Wow. I haven’t used chicken in a recipe in over a month. I think it is time to finally give poultry it’s time in the limelight. I received fennel in my CSA share and thought this recipe for Sauteed Chicken Breasts with Fennel and Rosemary from Food & Wine sounded like a perfect use of the ingredient.
As a plus, I had all of the ingredients already in my kitchen, with the exception of the chicken.
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 large fennel bulbs, thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, plus more for garnish
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup canned low-sodium chicken broth or homemade stock. divided
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1/4 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium high heat in a saute pan. Add the chopped fennel, 1 tablespoon rosemary and 1/4 teaspoon salt.
Cook until the fennel is a golden brown color, about 12 minutes.
Add 3/4 cup broth and bring to a boil.
Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer until the fennel turns soft, about 3 minutes.
Remove the fennel and liquid from the pan and reserve. Clean out the pan and add 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat.
Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper. Add the chicken to the saute pan and top with the remaining 1 tablespoon rosemary. Cook on one side until brown, about 5 minutes.
Turn the chicken over and cook for another 3 minutes, until almost fully cooked.
Add the minced garlic and stir for 30 seconds.
Add the fennel and cooking liquid back in along with the remaining 1/4 cup chicken broth. Season with a bit more pepper, to taste. Bring to a simmer, cover, and remove from heat. Allow to steam for 5 minutes.
Spoon the fennel onto a plate and top with the chicken. Sprinkle with more fresh rosemary and serve.
I was a little nervous to try this recipe. I really don’t like the taste of licorice (i.e. fennel). But cooked fennel has a much more muted flavor than raw fennel, or even fennel seeds. This ended up being a really delicious dinner!
The rosemary, fennel and garlic were great complements; the meal had a Mediterranean feel to it that I really enjoyed. I’m happy I now have a recipe for when I come across fresh fennel!
The recipe suggested serving this with polenta. I had some red potatoes from my CSA share so I decided to serve the chicken with garlic and rosemary smashed potatoes.
Sauteed Chicken Breasts with Fennel and Rosemary
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 large fennel bulbs cut into 1/2-inch slices
- 2 tablespoons fresh rosemary chopped, plus more for garnish
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup canned low-sodium chicken broth or homemade stock divided
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1/4 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
- 4 cloves garlic minced
Instructions
- Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium high heat in a saute pan.
- Add the chopped fennel, 1 tablespoon rosemary and 1/4 teaspoon salt.
- Cook until the fennel is a golden brown color, about 12 minutes.
- Add 3/4 cup broth and bring to a boil.
- Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer until the fennel turns soft, about 3 minutes.
- Remove the fennel and liquid from the pan and reserve.
- Clean out the pan and add 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat.
- Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper.
- Add the chicken to the saute pan and top with the remaining 1 tablespoon rosemary.
- Cook on one side until brown, about 5 minutes.
- Turn the chicken over and cook for another 3 minutes, until almost fully cooked.
- Add the minced garlic and stir for 30 seconds.
- Add the fennel and cooking liquid back in along with the remaining 1/4 cup chicken broth.
- Season with a bit more pepper, to taste.
- Bring to a simmer, cover, and remove from heat.
- Allow to steam for 5 minutes.
- Spoon the fennel onto a plate and top with the chicken. Sprinkle with more fresh rosemary and serve.
This looks great. Unlike you, it seems like I’ve been making chicken almost every night lately! I’ve never used fennel in a recipe and I’ve wanted to try it.
WOW looks fantastic!!!!
Food Blog News
Event-Healthy Snacks
This looks delicious! I’m a huge chicken fan, so this is right up my alley! Thanks for featuring chicken again!
Lovely with the chicken looking so tender but I need to leave out the fennel bulb as its really difficult to get here at Malaysia.
This looks awesome! I love chicken, can’t believe you haven’t used it in a month! I have been looking for a recipe to try using fennel, this looks like it might work!