Spice Rub Pan-Fried Chicken

One can never have enough chicken breast recipes, especially one as simple and easy as this.

If you cook regularly, you probably have all kinds of spices in your spice cabinet. I always return to this recipe to help me finish all my spices nearing their expiration dates.

Other than dry spices, you will only need garlic, ginger, olive oil, and some chicken breasts to prepare this lovely spice rub pan-fried chicken.

Ingredients for Spice Rub Pan-Fried Chicken

• chicken breasts
• olive oil
• grated garlic
• grated ginger
• salt
• sugar
• cumin powder
• coriander powder
• chili powder
• turmeric powder
• cinnamon powder

Make the spice rub and marinate the chicken breasts

Grate garlic and ginger. I use a Microplane to do this, but you can also use a Japanese ginger grater if you have it.

Place dry spice powder (salt, sugar, cumin, coriander, chili, turmeric, and cinnamon) into a bowl. Add olive oil, garlic, and ginger, and stir into a homogenous spice mix.

Rub chicken breasts with the spice mix, and make sure to cover every surface of the meat evenly.

Place marinated chicken breasts in a bowl and cover it. Marinate the chicken in the fridge overnight or for a minimum of two hours.

Pan fry marinated chicken breasts

Remove marinated chicken breasts from the fridge and wait until they return to room temperature before cooking. Depending on the season and the temperature of your kitchen, this can take between 30 minutes to 1 hour.

When the chicken is ready, preheat a frying pan over medium-high heat. I usually use my cast-iron pan, but a good quality stainless steel frying pan or a non-stick pan will do nicely.

Once the pan is hot, add two tablespoons of olive oil and swirl to coat the pan. Add two pieces of chicken breasts to the hot pan, and cook for about 3 minutes on each side.

TIPS: Initially, the chicken breasts will stick to the pan. But once the surface is cooked and browned, the meat will self-release itself from the pan. So have patience and don’t try to move the chicken in its early stage.

Resting and cutting the pan-fried chicken breasts

After removing the pan-fried chicken breasts from the frying pan, set them aside for 10 minutes. It is best to loosely cover the chicken with a piece of aluminum foil to keep the chicken warm. The resting period is the key to a juicy and tender chicken, so please do not skip this.

After 10 minutes, the chicken breasts are ready to be cut and served.

I usually cut the chicken into thin slices of about 1/2 inch thick since that is the perfect size for serving with rice or pasta.

If you plan to use the chicken for salad, you can cut the chicken into even thinner slices or cut them into cubes.

You can even serve the pan-fried chicken breasts whole too as an easy entree with some roast potatoes or mashed potatoes and gravy with a side of light salad.

Other easy chicken breast recipes to try

Since everyone needs a good collection of chicken breast recipes, I am sure you will want to give these a try too:

• tangy honey garlic chicken
• honey lemon pan-fried chicken

For those who love Southeast Asian cuisine, why not give these recipes a try:

• Ayam Sambal Matah Bali
• Ayam Sisit Bali
• Ayam Dabu-Dabu
• Thai pan-fried basil chicken
• Thai cilantro and garlic pan-fried chicken