Blackened Chicken

Name: Blackened Chicken
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 2 large chicken breasts (at least 6 ounces each); PAM cooking spray (or oil for frying); 2 teaspoons paprika; 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper; 1 teaspoon dried thyme; 1 teaspoon dried oregano; 1 teaspoon garlic powder; 1 teaspoon onion powder; 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper; 1/2 teaspoon salt

By Inger Sep 5, 2021 Cooking & Recipes, Main Dish, Poultry 17 Comments

Blackened Chicken is a spicy and flavorful main dish from Cajun country. Add simple sides like coleslaw and corn bread for a quick & easy dinner.

I’d eaten blackened dishes out many times. From seafood to chicken, maybe an occasional blackened steak, it was always a food I enjoyed.

But I’d never tried it myself. I’m not even sure now what I feared. Having to buy too many spices? Killing off my spice-averse husband? Setting the kitchen on fire?

Well I’ve done it now and I can tell you there is nothing to fear. And I can’t wait to “blacken” something else!

What is Blackened Chicken

The original “blackened” dish wasn’t chicken at all, but a fish.

Per the NY Times, Chef Paul “Prudhomme dipped redfish fillets in butter, dusted them with ground cayenne and a mix of dried herbs, and seared them in a red-hot iron skillet until a black crust formed.”

Ultimately, his blackened redfish spread outward from New Orleans to became a national sensation–so popular it’s reported Gulf Redfish became threatened.

As the Cajun-inspired dish took off, restaurants everywhere got creative. And dishes like blackened chicken and blackened prime rib hit menus all over.

Who can argue with versatility I guess!

What Makes This Dish a Winner

Quick & Easy This is a super fast dish, that’s easy to prepare and cook–just minutes per side. In fact, it’s so quick, you’ll need to select sides that are also quick (or start then early). Which is how coleslaw got served here instead of roasted vegetables.
Fun & Flavorful It was a unanimous three thumbs up at dinner. My “spice-averse” husband was pretty tentative when he took his first bite, but in the end really enjoyed it. In fact he ate the 4th serving without batting an eyelash.
No special ingredients The spices are all common kitchen spices and the only other things you need are PAM or oil and chicken.

What is in Blackened Seasoning Mix?

As I scoured the Internet there was a remarkable consistency in the types of spices in different Blackened Seasoning Mix spices. And they were all pretty typically found in your ordinary kitchen spice collection. Hooray!

These include cayenne, garlic, onion powder, oregano, thyme, paprika, salt and pepper.

Directions

Blackened chicken is super quick and easy. The hardest part is opening the windows to deal with the smoke if you can’t cook outside!

Slice chicken breasts thin for a quick even cook.

Miix up the spice mix and pat onto both sides of the chicken

Sear in hot skillet turning after a few minutes to char both sides.

When the internal temperature reaches 165, it is done!

What to Serve With This

It’s nice to keep with a Cajun theme if you can in your sides. You might consider:

- Red beans & rice (I used a packaged mix)
- Salad w remoulade dressing (see my NOLA Fried Oyster Salad)
- Coleslaw
- Cornbread
- Dirty rice
- Okra

In fact I think we had as much fun with the sides as the Blackened Chicken itself.

Variations

I served the Blackened Chicken as a simple entrée, but there are many other ways you could serve it. These include:

Slice the chicken breast and serve on salad
Slice and serve with pasta alfredo
Serve on a sandwich

You can even change up your meat and blacken steak or (duh) seafood.

Tips & FAQs

I typically cut large chicken breasts in half to make thinner cutlets. They cook more quickly and evenly this way and are a better serving size than an 8 ounce portion. If there is still a big difference in thickness, I may even pound them for more evenness (I didn’t need to do this today).

Beware of smoke. Many people recommend cooking this outside (still in a cast iron pan for the char) or at the very least shutting off the smoke detectors. We opened the windows to help with the smoke and I was exited that this seemed to be working. Then my daughter came down from the second floor to complain she couldn’t breathe up there and I knew where all the smoke had gone. Best laid plans 🙂

What if I don’t have a cast iron skillet? Blackened Chicken is traditionally cooked in cast iron but a second choice would be a quality stainless steel pan. Given the high heat, I would not use a non-stick pan.

Huge amounts of butter are used in the traditional preparation of this dish, both for coating the chicken first, then for frying. I chickened out (no pun intended) and applied the spice mixture directly to the raw chicken then used Pam for the frying. Yes, butter would create even more smoke.

Butter is supposed to be needed for the char but, as you can see, mine got a nice char just using non-stick spray. I intend to try with butter next and will report back on the differences.

Favorite Chicken Recipe

Blackened Chicken from Art of Natural Living
Chicken and Avocado Salad from That Recipe
Chicken Macaroni Salad from Leftovers Then Breakfast
Chicken Ramen Stir Fry from Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks
Chicken Tortillas from The Freshman Cook
Cream Cheese Chicken Enchiladas from The Spiffy Cookie
Creamy Chicken Noodle Casserole from Cheese Curd In Paradise
Creamy Chicken with sun Dried Tomatoes from Lemon Blossoms
Easy Slow Cooker Italian Chicken from Blogghetti
Garlic and Ginger Caramel Chicken Thighs from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
Hot Chicken and Pancake Tacos from A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures
One Skillet Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo Pasta from Family Around the Table

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