Honey Butter Chicken

Despite having a food blog, I am like everyone else when it comes to indecision or boredom over what to make for dinner. I peek into the freezer and all I see are the usual suspects...chicken breasts, pork and ground beef. Not every meal is a blog-worthy meal in my house, Some days, I'd just as soon have a bag of Cheetos and a glass of wine for dinner. :)

So...I eyed the chicken thinking maybe I can make my standard, boring, weekly meal of grilled chicken, rice with salad. My kids are so tired of my grilled chicken, "I hate your chicken Mama!" They say. There's no accounting for my kid's taste, all the delicious food I make and they want chicken nuggets...where did I go wrong? (sigh*) 

Anyway, it's hard to get creative over chicken, but I stumbled upon this amazing little recipe that will be sure to kick start your boring chicken menus. The original recipe was for pork tenderloin, which I gladly made as written and I absolutely loved it! The pork tenderloin was amazing with this yummy honey butter sauce. Slightly sweet and decadently buttery with a hint of spiciness. Delicious and I thought it would be perfect for chicken as well! So here's my slightly adapted version of that recipe using chicken that I'm sure will become a favorite in your house.  

Note:
I strongly recommend using clarified butter in this recipe. 
What is clarified butter?  
Clarified butter is butter with the milk solids and some of the water removed. You remove these things by simply heating and melting the butter. Some of the water is removed via heating and the milk solids separate and remain in the bottom of the pan. The liquid portion, the clarified butter, is then poured in to an air-tight container for use. Removing the milk solids raises the smoke point of oil which allows food to be cooked at higher temperatures without the butter scorching or burning. It makes clarified butter ideal for sauteing vegetables and meats and making delicious butter sauces, like this one.

Trader Joe's carries convenient jars of clarified butter, but if you don't have a Trader Joe's nearby, you can make your own clarified butter simply, just by melting it in a saucepan. Easy!

Clarified Butter
2 sticks of unsalted butter, cut into pieces

In a large skillet, melt the butter slowly on low heat. Turn off heat and let sit for 5 minutes to cool slightly. Skim foam off the top and then pour the liquid butter into an air-tight container that has a tight fitting lid. Take care to only pour off the liquid into your air-tight container and leave the milk solids in the skillet. Use the butter in this recipe and then store the remaining clarified butter in the fridge.

Honey Butter Chicken (adapted recipe from foodgawker)
Serves 4

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Cajun or Creole Seasoning
3 T clarified butter
4 T honey
~1/4 cup water

Generously sprinkle chicken breasts with Cajun or Creole seasoning and set aside. I used Creole seasoning. In a large cast iron skillet, melt clarified and honey together. Add chicken breasts to the skillet, as they cook, use a large spoon to ladle or baste the chicken with some of the honey butter sauce from the skillet. Cook chicken for 4-5 minutes per side. Remove chicken from pan and cover with foil to keep hot.
Honey Butter Sauce: To the warm skillet, add ~1/4 cup of water to the honey butter sauce, stir and heat for about 2 minutes. This step just adds some water back in that was lost during cooking and thins the sauce out a bit. Coat each serving with this decadent butter sauce and serve with your favorite side dish. Enjoy!


Other easy chicken recipes to try:

Easy Ranch Chicken
Chicken Florentine
Thai Chicken Enchiladas
Easy Chicken and Soy Chorizo Chili