The perfect meal: 4 ounces of chicken sautéed in clarified butter and 4 ounces of fresh, steamed green beans topped with some grass-fed butter. Yum!

Tried another fantastic Julia Child recipe last night – skinless chicken breast sautéed in clarified butter (or ghee). The flavors were incredible and with just a half a cup of fresh green beans, one of our most filling and satisfying dinners.

The Julia Child style of cooking always intimidated me. Besides the fear of using so much fat (boy was I wrong!), I think the mystique of French food frightened me off.

Turns out these recipes are so simple I can kick myself for not cooking this way sooner.

I did make one change to this recipe to cut down the carbs. Rather than using 1 cup of flour, I opted for 4 tbsp. of almond flour (one for each breast). That cut the total recipe carbs from 13g to 2g without sacrificing taste.

Clarified Butter/Ghee
If you’ve never used clarified butter or ghee, I suggest you give it a try. It’s rich in conjugated linoleic acid which is linked to preventing cancers as well as mitigating obesity and type 2 diabetes. For this recipe, ordinary butter will burn and cause black specks on the chicken. Clarified butter or ghee has a higher smoke point and remains stable up to 400 degrees.

This Julia Child recipe, I swapped 1 C of flour for 4 tbsp. of almond flour to lower the carb count. The light dusting of almond flour formed a nice crunch crust on each breast.

Cooking Times May Vary
As for the cooking time in the recipe below, I changed it to reflect my experience. My stove isn’t that great and my chicken breasts were pretty fricking huge! This recipe is 50+ years old so meat size was smaller  than today. The original recipe called for turning the chicken after 3 minutes and to check the chicken for doneness after 2 more minutes. That didn’t work for me.

Chicken Breast Sautéed in Clarified Butter
Net Carbs: 3g
Weight Watchers Points: 15 (4 points come from the sauce)
Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 4 skinless chicken breast
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• Big pinch of pepper
• 6-8 tbsp. clarified butter/ghee
• 4 tbsp. almond flour, divided

Brown Butter Sauce Ingredients

• 4 tbsp. of clarified butter/ghee
• 3 tbsp. fresh parsley, minced
• 1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice

Photo on left: after browning the clarified butter I added lemon juice and parsley for the brown butter sauce. Photo on right: adding the sauce over the chicken.

Directions

• Salt and pepper each chicken breast, roll them in the almond flour and shake off the excess. Use just 1 tbsp. of almond flour per chicken breast.
• Melt butter or ghee in a large skillet (about 10″) over medium high heat. When the butter color starts turning a deep yellow, add the chicken. Watch the heat so the butter is hot but doesn’t turn a darker color.
• Cook for 5-10 minutes then turn chicken over (the larger the chicken breast, the more time you’ll need to cook). Cook for an extra 5-10 minutes or until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 160-165 degrees or the juices run clear. If chicken is not done cooking, flip over to other side for 1 minute. Place breast on a hot platter, leaving butter in the skillet.
• Add the 4 tbsp. of clarified butter or ghee and cook over medium high heat until the butter turns a very light golden brown (1-2 minutes). Remove pan from heat and stir in parsley and lemon juice. Pour over the chicken breast and serve.