Pear & Gorgonzola Chicken Bake Recipe

If you’re like me, the first week it’s cold enough for a jacket is when I stop wanting salad and start wanting things with cheese melted over them.

This is the one I make when I want something that feels like a bit of an occasion but doesn’t take the whole evening.

It’s a Friday night dinner, or a Sunday one when someone’s coming over and you want to look like you tried harder than you did.

It’s also one of my favorite recipes in my cozy fall meals list, and if you only make one thing from that post, make it this.

Why You’ll Love It

• One oven-safe skillet, about 40 minutes
• Only nine ingredients, most of them pantry basics
• The sauce is built in the pan, no separate saucepan
• Naturally gluten-free
• Reheats well for lunch the next day

Ingredients

For the Chicken

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 6 to 7 oz each)

1 tsp kosher salt

½ tsp black pepper

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp butter

For the Sauce and Topping

1 small shallot, minced

½ cup low-sodium chicken broth

½ cup heavy cream

4 oz gorgonzola dolce, crumbled (about ¾ cup), divided

2 firm-ripe pears (Bosc or Anjou), cored and sliced ¼ inch thick

½ cup walnut halves

1 tsp fresh thyme leaves

1 tbsp honey (optional)

Steps

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C) and spread the walnuts on a rimmed baking sheet.

2. Toast the walnuts for 6 to 8 minutes while the oven comes up to temperature, then set them aside. They go on at the end, not in the oven with the chicken, or they burn.

3. Put each chicken breast between two sheets of parchment and pound the thick end with a meat mallet until the whole breast is about ¾ inch thick. Skipping this is why baked chicken breasts come out dry at one end and raw at the other.

4. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels and season both sides with the salt and pepper.

5. Heat the olive oil and butter in a 12-inch cast iron skillet over medium-high heat until the butter stops foaming.

6. Sear the chicken for 3 minutes per side without moving it, until it’s golden brown on both sides but still raw in the middle, then transfer to a plate.

7. Turn the heat down to medium, add the shallot, and cook for 1 minute, stirring so it doesn’t brown.

8. Pour in the chicken broth and scrape up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan with a silicone spatula, then let it bubble for 2 minutes until reduced by about half.

9. Add the cream and let it come to a gentle simmer, then take the pan off the heat.

10. Stir in 3 oz of the gorgonzola (about ½ cup) until it melts into the cream and the sauce is smooth. If you add it over high heat the cheese can split and go grainy, so keep the pan off the burner.

11. Return the chicken to the skillet and spoon some sauce over each piece.

12. Lay the pear slices over the chicken, overlapping them a little, and scatter the remaining 1 oz of gorgonzola over the top.

13. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until an instant-read thermometer in the thickest part reads 165°F (74°C). Start checking at 15 minutes.

14. If you want more color on the pears, switch the oven to broil for the last 2 minutes and watch it the whole time.

15. Let it rest for 5 minutes, then top with the toasted walnuts, thyme, and a drizzle of honey if using.

Helpful Tips and Substitutions

Buy gorgonzola dolce, not piccante, and check the label because they sit next to each other and look the same.

Dolce is the young, soft one that melts into a smooth sauce, and piccante is the aged, crumbly one that takes over the whole plate. I learned that the hard way.

For pears, you want the ones that give a little at the stem but still feel firm in the body, like a good handshake.

A soft pear turns to mush in the oven and a rock-hard one just sits there being crunchy and bland.

Go easy on the salt, the gorgonzola is doing most of that job already.

Chicken thighs work if that’s what you have, and they’re more forgiving than breasts. Use 6 to 8 boneless, skinless thighs, sear 4 minutes per side, and bake 18 to 22 minutes.

Dry white wine can stand in for the chicken broth, same amount, same reduce-by-half step.

No oven-safe skillet? Sear and make the sauce in whatever pan you have, then move everything to a 9×13 baking dish before it goes in the oven.

Roquefort or Stilton work in place of gorgonzola, but they’re stronger, so drop to 3 oz total.

Pecans instead of walnuts is fine, nothing else changes.

Serving Ideas

The sauce is rich, so pair it with something plain: steamed rice, roasted potatoes, or crusty bread for dragging through the pan.

A sharp green salad with a lemon vinaigrette cuts through the cream better than anything else.

Leftover chicken is good sliced cold over arugula with a few of the walnuts and a little more honey.

Make-Ahead and Storage

You can pound and season the chicken and slice the shallot up to a day ahead, but don’t slice the pears until you’re cooking or they’ll brown.

Leftovers keep in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 days.

Reheat covered in a 325°F (160°C) oven for 15 minutes, or in a skillet over low heat with a splash of cream or broth to loosen the sauce. The microwave works but the sauce will separate a little.

Don’t freeze this. Cream and blue cheese sauces break when they thaw, and the pears go watery.

The sauce thickens as it sits, which is normal, and a tablespoon of broth stirred in while reheating brings it back.

The pears and cream take the edge off the gorgonzola, so it’s milder than you’d expect from the ingredient list.