Three Ways to Prepare Pan Sauces for Chicken
Creating a mouth-watering sauteed chicken breast with a delectable pan sauce is essential for any home cook looking to elevate their culinary repertoire. While elegant and flavorful, this dish is surprisingly easy to master with a few simple techniques. Whether you’re planning a special dinner or want to treat yourself to a restaurant-quality meal at home, learning to prepare sauteed chicken breasts with pan sauces will surely impress.
In this post, we’ll walk you through the steps to achieve perfectly cooked chicken with a rich, velvety sauce that complements the dish beautifully. From choosing the right ingredients to mastering the art of deglazing, we’ve got you covered. So, let’s get started and turn your kitchen into a gourmet haven!
Pan Sauces
In a previous post, I showed you how to make a simple pan sauce at home with a link to my more detailed description and cooking tips for making delicious pan sauces. Here, I want to show you how to prepare three pan sauces for the same chicken dish.
Pan sauces are quick and flavorful, made in the same pan used to cook the main ingredient, typically meat, poultry, or fish. These sauces utilize the browned bits, or “fond,” left in the pan after cooking the protein. The process involves deglazing the pan with a liquid, such as wine, broth, or juice, to lift the fond and incorporate it into the sauce. Additional ingredients like aromatics, herbs, butter, and cream can be added to enhance the flavor and texture.
The key steps in making a pan sauce are:
- Deglazing: Adding liquid to the hot pan to release the fond.
- Reducing: Simmering the liquid to concentrate the flavors.
- Enriching: Incorporating butter, cream, or other ingredients adds richness and body to the sauce.
- Seasoning: Adjusting the seasoning with salt, pepper, and other flavorings to taste.
Pan sauces are versatile and can be customized to complement various dishes, making them a valuable technique in any cook’s repertoire.
To Prepare the Chicken
- Your choice of boneless white or dark meat chicken, thicker pieces pounded to about 1/2 inch thick.
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil or a mixture of oil and softened butter.
Procedure
- Heat a sauté pan over medium-high heat until hot, about 3-5 minutes, depending on your stove.
- Lightly salt and pepper the chicken pieces on both sides.
- Add the oil and then the butter, if using. Heat until the oil shimmers.
- Place the chicken pieces in the pan, “prettiest” side down, leaving at least ½ inch between pieces. Let cook, adjusting the heat to achieve a reasonably robust sizzle, for about 3-4 minutes. Resist the temptation to poke at or move the chicken. Just let it cook.
- Watch the meat as it cooks. A ring of white will travel up from the edges of the chicken as it sautés. Once the ring of cooked chicken appears to have cooked about halfway, turn the chicken with tongs. If it is “stuck,” don’t force it. The meat will release naturally once it has browned.
- Wait another 30 seconds or so and try again. Keep adjusting the heat. You don’t want a lot of popping, just a robust sizzle and hiss.
- Turn the meat and cook until the internal temperature is 160 F. Cooking the second side will take slightly less time, but do check the temperature with an instant-read thermometer. It is the only reliable way to ensure the meat is cooked to a safe internal temperature.
- Remove from the heat and keep warm. Now it is time to build the pan sauce.
Italian Style Pan Sauce
Ingredients
For Italian Style Pan Sauce
- 1 clove garlic minced
- spoonful tomato paste about 2 teaspoons
- ¼ teaspoon Italian seasoning
- ½ cup chicken stock low sodium or homemade
- ½ cup Chianti or other Italian red wine
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh basil and/or oregano
- 1 splash olive oil extra virgin, about 2 teaspoons
Instructions
- Over medium-high heat, in the pan you used to cook the chicken, sauté minced garlic until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Stir in the tomato paste and Italian seasoning. Stir for just a few seconds.
- Add the stock and wine, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan to dissolve the fond. Reduce liquid by about half.
- Taste, and add a little salt and/or pepper if necessary. Reducing the sauce intensifies the saltiness, so don't add any until you finish the reduction.
- Remove from the heat and whisk in the herbs and extra virgin olive oil.
French Style Pan Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon oil neutral
- ½ cup mushrooms thinly sliced
- 2 teaspoons shallot minced
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- ¼ teaspoon Herbes de Provence
- ½ cup chicken stock
- ½ cup dry white wine
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon tarragon or thyme or marjoram, chopped
- 1 pat butter
Instructions
- Over medium-high heat, in the pan you used to cook the chicken, sauté minced garlic until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Stir in the tomato paste and Italian seasoning. Stir for just a few seconds.
- Add the stock and wine, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan to dissolve the fond. Reduce liquid by about half.
- Taste, and add a little salt and/or pepper if necessary. Reducing the sauce intensifies the saltiness, so don't add any until you finish the reduction.
- Remove from the heat and whisk in the herbs and extra virgin olive oil.
Asian Style Pan Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon spring onions thinly sliced, white part only
- 1 clove garlic minced
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- ½ teaspoon fresh ginger minced
- ¼ teaspoon five spice powder
- ½ teaspoon fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon peanut butter chunky
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- ¾ cup chicken stock
- ¼ cup rice wine vinegar
- soy sauce to taste
- white pepper to taste
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon spring onion sliced
- 1 tablespoon peanuts crushed
Instructions
- Over medium-high heat, in the pan you used to cook the chicken, sauté onion, minced garlic, pepper flake and ginger until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Stir in the five spice, fish sauce, peanut butter and brown sugar. Stir for just a few seconds.
- Add the stock and vinegar, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan to dissolve the fond.
- Reduce liquid by about half.
- Taste, and add a soy sauce and white pepper. Reducing the sauce intensifies the saltiness, so don't add any until you finish the reduction.
- Remove from the heat and whisk in the spring onions, sesame oil and crushed peanuts.
Some of My Favorite Chicken Recipes
8 Responses
I just love your News Letter and recipes
Oh, the Asian sauce looks divine! I loooove using peanut butter when cooking. I will have to try this one day soon. Would I need to substitute anything if I did not have fish sauce on hand or would it be OK without? Thanks!
Hi Sunny, thanks for visiting my cooking blog. Fish sauce is hard to substitute for but in a pinch, I would try soy sauce. – RG
The French style sauce was amazing! Great consistency and full of flavor!
Thanks Jana – RG
Very nice basic recipe to expand, using your imagination. I don’t mean basic means boring – just a launching pad for using ingredients at hand – hopefully from your own garden. I added my red Jimmy Nardello peppers to the Italian pan sauce. Result: a lovely red saucy chicken dish.
I like the cooking instructions that encourage experimentation and innovation!
Thanks!
You are very welcome CM. – RG
This came up on a Google search, and we were so pleased with the French sauce, as well as all the cooking tips! Wouldn’t change a thing! Next Monday we’re going to try the Asian sauce (we do Italian all the time!) My daughter is moving into her own place – I’m going to send her the link to your blog, because your instructions are wonderful!
Thank you Sue and thanks for letting me know. – RG
The French Style Sauce was delicious!
Your positions normally include alot of really up to date info. Where do you come up with this? Just declaring you are very inspiring. Thanks again
Thanks Kenton. Much appreciated.