When I saw skin-on, bone-in chicken breasts at the market the other day, I decided to grab a package. It seems I mostly cook skinless, boneless chicken breasts and more often than not, the thin sliced breasts. I was in the mood to change things up a bit and that’s what I did.

Last night for dinner, I decided to make the chicken for a couple reasons. I wanted to make a nice dinner for my husband before he left town this week for a business trip and selfishly, I knew I’d have leftovers to make chicken salad with. Dennis really enjoyed this chicken and so did I. I really had to pat myself on the back with this one! This chicken was so good … it was perfectly moist, perfectly flavorful and perfectly satisfying.

I started by sprinkling the bottom side of the chicken with kosher salt and pepper. I then turned it over and pulled the skin back to season the meat. Once the skin was pulled back, I sprinkled kosher salt and pepper and spread dijon mustard onto the chicken before sprinkling it with fresh herbs – thyme and oregano. I then placed the skin back over the meat and sprinkled that with a little kosher salt and pepper. (Note: The reason I pull the skin back to season the chicken is that I don’t eat the skin so it makes no sense to me to place all seasonings on top of the skin and none directly onto the meat. I season the skin with the salt and pepper in case anyone wants to eat the skin, it will have flavoring as well.) While I was seasoning the chicken, I was also heating my cast iron skillet on my cook top. I let it heat up for about 5 minutes.

Once I was ready to brown the chicken, I added olive oil to the skillet and placed the chicken, skin side down into the pan. I let the chicken brown for 7 minutes before turning it and letting it brown on the other side for 4 minutes. After that, I poured 3/4 cup of Pinot Grigio into the skillet to loosen up any remaining brown bits and placed my cast iron skillet into a preheated 425 degree oven for 40 minutes.

OH.EMM.GEE!!!! This chicken was fantastic! I spooned a little of the pan juices onto the chicken before serving. I highly recommend this chicken dish, I know I’ll be making it again and again and I love that I’ll be having a fabulous chicken salad sandwich or wrap for lunch today. Goodness me, this was really tasty.

Ingredients

4 skin-on, bone-in chicken breasts

2 tablespoons olive oil

2-1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

1-1/2 teaspoons pepper

1 tablespoons fresh thyme, minced

1 tablespoon fresh oregano, minced

2 tablespoons dijon mustard

3/4 cup Pinot Grigio

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Sprinkle bottom side of chicken breasts with 1 teaspoon kosher salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Turn over and pull skin back from meat.
3. Sprinkle breasts with 1 teaspoons kosher salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Spread 1-1/4 tablespoons dijon onto each breast. Sprinkle fresh herbs onto the chicken (divided evenly).
4. Lay skin back over each breast and sprinkle skin with 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.
5. Heat cast iron skillet on cook top for 5 minutes. Add oil and place chicken, skin side down, into the skillet. Let brown for 6-7 minutes. Turn and brown on other side for 3-4 minutes. Turn heat off on cooktop and add Pinot Grigio. Place skillet into oven to roast for 40 minutes, or until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees.

Enjoy!

Until next time, Kris