A newbie sears chicken breasts

Last night I seared some marinated chicken breasts from Peapod (Chef's Express Teriyaki -- they're pretty good). There's three in a pack, so I did one to test for timing and doneness. It came out great, but I failed to notice that it was the thinnest of the three. So when I made two for actual dinner, neither finished on the inside. The outsides were seared perfectly -- lots of good burnt crust stuff, but not overdone.

So my question is this: in order to get the inside to cook a little more without messing with the outside too much, should I cook on slightly lower heat for a longer time, or the same heat for longer, or slightly higher heat for a shorter time? I'm inclined to think the first.

Another option is to sear and then just throw the skillet in the oven. Is that ok if I've got a couple of tablespoons of oil in the skillet?

I suggest finishing in a 350 degree oven.

drier skillet, lower heat(low-med.), longer time

watch the denatured proteins of the flesh creep as opacity 2/3 up the flesh

flip/sear for slightly less time

rest breasteses

also keep in mind, the sugars in that teriyaki marinade will, of course, brown/burn much faster than the flesh of a breast spiced merely with salt/pepper

Another tip:

Whenever dealing with boneless-skinless breasts (which is as little as possible) I always flatten them out to as close to uniform thickness as possible.

Best,
Michael

Thanks much!

I like to butterfly them so the cook quicker. My family of 4, eats 2 medium boneless skinless breasts split cut in half. I do not like any marinades that have much sugar due to its low burning temp. I'll use them as a dipping sauce or maybe just wipe off as much as I can before I cook or gill them.
I'd rather cook boneless skinless thighs but they take a fair amount of time to de-fat....

mel