Chicken breast is a go-to ingredient for many home cooks, and for good reason. It’s lean, versatile, and quick to cook, making it perfect for creating delicious and healthy dinners any night of the week. Whether you’re looking to add more protein to your diet or simply searching for new ways to enjoy this kitchen staple, chicken breast can be transformed into a variety of flavorful dishes.
In this collection of 30+ healthy chicken breast recipes, you’ll find inspiration for every palate and dietary need. From light and zesty salads to comforting baked dishes, and everything in between, these recipes are designed to keep your meals both nutritious and exciting. Whether you prefer grilling, baking, or stir-frying, there’s a chicken breast recipe here that will suit your cooking style.
Perfect for busy weeknights or a weekend family dinner, these recipes offer a balance of taste and health, ensuring you can enjoy a satisfying meal without compromising on nutrition.
Get ready to discover new favorites and make dinner tonight something special with these healthy and delicious chicken breast recipes!
Quick Chicken Kiev
To make a classic chicken Kiev, Ukrainian cooks pound cutlets flat, roll them around a log of herb butter, then bread and fry them. Here, former F&W senior test kitchen editor Grace Parisi simplifies the dish by cutting a pocket into the breast to hold the butter.
Grilled Chicken Salad With Herby Tahini Dressing
Recipe developer Marianne Williams uses za’atar seasoning and Dijon mustard to infuse both the marinade and tahini dressing with herby, tangy flavor, while honey and lemon juice balance everything out. Crunchy lettuce, sweet snap peas, peppery radishes, and cooling cucumber bring in lots of texture and flavor to this main course salad with make-ahead components.
Chicken Diane
For this one-skillet classic, the delicious browned bits from seared chicken thighs and mushrooms get transformed into a velvety pan sauce. Fresh lemon juice helps to balance the rich sauce.
Grilled Chicken Caprese Salad with Basil Oil
Typically made with tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, basil, and olive oil, classic caprese is super easy to prepare. Adding one more component — juicy grilled chicken — is not much more difficult and turns the salad into an exceptional main course.
Cajun Chicken Pasta
This easy, hearty weeknight dinner combines chicken breasts, linguine, and a variety of fresh veggies with a custom blend of eight herbs and spices for a delightfully smoky, savory, and slightly spicy dish.
Quick Skillet-Roasted Chicken with Spring Vegetables
Tender vegetables simmer in a mixture of chicken drippings and butter in this simple, speedy dish — it comes together in less than an hour. The attached drumette makes these airline chicken breasts extra flavorful.
Proposal Chicken Parmesan
We combined two beloved chicken dishes to create this decadent, crowd-pleasing take on Chicken Parmesan. Juicy panko and Parmesan-breaded chicken cutlets are fried, then blanketed with mozzarella slices, broiled until golden, and served over a delectable sun-dried tomato cream sauce inspired by Marry Me Chicken.
Chicken Scallopini
This 30-minute dish features golden, herb-encrusted chicken breasts in a buttery, garlicky wine sauce and showered in capers fried with parsley, crushed red pepper, and lemon zest.
Smoky Stuffed Chicken with Serrano Ham and Olives
To ensure that the stuffed breasts stay juicy, pull them out of the oven when an instant-read thermometer reaches 155°F; it will carry over to 160°F as the chicken rests. Serve the chicken breasts when they’re fresh from the oven with golden, crispy skin, with a generous spoonful of the garlicky pan juices.
Garlic Butter Chicken Bites
Fast-cooking pieces of chicken breast get a quick sear before they’re coated with a luscious lemon pepper and garlic butter sauce in this easy dinner recipe. Serve the garlic butter chicken bites over rice, orzo, or angel hair pasta, or spear them with toothpicks for a stress-free appetizer.
Grilled Chicken with Banana Pepper Dip and Fattoush
In this single-serving recipe from 2001 F&W Best New Chef Anita Lo, the three-ingredient banana pepper dip is the star of the dish. She first browns the peppers, then purees them with feta and lemon juice. Happily, there’s leftover dip that can be scooped up with pita or veggies.
Cider-Glazed Chicken Breasts with Apple-Kohlrabi Slaw
Bathed in a schmaltzy pan sauce made from chicken jus and apple cider, this simple chicken dinner is perfect for a weeknight at home. The accompanying slaw, made with mildly sweet and slightly peppery kohlrabi, white turnips, and a mix of sweet-tart raw apples, offers a crunchy contrast to the rich, tender chicken.
Chicken Chasseur
A French classic that never seems to go out of style, this dish combines mushrooms and chicken in a tomato and white wine sauce. It comes together in one pot in less than an hour, complete with an aromatic sauce. Feel free to use your favorite mushrooms here.
Grown-Up Chicken Nuggets with Herb and Radish Salad
Dredged in panko and fried in olive oil and butter, these crispy grown-up chicken nuggets are wonderful served alongside a bright, punchy herb and radish salad dressed in a lemon vinaigrette. If you like, you can also skip making nuggets and fry the cutlets whole.
Chicken Breasts with White Wine Pan Sauce, Crème Fraîche, and Spring Herbs
This simple white wine pan sauce enriched with créme fraîche and a generous handful of tender fresh herbs like tarragon, dill, and chives makes smart use of the pan drippings from pan-roasted chicken breasts. The sauce comes together in about 10 minutes and delivers an elegant, silky texture.
Hawaij-Spiced Fried Chicken Sandwiches
Here, boneless, skinless chicken breasts are infused with golden color and warming flavors from a buttermilk brine seasoned with hawaij, a Yemeni spice mixture usually consisting of cardamom, turmeric, black pepper, cloves, and coriander.
Chicken Piccata with Radishes
Chefs Vinny Dotolo and Jon Shook created an easy version of this Italian-American staple perfect for the home cook. The chicken is important, but it’s the buttery, tangy sauce that makes this dish so special.
Florentine Butter Chicken
This recipe is inspired by F&W editor in chief Hunter Lewis’ trip to 150-year-old Trattoria Sostanza in Florence. Cultured butter has a slightly higher smoke point and, when combined with olive oil, provides enough cooking time to finish the chicken and the sauce simultaneously.
Chicken Saltimbocca
For this easy version of the Roman classic adapted from chef Lidia Bastianich, pounded chicken cutlets topped with prosciutto and sage leaves are pan-seared, then served in a simple white wine-butter sauce.
Yogurt-Marinated Grilled Chicken
Yogurt tenderizes slowly and gently, so you can marinate the chicken overnight without it becoming tough. The resulting meat is full of flavor from the garlic, cumin, and cayenne, and juicy — even if it’s a little overcooked. This recipe calls for a whole chicken, but the marinade works equally well with skin-on boneless breasts.
Air Fryer Chicken
Air-frying chicken gives you the ease of cooking something in the oven with the speed of sautéing. Incredibly versatile, this chicken is excellent on its own or as the base for a more elaborate meal.
Panko-Coated Chicken Schnitzel
Chef Thomas Keller of The French Laundry uses panko breadcrumbs to give chicken a crunchy crust. To give it a bright pop of fresh flavor, he makes a quick brown butter sauce to spoon over the top.
Grilled Chicken with Marinated Tomatoes and Onions
Heirloom tomatoes and slivers of red onion are transformed into a savory sauce that brings bright, summery flavor to simple grilled chicken cutlets in just 50 minutes.
Chicken Fricassee Stir-Fry with Asparagus
In this quick-cooking recipe from cookbook author Grace Young, tender asparagus joins carrots and chicken in a speedy stir-fry seasoned with white wine instead of rice wine; cream enriches the sauce.
Chicken and Shrimp Laksa
Top Chef winner Buddha Lo’s homemade laksa paste — made with fresh lemongrass, pungent shrimp paste, and nutty peanuts — forms the base of this fragrant noodle dish, while coconut cream adds a velvety mouthfeel to the aromatic broth. Top it with poached shrimp and chicken, fresh herbs, and fried shallots, then slurp with joy.
Chicken Pozole Verde
Culinary writer Anya von Bremzen’s green pozole broth derives much of its flavor from tangy ingredients like tomatillos, cilantro, and green chiles, permeating bits of shredded chicken breast and chewy hominy. Don’t skip the array of fresh accompaniments: Lettuce, radish, onion, avocado, and sour cream add crunch and extra creaminess to every bite.
Maple-Glazed Chicken Breasts with Mustard Jus
For this simplified version of chef David Slater’s standout dish, chicken breasts glazed with a sweet-tangy blend of maple syrup and sherry vinegar are served on a bed of braised kale with crisp bacon.
Hot-and-Crunchy Chicken Cones
Chef Jeff Blank is responsible for putting Hot-and-Crunchy Cones on the map. Here, fried chicken is coated in an ingenious mix of cornflakes, slivered almonds, and sesame seeds, then wrapped in a tortilla with a mango-jalapeño slaw.
Cheese-Stuffed Chicken Cutlets with Mustard Sauce
For this delightful riff on classic chicken cordon bleu, the heavy ham and Swiss filling is replaced with creamy havarti and thyme. Instead of weighing down the cutlets with thick breading, they’re sautéed in a light flour and egg coating.
Chinese Poached Chicken Breasts with Star Anise
Chicken breasts poached in a broth flavored with star anise, cinnamon, ginger, scallions, and soy sauce is a Chinese classic. Traditionally you would save, not serve, the broth — it improves each time you use it — but we can never resist serving it with the chicken as a light sauce.
Pickle-Brined Chicken
Chef Frank Falcinelli brines chicken breast in leftover dill pickle juice for flavor and moisture, then serves it on top of super-tender leg meat he’s shredded and mixed with sautéed chard.
Oven-Fried Chicken Breasts
“I admit that nothing can stand in for good fried chicken,” says chef John Currence. “But this is a hell of an impostor.” He adds sweet tea to his marinade; the tannins help tenderize the poultry while the sugar gives it a light cure. The accompanying gravy gets a ton of flavor from strips of caramelized onion.
