Pan Sauce for Chicken, Pork, or Steak

By
Danilo Alfaro
Danlio Alfaro
Danilo Alfaro
Danilo Alfaro has published more than 800 recipes and tutorials focused on making complicated culinary techniques approachable to home cooks.
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Updated on 03/15/21
Pan Sauce Recipe for Chicken, Pork, or Steak

The Spruce / Kristina Vanni
Prep: 5 mins
Cook: 5 mins
Total: 10 mins
Servings: 2 servings
Yield: 1/2 cup
Nutrition Facts (per serving)
271 Calories
24g Fat
4g Carbs
1g Protein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 2
Amount per serving
Calories 271
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 24g 31%
Saturated Fat 12g 60%
Cholesterol 46mg 15%
Sodium 434mg 19%
Total Carbohydrate 4g 1%
Dietary Fiber 1g 3%
Total Sugars 1g
Protein 1g
Vitamin C 2mg 10%
Calcium 23mg 2%
Iron 1mg 3%
Potassium 96mg 2%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

This simple pan sauce is perfect for chicken, pork chops, and even steak. The key to making this sauce is that you use the juices and the little roasted bits at the bottom of the pan after you've cooked your chicken, steak, or chops.

The beauty of this pan sauce is that you need to rest your meat anyway after you've taken it out of the oven or off the stove. The rest time happens to be exactly how long it takes to make this pan sauce.

The juices and roasted bits (which are called fond) carry with them the essence of your meat and will make an excellent base for a sauce. A pan sauce is an emulsion, with fat and water elements suspended together, making it a silky reduction to top the entree.

Ingredients

  • Reserved meat juices, from cooking

  • 1 tablespoon finely chopped shallots

  • 1/2 cup white wine

  • 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

  • 2 teaspoons fresh parsley, chopped

  • 3 tablespoons butter

  • Kosher salt, to taste

  • Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Steps to Make It

  1. Gather the ingredients.

    Pan Sauce for Chicken, Pork, or Steak ingredients

    The Spruce / Kristina Vanni

  2. Remove the chicken, pork chops, or steak from the pan and let them rest on a plate or platter covered with foil in a warm spot. Pour off most of the fat from the pan, careful to leave the meat juices. You want a little bit of fat left in the pan.

    pork fat in the Dutch oven

    The Spruce / Kristina Vanni

  3. Add the chopped shallots to the pan and sauté over medium-high heat until they turn slightly translucent.

    shallots cooking in a Dutch oven with pork fat

    The Spruce / Kristina Vanni

  4. Add the wine and scrape all the little toasty bits away from the bottom of the pan with your wooden spoon.

    add wine to the shallots and fat in the Dutch oven

    The Spruce / Kristina Vanni

  5. Cook for about three minutes or until the wine has reduced by about half.

    cook the wine and fat mixture in the Dutch oven

    The Spruce / Kristina Vanni

  6. Remove from the heat and stir in the mustard and chopped parsley.

    add mustard and chopped parsley to the sauce in the Dutch oven

    The Spruce / Kristina Vanni

  7. Whisk in the butter one tablespoon at a time. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

    add butter to the sauce in the Dutch oven

    The Spruce / Kristina Vanni

  8. Return the meat to the pan to warm through in the sauce before serving.

    Return the meat to the pan to warm through in the sauce

    The Spruce / Kristina Vanni

Recipe Variations

  • Although you can serve this pan sauce with any meat as-is, you could modify it for beef by substituting red wine for white wine. Or you could use half wine and half beef stock.
  • For a richer sauce, finish the sauce with a little heavy cream and simmer it for another minute to thicken.
  • You can substitute fresh tarragon, chervil, oregano, or chives for the parsley.
  • If you don't have any fat left in the pan after cooking your meat, or if you'd like to make a pan sauce with vegetables, add a tablespoon of olive oil to the pan and then add the shallots. If you prefer the sauce to be thicker, use stock or add a little cornstarch mixed with water.