Searing works best with a heavy-bottomed skillet, such as cast iron, that retains heat well and can go from stove to oven if necessary. To prevent the chicken from sticking to the pan, use a high-heat cooking oil like canola.
How do you cook chicken in a cast-iron skillet without it sticking? The key is to add a little bit of oil after the cast iron is hot. Wait until the oil is shimmering, then add your chicken to the pan. Don't move the chicken for a few moments. If you try to move it before it is seared, it will stick to the pan.
Lightly coat the surface of the pan with a small amount (1t -- 1T) of oil or fat of choice. You don't want too much oil, so wipe any excess oil away with a paper towel. The entire pan should be lightly coated with oil or fat, but not dripping.
Cooking chicken breasts in a cast iron skillet yields perfectly seared, tender, and juicy meat every time!
To ensure even heating, gradually pre-heat the cast iron skillet on a similar-sized burner. Since cast iron holds heat, it's not necessary to use a heat setting above medium. These steps help prevent food from sticking. Don't forget to use a hot handle mitt!
When cooking in cast iron, you should add a little oil to the pan before adding your food. This helps ensure the food doesn't stick, and it helps build layers of seasoning. You can generally use whatever oil you prefer, as long as the cooking temperature is below the smoke point of the oil.
To get truly golden-brown and crispy chicken, use a cast iron skillet. You can't beat a heavy cast iron pan for even heat distribution and reliable frying. A heavy-bottomed Dutch oven also works great. Choose oils with a high smoke point: vegetable shortening, lard, and peanut oil are all good choices.
If you have a lid for the pan, pop it on to help retain all that moisture. After 5 or so minutes, flip the chicken, and allow the same thing to happen on the other side before removing from the pan. Allow to rest for at least 5 minutes.
The Cause: If you accidentally leave your cast iron cookware on any heat source for too long, food, marinades, and sauces can burn and get stuck to the surface. The Fix: Use a pan scraper to remove stuck-on food.
Common cooking oils like olive oil will gradually produce seasoning, but won't be as effective as grapeseed oil. Canola, other vegetable oils, and shortening are a little better.
Unplug the appliance and scrub the soleplate with the damp rag to get rid of gunk or limescale. Take care not to touch the soleplate with bare hands. Let it dry before using your iron again. If that's not effective, set your iron to the maximum temperature and let it heat up.
To ensure your chicken doesn't stick to the cast iron, properly season your pan and let your chicken tell you when it's ready to flip - don't force it when the skin hasn't released from the pan.
One method is to marinate the chicken, especially if it can be done overnight. Another pre-cooking method helpful in keeping the chicken's moisture and flavor is a brine bath in a solution of salt, water, and sugar. Finally, consider pounding the chicken until it is thin.
Heat your pan
Heating the pan or sauce pan before cooking is the best way to avoid the food from sticking as a slightly hot pan creates a layer of steam, which helps in cooking the dish easily without adding oil.
Add a tablespoon or so of your favorite cooking oil to a large skillet. Heat the skillet over medium-low (or medium heat for thin cut breasts).
Fried chicken is the benchmark of Southern cuisine. For the best results, shallow-fry the chicken in a cast-iron skillet. You'll find that the crust adheres better than if you were to deep-fry the chicken.
A large, well-seasoned cast-iron skillet will pan-fry your chicken without sticking. Using medium-high heat, wait until the skillet is hot before adding the chicken. Let it cook on one side, without turning, until properly browned. When the chicken releases from the pan without sticking, turn to cook the other side.
The most common reason food sticks to cast iron is because the pan is simply too hot. Because cast iron retains heat much better than other types of cookware, you generally don't need to use as high of a heat setting as you normally would with stainless steel or aluminum cookware.
For one, cast iron pans aren't perfectly smooth and foods like eggs may get stuck. For the best results, make sure to keep your cast iron pan seasoned, and preheat the skillet for a few minutes before you add any food to it. This allows the pan to heat evenly and prevents most food from sticking. Add fat as needed.
After enough layers of seasoning have been applied, what you end up with is not a greasy coating but a hard, blackened skin that protects the metal. Fortunately for us cooks, it also has nonstick properties that make even the most stick-prone foods (think: fried eggs) a pleasure when using cast iron.