Reading recipes for Blackened Chicken, looks pretty simple. Sear chicken breast with Blackening spice, bake in over to 165, top with Swiss cheese until melted, rest and serve. Was thinking of the sear in my cast iron, then transfer to Aluminum pan, cover with foil to bake. While baking use the butter and seasoning left in skillet to brown and serve over the chicken.

Any tips, tricks, improvements y'all can add.

Use the same pan to cook and roast. It's cast iron, your oven isn't going to hurt it. The downside is that it takes a bit longer, but making a quick pan sauce shouldn't take that much time anyways, and it lets the chicken cool a little too. Only other change I would make would be to use thighs instead. But that's a personal preference.

Or when you turn in the oven you could also throw in the pan sauce ingredients and reduce the sauce while the chicken rests.

Also - the Swiss cheese seems to come out of left field

Michaelj: Yeah, I thought that also, but that is what the recipe has, probably leave that out.

Doing cutlets instead of whole breasts is pretty important for something like this

Popeyes Blackened chicken or GTFO

I buy the thin-sliced chicken breasts from HEB. Cover both sides with Emeril's blackened seasoning (best one I've tried). Pour a little olive oil in a skillet (cast iron preferably). Get it hot and drop a couple chicken pieces in. The thin ones cook fast, around 3-4 minutes per side. Delicious. I either slice the chicken pieces and put on tortillas like fajitas, or cut it up and put on a green salad. You could also melt cheese on them and serve whole.

I like to pound out my chicken to an even 1/2" first so there's no need for and oven and a better ratio of seasoning. Pat them completely dry when finished. If you start the day before,
ou can toss them in a ziplock with some pickle juice for an easy marinade that works well with blackened

I'll melt a few Tbls of butter and brush the dried chicken on both sides. Season with Paul Prudhomme's Blackening seasoning. This is the original and all others are inferior so don't substitute. Drizzle some of the remaining butter in a hot cast iron pan and sear flipping once.

I've only used cheese when making sandwiches and usually opt for straight Jack or havarti.

If I'm making a sauce, I'll add a little oil to the pan and cook down some diced shallots and garlic. Hit it with some white wine and reduce by half while deglazing the bottom of the pan. Finish it off with some heavy cream and reduce again by half. Toss with cooked ziti and cover with sliced chicken. If you want to go overboard add some combination of sliced mushrooms, sliced roasted red peppers , caramalized onion, and roasted garlic with the shallots

Fido, thanks D-2 Fighter, that sounds really good and was hoping there was a way to avoid the oven. My wife HATES me using the oven, says she has to clean it every time, except for my No Knead Bread.