Nothing quite amps up chicken like a crispy, crunchy bite. Sure, you can get it by breading and deep frying, but that’s not an everyday home kitchen sort of endeavor. What if you could get chicken to be crunchy without using a liter of oil in the process? Well, it’s possible with this Crispy Cheesy Skillet Chicken.

The name reveals little until you see the actual dish. A disc of crispy golden cheese on top of golden sauteed chicken. Cut into slices, this makes a great quick single-serve meal for one or an appetizer for a sports night. Dipped into a warm marinara gives it that fried ravioli sort of cheese-fried decadence, but without the deep fryer.

While it’s not special equipment, make sure to use a nonstick skillet for this recipe. The nonstick surface will prevent the cheese from sticking to the pan and will make for easy flipping. Here the prep is super simple as you can use light or dark meat, you just have to make sure that the chicken is cut up into bite sized pieces.

Coating the chicken tenders in cornstarch gives the outside a crispy coating while keeping the chicken juicy and moist on the inside.

Sprinkle cheese into a circle-like shape in the pan.

Place the chicken in a circular-like placement on top of the cheese.

Cook on a medium-low heat. When the cheese is melted and the edges start to look brown, use a spatula to flip the entire patty-like circle of chicken and cheese.

You’ll want to cook the chicken for several minutes to ensure the interior is cooked all the way through.

Cut into slices, and it’s ready to eat!

The outer surface of the cheese is crispy, while the inner layer close to the chicken is creamy and gooey, giving you a fried-mozzarella stick sort of contrast in texture.

The chicken is gold but not dry, and the simple seasoning really lets the crispy salt qualities of the cheese.

Here, the Crispy Cheesy Skillet Chicken is paired with warm marinara sauce, but a creamy herby ranch or a tart blue cheese would be amazing dipping sauces as well!