Boneless skinless chicken breast is the most useful and the most boring thing in the refrigerator, and these chicken breast recipes are the fix for the second half of that sentence. When my kids were little and close in age I was cooking four or five separate meals a night, until I stopped cooking separately and rebranded the real food instead. I served chicken piccata and told them it was chicken nuggets, and that they could pick the capers off. It worked. So this list is the grown up version of that trick: breasts stuffed with spinach and feta, a balsamic bake that makes its own sauce, a cajun rub you will end up keeping in a jar, a coconut lime skillet, and the plain baked chicken breast that finally comes out juicy because somebody tells you to pull it at 160 degrees and let it rest!
1. Easy Chicken Piccata
This one is mine, and it is the reason there is a chicken breast recipe on this site I will argue about. Butterfly two breasts and pound the cutlets properly even, then dredge them in flour and pan fry them in olive oil. Do not wash that pan. Everything stuck to the bottom of it is about to become the sauce. White wine, butter, garlic, capers, lemon juice and chicken stock go in and simmer until they thicken. Capers and lemon are what make it piccata rather than lemon chicken. I have taken that sauce too far and I have also stood there whispering encouragement while it refused to thicken, and neither one ruins dinner.
Get the full tutorial at DIY Joy.
2. Maple Balsamic and Herb Chicken
Whisk the marinade in a mason jar: a quarter cup of balsamic, two tablespoons each of olive oil and maple syrup, dijon, three cloves of garlic, fresh thyme and a pinch of cayenne. An hour is the floor and twelve hours is fine. The instruction people miss is to hold back a little marinade before the chicken goes in, so you have something clean to brush on at the grill, and to throw out the rest. Twenty five minutes of actual cooking, four breasts.
Get the full tutorial at Eat Yourself Skinny.
3. Baked Chicken Breasts
Learn this method and the dry chicken problem goes away for good. Pat the breasts dry, pound them to an even one inch, oil a 13×9 dish, and rub on salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and smoked paprika. Then 450F for fifteen to twenty minutes, pulled at 160F on a thermometer, tented with foil and rested five to ten minutes before slicing. The rest is not optional and the pull at 160 is not a typo, carryover heat finishes the job. Six servings.
Get the full tutorial at Yellow Bliss Road.
4. Creamy Coconut Lime Chicken Breasts
Pound the breasts to an even thickness between two sheets of plastic wrap, brown them five to seven minutes a side in coconut oil, then set them aside and build the sauce in the same pan. Red onion, a fresh chili, a cup of stock, half a cup of full fat coconut milk, lime juice, cilantro and chili flakes, simmered ten minutes before the chicken goes back in. Dairy free and paleo friendly without trying to be. Forty minutes and it wants rice under it.
Get the full tutorial at A Saucy Kitchen.
5. Asparagus Stuffed Chicken Breast
Cut a pocket without going all the way through, season the inside with lemon zest, salt and pepper, then tuck in a slice of mozzarella and three asparagus spears. The outside gets garlic powder and paprika. Sear three to five minutes a side in an oven safe skillet, then finish it at 425F. Seasoning the inside separately is the part worth copying, because a stuffed breast that is only seasoned outside tastes like two different dinners. Fifty minutes, serves four.
Get the full tutorial at Primavera Kitchen.
6. Broccoli Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breast Recipe
Chop a cup of broccoli fine, give it one minute in the microwave, drain it properly, then stir it together with diced red bell pepper, a cup of mild cheddar, a tablespoon of mayonnaise and garlic powder. The mayonnaise is the binder, and without it the filling runs out into the pan. Three large breasts, pocketed and toothpicked, seasoned outside with paprika and garlic powder, seared and finished at 425F. Twenty five minutes, four servings.
Get the full tutorial at I Wash You Dry.
7. Cajun Style Baked Chicken Breasts
Nine dry spices, one ramekin, and then you rub and bake. Salt, cayenne, crushed red pepper, garlic powder, paprika, black pepper, onion powder, oregano and thyme go on three large breasts, which then bake at 450 degrees for eighteen minutes, get covered with foil and go back in for five more. Twenty three minutes total. Mix a triple batch of that rub and keep it in a jar, because it is just as good on thighs, shrimp or a tray of potatoes.
Get the full tutorial at Gal on a Mission.
8. Creamy Sun Dried Tomato Parmesan Chicken
No cream in it at all. Halve two breasts horizontally so you have four thin fillets, dredge them in flour mixed with parmesan, and fry them five to six minutes a side in oil poured straight out of the sun dried tomato jar. That oil is free flavor and most people tip it down the sink. The sauce is garlic, those tomatoes, mushrooms and a cup and a half of evaporated milk thickened with a cornstarch slurry. Twenty five minutes, four servings, and it tastes like a restaurant plate.
Get the full tutorial at Cafe Delites.
9. 15-Minute Air Fryer Chicken Breasts
Five minutes of prep and ten minutes of cooking, which is the whole argument. Two seven ounce breasts get pounded lightly, and lightly is the operative word, since pounding too far gives you something flat and stringy rather than juicy. Then olive oil and a rub of kosher salt, paprika, garlic powder, dried thyme or oregano and black pepper, and into the air fryer smooth side down. That is it. Serve it with potatoes, a salad, green beans, roasted vegetables, pasta or rice, or slice it cold over greens for lunch the next day.
Get the full tutorial at DIY Joy.
10. Honey Dijon Garlic Chicken Breasts
Two small instructions carry this recipe, and both are easy to read past. The foil lined 8×8 pan goes into the 425 degree oven empty and comes out hot, and it should only be about half an inch bigger than the chicken. Too large a pan spreads the glaze thin and it scorches. The glaze is three tablespoons of butter, six cloves of garlic softened for under a minute without browning, a third of a cup of honey and whole grain dijon. Forty minutes, four breasts.
Get the full tutorial at Rock Recipes.
11. Balsamic Baked Chicken Breast
A whole dinner in one dish. Scatter grape tomatoes and sliced red onion around four seasoned breasts. Whisk a quarter cup of balsamic with a tablespoon of brown sugar and garlic, pour it over and turn each breast in it. It bakes twenty to twenty five minutes, then takes mozzarella and four or five minutes under the broiler. The brown sugar is what keeps the balsamic from turning sharp. Serve it over pasta with the pan juices spooned on.
Get the full tutorial at Cafe Delites.
12. Bacon Wrapped Cream Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breast
Cut a pound of chicken breast into four pieces and pound each to a quarter inch, spread on cream cheese, shredded pepperjack and chopped green onion, then roll from the long side so the filling ends up in the middle. Each roll then gets wrapped in one or two slices of bacon. 375F for thirty minutes, then broil about five minutes on top and three on the bottom so the bacon actually crisps on both sides. That second broil is the step most people skip.
Get the full tutorial at Complete Recipes.
13. Pesto Mozzarella and Tomato Stuffed Chicken Breasts
Spread two tablespoons of pesto right across the open face of each breast, then pile two tomato slices, a quarter cup of mozzarella and a few spinach leaves onto one half and fold it shut. Sear two to three minutes a side in an oven proof skillet, then eight minutes at 400F until a thermometer says 165. There is a two ingredient dipping sauce at the end, Greek yogurt stirred with pesto, and it is the part I would not skip.
Get the full tutorial at Laughing Spatula.
14. Grilled Chicken Caprese
Take the seasoned breasts almost to done on the grill, lay a slice of mozzarella on each one and shut the lid, and the grill does the melting for you. Tomato and sliced basil go on once it is off the heat, which keeps them fresh instead of limp. The balsamic reduction is homemade from half a cup of balsamic and two tablespoons of light brown sugar simmered down. Thirty minutes, four servings, and it looks like far more effort than it is.
Get the full tutorial at Chef Savvy.
15. Creamy Dijon Rosemary Chicken
Cut two breasts lengthwise into four thin cutlets, dredge them in flour, fry five minutes a side and take them out. Strip the needles off three rosemary sprigs and let them cook alone in that fat for a minute, which is where the whole flavor comes from. Then white wine, garlic, three tablespoons of dijon, a cup of cream, chicken back in, eight to ten minutes on medium low until it thickens. Twenty five minutes and it reads as a restaurant sauce.
Get the full tutorial at Salt and Lavender.
16. Spinach Stuffed Chicken Breasts
Inside goes eight ounces of frozen chopped spinach, squeezed properly dry, with three ounces of feta, four ounces of cream cheese and a clove of garlic. The genuinely useful part is the safety instruction: lay the breast flat, press down hard with a spatula rather than your hand, and cut the pocket with the knife going in two thirds of the way. I have not seen another recipe spell that out, and every one of them should. 450F, twenty five minutes, makes six stuffed halves.
Get the full tutorial at Basil and Bubbly.
17. Creamy Garlic Chicken with Broccoli
One skillet, thirty minutes, six servings, and a can of condensed cream of chicken soup doing the heavy lifting. On a Wednesday I have no notes about that. Two pounds of breast seasoned with paprika brown five minutes a side in butter, garlic goes in after, then the soup with a cup of water, then the chicken and broccoli back in under a lid for ten more. Add the broccoli late if you like it with some snap left in it.
Get the full tutorial at Best Recipe Box.
18. Mediterranean Grilled Chicken Breasts
Into a bag with the chicken go six tablespoons each of olive oil, fresh lemon juice and minced parsley, plus six cloves of garlic, paprika and oregano. Stab the breasts with a fork before they go in so the marinade gets below the surface. Twenty minutes will do and two days in the fridge is better, which makes this the one to start on Sunday for Tuesday. On the grill it is five or six minutes a side, to 165 degrees. Four breasts, about two pounds.
Get the full tutorial at Served From Scratch.
19. Country French Skillet Chicken
Pound the breasts to half or three quarters of an inch, then brown them four to five minutes a side and take them out while they are still underdone, because they finish later in the sauce and that is how they stay juicy. Shallot, garlic, a quarter cup of dry white wine scraped up off the bottom, a cup of broth, thyme and dill, and half a cup of sour cream stirred in at the end. Forty minutes and it feeds four.
Get the full tutorial at I Am Homesteader.
20. Cream Cheese Spinach Stuffed Chicken
Take your knife three quarters of the way through the breast and no further, so the filling has a pocket to sit in. Inside goes two cups of chopped fresh spinach with four ounces of cream cheese, parmesan, mozzarella and garlic. Outside gets chili powder, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Toothpicks if you need them. Thirty five minutes, four servings, keto and low carb without any substitute ingredients doing the work.
Get the full tutorial at Gimme Delicious.
21. 5-Ingredient Garlic Rosemary Roasted Chicken Breasts
This one is bone in and skin on, which is a different animal from the boneless breasts everywhere else on this list and worth having for exactly that reason. Four split breasts, about three and a half pounds, rubbed with olive oil, four chopped garlic cloves, two tablespoons of rosemary, salt and pepper, and some of that mixture pushed up under the skin. 350F for forty to sixty minutes to 165. Shredded, it keeps three or four days.
Get the full tutorial at Real Food Whole Life.
22. Keto Cheesy Spinach Stuffed Chicken Breast
Sandwich the chicken between two sheets of plastic and pound it out to about twice its starting size, working from an edge toward the middle, and stop short of tearing it. The filling is six ounces of cream cheese with two cups of raw spinach, parmesan, mozzarella and a little nutmeg. The breading is superfine almond flour cut with parmesan, so it browns in olive oil like real breadcrumbs without any flour at all. Forty three minutes, four stuffed breasts.
Get the full tutorial at I Breathe I'm Hungry.
