Easy Skillet Chicken with Herb Butter Sauce
This quick and easy skillet chicken with herb butter sauce requires just a handful of ingredients and is ready in under 20 minutes!
This is the BEST chicken recipe to keep in your back pocket when you need you need an easy but delicious meal. Honestly, I make this dish so much I don’t even need a recipe anymore.
This chicken with herb butter sauce is fast to throw together with ingredients you likely have already in your kitchen, and packs a lot of delicious rich flavor without any fuss. Serve it alongside rice, potatoes, salad, or your favorite side dish!
Why You’ll Love this Chicken Recipe
The chicken is coated in flour and seasoning before it’s quickly pan-fried in a bit of olive oil. The flour creates a nice crust, while also providing a bit of thickener for the sauce. After the chicken is cooked through, make a simple sauce with butter and chicken broth and finish everything off with fresh herbs.
You’ll love both how easy this dish is to prepare, and how tasty it is. I promise it’s a recipe you’ll want to come back to again and again!
So let’s get cooking, shall we?
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Boneless skinless chicken breasts
- Olive oil
- All-purpose flour
- Salt and pepper
- Butter
- Chicken broth or stock
- Rosemary and/or thyme (fresh is preferred but dried will work too)
Optional Additions for More Flavor
This chicken recipe is so rich and flavorful as written, but it’s also very adaptable! Feel free to make any of the following changes or additions for a slightly different flavor profile.
- Add 1 clove minced garlic
- Add juice of ½ a lemon
- Add a splash of heavy cream
- Add a pinch of red pepper flakes
- Replace ½ of chicken broth with white wine
- Replace rosemary/thyme with sage, oregano, or marjoram
How to Make Easy Skillet Chicken with Herb Butter Sauce
- Pound chicken breasts thin. For quick and easy cooking, the chicken breasts need to be thin. Cover with plastic wrap and use the bottom of a glass to gently pound chicken to about 1 inch thick.
- Dredge chicken in flour and seasoning. Combine flour, salt and pepper on a plate and dip both sides of the chicken breasts into the flour mixture until it’s all coated.
- Pan-fry chicken in olive oil. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Cook chicken on each side till browned and chicken is cooked through, about 4-5 minutes per side.
- Make a quick pan sauce. Remove chicken from skillet and set aside on a plate. Add butter to the skillet and use a whisk to scrape the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Add chicken broth and herbs and simmer for a few minutes until thickened. Adjust seasoning if needed.
- Serve. Add chicken and any juices that have collected on the plate back into the skillet and spoon the sauce over the top. Serve as desired.
Cooking Tips for this Recipe
- If you can find “thin cut” chicken breasts, you can skip step 1 and save time.
- Chicken tenderloins will also work with this recipe, no need to pound them thin.
- If you want a thicker sauce, combine 1 teaspoon cornstarch and 2 teaspoons cold water and whisk into the sauce. Cook until thickened.
- To make this recipe gluten-free, use a gluten-free flour blend in place of the all-purpose flour.
- For this recipe it’s best to use a stainless steel or cast iron skillet, and not a non-stick skillet.
- Use a splatter screen to keep your stove clean while cooking the chicken, if desired.
Make it a Complete Meal
Here are a few suggestions for side dishes to serve with this easy meal:
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Easy Skillet Chicken with Herb Butter Sauce
Ingredients
- About 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon coarse salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons butter
- ½ cup chicken broth or stock
- 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary and/or thyme (or ½ teaspoon dried)
Instructions
- Cover chicken breasts with plastic wrap and use the bottom of a glass to gently pound chicken to about 1 inch thick.
- Combine flour, salt and pepper on a plate and dip both sides of the chicken breasts into the flour mixture until it’s all coated on all sides.
- Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Cook chicken on each side till browned and chicken is cooked through, about 4-5 minutes per side.
- Remove chicken from skillet and set aside on a plate. Add butter to the skillet and use a whisk to scrape the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Add chicken broth and herbs and simmer for a few minutes until thickened. Adjust seasoning if needed.
- Add chicken and any juices that have collected on the plate back into the skillet and spoon the sauce over the top. Serve as desired.
Hi Annalise! Thank you for this nice recipe. However, I’m curious – why to avoid non-stick skillet? Thanks and kind regards from Belgrade!
In my experience non-stick skillets don’t get the browned bits in the pan like others do as the chicken cooks. And you want there to be lots of browned, almost burned bits, on the bottom of the pan because that is where the flavor will come from for the sauce.
This is truly a great and easy recipe. Thanks for sharing it! My chidren really like chicken !
This was delicious. Added both rosemary & thyme (1/2 tsp ea. dried) as well as some half & half to the sauce.