Let me help you turn boring chicken breasts into an amazing dinner option with this easy recipe for Cast Iron Pan-Roasted Chicken Breasts. This a delicious way to get the most tender chicken breasts ever!
This post contains affiliate links. Your cost is the same, but I earn a commission when you shop through them. For more information, click here.
Ever since we purchased our new induction oven last summer, I love using my Cast Iron Pan for cooking almost everything! The other day I purchased bone-in chicken breasts to make for our dinner but I wasn’t entirely sure how I was going to prepare them.
Cast Iron Pan-Roasted Chicken Breasts
I knew I needed the chicken cooked fast but I also wanted tender, juicy chicken breasts. So I pulled out my cast iron pan. If you don’t cook with cast iron, you are really missing out! The chicken breasts came out incredible and what’s even better, they were ready in under 30 minutes.
My husband loved the chicken and used the leftovers the next day to make a few sandwich wraps to take with him to work.
If you want to roast a whole chicken, please read the latest recipe for Dutch Oven Roast Chicken that was recently published. It’s an amazing recipe too! You can find a few more easy dinner recipes posted in our Top Family Favorite Chicken Recipes category.
How to Make Cast Iron Pan-Roasted Chicken Breasts
Make sure you print out the recipe below and save it for later!
Ingredients
- 2 bone-in chicken breasts
- Salt and pepper
- Butter
- Oil – yes you need both for this recipe
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- Preheat your cast iron pan on top of the stove for just a few minutes.
- Make sure the chicken is dry.
- Generously salt and pepper the skin side of the chicken breasts.
- Add the butter and oil at the same time.
- Once the butter and oil are melted and heated, add the chicken breasts skin side down.
- Allow them to sear and cook for a few minutes.
- Salt and pepper the other side of the chicken breasts.
- Flip the chicken breasts and allow the other side to sear for another minute or two.
- Place the cast iron pan in the preheated oven and continue to cook the chicken for about 20 to 30 minutes or until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees.
- Allow the chicken to rest for 5 minutes before slicing.
Easy Tip for Prepping Chicken
I always use waxed paper or parchment paper when prepping raw poultry. This protects my counter tops and I don’t have to worry about getting bacteria on my cutting boards. I simply throw out the waxed paper when I have the chicken in the cast iron skillet.
How to Sear Chicken
When you sear chicken, you’re not really sealing in the juices, you’re creating an intense layer of flavor as the chicken browns or caramelizes.
- Pat the chicken with a paper towel to make sure it’s dry.
- Heat the cast iron pan until it is hot and then add the butter and oil.
- Season the chicken with salt and pepper.
- Place the chicken in the pan with the skin side down and then season the other side with the salt and pepper.
- Allow the chicken to cook for at least 3 minutes. It needs time to develop that crusty brown color.
- Flip the chicken breasts and allow the other side to sear for another minute or two.
- Place the cast iron pan in the preheated oven and continue to cook the chicken for about 20 to 30 minutes or until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees.
How do you know when Chicken Breast is Fully Cooked
- After 20 minutes of cooking, check the internal temperature of the chicken breasts with an instant read thermometer.
- This is the best Digital Meat Thermometer I have tried and believe me, I’ve tried a few. Works great for checking the temperature for water when I’m making my homemade bread or pizza dough recipes.
- Chicken breasts are fully cooked when the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees.
- It’s very important you use an instant read thermometer because the size of chicken breasts all vary.
- For example, the chicken breast on the left in the photo below was smaller and reached 165 degrees quicker than the other chicken breast.
- I removed the smaller breast from the pan and allowed the other chicken breast to continue cooking an additional five minutes until it reached the proper internal temperature.
Helpful Kitchen Tools
- Cast Iron Pan – I love the pans from Lodge because they come pre-seasoned!
- Chain Maille Scrubber – these help tremendously with cleaning bits and pieces stuck to the pan.
- Silicone Hot Handle Cover – this is sitting in my shopping cart on Amazon!
How to Clean a Cast Iron Pan
A lot of people are intimidated cooking with cast iron pans because they don’t know how to clean and care for them properly. I wrote a post on caring for cast iron pans last year that you can read HERE—> How to Care and Clean Cast Iron Pans.
More Easy Dinner Recipes:
- Easy Beef Ramen Stir Fry – this is a budget friendly recipe ready in 20 minutes!
- Dutch Oven Roast Chicken – easy recipe for roasting a WHOLE chicken!
- Hasselback Chicken Stuffed with Mozzarella, Tomatoes and Basil
- Grilled Chicken Sandwiches
- Chicken Cutlets Italian Style
- Crock Pot Salsa Chicken
Let me help you turn boring chicken breasts into an amazing dinner option with this easy recipe for Cast Iron Pan-Roasted Chicken Breasts. This a delicious way to get the most tender chicken breasts ever! NOTE: Cooking time will vary depending on how thick your chicken breasts are. I always check the internal temperature with an instant read thermometer. Do not attempt this recipe with frozen chicken breasts. Make sure they are thawed completely before cooking. As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Cast Iron Pan-Roasted Chicken Breasts
Ingredients
Instructions
Notes
Recommended Products
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 2
Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving:
Calories: 311Total Fat: 17gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 10gCholesterol: 117mgSodium: 282mgCarbohydrates: 0gFiber: 0gSugar: 0gProtein: 37g
I love this recipe! I made these last night on my new well seasoned CI Skillet.
The sear was perfect and finishing in the oven was so ez – they were a beautiful sight coming out.
Served them with balsamic pasta salad with chopped red bell pepper and chopped red onion. Garlic and olive oil. I should have added capers.
I’ll be doing thighs next.
Glad to hear you enjoyed the recipe! Thanks for reporting back.
Same on the smoke detector issue. The flavor was great! But, after prompting a neighbor to come down to make sure the place hadn’t set on fire, I looked up the smoking point of butter and it’s in the mid to low 300’s. So baking at 425 burned the butter and smoked up the entire oven, which set off the alarms. I think next time I’ll just use the butter for basting after it comes out of the oven. 😀
Adding butter after the chicken has cooked sounds like a great idea. Thanks for sharing your experience with the recipe.
Ever since I re-seasoned our old cast iron, I try every use in the book for it and love it.
This pan seared oven finished chicken was a big hit with Rigatoni.
I live in a small apartment, and the process set off the smoke detector a couple times, but this recipe was a three alarm winner!
I love using my cast iron pan. Too funny about the smoke alarm. Thanks for visiting.
These look so succulent. Normally pan cooked chicken dries out, but it doesn’t look like it here. I’ll be giving this one a go. Yummy!
My cast-iron skillet and I are inseparable. I did NOT know that they work on induction stoves. This recipe is so amazingly simple, and yet it can’t help but be delicious—especially since you have that gorgeous sear that develops with the help of the skillet.
Thanks. I was a little surprised when the oven was delivered and they told me I couldn’t use my regular NEW pots on it. But I’m happier now because it forced me to learn to love my cast iron pans. Thanks for visiting!