Cutting chicken breasts horizontally into thin cutlets allows quicker cooking time and accelerates seasoning and marinating. While many recipes call for full chicken breasts, you may want to adapt a specific recipe to your needs and adjust the cooking time. Here’s a quick how-to guide on how long to cook thin chicken breasts depending on your cooking method – based on our experiences and recipes index.
In the oven
Baked chicken cutlets (also depending on what you add to them) usually take 20 minutes in a preheated oven at 400ºF (200ºC). Try one of these baked chicken breasts recipes – you can adapt for the thickness of the chicken breast you have on hand.
Pan-seared in a skillet
Thin pan-seared chicken breasts, like our garlic chicken breast and zucchini, will take approximately 6-7 minutes per side for a total of 12-15 minutes on medium heat. We recommend you use a cast iron skillet because it distributes the heat evenly and allows for better control. You can cook thin chicken breasts quicker, like 10 minutes, but be careful not to burn them!
Steamed
Surprisingly, steaming may be the quickest cooking method for chicken cutlets. Five minutes of steaming time should be enough from the point when the water is boiling and releasing steam. Steaming is great for keeping nutrients intact and doesn’t not require oil or fat.
