Pan Fried Duck Breast - Easy French Recipe | Greedy Gourmet (2024)

When cooked right, pan fried duck breast is out of this world!

It’s a very short cooking process – not much more than 10 minutes. Still, there are a few tricks that you can use to ensure you get that heavenly marriage of crispy skin and tender meat.

Want to know how to cook a duck breast to perfection? Here’s how...

Pan fried duck breast recipe

Many people are scared away from cooking and eating duck. They’re either put off by the fat content or worried about the taste being too much.

What they don’t know, however, is that there is a way to cook duck that makes it irresistible. While you won’t want it every day, cook a duck breast properly and it will make the most delectable treat.

If there’s one thing we all deserve from time to time, it’s a delectable treat!

How to cook a duck breast

Before you cook it, you need to score the skin side of the duck with a sharp knife. This lets the duck fat render away when you cook it, leaving you with crispy, golden brown skin.

Another key part of the preparation is to season the duck breasts with a good amount of salt. Then pat them dry and let them stand for 15 minutes. It’s always best to cook meat closer to room temperature than straight out of the fridge.

The first trick to cook duck breasts to perfection is to not preheat the pan. Yep, that’s right, don’t preheat the pan.

This probably goes against everything you’ve been told when it comes to cooking. Trust me though, this is the way to cook duck breast so that it melts in your mouth every time.

When you start with a cool pan, you enable as much of the fat as possible to render out of the duck breast. Just turn it onto a medium high heat and place the duck breasts in the pan straight away.

You’ll want to leave your duck breast to cook for around 5 minutes, although it depends on the size of the duck. If you’re using duck breast from a mallard, pintail, canvasback or domestic duck, your duck breasts are probably on the larger side. So, aim for a 5 minutes minimum.

You’ll know you’ve got the right heat if you can hear a nice steady sizzle. If you need to, use your spatula to lightly press the duck breast down. This will ensure an even cook across the whole of the duck breast.

Next, flip the duck breast over and cook for about 3-4 minutes more, maximum. Be careful not to overcook the duck. You want it to be tender and juicy.

When it’s cooked, remove the duck breast from the pan and let it rest for 5 minutes. This allows all the juices to be soaked up by the meat, giving you an unbelievable, melt-in-your-mouth taste and texture.

Side dish recommendations

• Confit potatoes – this potato dish is absolutely delicious! It uses simple ingredients to produce wonderfully soft potatoes that are packed full of flavour. These supremely tasty confit potatoes make for a golden combo with duck breast
• Rosemary potatoes – another delicious potato dish, this one is a stone cold classic. A little salt and black pepper, some olive oil and of course, the star ingredient rosemary. Cooked on a high heat in the oven, these are crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside
• Baked sweet potato fries – if you’ve never had sweet potato fries, you’ve got to give them a go! What better way to try them for the first time than on the side of duck breast?
• Carrot and parsnip mash – a healthy mash that still brings heaps of flavour, carrot and parsnip mash is delicious. Make sure you try this recipe – it’s the perfect side for a hearty dish
• Parmentier potatoes – another classic potato recipe, this one is a traditional French side dish that pair wells with rich meats
• Celery root puree – an incredibly underrated vegetable, celery root or celeriac is fantastic when pureed. Its light fluffy texture and mild peppery taste make it ideal when served along with rich, high-fat meats like duck
• Roasted sweet potato mash – another healthy mash, roasted sweet potato perfectly complements the rich flavour of duck
• Blanched Kale - A simple, healthy side dish that can be prepared in minutes and works very well with duck breast.

More delicious poultry recipes

• Duck liver parfait – a classic French starter, homemade duck liver parfait is rich and intense. It’s perfect for spreading on toast or crackers and enjoying with a crisp white wine
• Chicken chasseur – otherwise known as hunter’s chicken, this recipe is a winter warmer if there ever was one. Rich and incredibly satisfying, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a more satisfying Sunday lunch during the cold winter months
• Thai turkey meatballs – forget about traditional turkey meatballs – you’ve got to try these babies! Tasty, fresh, healthy and nice and simple to make, the whole family will like these Thai turkey meatballs
• Ostrich fillet with creamy blueberry sauce – if you fancy trying something a little different, here’s one for you. While ostrich is a South African favourite, it’s quite a rarity in many parts of the world, including the UK. Break a habit and try something new!
• Marmite chicken – lots of people complain that chicken is boring and tasteless. Well, they don’t realise that the secret is in the sauce, the seasoning or the marinade. When it comes to secret seasoning ingredients, they don’t get any better than that old English favourite… Marmite!
• Whole smoked turkey – the best whole turkey you’ll ever sample, this recipe is what you need if you’re getting bored of cooking the same old thing. It produces unbelievable melt-in-your-mouth meat every time and proves that smoking meat is the way to get an unbeatable taste and texture
• Chicken with rhubarb sauce – another highly underrated ingredient, rhubarb works really well when paired with meat. As a sauce in this recipe, it really brings out the flavour of the chicken to create a mouth-watering dish that you can’t afford to miss

What would you serve with your duck breast?

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