It seems to always come up when speaking with young people that there is a struggle with cooking good chicken. I find that unfortunate, as chicken is one of the healthy, staple ingredients in our home. But then again, I was in their shoes once. I remember being 22 years old and serving my husband (then boyfriend) and his best friend homemade Parmesan chicken. I followed the recipe online, and the house smelled gloriously of cheese. To my mortification and deathly embarrassment, the chicken was still raw when we started eating. Not pink raw, but sinewy raw. My sweet friend still kept trying to eat it as I wholeheartedly tried my best to stop him from putting my pride back together. Since then, I have learned how to make chicken consistently cooked-through, and delicious too. Not only that, but I have learned to make it efficiently, in terms of both money and time. I want to share with you the easiest healthy chicken recipe. We use this recipe almost weekly and I hope you do, too!
You can get really fancy with chicken, but today we will learn the basics. A few words before the recipe.
- Get good quality chicken. I recommend splurging for ones found in Sprouts of Whole Foods, instead of the extremely pink or extremely pale plastic-wrapped breasts at cheaper grocery stores. Good quality chicken will shine through, regardless of what you season it with.
- Season it with something. Even if it’s just salt and pepper.
- Time the whole process as described in the instructions.
- If you are unsure, stick a thermometer in there and make sure the internal temperature is 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
And now, on with the recipe!
Ingredients:
- Chicken breasts (as many as you want)
- Evermill Blend
- Olive Oil
- Salt
- Pepper
The Process:
- Heat up olive oil on a cooking pan with a matching lid on medium high heat. This is my favorite recommendation.
- Meanwhile, rub Evermill blend on both sides of the chicken breasts. I recently wrote a review on the Evermill spice rack and I truly believe it is the best investment any young person hoping to learn the ways of the kitchen can make. It really leveled up my cooking, and I am not a novice. Out of all the spices on there, the Evermill blend is something you can only get at Evermill, and it is delicious with chicken. If anything, just buy the spice on its own. A side-note: When I was young, I failed to be generous with spices. Definitely rub on more than you think you will need. Make sure the surface area of the chicken is well-coated, and then some. If you don’t have the Evermill blend, then skip to step three.
- Sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides of the chicken. Once again, be liberal. The first three steps should take no longer than a minute.
- Once the olive oil is hot, place the chicken in the pan. Do not put on the lid. Let the chicken cook on medium-heat for one minute. It should fry one side to a brown color. Do time this process moving forward.
- After one minute, flip the chicken onto the other side. Lower the heat to medium-low and put on the lid so that no steam escapes. Cook for 8 minutes. At this point, I literally turn on a timer and walk away from the stove. Or I prep dishes to eat with the chicken. This recipe really doesn’t take a lot of time at all!
- After the timer goes off, turn off the flame and keep the lid on. Do not let steam out. Let sit on the stovetop for another 8 minutes. Don’t forget about that timer.
- And voila! By now, your chicken should be cooked to perfection.
Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash
