Some mayonnaise and a dash of Old Bay are all you need to take a boring old chicken breast from zero to hero.

Time: 2/5
Chicken breast is one of the ingredients where you don’t want to be cooking them for too long.

Effort: 2/5
Can’t be too hard, when most things in the recipe come out of a can or a tube.

Playing with Food

At this point, I’ve been meal prepping for more than 10 years. During that time I’ve only repeated meals for a handful of times – it’s more like a train of recipes than a rotation. I try my best to document my ideas here on this blog, including a bajillion different ideas for chicken and rice.

One of the ways I come up with new recipes is by mutating old recipes. A miso honey glaze for salmon also works for chicken. Swap out the miso to make honey mustard chicken thighs, and then come full circle by using the same honey mustard glaze for salmon.

Other times, I take inspiration from elsewhere. Like the time I learned to make Bolognese from a couple from Bologna, then used Bolognese sauce as a rice bowl topping. Or I imitate online recipes for slow roasted lamb shanks. Or I try to recreate flavours of my childhood, like a classic tomato and egg stir fry. Every now and then, I perform some wild experiments like marinating chicken thighs in hot sauce, or an instant ramen flavouring packet.

This time, the story is similar. I  knew that Old Bay tastes good with chicken, and I knew that mayonnaise can be a marinade for fried chicken. Why not put two and two together? Let’s see what would happen if I coated pieces of chicken in Old Bay and mayo, and seared it in a pan. My SO was out of town, so if this ends in disaster I will be the only one to suffer.

That’s how I got here, with these surprisingly juicy chicken breasts. The mayo definitely helps develop browning on the chicken, while keeping the lean breasts from drying out. It also helps the bold, savoury flavours of the Old Bay seasoning stick to the meat.

All in all, this was a success for such a simple recipe. I managed to whip up a quick and easy dinner, and no suffering was had – except maybe my SO’s angst at missing a great meal. I’ll make up to her by cooking this again, and I hope you also give it a go too.

Posts since the last recipe that was actually served with rice: 0

(Glutinous rice is rice too – making this technically a recipe for chicken and rice.)

Dramatis Personae

Served one hungry boy.

• 250g chicken breast
• 1 tbsp kewpie mayonnaise
• 2 tsp Old Bay

That’s it, three ingredients! I wasn’t kidding when I said this recipe was easy.

Executive summary

1. Mix mayonaise, Old Bay and chicken together. If time allows, marinate overnight in the fridge.
2. Preheat a cast iron skillet on medium heat. Add just enough oil to coat the bottom, and brown the chicken on both sides.
3. Plate up and serve, with vegetables and carbs of your choice.

Play by Play

Last things first. I’ll let the chicken marinade for a tiny bit while I get the dumplings and the bok choy soup simmering.

Searing on a cast iron isn’t the most efficient way to meal prep, but it’s great for these situations when I’m only cooking for one or two. You can see the soup in the background.

Looks absolutely beautiful. The mayonnaise distributes the heat from the pan really well, so you get this even brown colour on every piece.

Not much to do but to serve up. A (temporary) bachelor’s meal doesn’t have to be depressing. Treat yourself well, brothers.

Nice and juicy, because the cast iron pan let me get a hard sear on the chicken before it overcooks.

Although these zongzi dumplings are always my favourite part of the meal – super meaty and savoury, very substantial and filling. My family makes these every year for the Dragon Boat Festival, and I keep a dozen or so in the freezer for exactly this sort of situation. Cheers!

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