With its crispy skin and juicy meat, skin on chicken breast is amazing. Such golden brown, buttery goodness, and it's ready in about 30 minutes!
I use boneless, skinless chicken breast in many recipes, including Cajun chicken, bacon-wrapped chicken, and blackened chicken. However, now that I've started making this skin on chicken breast, I'm completely enamored. It's amazingly juicy and flavorful, and my family requests it often. It's an easy recipe: you brown the skin, add butter, and finish in the oven to ensure the inside is cooked through. Even the leftovers are good!
Ingredients
See the recipe card for exact measurements. Here are my comments on the ingredients.
- Chicken: This recipe uses chicken breasts with the skin on. They can be bone-in or boneless. I typically find them at Whole Foods Market.
- Avocado oil: This oil has a neutral flavor and a high smoke point, making it ideal for cooking.
- Butter: Salted or unsalted, whatever you have on hand.
- To season: Salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika, and dried thyme.
Instructions
The detailed instructions and step-by-step photos are included in the recipe card. Here's a quick overview.
Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper. Cook them in an oven-safe skillet, skin side down, to crisp the skin. Turn the heat off. Flip the chicken pieces, add the butter, and sprinkle the chicken with spices. When the butter melts, spoon it on the chicken.
Place the skillet in a 450°F oven and roast the chicken until cooked through, for about 10 minutes. Finishing the dish in the oven ensures the chicken is fully cooked inside after you've crisped up the skin.
Let it rest, spoon the pan juices on top, and serve.
Variation: Skip Sauteing
To ensure crispy skin, I sauté the chicken skin side down. Then, I roast it in the oven until it's fully cooked. The crispy skin is a delicacy! Sauteing is a somewhat annoying extra step, but the crispy, deliciously buttery result is worth it.
However, as an alternative, you can skip sauteing. Here are a few photos showing how I did it recently with skin on, bone in chicken breasts.
Place the chicken on a rimmed, parchment-lined baking sheet, skin side up. Coat it in melted butter (or spray it liberally with oil) and sprinkle with the spices.
Bake the chicken in a 400°F oven until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part and not touching the bone reads 165°F. This should take about 45 minutes.
After 25 minutes in the oven, the chicken looks lovely and browned, but a quick temperature check shows its internal temperature is around 135°F, so it needs more time in the oven.
At this point, I loosely cover it with foil and keep baking until it's cooked through, about 20 more minutes.
See? It's crispy-skinned and fully cooked:
Serving Suggestions
This is a versatile main dish that goes with anything. But since I bake the chicken in a 450°F oven, I like to serve it with side dishes I can bake in the same oven, like buffalo cauliflower, carrot chips, or roasted bell peppers.
It also goes well with quick stovetop sides like creamed spinach (photographed below), zucchini noodles, or sauteed mushrooms.
Storing Leftovers
You can keep the leftovers in the fridge, in an airtight container (as shown in the image below), for 3-4 days. To crisp the skin back up, reheat the leftovers uncovered in a 350°F oven until heated through. Sometimes, instead of reheating the chicken, I remove the skin, slice the meat, and use it in a chicken cobb salad.
Recipe Card
Skin On Chicken Breast (Bone-In or Boneless)
Video
Ingredients
- 2 chicken breasts - skin on, bone in or boneless, about 8 ounces each
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil
- 1 tablespoon butter
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450°F. Pat the chicken breasts dry with paper towels and season them with salt and pepper on both sides.
- Heat the oil in an oven-safe skillet over medium-high heat for about 3 minutes.
- Place the chicken breasts in the hot skillet, skin side down. Cook without moving them until the skin is crisp and golden brown, about 5 minutes.
- Turn the heat off, but leave the skillet on the hot burner. Flip the chicken breasts so they are skin-side up.
- Add the butter to the skillet - it will melt immediately. Swirl it into the pan juices, then spoon the pan juices on top of the chicken pieces and sprinkle them with garlic powder, paprika, and dried thyme.
- Transfer the skillet to the oven. Bake the chicken for 10-12 minutes, until it is cooked through and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part and not touching the bone reads 165°F.
- Remove the skillet from the oven and transfer the chicken to a plate or a cutting board. Cover it loosely with foil and let it rest for 5 minutes, then spoon the pan juices on top.
- Slice the chicken and serve.
Notes
Skip Sauteing
To ensure crispy skin, I sauté the chicken skin side down. Then, I roast it in the oven until it's fully cooked. The crispy skin is a delicacy! Sauteing is a somewhat annoying extra step, but the crispy, deliciously buttery result is worth it. However, as an alternative, you can skip sauteing: Place the chicken breasts on a rimmed, parchment-lined baking sheet, skin side up. Coat them in melted butter (or spray them liberally with oil) and sprinkle the spices on top. Bake the chicken breasts in a 400°F oven until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part and not touching the bone reads 165°F. This should take about 45 minutes. Cover them loosely with foil after 20-25 minutes to prevent them from over-browning.Storing Leftovers
You can keep the leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days. To crisp the skin back up, reheat the leftovers in a 350°F oven, uncovered, until heated through.Nutrition per Serving
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Donna says
Super delicious skin on, boneless chicken breast recipe! Definitely saute first in cast-iron pan and finish in oven. Add a splash of fresh lemon juice. Devine!
Vered DeLeeuw says
A splash of lemon juice sounds amazing, Donna!
Kathryn says
This was sooo good and super easy. I bought skin-on chicken breasts because they were less expensive and I don't know if I'll ever go back to skinless. Served it with rice to sop up some of the delicious juices. Family loved it.
Vered DeLeeuw says
Yay! I'm so glad you enjoyed this recipe, Kathryn! I agree completely - there's no going back! 🙂
Lori says
This worked beautifully. I have been buying my son a skin on chicken breast for more fat and nutrients and everytime I grilled it, the skin got burned. This was a perfect method for keeping it juicy and delicious. He loved it. I even screwed it up and put the butter in with the avocado oil. No matter. The butter browned and added a depth of color and flavor. Thank you for posting this quick and delicious method.
Vered DeLeeuw says
I'm so glad you found this recipe helpful, Lori! Thank you for taking the time to write a comment.
Rox says
Delicious crispy skin. Juicy breast. I forgot to debone breast. Didn't seem to matter.
Vered DeLeeuw says
I'm so glad you enjoyed this recipe, Rox! Thank you for letting us know that this recipe works with bone-in chicken breast.