5 Minute Brown Butter Chicken and Crispy Sage
I am in love with this juicy, savory, brown buttery chicken. It’s so ridiculously quick and easy — it’s the perfect weeknight meal. I always have frozen, individually wrapped chicken breasts in the freezer to keep on hand in case of dinner emergencies. For nights when I don’t have anything planned, I can just thaw a couple out really quick and have this gorgeous chicken on the table in five minutes.
MY OTHER RECIPESIt’s so simple. Just cut chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces, season with salt and pepper, and toss to coat. About one per person — there’s two of us, so I’ve got two pieces of chicken here.
Grab a handful of fresh sage, about 1/4 cup per person. I’ve got 1/2 cup here. You can easily find sage in the produce section of the grocery store, but sage is so easy to grow, and this recipe is enough reason alone to have some always on hand in your garden! :) It also comes back every year, so you don’t have to worry about making a trip to the nursery every year. It doesn’t have to be trimmed back as often as basil or parsley, so it’s extremely low maintenance. Sage is just about as easy-going of an herb as rosemary! And it pairs so perfectly with chicken. It’s one of my favorites.
In a large skillet over medium-high heat, melt a couple tablespoons of butter — about one tablespoon per chicken breast.
We’re going to let the butter melt completely, and keep cooking until it starts to turn brown and the buttery, nutty aroma is almost overwhelming.
Like this. Can you smell it? Oh my gosh. Brown butter is the best fragrance in the world!
Add the chicken in a single layer — if you have more, you might want to do this in two batches — and arrange the sage over the chicken.
Set the timer for five minutes. Cook the chicken on one side without moving for two and a half minutes until golden brown, like above. Stir and toss chicken and sage, making sure to coat all in brown butter, then flip the chicken to the other side and cook for the remainder of the time.
After the five minutes is up, it’s done! Beautiful, juicy, flavor-filled chicken and delicious, butter-crisp sage. I seriously love crispy sage more than potato chips.
- Pair this with Picky Palate’s 5 Minute Homemade Mac and Cheese for a 5 Minute Dinner.
- Put ’em in tortillas and make Cheesy Chicken, Bacon and Avocado Quesadillas.
- Serve with these Sweet, Summer Roasted Vegetables which can be whipped up in 20 minutes or less.
So many uses for this wonderful chicken! It’s one of our favorites around here. Hope you enjoy!!
5 Minute Brown Butter Chicken and Crispy Sage
Ingredients:
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- salt and pepper
- 1/2 cup fresh sage leaves
- 2 tablespoons butter
Directions:
- Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces (about 1-inch cubes), season generously with salt and pepper, and toss to coat.
- Melt butter in a large, nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. When butter turns brown and fragrant, add the chicken in a single layer and arrange sage over the chicken.
- Set the timer for five minutes. Cook the chicken on one side without moving for 2 minutes and 30 seconds until golden brown. Stir and toss chicken and sage, making sure to coat all in brown butter, then flip the chicken to the other side and cook for the remainder of the time.
- Serve with your favorite side dish, make quesadillas, or add to pasta. Enjoy!
Recipe may easily be doubled.
Love chicken … love quick recipes …
This one is for me to try !
Kisses
Just had to say I love all of your posts! The pictures are so helpful and I love how you keep everything simple yet end up with stunning results!
Love simple, quick meals. I adore sage/brown butter! It reminds me of fall.
For something so quick, this looks so flavorful! I’m always looking for new ways to cook chicken – think I’ll try this on a busy weeknight :)
A super simple recipe. I will have to try this for sure. I would love to pair it with some lemon pasta. mmmmmm.
Yes, I have used this technique also with potatoes cubed with sage from Jacques Pepin’s Fast Food My Way. He is a great inspiration for quality meals done with quick methods.
I love your recipes because they are not complicated and taste delicious! Would you consider creating a cookbook? or an e-book? I would definitely purchase it. I would love more recipes from you.
Thank you
I love the flavor combination; if I have it, I’ll add pancetta and a splash of white wine.
I love easy meals like this…can’t wait to try it!!
I loooooove crispy sage! I could eat it like potato chips :) And this sounds like such a great, busy weeknight dinner! Thanks!
I pretty much just fell to a most glorious death.
Amanda, I make something similar to this with a sage/Dijon sauce made in the same skillet after the chicken is finished. It’s a favorite at our house!
this looks great- I have to do something with my sage STAT! Thanks for a quick recipe!!
brown butter is probably my favorite thing on the planet. this sounds almost too good to be true!
Love how easy this is! I have had sage growing nicely in a big pot for years…and don’t ever know what to do with it! It really is so easy to grow.
This looks amazing! Thank you for sharing…
OMG saw this on facebook and looked for the recipe, and so happy it’s up now! Making this asap!
I am a huge fan of a dinner that takes 5 minutes! Thanks for this great idea :)
This looks so tasty and quick! I love the look of sage, it’s just so furry and adorable.
Can’t wait to try this! There’s always room for a new “quick and easy” chicken recipe in my kitchen. : )
What a fabulous looking chicken dinner! I wanna try it soon! xoxox
I love simple dinners like this! They are always the best!
this looked so amazing, I had to try it for myself! and so now I am sitting here eating my brown butter chicken and crispy sage (with pasta) as I leave this comment. :) thanks Amanda! this is delicious!
you’re killing me with this brown butter!
I made this last night along with your sweet, summer roasted vegetables recipe- sooooo yummy!! Thanks!!!
Thanks so much, I can’t wait to try this!
Haha. Your potato chip comment made me laugh. Hard.
Definitely going to try this! I’m so lazy with real food. I need simple recipes like this! And I love sage. :)
This sounds delicious and easy AND something the whole family will enjoy. Thank you! On my “to make” list for this week. :)
Hi Amanda. Just wanted to let you know that my husband and I tried this the other day. OMG, it was delish! I had never cooked with sage before so I wasn’t sure what to expect, but wow! So yummy AND easy! Beyond tasty. We both agreed that this is going into the regular dinner rotation. =) Anyway, just had to come back to let you know how much I appreciated this recipe. Thanks!!!
Wow! I love it a healthy meal I think my kids will love. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Oh my gosh! Love, love, love this. So easy! Thanks for the inspiration. Definitely making this asap!
YUM!!! I’m definitely going to have to try this recipe! !! Looks delish!
Made this tonight and it was crazy good. Hard to believe such a yummy dish is so simple to make. Thanks! This was a favorite the whole family loved.
Do you have to use fresh sage?
Yes I’d like to know that too. I don’t have any fresh sage on hand so if using the dried how much should we use?
This was the perfect fall dish! Next time, I might eliminate the salt on the chicken if using salted butter (which I used). Quick, versatile and extremely flavorful!
I usually pair this with a side of pasta. I brown additional butter and top the pasta with brown butter, brown butter chicken, shredded white cheddar cheese and a splash of balsamic vinegar. It’s unbelievable!
Oh wow. As I am doing a special change of nutrition this is just a perfect meal for me. I love the smell of warm sage and love to have it baked with serrano. Bit this recipe is just wonderful. Thank you so much for the inspiration!
I have now made this 3 times, once with pork chops and my husband loves it. It is now one of my “to-go” recpies….thank you!
I adore browned butter but I seem to always forget about sage. I’m adding this to my ‘must try’ list of recipes. I can’t wait!
For those of you who want to make this RIGHT now & have no fresh sage just know that it is still good with dry seasoning. This is what I did last night. For two servings ( 3 thin sliced chicken breast) I used about 1 1/2 2 teaspoons of dry sage (really just enough to cover it) . I look forward to trying this recipe with real sage but trust me this was VERY good even without fresh sage!
Last night I made this delicious, quick recipe along with your roasted summer vegetables and what a hit!!!!!! Everyone loved the food, even my picky son. Thank you so much!!! I’m so glad I found you guys :)
Hi Guys,
I made this tonight…..it was so delicious. I shared the recipe with all of my family. Thank you!!
Made this last night and it was incredible! What a great way to make chicken NOT bland! And it was so easy. Big hit with the bf :D
Amanda, I have made this recipe many times and my family LOVES it!! As a matter of fact, I’m making it again tonight! Thanks!!
This recipe had changed my life tonight……absolutely not kidding.
I’ve been in desperate need of a good, simple chicken breast recipe for SO long. And the cripsy sage? What in the world!?
I make this tonight & use canned sage instead of fresh, its what I have on hand. Will try it over pasta, I’m on Dialysis so have to watch my sodium, etc. This is especially good because you can use what spices & amounts you want. Look forward to trying it. Love all the compliments.
I found this recipe on pinterest. My niece and I tried tonight and now have a new favorite meal to make. Thank you for posting this amazing recipe! :)
I know this is a pretty old post but I stumbled across it on Pinterest the other day. I have made it 2 nights in a row and my husband won’t stop raving about it. Even better than his favorite Greek restaurant chicken he says!! We could eat this every night…happily! Thanks for such a quick, easy, delicious meal. Doesn’t get much better than that!
Wow, all positive comments, what did I do wrong? My chicken got juicy,sage wimpy, not crispy so cooked longer and chicken was dry.
I realize your post is from a long time ago, but I’m guessing you need to use a larger skillet. If the pan is too small, the chicken won’t have room to lose (evaporate) its juices. Also, perhaps try smaller, bite size pieces of chicken, if you haven’t already done so.
I found this recipe on pinterest. My niece and I tried tonight and now have a new favorite meal to make. Thank you for posting this amazing recipe!
I’ve made this a few times and it’s wonderful! I serve atop linguine that’s been lightly tossed in a buerre blanc sauce – adds an elegant touch!
I’ve never been able to reliably make chicken on the stove top that’s moist and fast and not stuck to the pan – and thanks to your wonderful recipe, now I can! So easy, so fast. I found this because I’d already made fried sage and was trying to figure out what to do with it and the sage oil that resulted. This recipe was the perfect solution! Used about 1/2 the brown butter recommended and used sage oil for the rest. Moist, flavorful, fast – hurrah!
This is a seriously quick and delicious chicken recipe! We have a ton of sage growing in our garden (ok, overtaking the garden), and this recipe allows us to use bundles of fresh leaves. The buttery mixture on top of the juicy chicken is a great time. Paired with a light and fresh salad, this is such a great weekday meal when you don’t have time to slave in the kitchen but still want to make magic. Thank you for sharing!
Love this recipe. It is absolutely delicious and is ready in minutes. Thank you for making dinner on a work night possible.
I was trying to figure out what to do with the over abundance of sage in my garden and stumbled upon your amazing recipe. So quick, so easy and fantastic. Thank you for sharing!
My mother gets frustrated with me because I always have to make slight changes to any recipe, so I did deglaze the pan with just a few Tbsp of Marsala wine. What can I say, I’m addicted to cooking with wine :) Thank you again!!