With its crispy skin and juicy meat, this skin-on chicken breast is amazing. Such golden brown, buttery goodness!
This is chicken perfection, and it's ready in about 35 minutes, making it ideal for a weeknight dinner.
I often use boneless, skinless chicken breast in recipes, including Cajun chicken, bacon-wrapped chicken, and blackened chicken.
However, now that I've started making this skin-on chicken breast (bone-in or boneless), I'm completely enamored. It's amazingly juicy and flavorful, and my family requests it often.
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Ingredients
You'll only need a few simple ingredients to make this recipe. The exact measurements are included in the recipe card below. Here's an overview of what you'll need:
- Chicken: This recipe uses skin-on chicken breasts. They can be bone-in or boneless.
- 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.
Variations
The best way to vary this recipe is by using different spices. I like to use garlic powder, paprika, and dried thyme. Other interesting options include onion powder, dried oregano, chili powder, and ground cumin. You can use ½ teaspoon of any additional spice you'd like to try.
Instructions
Scroll down to the recipe card for detailed instructions. Here are the basic steps for making this recipe:
Your first step is to season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper.
Next, cook them in an oven-safe skillet, skin side down, to crisp up the skin.
Turn the heat off. Flip the chicken pieces, add the butter to the skillet, 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.
Let it rest, spoon the pan juices on top, and serve.
Expert Tip: 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 that show you how I did it recently with skin-on, bone-in chicken breasts:
Place the chicken pieces on a rimmed, parchment-lined baking sheet, skin side up. Coat them in melted butter (or just spray them liberally with oil) and sprinkle the spices on top.
Bake the chicken in a 400°F oven until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickets 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:
Recipe FAQs
Both work. I usually use skin-on, boneless chicken breasts. But as shown above, you can also use skin-on, bone-in chicken breasts. You can use them in any of the methods shown here - saute first and finish in the oven, or just bake.
I don't recommend that. Finishing the dish in the oven ensures the chicken is fully cooked inside after you've crisped up the skin.
Pan-frying chicken breasts typically requires either flattening them or butterflying them. And you'd need to cook them for longer over lower heat. In other words, that would be an entirely different recipe!
I typically find them at Whole Foods. In the past, I asked the butcher for them, but starting around 2022, they became available in pre-packaged, vacuum-sealed trays.
Serving Suggestions
This is such a versatile main dish. It truly goes with anything. But since I bake it in a 450°F oven, I like to serve it with side dishes that 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 in a 350°F oven, uncovered, until heated through.
Sometimes, instead of reheating the chicken, I remove the skin, slice the meat, and use it in a chicken cobb salad.
More Chicken Recipes
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Recipe Card
Skin-On Chicken Breast (Bone-In or Boneless)
Ingredients
- 2 skin-on chicken breasts - 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
- Heat 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.
Video
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 just 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 thickets 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 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 in a 350°F oven, uncovered, until heated through.Nutrition per Serving
Disclaimers
Cup measurements refer to the standard American cup, which is 240 milliliters. Most of my recipes are low-carb (or keto) and gluten-free, but some are not. Please verify that a recipe fits your needs before using it. Recommended and linked products are not guaranteed to be gluten-free. Nutrition info is approximate, and the carb count excludes non-nutritive sweeteners. Nutrition info may contain errors, so please verify it independently. Recipes may contain errors, so please use your common sense when following them. Please read these Terms of Use carefully before using any of my recipes.
Vered DeLeeuw, LL.M., CNC, has been following a low-carb real-food diet and blogging about it since 2011. She's a Certified Nutrition Coach (NASM-CNC), has taken courses at the Harvard School of Public Health, and has earned a Nutrition and Healthy Living Certificate from Cornell University. Her work has appeared in several major media outlets, including Healthline, HuffPost, Today, Women's Health, Shape, and Country Living. 
Donna
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
A splash of lemon juice sounds amazing, Donna!
Kathryn
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
Yay! I'm so glad you enjoyed this recipe, Kathryn! I agree completely - there's no going back! 🙂
Lori
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
I'm so glad you found this recipe helpful, Lori! Thank you for taking the time to write a comment.
Rox
Delicious crispy skin. Juicy breast. I forgot to debone breast. Didn't seem to matter.
Vered DeLeeuw
I'm so glad you enjoyed this recipe, Rox! Thank you for letting us know that this recipe works with bone-in chicken breast.