra as needed
- 2 tablespoons (28 g) butter
- 1 ½ teaspoons (4 g) cornstarch mixed with 2 tablespoons (30 ml) chicken stock (optional)
Steps
Cooking the Chicken
- Season the chicken breasts. For a meal large enough for four, you’ll need 4 chicken breasts. Sprinkle as much salt and freshly ground black pepper as you’d like over both sides of the breasts so they’re nicely seasoned.
- Get creative by adding your favorite seasonings to the chicken breasts. A pinch of Italian seasoning adds some herb-infused flavor, while a little Cajun seasoning brings a little heat.
- Heat the olive oil. Throw a large skillet on the stove, and add a tablespoon (15 ml) of olive oil. Let the oil heat over medium-high heat until it shimmers, which should take about 5 minutes.
- You'll get the tastiest pan sauce with a stainless steel skillet.
- You can swap butter for the olive oil if you like.
- Add the chicken and saute it for 5 minutes. Once the oil is nice and hot, toss the seasoned chicken breasts into the skillet. Let them cook for about 5 minutes, or until they’ve got a good sear on the outside.
- Turn the chicken and cook it for another 5 minutes. When the first side of the chicken breasts are done, flip them over. Let them cook for another 5 minutes on the other side, or until they’re just cooked through.
- If you’re unsure whether the chicken is fully cooked, an instant-read food thermometer comes in pretty handy. The breasts should hit an internal temperature of 165°F (74°C).
- Transfer the chicken to a plate. After you’ve cooked the chicken through, take them out of the pan with a pair of tongs. Leave them on a plate that's off to the side until you’re finished making the sauce.
- Keep the chicken nice and warm by throwing some foil over it.
Starting the Sauce
- Saute the shallot in the pan drippings until it's golden. After you've gotten the chicken out of the skillet, immediately dump a minced shallot inside. Cook it in the drippings from the meat over medium-high heat until it's golden brown and soft, which should take about 2 to 3 minutes.
- Keep the shallots from burning by giving them a good stir with a wooden spoon as they cook.
- If there aren't enough pan drippings to make about a tablespoon (15 ml), add a little more olive oil to the skillet.
- If you’re a fan of mushrooms, swap 1 cup (75 g) of thinly sliced mushrooms for the shallots. Or go for the best of both worlds with a combo of mushrooms and shallots.
- Boost the sauce's flavor by mixing in your favorite herbs and spices, such as thyme, rosemary, and/or minced garlic.
- Mix in the wine. When you're done sauteing the shallots, add ¼ cup (59 ml) of white white to the skillet. Wait for the wine come to a simmer, and use your wooden spoon to scrape up the tasty brown bits from the bottom of the pan to help flavor the sauce.
- Not a fan of white wine? Red wine, beer, cider, or any flavorful liquor that you like works just as well. For example, bourbon makes for a rich, smoky tasting sauce.
- Cook the wine to reduce it. Keep the skillet on medium-high, so the wine mixture continues to simmer. Let it cook down for another 3 minutes, so you wind up with just half the liquid that you started with.
- You don't have to reduce the sauce by exactly half. Just get it as close as you can.
- Check out how much the liquid’s reduced by tilting the pan to the side every so often. When it looks like about half of the liquid is gone, you’re all set.
- Add the stock and reduce the mixture again. After you’ve cooked down the wine mixture, stir ¾ cup (177 ml) of chicken stock into the skillet. Bring the mixture to a rapid simmer and cook it until you only have ½ cup (119 ml) of liquid, which should take about 3 to 5 minutes.
- Don't have any chicken stock on hand? Use beef or vegetable stock instead.
Thickening and Finishing the Sauce
- Mix in the butter. When you've only got about ½ cup (119 ml) of liquid in the skillet, add 2 tablespoons (28 g) of butter. Whisk it slowly into the mixture so the butter melts completely.
- You can swap a splash of cream for the butter if you prefer.
- Stir in the cornstarch and simmer the sauce for a minute. Once the butter’s melted, add 1 ½ teaspoons (4 g) of cornstarch that’s been mixed with 2 tablespoons (30 ml) of chicken stock to the skillet. Whisk it in so it's fully blended, and let the sauce simmer for about a minute so it gets nice and thick.
- Whisking in the cornstarch mixture makes for a creamier, thicker sauce. If you like a thinner sauce, skip it.
- Fix a sauce that's too thick by mixing in little more stock until you get it as thin as you want.
- Transfer the sauce to a measuring cup and pour it over chicken. When the sauce is finished cooking, add it to a measuring cup so it’s easier to pour. Give the sauce a taste, and add salt and pepper if necessary. Drizzle the sauce directly over the chicken breasts, or set it out on the table so everyone can add their own.
- Store any leftover sauce in an airtight container in the refrigerator. It’ll stay fresh for about 3 days.
- Finished.
Tips
- You can deepen the flavor of the sauce by mixing some dijon mustard in when you add the butter to the pan sauce.
- For the brightest tasting sauce, add a squeeze of fresh lemon juice to the pan just before you take it off the heat.
Things You’ll Need
- A large, stainless steel skillet
- Whisk
- Wooden spoon
- Tongs
- Measuring cup
