3-Minute Chicken Breasts Are a Weeknight Dinner Miracle

A Big Little Recipe has the smallest-possible ingredient list and big everything else: flavor, creativity, wow factor. Psst—we don’t count water, salt, black pepper, and certain fats (specifically, 1/2 cup or less of olive oil, vegetable oil, and butter), since we’re guessing you have those covered. Today, we’re cooking chicken in the time it takes to listen to a song.

How long does chicken take to cook? Depends on the cut. A whole roast chicken takes 10 minutes or more per pound. Braised chicken takes between an hour and an hour and a half. Skillet chicken thighs take close to an hour. Even Instant Pot chicken takes at least 10 minutes, and that’s after the pressure builds.

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This chicken takes 3 minutes—or less.

Which, for what it’s worth, I didn’t believe at first either. I stumbled upon the method at The Splendid Table, where Marco Canora writes about cooking chicken in 90 seconds: “The payoff is an insanely tender, delicious chicken breast that has all the succulence of dark meat.”

Canora’s secret is to butterfly the chicken breast, then pound it. Butterfly is a pretty way of saying: Halve the chicken breast horizontally but stop before you reach the end, so you can fold open the meat like a magazine. Pound is just what it sounds like: Hit the chicken with something heavy—think meat mallet, skillet, rolling pin— like you mean it, until the meat is thin and even.

By combining these methods, chicken becomes the sort of ingredient you can cook during even the worst of heatwaves. In my version, inspired by The Splendid Table, it cooks in 2 to 3 minutes.

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In Canora’s recipe, he loves to heavily season his chicken. One version has cumin, turmeric, onion powder, and coriander. Another suggestion has cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and maple syrup.

I prefer to let salt and pepper take the lead, then concentrate on the toppings instead. In this recipe, there are three: Cherry tomatoes, which become slouchy and juicy under the broiler, like a hands-off tomato jam. Fresh mint, which I adore for its sturdy texture and zesty flavor. Burrata, a cream-filled mozzarella that’s as lush as cheese comes.

And yes, this means the tomatoes take longer to cook than the chicken. But this is a ripe time to get your other ingredients prepped (mint chopped, burrata portioned) and ready (chicken butterflied and pounded).

If you don’t want to turn on your broiler, don’t. Leave the tomatoes raw. Or use sun-dried tomatoes instead. Or opt for different toppings altogether. Here are some other three-ingredient combos that the three-minute chicken would get along great with. Add a big pour of olive oil to each.

• Chickpeas + green olives + fresh dill
• Shaved zucchini + sliced peaches + crumbled cheddar
• Baby arugula + mashed anchovies + lemon juice
• Shaved zucchini + toasted walnuts + grated pecorino
• Smacked cucumbers + tomato wedges + crumbled feta