8 Quick and Easy Skillet Chicken Weeknight Dinner Recipes

It’s half six, you have just walked in, and the thought of washing a second pan is enough to make you reach for your phone and order something.

I know that feeling well.

A skillet dinner is the thing that reliably gets me past it, because the sauce builds itself in the pan while the chicken cooks.

Nothing below asks for more than one burner.

1. 25-Minute One-Pan Marry Me Chicken

Seared chicken breasts in a creamy sun-dried tomato sauce with baby spinach, basil, garlic, shallot and chicken stock.

Twenty-five minutes, serves four.

Tomato paste alongside the sun-dried tomatoes is what gives the sauce its depth in a cook this short.

Something starchy underneath is worth having, because the sauce deserves it.

2. Caprese Chicken Gnocchi Skillet

Shelf-stable gnocchi cooks in the pan with the chicken and cherry tomatoes, then mozzarella pearls and fresh basil go over the top.

Thirty minutes, serves four.

No pot of boiling water and no colander.

Gnocchi goes from pillowy to gluey fast, so start checking it early.

Mozzarella pearls melt into soft pockets, where shredded cheese would disappear into the sauce.

3. Creamy Healthy Chicken Enchilada Skillet

Enchiladas without the rolling.

Cooked chicken, black beans, peppers, onion and torn corn tortillas go into one pan with Mexican cheese and sour cream.

Twenty-five minutes, serves four.

Using already-cooked chicken is what keeps this on the fast end, so a rotisserie bird or last night’s leftovers both work.

Avocado and cilantro go on at the table.

4. Healthy Chicken and Zucchini Skillet with Corn

Chicken with zucchini, frozen corn, red bell pepper, garlic, coriander and lime, finished with cotija.

Twenty-seven minutes, serves four.

Frozen corn goes in straight from the freezer and needs no thawing.

Cook the zucchini last and briefly, since it turns to water if you give it the same time as the chicken.

5. Summer Sausage Skillet

Chicken sausage with corn, zucchini, red and green bell pepper, red onion, garlic and tomato.

Thirty-five minutes, serves five.

Chicken sausage is already cooked, so it only needs browning, and it seasons the vegetables as it goes.

Brown the sausage first and take it out, then cook the vegetables in what it left behind.

6. Whole30 Skillet Chicken Piccata

Chicken in a lemon and caper pan sauce, thickened with arrowroot in place of flour and cooked in ghee.

Forty minutes, serves four, and it is dairy free and gluten free as written.

Do not skip the capers.

They are the sharp, salty thing that stops the lemon and ghee from tasting flat.

7. One-Pan Garlic Parmesan Chicken and Rice

Chicken tenders with white rice, garlic, poultry seasoning, chicken stock, butter and Parmesan, all in one skillet.

Thirty minutes, serves four.

Chicken tenders cook faster than whole breasts, which is how the rice and the chicken finish together.

Leave the lid on while the rice steams.

Lifting it lets out the steam the rice needs and adds time you did not plan for.

8. Cast Iron Skillet Chicken Breast

Chicken breast, garlic powder, onion powder, avocado oil, butter and fresh herbs.

Twenty-five minutes, serves three.

This is the plain one, and it is the recipe worth learning first.

Cast iron holds its heat when the cold chicken goes in, which is what gets you a crust and not pale, steamed meat.

Butter-baste it in the last two minutes, tilting the pan and spooning it over.

Skillet Tips

Get the pan properly hot before the chicken goes in, then leave it alone for the first few minutes so it can brown.

Crowding is what turns a sear into a steam, so cook in two batches if your pan is small.

A 12-inch pan handles four portions comfortably.

Anything smaller and you are better off halving the recipe.

Chicken breast is done at 165°F, and a thermometer costs less than the chicken you will ruin guessing.

Storage Notes

These are good for three or four days, covered, in the fridge.

Keep the chicken sitting in its sauce so it stays moist.

Cream sauces separate in the freezer, so the marry me chicken and the enchilada skillet are better eaten within a few days.

Reheat gently with a splash of broth or water, since the sauce tightens up overnight.

The gnocchi is the one worth eating the same day, because it softens as it sits.