Ten ingredients, one pan, and no starch anywhere. This is chicken and broccoli in garlic butter served as it is.
The broccoli gets two treatments in a row. Two tablespoons of water and a lid for three minutes to cook it through, then the lid comes off and it is left to catch colour in the dry pan.
Why This Recipe Works
- Browning the chicken first and removing it frees the pan for broccoli that needs contact with the surface.
- Two tablespoons of water under a lid is enough to steam four cups of florets without boiling them.
- Uncovering lets the remaining water evaporate so the pan can char rather than steam.
- Butter, garlic and lemon added at the end coat everything without being cooked hard.
Ingredient Notes
- Broccoli florets
- Four cups — more than the pasta versions use, because here it is half the dish rather than an addition.
- Unsalted butter
- Four tablespoons, added at the end with the garlic. It is the sauce.
- No starch
- There is no pasta, rice or potato in this recipe. It is served exactly as it comes out of the pan.
How to Make It
Brown the chicken to 165F
Season the chicken chunks and brown them in the oil over medium-high heat until they reach 165 degrees Fahrenheit, then transfer them out of the pan.
Steam the broccoli
Add broccoli with 2 tbsp water, cover, and steam 3 minutes.
Uncover and char
Uncover and let broccoli char in spots.
Garlic butter, chicken back
Add butter, garlic, red pepper flakes and lemon juice; return chicken and toss until glossy.
Serve as-is
Finish with parsley and serve as-is, with no pasta or other starch.
Steam It, Then Char It
The broccoli is cooked and coloured by two opposite conditions, one after the other, in the same pan. Doing only the first gives pale florets; doing only the second gives burnt raw ones.
Brown, and clear the pan165F, then transfer.
1 1/2 lb of chicken chunks seasoned and browned in 1 tbsp olive oil to 165F, then out. The broccoli needs the pan surface, so the chicken cannot stay in it.
Steam, covered3 minutes under the lid.
4 cups of florets with just 2 tbsp of water and a lid, 3 minutes. That tiny amount of water is enough to cook broccoli through as steam without ever boiling it.
Char, uncoveredCharred in spots, not evenly browned.
Lid off, and the remaining water allowed to cook away so the florets meet dry metal. This is where the charred spots in the finished bowl come from - a covered pan can never produce them.
Butter, off the hard heat
4 tbsp of butter with 4 garlic cloves, 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes and 1 tbsp lemon juice, then the chicken returned and tossed until glossy. Garlic goes in with the butter, never earlier into a dry hot pan.
Success Tips
- Let the pan go dry after uncovering; charring needs contact, not steam.
- Add the garlic with the butter at the end so it never sits in a hot dry pan alone.
- Do not reach for pasta.
Serving Ideas
Four servings in bowls, the browned chicken and charred broccoli glossy with garlic butter and finished with parsley. Nothing underneath it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I serve this over pasta?
Not as this recipe is written — it is served as-is.
How do I get the broccoli to char?
Uncover after the three-minute steam and let the water cook off so the florets meet the dry pan.
How done should the chicken be?
165 degrees Fahrenheit before it leaves the pan.
