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Home › Cooking Beef › How to Pan Fry SteakIf I’m in the mood for a nice, juicy steak, I think barbecue first. But you can pan fry steak, too, and get wonderful results.

Sure, when summer comes around, what could be better that cooking steak on the grill? But what if it’s cold out, or rainy? What if you don’t have a barbecue? You don’t want to be stuck wondering how to cook steak when the craving hits.

And this is where learning how to pan fry steak comes in. It’s not quite the same as cooking steak on the grill — there are a few important differences that make it its own unique cooking method.

In this article, I’ll tell you all about how to pan fry steak. First, I’ll talk about which cut of meat to select. Then, I’ll talk about how to season the steak — from spicing to marinades. Next I’ll go over the actual process of cooking steak in a pan. Finally, I’ll talk about deglazing the pan to make a delicious sauce to go along with your steak.

Selecting a Cut

Alright, so you want to pan fry steak. The first thing to do is to pick a cut of meat. Here are a few things to look for when picking a steak for pan frying.

• Pick a tender cut of beef. In some ways, cooking steak on the grill and pan frying it aren’t so different. Both use a dry heat, which creates a delicious brown crust on the surface of the meat, and intensifies its flavor through evaporation. But a dry heat also causes the meat to become less tender, so to pan fry steak, you need to start with a tender cut — just like you would cooking steak on the grill.
• The steak shouldn’t be much thicker than an inch and a half. This is where pan frying steak is different from cooking steak on the grill.
  • When you pan fry steak, the heat is transferred from the pan to the meat by conduction. On a grill, the heat radiates to the meat. What does that mean? Well, it means that when you pan fry steak, the interior cooks more slowly. So, if you have too thick a steak, the outside will burn before the inside can cook enough. Yes, even if you like it medium rare!
• Fat or no fat? It’s a bit of a toss up. On the one hand, a bit of marbling will make your steak more flavorful. On the other hand, fat generally makes the steak less tender. It’s all about balancing flavor and tenderness.
  • A nice marbling of fat means very thin veins of fat throughout the meat. If they’re thick, they’ll make the meat very tough. So look for fat, but just in very fine streaks.

So what does all this mean? Well, here it is. The best cuts to pick to pan fry steak are the most tender ones — they usually come from the rib or loin sections of the animal.

Some good cuts are a rib-eye steak, tenderloin, porterhouse, T-bone, skirt steak, top sirloin, or filet mignon. Even a round steak or a flank steak can be great. Just be sure that the cut isn’t too thick!

Seasoning

Now that you know which cut of beef to pick, the next step in knowing how to cook steak is knowing how to season it.

Basically, when you pan fry steak, there are three ways to season it. You can rub spices on it, you can marinate it, or you can make a sauce. Since the sauce usually comes into play after cooking the steak, I’ll only go over marinades and spices here.

Marinating a Steak

What’s a marinade? Well, it’s basically a liquid mixture. You can take your food, in this case, steak, and you soak it in the marinade for anywhere from 30 minutes to overnight. So why marinate?

• Since the food is soaking for so long, the flavors from the marinade have plenty of time to penetrate deep. This can really add a lot of punch to a meal.
• If your marinade is slightly acidic, it’ll actually tenderize whatever meat you’re soaking it in. The acids in the marinade interact with the meat proteins and make the meat more tender.
  • Usually, the acid comes from vinegar or a citrus fruit like lemon
  • You can also use things like milk or yogurt (although I wouldn’t particularly recommend those for steak!).

So when do you want to marinate steak? Well, when you pan fry steak, you can marinate any cut that needs either a flavor boost, or a tenderness boost, or both.

• Tougher cuts like flank steaks, chuck steaks, round steaks, or even sirloin can benefit from a little tenderizing. The tougher the cut, the longer you should marinate.
• Very tender cuts like filet mignon, porterhouse, T-bone or even a particularly tender sirloin can actually get too soft if you marinate them. Generally, you only use spices or even nothing at all on those cuts.
• Some marinades, like teriyaki, are very sweet, and the sugar can cause the meat to burn when you cook it. Cooking the steak over lower heat can help, but that can make getting a rare steak with a nicely browned exterior just a bit more difficult.

Seasoning with Spices

If you have a beautiful, tender steak, there’s no need to marinate it. In fact, marinating it might make it too soft and ruin a perfectly good piece of meat.

Beef is pretty flavorful all on its own. A really good cut doesn’t even need any seasoning at all. But, if you’re cooking steak, and you want to add a little something, then you can add just a hint of spices.

Coarse salt, cracked pepper, and crushed herbs like rosemary or thyme, and fennel or coriander seeds, can all make a wonderful addition when cooking steak. But there are a few things to watch out for:

• • When you pan fry steak, adding salt can be a bit tricky.
    • If you salt the steak right before cooking it, it can actually make your steak tougher and less juicy, because the salt will cause the steak to lose moisture. The moisture at the top will also prevent it from searing properly, so you’ll lose some flavor.
    • Generally it’s best to salt steak after it’s cooked, either before the meat rests, or when it gets to the table.
    • Now, there is one trick if you want to salt your steak beforehand. They key is to salt it a lot, and at least at hour before, and rinse it and pat it dry before you cook it. Now, instead of just making the steak lose moisture, the salt will penetrate deep into the meat and enhance its flavor, and also prevent moisture loss when it cooks.

• Before putting any kind of herbs or spices, it’s a good idea to rub a bit of oil on the steak.
  • The oil will help the herbs and spices stick to the steak, and will help keep them from burning.
  • Oiling the steak instead of the pan means that the oil won’t smoke when you’re heating the pan.
  • The best oil to use when cooking steak is something neutral tasting with a high smoke point like peanut oil or safflower oil. It’s healthier and less messy! You can also use olive oil if you want a bit of a different flavor.
  • It’s not necessary to oil the steak, but it can make things easier. Try it out and see how you like it.

How to Pan Fry Steak

Knowing how to cook steak on a grill, and knowing how to pan fry steak are two different things. The mechanics of it are just different enough that you can end up with less than awesome results if you don’t know how to pan fry steak.

In this section, we’ll talk about preparing the steak for cooking, actually cooking the steak, and how to test for doneness.

Preparing the Steak

Here are a few important things to keep in mind before you pan fry steak.

• You’ll get much better result cooking steak that you’ve allowed to reach room temperature. Take the steak out about 30 minutes to an hour before cooking it. Otherwise, the steak will toughen when the cold comes into contact with the heat.
• The best pan you can use to pan fry steak is a cast iron skillet. Why? Well, there are two reasons:
  • Cast iron retains heat better than any of the non-stick pans. So when you add the steak to the hot, hot pan, the pan won’t cool down. And so, you get a better sear!
  • You can heat an empty cast iron skillet. You can’t do that with a non-stick or stainless steel pan, because it can damage it or release chemicals. Heating the pan empty is neat because it lets you oil the steak rather than the pan: you need less oil, and you don’t end up with a smoky kitchen while the pan is heating up.
• As mentioned in the seasoning section, you can rub a bit of oil on your steak. If you have a cast iron skillet, you won’t even have to add oil to the pan.

Pan Frying the Steak

1. Heat a pan over medium-high to high heat. If you’re using a non stick pan or have decided not to oil the steak, you need to add a bit of oil to coat the bottom, preferably an oil with a high smoke point.
   • If you like rare steak, set the burner to high. It’ll sear faster, but leave the inside less cooked.
   • If you like it medium or so, set it to medium high. The inside will have a bit of a chance to cook before the outside sears.
   • If you have herbs and spices that you think will burn, play it safe and sear the steak over medium high heat. Burnt spices really aren’t delicious at all.

   

2. When the pan is hot, add your steak. Let one side sear completely, then flip the steak over and cook it until the other side is seared.
   • Don’t move the cooking steak until it has formed a brown crust. It’ll stick at first, and if you move it you’ll tear off some meat. But it’ll lift off the pan as it sears, making it easy to turn.
   • Searing the meat and forming a brown crust is called the Maillard reaction, and it means flavor. That crust you get when cooking steak is what makes it outstanding.
   • When red juices start to seep through the top of the steak, you know your steak is rare. You can cook more if you want, or take it out of the pan right then.
3. If your steak isn’t cooked to your liking, reduce the heat to medium, and cook for a few more minutes on each side until it’s ready.
   • Don’t cover cooking the steak or you’ll trap moisture in the pan, and you’ll get… wet heat! You won’t get the evaporation effect that intensifies the flavor of the meat. It’ll just be a bit watery and bland.
   • If you have a particularly thick cut of steak, instead of finishing it off in the pan, you can put it in an oven preheated to 350F. It’ll heat more gently than on the stove, and that allows the inside to cook without scorching the outside. Again, don’t cover the cooking steak!
4. After you pan fry steak, let it rest on a warm plate for 5 minutes before serving. It’ll allow the juices to redistribute evenly.
   • Cover the steak in foil to keep it warm.
   • The steak will continue to cook a bit as it’s resting: its internal temperature will go up about 5 degrees. So be sure to take if off the heat a teensy bit before you think it’s done.

Notes

When you pan fry steak, always use tongs to flip the steak or move it around! Don’t use a fork, or you’ll pierce the steak and lose all the juices.

Testing for Doneness

There are three ways to test if your steak is done: by touch, with a meat thermometer, and by cutting it. And it’s pretty much universal, the best by far is the touch method, followed by the thermometer, followed by cutting.

The Touch Test

Whether you pan fry steak or cook it on the grill, this is by far the best way to tell if it is done. Unlike a meat thermometer or cutting into the steak, you’re leaving the steak whole. That means that you won’t have any delicious juices dripping out, and the steak will be that much better!

The only trick is, it takes a little bit of practice before you can tell how done a steak is just by pressing on it! But it’s definitely worth learning.

Just press lightly on the surface of the steak. Be careful not to burn yourself!

• If the steak feels soft, then it’s still rare. You can press the steak before cooking it so that you have something to compare to. A rare steak won’t be all that much firmer.
• If the steak feels firm on the outside, but it’s still yielding on the inside, then it’s medium.
• If the steak is very very firm and doesn’t yield, it’s well done.

If you’re just starting out cooking steak, you may want to press first, try to guess, and then cut to see if you were right. Just experiment until you get the hang of it.

Using a Meat Thermometer

Using a meat thermometer is a reliable way of checking if your steak is done. Unfortunately, it makes a small hole in the steak, and the juices can get out through it, so your steak won’t be quite as juicy.

Still, until you get the touch test down, a meat thermometer is great. Just stick it into the thickest part of the steak. Here are the different temperatures for steak:

• Very rare: 120F
• Rare: 125F
• Medium rare: 130F-135F
• Medium: 140F-145F
• Medium well: 150F-155F
• Well done: 160F

Cutting into the Steak

If you don’t feel confident about the touch test, and don’t have a meat thermometer, you can cut into the meat a bit to tell if it’s done. It’s really not the best way because you lose a lot of the juices, but it’s still better than a steak that’s not done to your liking.

And when you pan fry steak, you can always save those juices for a delicious pan sauce.

Just slice into the thickest part of the steak and see if the color looks right for you.

Notes

Some people will tell you that it’s a crime to pan fry steak to well-done. Now, it’s true that the more you cook a steak, the less tender it becomes, so a really good cut kind of loses what makes it so great in the first place. But there’s no arguing with taste, so if you like cooking steak to well-done, go for it… just don’t serve it to people who like their steak rare!

Deglazing the Pan

We’re almost done learning how to pan fry steak. In fact, you could just stop right here.

But one of the major advantages of cooking steak in a pan rather than on a grill — apart from avoiding frostbite in the winter — is that you can make an awesome pan sauce when you’re done.

Ok, so you’ve taken the steaks out of the pan, and they have to rest for 5 minutes or so. If you look in the pan, you’ll see all sorts of little brown bits stuck to the bottom. This is called the fond. It’s very flavorful, and will make the base of our pan sauce.

1. The first step is to pour out or spoon off the fat from the pan.
2. Next, you need to deglaze the pan. While the pan is still hot, just add a cold liquid like wine, beer, stock, broth, juice or even vinegar to the pan, and stir it very quickly, scraping the bottom. The fond should dissolve into the liquid.
   • If you use alcohol to deglaze, make sure to take the pan off the burner to avoid any fireball-type incidents. For other liquids, you can leave the pan on the hot burner.
   • The fond should be made up of brown bits… if it’s black, it’s burnt, and your sauce will taste like burnt, unfortunately. Still, deglazing is a good way to clean the pan if that happens.
   • If you use wine to deglaze, it’ll have a harsher taste than if you add it to the sauce later. Try both ways to see which you like better.
3. Now you have the base for a wonderful sauce, but you can make it even better by adding various ingredients.
   • Wine gives a nice taste to a sauce and goes great with steak. If you add wine, let the sauce reduce by about one half to get a good flavor.
   • Butter, of course, has its own yummy flavor, but it also helps the other flavors blend and carry better.
   • You can also add beef stock. It’ll add its own nice flavor, and just like butter, it’ll help the flavors blend better. If you add a good beef stock, you really don’t need butter.
   • You can saute some sliced mushrooms or aromatics like garlic or green onions to add a little kick to the pan sauce.
   • Herbs and spices can add a nice depth of flavor to your sauce. Try salt, pepper, rosemary, mustard seeds, or any other herb you like with beef.
4. The steaks should have had time to rest by the time you’re done with the sauce. Some of the juices may have pooled at the bottom of the plate they were resting in. You can add those juices to the sauce if you don’t have another use for them.

And that’s how you pan fry steak. It’s easy, delicious, and doesn’t take a whole lot of equipment or nice weather. So now you know how to cook steak all year round! Enjoy!

Pan frying is a basic cooking technique, but it’s super versatile. It’s the starting point for tasty dishes like chicken marsala or hundreds of other dishes that don’t really have a name.

And with some roasted potatoes and delicious vegetables on the side, it just makes a great meal.

The thing about pan fried chicken is that it’s easy to get it wrong, but it’s even easier to get right. If you know how to do it – what sounds to listen for, what to look for – then suddenly it becomes one of the easiest and most delicious meals in the world.

So in this article, I’ll go over everything you need to know to make perfect pan fried chicken.

First, I’ll talk about how to prepare the chicken to get it ready for pan frying. Then, I’ll talk about how to prepare the pan or skillet you’ll be using. Next, I’ll go over how to actually pan fry chicken. Finally, I’ll talk about the best part of pan frying chicken – making a great pan sauce to go with it.

That’s just 4 easy steps!

If you’re actually looking for southern fried or deep-fried chicken, check out our articles on making fried chicken. It’s quite a bit different from pan fried chicken!

Here we go!

Step 1: Preparing The Chicken

No matter what dish you’re trying to make, pan fried chicken is essentially a piece of chicken cooked in a hot, oiled pan. But if that was all there was to it, there wouldn’t be any need for a whole page about it, right?

The first thing that sets apart different meals made by pan frying chicken is how you prepare the chicken. In this section, I’ll talk about preparing the chicken pieces, seasoning, and breading.

Preparing The Chicken Pieces

When you’re making pan fried chicken, there are a few things you need to do to get your chicken just right.

• Pick the right cut. I feel that skinless, boneless pieces are the best cuts for pan frying. Breast or thighs or whatever you like, but boneless just works best.
  • A boneless piece isn’t as rigid as a bone-in piece, so it’ll flatten better on the pan. That means the whole surface will cook nice and evenly, and develop an even golden crust.
  • When you’re making pan fried chicken, it’s best that each piece be uniformly thick, for even cooking. Using boneless chicken lets you pound it flat if needed.
• Get the right thickness. The chicken pieces should be uniformly thick, and they shouldn’t be much thicker than an inch and a half.
  • A uniform piece will cook a lot more evenly, so that every bite is juicy and perfect.
  • When you pan fry, the chicken directly touches the hot pan, so the outside of the chicken gets hot much faster than the inside. If your piece is too thick, the outside might burn before the inside is cooked.
  • If you need, you can pound the chicken to get it the right thickness. Just use a clean, flat-bottomed mallet, place the chicken between two pieces of plastic wrap, and pound the chicken until it’s uniformly thick.
• Pat the chicken dry. Remember, one of the great parts about pan fried chicken is the tasty, golden crust. But you get that crust from a nice, dry heat. Any moisture will make it a lot harder.

Seasoning

• You can sprinkle the chicken with just about any herb/spice combination you can think of.
  • Thyme and sage, curry powder, garlic and onion powder, tarragon, salt and pepper… the possibilities are endless. Whichever spices you pick will turn the meal into something unique.
• You can also rub in the spice mixture.
  • Rub it into the meat with your hand, and let it sit for an hour or so in the fridge. The flavors will penetrate the chicken and you’ll get a much more intensely-flavored meal
• Don’t be afraid to experiment. Some herb combinations won’t work, but chicken goes with so many different flavors that it’s hard to miss, especially if you’re choosing spices that you like.

Breading

Notes

• If you’re wondering about marinating your chicken, I’d say that for pan fried chicken, it’s better not to.
  • If your chicken is wet from a marinade, it’ll add moisture to the pan, making it harder to get a nice golden crust.
  • A marinade also makes it harder to get a good fond, which means you won’t have as good a base for your pan sauce, if you’re planning on making one.
  • If neither of those things matter with you, then you can absolutely go ahead and marinate your chicken!

Step 2: Preparing The Pan

Preparing the pan is a really important step when you’re making pan fried chicken. It’s what makes the difference between a burnt piece of chicken, and a piece of chicken that’s perfectly cooked, with a beautiful, flavorful golden crust.

Preparing the pan properly is actually the big secret to perfect pan fried chicken!

So how do you do it? Let’s find out.

Picking A Pan

Well, first, let’s go over the different types of pans you can use for pan fried chicken.

• A non-stick pan might feel like the safest choice, but it’s not necessarily the best choice.
  • Even if you use a pan that’s not non-stick, if you prepare your pan properly, you won’t have any issues with sticking.
  • Because the pan is non-stick, it won’t create as nice a fond – the brown bits at the bottom of the pan that make a pan sauce so awesome.
• A cast-iron pan is a great choice.
  • Cast-iron retains heat really well, so that when you place your chicken in the pan, the pan won’t cool down.
  • On the other hand, because it retains heat so well, it can make it difficult to adjust the heat while you’re cooking.
• Stainless steel pans are great for pan fried chicken, too.
  • Stainless steel doesn’t retain heat as well as cast-iron. That means that you’ll lose a bit of heat when adding the chicken, but it’ll also be easier to adjust the temperature when you’re cooking the chicken.

You can actually use any type of pan to make pan fried chicken… but each has its own advantages and disadvantages.

Preparing The Pan

Alright, now that we know a bit more about different types of pans, let’s go over how to prepare the pan for pan fried chicken.

1. Place a bit of oil in your pan. It should be just enough to thinly coat the bottom when the pan is hot, about a tablespoon or two.
   • If you have a pan that can be heated without oil, you can always heat the pan first and add the oil when it’s hot enough.
   • Rouxbe has a great video about how doing this with a stainless steel pan can help you get just the right temperature.
2. Heat the oil over medium to medium high heat.
   
   • It’s important to heat the pan gently. Heating the pan over high heat would be too rough, even if you lower the heat afterward.
   • The oil is hot enough when it flows easily over the surface of the pan if you swirl it around. It should also have a streaky, shimmery sheen to it when you tilt the pan.
   • Don’t let the oil burn. If you do, you’ll have to clean the pan and start over. Burnt oil doesn’t taste particularly good, but it also won’t cook the chicken properly.

So why is it so important to get the heat just right for pan fried chicken? Well, there are a few reasons.

• If the pan isn’t hot enough, the chicken will stick when you put it in the pan. And when it comes time to flip it, it’ll tear.
• If the pan is too hot, well, the chicken will burn. And that’s just never good.
• Having just the right temperature means that the chicken won’t stick, and will get a perfectly golden crust – adding a ton of flavor to your meal.

Notes

• When you add the oil to your pan, there shouldn’t be any water or moisture whatsoever in your pan. Moisture will make the oil spatter, which isn’t only messy, but it could burn you.

Step 3: Cooking The Chicken

Alright, we’ve gone over how to prepare the chicken, and how to prepare the pan and heat it properly. Now comes the fun part – cooking the chicken!

The goal is to get a golden crust on the outside of the chicken, and a juicy inside. The golden color isn’t just for looks – it adds an incredible flavor to the chicken.

Like I mentioned, preparing the pan is the most important step, the big secret to making perfect pan fried chicken. But there are still a few things to look out for when you add the chicken to the pan.

So here’s how you do it:

1. Place the chicken in the pan. You should lower each piece in gently, away from you. That is, the first part of the chicken to touch the pan is the part closest to you, they lay it down flat away from you.
   • This way, if there’s any moisture on the chicken, the chicken makes a little shield between you and the spatter!
2. Listen to the sizzle when you place the chicken in the pan. The faster the sizzle, the hotter your pan is. Adjust the temperature if you need to.
   • The thinner your chicken pieces, the faster a sizzle you want. You want to be able to cook the outside quickly without drying out the inside.
   • If you have a thick piece, go a for a bit of a slower sizzle. It’ll give the inside time to cook through while the outside browns.
   • If you hear a lot of popping sounds, the pan is too hot, and you should lower the heat a bit.
   
3. Cook the chicken on one side until it has a nice golden crust, then flip it over.
   • Sometimes the chicken will stick even if you heated it just right. But once the crust forms, it’ll lift off the pan, making it easy to flip – so don’t try to shift it around the pan until it unsticks by itself!
4. Cook the chicken on the other side until it’s nice and golden brown.
5. Check if the chicken is done. Its internal temperature should be about 165F to 170F. The inside shouldn’t be pink anymore – but the best way to tell is with a meat thermometer.
6. If it’s not done yet, continue cooking the chicken at a medium sizzle on the same side until it’s done.
   • You don’t want the heat to be too high, or the outside might burn before the inside is done.
   • Don’t flip the chicken too often. The heat needs to move from the bottom of the pan up to cook the center of the chicken. If you flip it around, the process has to start over.
7. Set the meat aside and cover it to keep it warm. The meat should rest for 5-10 minutes before you serve it.

And that’s how to cook the chicken. It’s not at all hard, but making pan fried chicken does take a bit of practice and attention.

Step 4: Making A Pan Sauce

Alright, so far, we’ve prepared the chicken, heated the pan properly, and cooked the chicken so that it has a nice, flavorful golden crust.

So what’s left?

Well, what’s left in the pan is the fond, extremely flavorful brown bits stuck to the bottom. And the fond is the basis for a delicious pan sauce.

Nothing could be easier to make, and it’s just about the best part about pan fried chicken!

What You’ll Need

Most pan sauces are made up of the same basic elements, but depending on the specific ingredients you choose, the possibilities are endless. Here’s what makes up a great pan sauce:

• The fond is a super concentrated burst of flavor for your pan sauce. It adds the natural flavors of the chicken to your pan sauce, enhanced through caramelization.
  • The fond should be golden or brown, never burnt. If it’s burnt, it won’t add a nice flavor to the sauce, and you shouldn’t use it.
• You need to have some liquid in your sauce. Adding cold liquid to the hot pan will help the fond lift off the pan and dissolve into the sauce, adding tons of flavor. This is called deglazing the pan.
  • Try chicken stock, wine, juice, vinegar or even just plain water, or any combination of those. Each will add its own flavor and feel to the sauce.
  • The most acidic liquids should be added first, to give the acid some time to boil off. You’ll still have the depth of flavor, but you’ll get a more subtle taste.
  • If you’re adding wine, take the pan off the burner to avoid creating any fireballs. And don’t pour straight from the bottle – if the wine did catch fire, the bottle could explode.
  • You can add as much liquid as you think you need for your sauce. Depending how many people you’re serving, this’ll generally be anywhere from 1 to 3 cups.
• Some aromatics can really add a nice depth of flavor to your sauce. It isn’t necessary, but it can be really delicious.
  • Try onions, garlic, shallots, green onions, or even mushrooms.
  • The quantities aren’t really important. Whatever you like is what’s best! If you like lots of mushrooms, add lots! If you’re a garlic fanatic like me, go nuts and put 3 or 4 big cloves.
• If you’re in the mood for a rich, creamy sauce, you can add a little bit of cream to the sauce.
• A bit of butter, swirled in at the end, can add a lot of depth to the flavor and texture of your sauce.
  • If you’re using chicken stock, it’ll give the sauce a great mouth feel all on its own, so that you don’t really need the butter. It’s healthier, and I even prefer it that way.
• Sometimes the sauce just won’t want to thicken on its own, and you may need a little bit of flour to help it out.
  • A little flour goes a long way. If you have a very liquid sauce, you would still only need to add a teaspoon or two per cup of liquid. The thicker your sauce, the less you need to add.

How To Make A Pan Sauce

Alright, now that we know what we need, we can see how it all goes together to make an outstanding pan sauce to go with your pan fried chicken.

1. Chop the aromatics as finely or as coarsely as you want them in your sauce.
2. Heat a teaspoon of two of oil in the pan you cooked the chicken in over medium heat. Saute the vegetables a few minutes, until they soften and just start to brown.
3. Bring the heat to high, and quickly add your liquids to the pan to deglaze it. Scrape up all the brown bits with a spatula or wooden spoon.
   • Add the most acidic liquid first, to give the acids time to break down and boil off.
   • If you’re adding wine or some other alcohol, be careful to take the pan off the heat, to avoid it catching fire.
4. Turn the heat down and let the sauce simmer until it’s reduced by about half. It should thicken a bit as it reduces.
   • A great sauce will be a bit thick – if you drag a spoon across the pan, you should have a few seconds to see the bottom of the pan before the sauce fills in the gap.
   • Of course, if you prefer a thicker or a thinner sauce, then let it reduce until you think it’s just right for you. The only rule to follow is what you like best!
5. Sometimes, it seems that no matter what you do, the sauce doesn’t thicken enough. If that’s the case, you can add a bit of flour to the mix.
   • Try mixing a teaspoon or two of flour in a few tablespoons of cold water. Mix it really well until it’s smooth and liquid, then whisk it into the sauce.
   • Once the flour is in there, let the sauce simmer until it’s as thick as you like it, stirring constantly. The sauce will thicken as it simmers.
   • You can always add more flour if you need to, but always mix it with a cold liquid. Adding it directly to the sauce creates lumps.
6. Take the pan off the heat.
7. If you’re adding cream, swirl in a bit into the sauce.
   • Again, there’s no set amount. Just pour a little bit in the sauce, then stir, and taste. If you want more, add more.
8. If you’re adding butter, add in a tablespoon or two and swirl it in until it’s melted and the sauce is smooth.

And that’s all there is to it! Just spoon a bit of sauce on the chicken, and you’re ready to serve.

And that’s how you make an amazing pan fried chicken, with a delicious homemade pan sauce to go with it.

This is one of my favorite meals. I love breading the chicken — I find it fun! I love the results. Crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside. Yum! And as a bonus, while the chicken is baking, you can make the rest of the meal, clean up, or just relax and anticipate a great meal.

In this article, I’ll explain everything about how to cook oven fried chicken: selecting the right cuts of chicken, breading the chicken, and how to cook it.

Here we go!

Step 1: Selecting your chicken

Pick your cut

This part is easy. Pretty much any cut of chicken can be used for oven frying. Wings, thighs, drumsticks, breasts… they all turn out delicious! The only thing I’d really recommend is to cut up your chicken into the smallest units:

• Instead of using a whole leg, cut it up into the drumstick and thigh.
• If you’re going to oven fry some wings, split them into the tip, mid section and drumette.
• Click here for some good pictures of all the cuts.

Boneless or Bone-in?

Again, pretty much anything goes here. Personally, for thighs and breasts I prefer boneless because it’s less of a hassle to eat. Drumsticks are always fun to eat with your hands though.

It all comes down to what you like best!

Remember though, the cooking time can increase if you leave the bone in.

Skin or no skin

You can pick either for oven fried chicken. Each cut has its own benefits:

With skin

• Leaving the skin on provides a base for the coating, and helps it stick better.
• The skin adds extra crispiness and flavor to the chicken.
• The skin helps prevent the chicken from drying out.

Skinless

• Removing the skin reduces the amount of fat you end up eating.

Pick your size

Picking the right size pieces can be a little bit tricky.

The chicken is going to cook at a relatively high heat, so you want to make sure your pieces aren’t too small, or they’ll be dry and tough before the breading is crispy. On the other hand, if your pieces are too big, the coating might burn before they’re cooked.

Generally, pieces that come from a 3-5 lb chicken are just about the right size.

If you’re using boneless chicken breasts or thighs, you don’t need to worry about this so much. If your pieces look a bit thick, just pound them down to 1/4-1/2 an inch or so.

Step 2: Coating your chicken

The next step to making oven fried chicken is breading the chicken. This is my favorite part! It’s organized, but just messy enough to be fun.

If you’re not sure how to bread chicken, check out our chicken breading guide. It’s a two part guide, so be sure to read both Part I and Part II.

The guide describes three methods for making breaded chicken: the 1-2-3 Method, the 1-2 Method, and the 1-Method. For oven fried chicken, I recommend either the 1-2-3-Method or the 1-2 Method — they’re both great! The 1-Method isn’t as good for oven fried chicken. Here’s why:

• Oven frying chicken isn’t the same as frying it. Frying in oil may not be as healthy, but it does make your chicken extra crispy. The 1-2-3 and 1-2 Methods give your chicken a thicker, crunchier breading, which helps compensate for the lack of pan frying.
• The 1-Method recommends using a coating of flour. Flour is great for pan frying or deep frying, because it burns at a much higher temperature than the other coatings. In the oven, though, it takes much longer to crisp. You end up having to cook your chicken for 30 to 45 minutes longer!
• With the 1-Method, your chicken has a much thinner coating and has no liquid base to protect it, so it can end up a bit on the dry side.

Step 3: Cooking your chicken

Now for the last step. We need to know how to cook the chicken! At this point, you’ll be really happy that you decided to oven fry your chicken rather than pan fry it. It’s so easy to cook!

1. Preheat the oven to 400F.
2. Lightly grease a baking dish. Arrange your breaded chicken pieces in the dish. The dish should be large enough to hold all your chicken pieces without overcrowding them. If they’re too crowded, they won’t brown evenly.
3. If your breading is not flour, bake the breaded chicken in the prepared oven for 50 minutes, turning over the chicken after 25 minutes.
   If your breading is flour, bake the chicken in the prepared oven for 50 minutes, then turn over and cook for an additional 30 minutes.
4. The chicken is done when it reaches a minimum internal temperature of 165F (according to the USDA safety facts) and stays at that temperature for at least 10 seconds.

Tips

• The breading on the chicken should be nice and browned by the time you remove it from the oven. If it hasn’t browned yet, feel free to leave it in an extra 10 minutes or so.
• Each oven is different. Some just seem to heat more than others, even at the same setting. Try setting your oven to 400F first, but if you find that it burns the breading, turn it down to 375F. Or, if the breading just isn’t getting crispy, try setting your oven to 425F.
• If you left the skin or bone in your chicken pieces, they might take a bit longer to cook. Just watch the internal temperature and you’ll be fine. Remember, 165F for 10 seconds.

Step 4: Enjoy!

Yup, that’s it! You’re now ready to sit down and eat some delicious oven fried chicken. Yum!

It really is easy to make. The whole process of breading the chicken can take less than 10 minutes when you’re used to it. The only hard part after that is waiting for the chicken to cook! Luckily, that baking time is a great opportunity to prepare the rest of the meal (mashed potatoes anyone?) and clean up any mess you might have made while breading.

Bon appetit!

If you’re looking for a great culinary arts institute, the New England Culinary Institute is one of the best options out there. They’ve got a great reputation, so that when you earn your degree, you’ll have an easier time getting work. They’ve also got a great internship program, giving you some valuable work experience before you even graduate.

But what exactly does the New England Culinary Institute have to offer? And, most importantly when you’re picking a culinary arts institute, what sets it apart from the rest?

In this article, I’ll tell you all about this culinary arts institute. First, I’ll briefly go over the school’s history and philosophy. Then, I’ll talk about the things that make it stand out from other culinary arts schools. Next, I’ll go over the different available programs. And finally, I’ll talk about tuition and fees.

If your dream is to become a professional chef, you should know as much as you can about the different culinary arts schools. So read on!

A Bit About the New England Culinary Institute

The New England Culinary Institute (NECI), located in Montpelier, Vermont, was established in 1980. It started out small, with its first graduating class consisting of just 7 students! But it’s grown a lot since then. Today, you’ll find about 500 student on campus – a good deal more than 7, but still small enough to have a feeling of community.

One of the most important things about NECI is their guiding principle, “Learn by living it.” A lot of their curriculum is based on giving you on-hands, real-life experience. There are a lot of hands-on classes, and lots of internship opportunities. You learn by doing, you have a great student-to-teacher ratio, and you learn what it means to work in the culinary industry in the real world, so that when you graduate, you’re ready for it.

And although there’s no official ranking for culinary arts schools, NECI has a great reputation. Graduates are happy with what they learn and what they accomplish afterward, and the name NECI on your resume gives a certain prestige.

Special Features

All the top culinary arts institutes have certain features that make them special, different from the others. And depending on what type of personality you have, some schools will be better for you than others. It’s important to know which school offers what so that you can pick the best one for you.

So what sets the New England Culinary Institute apart?

• The small campus and student body gives the school a feeling of community and closeness that you just can’t get with thousands of students.
• They have a great student-to-teacher ratio. 10:1, that’s amazing. More teachers per students means that the teachers can focus more attention on you and really get to know you. They have more time to help you learn and understand the things that are giving you trouble.
• You get to work in real restaurants as part of your schooling. NECI owns several for-profit restaurants, including NECI on Main, La Brioche, The Chef’s Table, and a few others. And they’re the real deal. Working there gives you experience you just can’t get in a classroom.
• You get to learn about more than just cooking – you also get to learn about the whole process of getting ingredients from the farm to the kitchen. There are plenty of farms, farmer’s markets and local producers to help you understand how to get the best, freshest ingredients available.
• For some fields, internships are incredibly valuable. The culinary arts is one of those fields. It’s one thing to learn how to cook in a classroom, but it’s a whole other to actually do it in a restaurant with all the pressure that goes along with it. An internship can help you get prepared for that. NECI ‘s programs include two 700 hour internships, with many, many different restaurants to choose from all over the world.
• A culinary career doesn’t just mean cooking. You may also need to know about management, catering, purchasing, working the front of the restaurant as well as the back. The New England Culinary Institute offers courses for all of those subjects, to give you a well-rounded education.

All of this put together means you get a top notch culinary arts institute. It’s also pretty high pressure – the internships and hands-on training can get pretty intense. It’s kind of like learning to swim by being thrown into the water. Yes, the teachers are there to help and guide you, but you’ll be working hard right off the bat – they don’t ease you into it!

Programs Offered

Another thing to consider when you’re looking at different culinary institutes is whether they have a program that’s right for you. Most culinary arts schools have a general sort of program, but some also offer various specializations that may be even better suited to you!

The New England Culinary Institute offers the following programs:

• Bachelors Degree in Culinary Arts
• Associate of Occupational Studies in Culinary Arts degree
• Associate of Occupational Studies in Baking and Pastry Arts degree
• Bachelors Degree in Hospitality and Restaurant Management
• Associate of Occupational Studies in Hospitality and Restaurant Management degree
• Online Bachelors Degree in Hospitality and Restaurant Management
• Certificate in Professional Cooking
• Certificate in Professional Baking
• Certificate in Professional Pastry

There’s 3 basic types of programs: the Bachelors degree, the Associate degree, and the Certificate.

• The Bachelors degrees are the most in-depth. They take more time but leave you prepared for some higher positions in the industry.
• Associate degrees are a little less in-depth, but also have internships and hands-on training. They give you lots of career choices, although some of the higher position might be a little more difficult.
• The Certificates, on the other hand, are short, intensive programs. Their goal is to help you improve your current culinary career and better your existing skills, or to allow you to test if a culinary career is right for you, before you go for a 4 year degree.

The program that’s right for you depends on what exactly your career goals are, and how much time you have available for your culinary arts degree. NECI offers a general culinary arts degree, but you can also specialize in delicious desserts: baking and pastry!

Tuition and Fees

The tuition for the New England Culinary Institute is probably on the higher end of the spectrum, at over $30,000 per year for certain Bachelors and Associate degree. The Certificates are less expensive, closer to $10,000 for the Certificate.

It’s really not orders of magnitudes higher than other top schools. It is a little more expensive, but you do have the possibility of paid internships to offset some of the costs. And you get extremely valuable hands-on experience, contacts in the culinary industry, and a degree that’ll open lots of doors for you. If you can afford it, it’s well worth the cost if your dream is to be a chef!

So that’s a little bit about the New England Culinary Institute. It has a lot to offer, and has lots of very happy graduates, including the Food Network’s Alton Brown. It’s well worth taking the time to figure out if it’s the right culinary arts institute for you.

But you absolutely can microwave spaghetti squash. So if your oven isn’t available or you just prefer the microwave, then it’s a perfectly good way to do it. And it’s just a little bit faster than baking, too.

It’s all actually really easy, and there’s no difficult trick to getting the strands. And you’ll be in for a delicious treat, kind of like pasta but not quite. Mild enough to taste great with all kinds of sauce, but much lighter than pasta so you’ll feel better after eating it.

In this article, I’ll go over how to microwave spaghetti squash. I’ll talk about how to prepare the squash, how to microwave it, and how to get the strands out.

Here we go!

Preparing the Squash

Before you microwave spaghetti squash, you need to prepare the squash, get it nice and ready for cooking. How you do it is a bit more important for microwaving than it is for baking!

Wash the Squash

First things first. Washing the squash helps remove any bacteria or dirtoff the surface of the squash. Not that you’ll be eating the rind, but when you start cutting it and handling it, you can transfer some stuff from the surface to the fleshy center.

To wash it, just scrub it under lukewarm water. Be sure to dry it carefully afterwards, so that it’s not slippery. A slippery squash can cause some nasty accidents when you try to cut into it!

Cut the Squash or Leave It Whole?

Once your spaghetti squash is nice and clean, you have two options: cut it in half or leave it whole. Each method has its advantages and disadvantages when you microwave spaghetti squash.

• Cutting a spaghetti squash in half is hard work. An uncooked squash is hard – the flesh is hard, and the rind is even harder. You’ll need a big sharp knife, a steady hand, and a good deal of effort. Once it’s cooked, it’s a lot easier to cut, which is why some people prefer to cook it whole.
• Most microwaves will fit a whole squash, but not all will fit two squash halves. If you have a big squash and a small microwave, you might not be able to place the halves side by side and cook them together. It just means you’ll have to cook them in two batches – not a huge deal, but it does take a bit more time and teensy bit effort.
• Microwaving spaghetti squash whole can have unfortunate consequences. That is, the squash might explode. If you’re lucky, the mess will be contained to the microwave and you might even get a few usable chunks from the mess. If you’re not lucky, the door to the microwave will fly open and you’ll have spaghetti squash all over the kitchen. Not so fun!
• Microwaving a whole squash takes a bit longer. If you’re short on time, you may just want to go ahead and cut the squash in half. You’ll save a few minutes cooking time.
• Cutting a hot squash can be tricky, too. It’s not as hard as cutting a raw squash, but if you’re not careful, you can burn yourself. And then you have to scoop out piping hot seeds! Again, it’s not as hard as when it’s raw, but you still need to be careful.

Whether you cut it or leave it whole is up to you. Personally, I think cutting it in half is the way to go. It’s a bit annoying, but I’d rather cut 50 squashes than have a single one explode!

It’s worth noting though, that whether or not the squash will explode seems to depend a lot on your microwave and how powerful it is – the higher the power, the more chance you have of getting squash wallpaper. So if you have a really powerful microwave, cut the squash in half – or cook it on medium or medium high power.

Option 1: Cut the Squash

If you decide to cut the squash before cooking it, you’re in for a little bit of work. But don’t worry, every bit of time you put in now is time you save later – best to get the hard stuff over with!

You can cut the squash lengthwise or crosswise. Cutting it crosswise will give you longer strands, because the strands wrap around the squash instead of going end to end. You’ll also have a better chance of fitting both halves in the microwave. I tend to like the shorter strands because they’re easier to eat, but longer strands do look a bit more elegant, like real spaghetti.

To cut the spaghetti squash, use a big, sharp knife. Try to keep the squash as steady as possible. You can try to go straight through the squash. I’m not all that strong, though, so I just end up cutting halfway through, then turning it around and cutting through the other half.

Once you’ve cut the squash, scoop out the seeds. If they’re stubborn and don’t want to come out, just scrape the flesh crosswise with a spoon – the raw flesh is really hard, so you won’t scoop out any flesh. You’ll just get the seeds.

Option 2: Leave It Whole

If you decide to microwave spaghetti squash whole, you just have one more little preparation step to take care of. Poke the squash 8 to 10 times with a sharp knife or a skewer. It’ll allow some steam to vent out of the squash while it cooks, and will reduce the chance of it exploding in the microwave. And that is a very good thing!

How to Microwave Spaghetti Squash

Compared to preparing it, microwaving spaghetti squash is super easy. Here’s how you do it:

1. Place the spaghetti squash in the microwave. If it’s whole, just put it in as is. If you cut it in half, place each half cut-side down in a microwave-safe dish.
   • You can put a little bit of water in the dish to keep the squash from drying out. You don’t need much, just 1/8 or 1/4 of an inch or so.
   • If you don’t want to add water, cover the squash and dish with a bit of microwave-safe plastic wrap, leaving a vent for steam to escape. This’ll keep in all the steam that the squash itself creates, and prevent it from drying out.
2. Microwave the spaghetti squash on high or medium high power 5 minutes at a time, until the squash is done.
   • Poke the squash with a sharp knife every 5 minutes. When the knife slides in pretty easily, the squash is done. Don’t overcook it, or your strands will turn to mush!.
   • Turn the squash every 5 minutes. It helps the squash cook more evenly, especially if you don’t have an automatic turntable.
   • It can take anywhere from 5 to 25 minutes to microwave spaghetti squash. It depends on how powerful your microwave is, how big the squash is, and whether or not you cut it in half.

Once you’ve cooked your first squash, you’ll have a better idea of how long it takes in your microwave. So that next time, it’s even easier to microwave spaghetti squash!

Scooping Out the Strands

Now you know how to microwave spaghetti squash, and you’re almost ready to get those neat spaghetti strands. But not quite ready. Let the squash rest a bit so that it has a chance to cool down. It’ll make getting the strands out a lot less painful!

A whole spaghetti squash should rest for at least 10 to 15 minutes. Squash halves don’t need to rest quite as long, because they’re more exposed to the cooler air, and so they cool down faster.

And now for the spaghetti strands!

1. If you cooked your squash whole, you’ll have to cut it now. Slice it in half lengthwise or crosswise with a big, sharp knife. Then scoop out the seeds.
2. Using a plain old dinner fork, scrape the sides of the squash.
   • Try scraping lengthwise. It goes against the grain of the strands, and it’s easier to get them out that way. Crosswise works better at the two ends though, where the strands attach to the rind.
3. Scoop out the strands and place them in a bowl. You should be able to scoop out most of the flesh, until you just have a tiny little rind left.

And that’s it! Your delicious spaghetti strands are ready. You just need a little sauce or some seasoning, and you’ll have a tasty meal. Or, you can store the spaghetti squash strands. They’ll keep in an airtight container in the fridge for weeks. Or for months in the freezer, although sometimes they’ll just turn to mush after freezing – better for a purée.

That’s all there is to it! Now you know how to microwave spaghetti squash. And as long as you avoid any squash explosion, it’s easy, quick, and delicious!