Blackened Chicken Is The Effortless Dinner That Delivers Big Flavors

If you’re a fan of bold flavors and simple recipes, then you’ve found your match in blackened chicken. This simple, super flavorful dinner is flexible to your heat tolerance, ready in about half an hour, and can be eaten alone or on a sandwich, salad, soup, or tacos.

We carefully crafted the blackened seasoning for the chicken to be not too spicy but still very well balanced. With ground thyme and ground oregano, you get great aromatic flavors. The seasoning mix also coats the chicken well, which results in even browning—and blackening—once cooked.

There’s one other really brilliant step you won’t want to skip: the brine. Soaking the chicken (even briefly) in baking soda and water helps the protein retain moisture. It will result in perfectly cooked chicken that needs less time on the stove—and that helps avoid the chicken drying out.

Learn how to make blackened chicken, and enjoy this simple dinner any time you want big flavors with minimal effort.

What Does It Mean To Blacken Chicken?

Blackening chicken does not mean you will burn or char it. Rather, blackening is a cooking technique that calls for meat or fish to be coated in a spice mixture and then seared until it gets very dark and toasted. Anyone who serves you burned food and calls it blackened, well, bless their hearts.

Blackened Chicken Ingredients

This ingredient list relies heavily on staple herbs and spices, plus, of course, chicken. Here’s what you’ll need:

• Distilled water and baking soda: A quick baking soda brine is an incredible way to tenderize chicken. You don’t want the baking soda to interact with minerals in the water, so ideally you’ll use distilled water.
• Boneless, skinless chicken breasts: If you don’t want to pound the chicken into thinner cuts, you can buy cutlets.
• Kosher salt: For seasoning. The larger crystals work better than table salt for even seasoning.
• Ground dried thyme: Adds a slightly sweet, peppery flavor.
• Ground dried oregano: Adds an earthy, green flavor that helps ground the seasoning mix.
• Ground paprika: Adds a smoky sweetness without much heat.
• Cayenne pepper: For the spice, obviously, and you can vary the amount based on your personal heat tolerance.
• Onion powder: A great backbone of flavor in any seasoning mix.
• Ground white pepper: Bright and earthy, it’s not as hot as black pepper.
• Canola or grapeseed oil: For searing the chicken.
• Chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley: For garnish.

Homemade Blackened Seasoning

The quick and easy for this blackened chicken uses very classic spice drawer ingredients. No need to seek out special spices. In fact, you can mix up this seasoning—and double, triple, or quadruple it—and keep it in a jar or ziplock bag so you can have it ready to go any time you want a fast and easy chicken dinner. This seasoning would also be great with other proteins—fish, shrimp, scallops, and more.

How To Make Blackened Chicken

This is a recipe you’ll know by heart after the first time you make it. It’s that effortless. Here’s a brief outline of the process; the full recipe is further below.

• Step 1. Make a baking soda brine by combining water and baking soda.
• Step 2. Pound the chicken into even cutlets. Place chicken in baking soda brine, and let sit 15 minutes.
• Step 3. While the chicken brines, make the seasoning mixture.
• Step 4. Remove the chicken from the brine solution, and pat dry. Sprinkle the spices over both sides of the chicken, and press to help it adhere to the chicken.
• Step 5. Heat oil in a cast-iron skillet. Cook chicken on both sides until well browned and the thickest portion of chicken registers 165°F. If the chicken is browning too quickly, you can move it to a preheated oven so it will continue to cook without adding much more color to the crust.
• Step 6. Garnish with parsley, and serve—or add it to any dish you’re planning to serve. We have a few ideas below.

Tips for the Best Blackened Chicken

We’ve got a few tricks that will make even this easy recipe easier:

• If you do not want to pound your own chicken, purchase chicken breasts that have been prepared to an even thickness.
• Using a cast-iron skillet allows you to transfer chicken directly into the oven to cook more time, if needed.
• To modify spiciness of the spice blend, use a range of cayenne.

Serving Suggestions for Blackened Chicken

You can serve blackened chicken on its own, perhaps with a side of rice and steamed vegetables, but you can use this recipe as a basic seasoned chicken for sandwiches, tacos, salads, and more. Use the chicken in a creamy pasta for a quick Cajun spin, or put it over a bed of rice and black beans for a spicy spin on a Tex-Mex classic.

How To Store Blackened Chicken

Let chicken cool to room temperature before transferring to an airtight container. Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. Reheat in the microwave on reduced power to warm through.

You can also freeze blackened chicken. Once cooled, move it in a freezer-safe container, and store up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge before reheating.

More New Orleans Favorites

Blackened fish (and eventually other meats) first found life in New Orleans restaurants, so if you’re in a Big Easy state of mind, try one of these next: