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This is one of my family's very favorite easy chicken dinners. Using thin pieces of chicken breast means it cooks up quickly, and it utilizes a short list of flavorful ingredients.
I first published a version of this recipe back in 2012. After years of making it for my family for dinner, I've tweaked it a bit and discovered ways to make it go from fridge to table even faster than before.
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🧡 Why we love this recipe
- Paillards are thin pieces of chicken, which means they cook up quickly - perfect for busy weeknights!
- The dill mixture that flavors the chicken is mixed up and divided so it can also flavor the relish that gets spooned over the top of the dish.
- If you have a grape cutter, it's perfect for quartering grape tomatoes, too, making this come together even more quickly.
- This dish holds up great as leftovers - it's fantastic for lunches later in the week.
📝 Ingredients
Here's everything you need to make this easy dill chicken paillard recipe (see recipe card below for ingredient amounts and full directions):
- Boneless, skinless chicken breasts - you can pound these thinly yourself or buy thin-sliced chicken cutlets
- Kosher salt & freshly cracked black pepper
- Extra-virgin olive oil - this goes into the mixture that coats both the chicken and the tomato-dill relish
- Fresh dill
- Shallot
- Coarse ground mustard
- White wine vinegar
- Grape or cherry tomatoes
✅ How to make this recipe
- Pound the chicken to an even thinness, if needed, and season with salt and pepper.
- Whisk together oil, dill, shallots, mustard, and vinegar. Divide the mixture - place chicken in one portion and sliced tomatoes in the other.
- Cook the chicken in a skillet until cooked through.
- Serve the chicken paillards with the tomato-dill mixture spooned over top.
See recipe card below for full instructions.
📌 Tips
This recipe is super simple to put together, but there are a few things to keep in mind.
I often like to take a shortcut and buy thin-sliced chicken cutlets instead of pounding out the larger chicken breast halves. Lately, I've found that even the thin-cut ones are fairly thick and/or are unevenly thick from one end of the piece of meat to the other.
Make sure that you divide out ¼ cup of your marinade for the tomatoes BEFORE you put the chicken in there. The part that goes on the tomatoes does not get cooked, and we don't want raw chicken touching the tomatoes.
I find that serving the chicken paillards over rice is a great way to maximize the flavor from the tomato-dill relish. The rice soaks up all of the juices nicely. My family's favorite for this particular dish is basmati rice.
🔪 Equipment
These tools are optional but nice to have if they're something you'll use in your kitchen.
- A meat tenderizer for pounding the chicken into an even thickness. Make sure you use the flat side and not the spiked side for this purpose. If you don't have a meat tenderizer, a rolling pin or even a heavy-bottomed skillet work just fine.
- I got a grape cutter yeeeears ago back when my son was a toddler. It makes quick and easy work of quartering tomatoes and I use it a ton, especially for this recipe and whenever I make tacos or serve up our favorite layered taco dip. A knife will work just fine, but if you're looking for an inexpensive kitchen gadget and you cut a lot of grapes, tomatoes, olives, etc. this may be a good addition to your kitchen toolkit.
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Print📖 Recipe
Description
Thin-cut chicken breasts get a major flavor boost from a quick and tangy dill marinade in this easy meal that's ready in under 20 minutes!
Ingredients
- 4 pieces boneless, skinless chicken breast (about 6 ounces each) - see notes
- 1 ¼ teaspoons kosher salt, divided
- ¾ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper, divided
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup chopped fresh dill
- 3 tablespoons finely chopped shallot
- 1 tablespoon coarse ground mustard
- 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
- 1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes, quartered
Instructions
- Working with one piece of chicken at a time, place chicken between two pieces of plastic wrap. Using the flat side of a meat tenderizer a rolling pin, or a heavy-bottomed skillet, gently pound the chicken to ¼-inch thickness. Repeat with remaining chicken, then season with 1 teaspoon of the salt and and ½ teaspoon of the pepper.
- Heat a large nonstick skillet or grill pan over medium-high heat.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the oil, dill, shallots, mustard, and vinegar. Remove ¼ cup of this mixture and place it into a medium bowl. Add the seasoned chicken pieces to the large bowl and turn to coat the pieces evenly. Set aside to marinate while you finish the tomato-dill relish.
- To the medium bowl with ¼ cup of reserved dill mixture, add the quartered tomatoes and season with the remaining ¼ teaspoon each of salt and pepper.
- Once the skillet or grill pan is hot, add the chicken in a single layer and cook until cooked through, about 3 to 5 minutes per side.
- Serve the cooked chicken with tomato-dill relish spooned over top.
Notes
You can use a package of 6 thin-sliced chicken cutlets (about 4 ounces each). Sometimes thinly sliced chicken cutlets are thin enough that you don't need to pound them any further. If they aren't an even thickness, you'll want to still pound them out to make sure they cook evenly.
Another suggestion for covering the chicken while pounding it thinly is to put each piece, one at a time, into a gallon-sized zip-top bag, leaving it unsealed, and pounding it out inside the bag to help contain the mess.
If you enjoy grilling outdoors, this chicken can also be cooked on an outdoor grill.
My family enjoys this dish served over steamed basmati rice, with some of the relish spooned over the rice as well.
Adapted from Gourmet September 2009
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