Gorgeous and flavorful, these marinated chicken breasts were actually grilled in a pan on the stovetop, making supper come together without all of the running around and waiting that the outside grill often entails. I pair these with a light side and some iced tea and have the perfect supper for any time of year.

Today, I’m going to show you how you can use a cast iron grill pan to make gorgeous chicken like this on your stovetop, too. But you can use any ole pan you have, no problem.

Recipe Ingredients are:

Boneless skinless chicken breasts
A bottle of your favorite salad dressing/marinade
A cast iron grill pan or whatever pan you have at home.

What Kind of Marinade Should I Use?

I’m using TLish dressing and marinade. I’m slightly obsessed with these. Okay, moderately to highly obsessed. You can get them at Publix and all of the flavors I have tried are amazing. You want a vinaigrette type dressing for this. Look for one that specifically says vinaigrette or marinade on it and you’re good. Any of the TLish flavors work great as marinades.

Where Do I Get A Cast Iron Grill Pan?

The cast iron grill pan used here is made by Lodge. You can learn more about them by clicking here.

If you have a glass stovetop or smooth stovetop surface you need to know that I do, too, and I am using this pan. Why? It’s flat on the bottom so it will work just fine. Whenever I see a cast iron skillet or pan that is the first thing I look for, if it’s flat all on the bottom, I know I’m good.

Tips On The Cast Iron Grill Pan:

You want there to be a good contact all across the skillet with the stovetop itself for even heating and you don’t want anything protruding from the skillet or pot that could scratch your stove. I’ve been using cast iron on my glass cooktop for over seven years. I also use a very large All American Pressure Canner on mine, as well, as the manufacturer’s manual said I could pressure can as long as the bottom of my canner was flat and smooth, as with the cast iron.

How To Make Marinated Grilled Chicken In A Pan

Place your chicken breasts in a zipper seal bag and pour in your dressing.

Reserve A Little Dressing:

I reserve a little bit for dipping later so there is always just a tad left in my bottle, which I put in the fridge. Let this marinade as long as you can, preferably a few hours or overnight.

Grease Up The Pan

BEFORE I put the chicken in my grill pan, I grease it a bit. Use vegetable oil (I use coconut oil) or whatever vegetable oil you choose. Then place this over medium high heat until the entire skillet is good and hot before even thinking about adding your chicken.

Next Step:

Place your chicken in the hot skillet, just the chicken, not the extra marinade in the bag, and let it cook until it the chicken has grill marks on one side and naturally releases. If you go to pick your chicken up and it is sticking, it isn’t ready to be flipped yet. This is going to take anywhere from 5-10 minutes, depending on the level of your heat – your stove and my stove have never met so I don’t expect they are too synchronized.

Look how purty!

This is what my chicken looked like after the first side had sizzled and seared for about ten minutes. Now I’m going to cook it about ten minutes more.

If You Have Thicker Chicken Breasts

If you have thick chicken breasts like I did in this photo, you may want to turn the temperature down just a little bit and let it cook a few minutes beyond that. I usually pick the thickest piece and stick a knife in the center before I remove them from the pan to ensure that they are done. Make sure its inside is heated to 165 degrees before removing.

And that’s it! Gorgeous, juicy, flavorful marinated chicken cooked in a grill pan.

Simple as can be!

Tips to Wash the Cast Iron Pan

To wash my pan, I let it cool a bit and give it a quick hand washing, then smear a bit more oil on it and place it in a 350 oven for about ten minutes. After that, I just turn my oven off and let the pan sit in there until I need my oven again, then I open it, see my pan, and return it to the cabinet. 🙂