How to Cook a Chicken Breast

Pick smaller chicken breasts when you can - they're more tender and cook more evenly. If you only have a thick one, butterfly it: put your flat hand on top, press down lightly with fingers pointed up, and slice horizontally down the center to make two thinner pieces.

Butterflying beats pounding. A pounded breast overcooks in the time it takes to brown it. Two thinner halves brown and cook at the same time.

Pat each breast completely dry with paper towels before seasoning. Any surface moisture will steam in the pan instead of browning.

Season with kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper on both sides. Season from up high - about 12 inches above the chicken - so the salt falls evenly instead of landing in clumps. Skip the spice rubs; they burn in a hot sauté pan.

Heat a heavy-bottomed stainless steel skillet over high heat with a neutral oil - vegetable, canola, or avocado. Cast iron works but a stainless pan gives cleaner fond for a pan sauce later if you want one.

Wait until the oil shimmers and looks like waves moving across the surface. A light wisp of smoke means you're ready. Oil that looks still and flat is not hot enough yet.

Pat the chicken one more time (salt will have drawn out moisture while the pan heated), then drop each breast into the pan laying it down away from you. Dropping away, not toward, means any oil splash goes at the back of the stove instead of you.

Now leave it alone. No poking, no moving, no checking. Let the pan do its job.

After 3 to 4 minutes, lift one edge to check the color. Once the underside is a deep, even golden brown, flip once and cook the second side.

Adjust heat if you need to. You want steady browning and a bit of sizzle, not smoke billowing off the pan. Cast iron sometimes has hot spots - rotate the chicken if one side is browning faster.

A raw breast is soft and spongy when you poke it. As it cooks, it firms up and starts to bounce back. Bouncy (not squishy) means done - usually 3 to 4 minutes per side for butterflied pieces.

If you want to be sure, use an instant-read thermometer. 165 degrees internal is the USDA safe temperature; some chefs pull at 160 and let carryover finish the job.

Move the chicken to a plate and let it rest for 5 minutes before slicing. Cutting immediately lets the juices run out onto the cutting board. Rest it and those juices stay in the meat.

Five minutes feels long. It isn't. While the chicken rests, you can deglaze the pan for a sauce or toss a salad.