Buttermilk Chicken Breast with Fennel Salad
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Tender grilled chicken breasts marinated with buttermilk and fresh basil. Serve with a lemony shaved fennel, arugula and cannellini bean salad for fresh, healthy plate. Gluten-free and low-carb friendly recipe.
There was that time a popular Food Network chef bragged about pounding his meat.
It always amuses me whenever I make these buttermilk-marinated chicken breasts.
Why? Because the chicken breasts in this recipe do require a good meat-pounding!
Specifically, they’re butterflied and THEN pounded, which is a great tip for tenderizing chicken breasts.
It’s one of those little tricks that really transforms what would otherwise be dry white meat into chicken that’s juicy and tender.
Does pounding chicken make it more tender?
Pounding chicken tenderizes the protein structure of the meat. Plus it evens out the thickness of the chicken breasts so that they’ll cook more evenly.
I recently replaced my rusted old pounder for a much more elegant one I can stick right in the dishwasher when I’m done.
I use the smooth side of the pounder to make the chicken flat and even.
After pounding, the breasts marinate in a tasty blend of fresh basil, fennel seeds, lemon and tangy buttermilk, adding lots of flavor and tenderizing a step further.
What is paillard
When I first created this recipe I was thinking of tagliata, a simple Italian dish of thinly sliced beef served with a tangle of arugula and shaved Parmigiano cheese.
I switched out the beef for thin chicken breast cutlets, also called chicken paillards.
Paillards are pieces of boneless meat that are pounded thin. They’re great for a fast, fuss-free meal.
They take just a few minutes to cook and you can serve them with a fresh salad and be done.
How to cook chicken soaked in buttermilk
I usually make this quick-cooking chicken recipe right on the stovetop using my favorite heavy grill pan.
But if outdoor grilling is an option for you, by all means fire it up!
Just note that the chicken cooks pretty quickly — you might want to grill-roast some vegetables too, while it’s hot.
Fennel salad with chicken
To make this a lighter main dish, I made an crunchy arugula salad by mixing in some shaved fresh fennel, cannellini beans, and more lemon (because you can never have enough lemon).
It’s not too hard to butterfly chicken breasts, but if you’d rather skip that step go ahead and ask your meat counter to do it.
You sometimes find ready to cook chicken cutlets if your market sells them.
Leave the meat-pounding to the butcher to make this less fussy to make — but I have to say smacking chicken around is a great way to relieve some stress!
Looking for more easy chicken recipes?
- Chicken with Thai Basil and Chili Garlic Sauce
- Baked Dijon Chicken Thighs
- Roasted Chili Chicken Thighs
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Buttermilk Chicken Breasts with Fennel Salad
Ingredients
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- ¼ cup (60 ml) buttermilk
- ¼ cup (60 ml) fresh lemon juice, divided
- ¼ cup (60 ml) olive oil, divided
- 1 teaspoon whole fennel seeds
- 1 small garlic clove, finely chopped
- 1 lightly packed cup fresh basil leaves
- Kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper
Fennel Salad
- 1 15-ounce can cannellini beans, drained
- 1 fennel bulb, preferably with fronds attached
- ¼ cup Italian parsley leaves
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 cups (40 g) baby arugula
- 1 chunk Parmigiano-Reggiano or Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Butterfly the chicken: With the breasts facing you lengthwise, cut 3/4 through the center of thicker, long side of each chicken breast and open flat. Pound to an even thickness between two sheets of plastic wrap. Put the chicken in a large shallow baking dish.
- Puree the buttermilk, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, 2 tablespoons olive oil, fennel seeds, garlic, basil and 1 teaspoon salt in a blender or mini food processor. Pour over chicken, turning to coat. Cover and marinate 15-30 minutes.
- Coat a heavy grill pan with cooking spray or lightly brush with oil and heat over medium high heat until the pan is very hot (a few drops of water should sizzle and instantly evaporate). Cook chicken until it’s no longer pink inside, about 3 minutes per side. You might have to do this in batches depending on the size of your grill.
To make the fennel salad:
- In medium bowl, mix together remaining lemon juice, olive oil, lemon zest, chili and salt to taste. Add the cannellini beans, sliced fennel, parsley and toss gently.
Serving:
- Slice chicken 1/2-inch thick. Put the chicken and some arugula on a serving plate and spoon fennel salad over the arugula. Use a vegetable peeler or small sharp knife to shave curls of cheese over the plate.
Karen’s Notes and Tips
- If you don't want to bother with butterflying the chicken breasts, ask your meat counter to do it or buy 8 small chicken cutlets.
- Marinate the chicken up to 2 hours ahead. The chicken will take less than 10 minutes to cook.
- You can use a stovetop grill pan or fire up your outdoor grill.
Nutrition
Hey, I’m Karen
Creator of Familystyle Food
I’m a food obsessed super-taster and professionally trained cook ALL about creating elevated dinners with everyday ingredients. Find simplified recipes made from scratch and enjoy incredibly tasty food! Read more about me here.
Looks delicious and a perfect dish for summer–prize winner or not!
Very fun!! Good luck. I can’t wait to hear all about it!
That looks and sounds like the grand-prize winner to me! All the best, good luck (you don’t need luck, you got skillz), and let us know! So exciting!
Your new photo is wonderful, too.
Good luck !! Your pasta chicken is very good, it’s so delicious
Good luck! It sounds fantastic. I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed.
Karen this is so exciting and your dish sounds great to me! Good luck and I look forward to hearing the post-game wrap-up!
Good luck, Karen! I’ll be cheering you long-distance!
Thanks KC and Lynn!
And Anonymous, thanks for the tip. You’re absolutely right about presentation, but taste overrides everything.
Your salad looks delicious. Good luck at the competition!
Good luck!!!
the dish sounds delicious but you need to work on the plating/presentation. From what I ve seen that counts for alot at these competions.