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Baked Chicken Breasts

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My favorite oven baked chicken breasts recipe ! It never fails me, thanks to this simple 5-step method acting that is easy to make and customize with your darling seasonings .

A few weeks ago on Insta, I asked if you all might be interest in a back-to-basics series about the best ways to bake proteins ( i.e. chicken, pork, steak, seafood, bean curd, etc. ) in the oven. Your answer ? A resound yes, please. many of you had requests and questions about methods for cooking respective proteins, plus more than a few tales to tell about proteins gone not-so-right over the years. And ohio boy, I hear ya. My little kitchen has seen more than its partake of overcook steaks, wholly dried out pork barrel chops, salmon skin glued to pans, and not-so-crispy bean curd over the years besides. Which are never fun, specially since proteins can be costly and intended for special occasions. But hey, it ’ s all separate of the venture of learning how to cook. And finally, I ’ ve trial-and-errored my direction to some basic methods for baking proteins that have become super-reliable, super-delicious staples in my kitchen.

Reading: Baked Chicken Breast | Gimme Some Oven

indeed over the following two weeks, I thought we could work our way through each of them, beginning today with the # 1 most request protein here on Gim me Some Oven…
…chicken .
specifically, boneless skinless chicken breasts .
Over the years, I ’ ve received countless requests for new chicken summit recipes, and many more for tips on how to bake chicken breasts in the oven. Because anyone who worked with chicken breasts before know that they can be fabulously versatile, so far besides incredibly finical to work with, specially when baked in the oven. Cook them the amiss direction and you ’ ll end up with a dry, rubbery, rugged, and bland disaster. But cooked the right way ? ! We ’ rhenium talkin ’ blue, tender, flavorful, absolutely baked chicken breasts that you will love .
The adept news is that they ’ re besides wholly easy to customize with your favorite seasonings or sauces. And besides, incredibly easy to make with my 5-step broil chicken breasts method. Thousands of our readers have tried it over the years and reported back that this method acting was a game-changer with cooking chicken. so if you have yet to give it a sample, let ’ s bake some chicken together !

Baked Chicken Breasts Recipe | 1-Minute Video

Baked Chicken Breast Ingredients:

To make this adust chicken breasts recipe, you will need :

Boneless, skinless chicken breasts: You can either purchase fresh chicken breasts (my preference) or frozen chicken breasts (which you will need to completely thaw before using). Some chicken also comes pre-brined nowadays, in which case you can skip step one below.
Butter or olive oil: Your pick! I like the extra flavor that butter adds, but olive oil will also work well.
Kosher Salt: An essential ingredient in our brine, and we will also use salt to season the chicken before baking.
Seasonings: I included an all-purpose blend of smoked paprika, garlic powder, salt and black pepper in the recipe below, which is super-simple and goes with just about anything. But feel free to sub in any dry seasoning blend that you prefer.

besides, if you bake chicken ( or any other kind of bake proteins ) regularly in the oven, I strongly having a cook thermometer on hand besides. It is the most goofproof way to ensure that your chicken is not over- or under-cooked, and works like a capture. I recommend either this :

Instant-read cooking thermometer (pictured below): which I have owned and used for years when cooking chicken, which retails for about $9.99 on Amazon.
Dual-probe wireless meat thermometer: which I also own and love because it can be used inside of a hot oven (especially helpful for baking steak, salmon and pork), which retails for about $24.99 on Amazon.

How To Bake Chicken Breasts:

Alright, so here ’ s the secret ! To make absolutely baked chicken bbrrreasts, you simply need to follow this 5-step acronym : B .B.R.R.R.

Brine
Brush
Rub
Roast
Rest

Brine (Step 1): I ’ thousand telling you — this measure is an absolute must for anytime you want to bake chicken breasts in the oven. Brining chicken is super-easy, it makes your chicken extra fat, and best of all, it can be effectively done in just 15 minutes. Plus, if you brine chicken in lukewarm water, it besides helps bring the chicken to room temperature, which makes for more even cooking. Win-win !
To brine chicken, just fill a big bowl with halfhearted ( not hot ) water. Stir in a handful of strategic arms limitation talks until it by and large dissolves. then add your chicken breasts and let them sit in the seawater to brine for at least 15 minutes. If you are doing this in advance, you can cover and refrigerate the bowl of chicken and seawater for up to 6 hours. But you don ’ metric ton want to let the chicken brine for much longer than that .
When you ’ re ready to go, remove the wimp from the seawater. Give it a good gargle it with cold urine to wash off the salt, and then pat it dry with some paper towels. And voila — your chicken is officially brined .
truly, don ’ t omission over this dance step ! It makes a earth of remainder .
note : That said, some boughten chicken breasts are immediately sold pre-brined. So double-check your box advance. And if your chicken has already been pre-brined in a sodium solution, just move onto tone two. : )
Brush (Step 2): Brush your chicken breasts with dissolve butter. Or at least, I highly recommend using butter. It adds great flavor and helps give a decent golden crust on the outside. But if you ’ d rather function olive petroleum ( or another favored cooking oil ), feel barren .
Brush the breasts liberally on both sides to prevent the chicken from sticking to the pan, and besides to help the seasonings stick. then place the chicken breasts in a large baking dish or roasting pan.

Rub (Step 3): If you ’ re truly wanting to keep things simple, you can merely sprinkle some strategic arms limitation talks and pepper onto the wimp breasts. But again, chicken will pick up the season of whatever seasonings you add. indeed tied if you ’ re making a simple dish that calls for “ plain ” chicken breasts, I highly recommend the simpleton wimp seasoning recipe I have included below that includes salt, pepper, garlic powderize and sweet pepper .
Roast (Step 4): indeed this is the step that causes some squabbles amongst chicken lovers — how hanker to bake chicken breasts ? And what is the correct temperature to bake chicken ? Do you bake it low and boring ( as in, 30 minutes at 350°F ) ? Or do you roast wimp high and quick ( as in, 15 minutes at 450 ) ? I have tested out both — and just about every interval in between — dozens upon dozens upon dozens of times. And in the end, I fall securely in the latter camp when it comes to baked chicken .
I like to roast my chicken breasts on high hotness .
Depending on the thickness of your chicken breasts, roasting chicken at 450°F should require a cook time of about 15-18 minutes ( depending on the thickness/size of your chicken breasts ). It ’ s quick and it ’ south easy. But largely I love it because cooking at high inflame promptly develops a decent crisp “ crust ” on the outside of the breasts, which besides helps to lock in those juices and keep the oven roasted chicken absolutely tender on the inside. It ’ s the best of both worlds .
I highly recommend investing in a small cooking thermometer to measure the cooked chicken temp in order to tell if it is ready to go ( the FDA says that the safe cooked chicken temp is 165°F ), versus cutting into it with a fork, which lets those good juices seep out. I use this instant-read thermometer that I bought on Amazon for $ 10, and it will accurately measure your internal wimp temperature in seconds .
Rest (Step 5): This one is a non-negotiable. You must, must let your beautifully baked chicken breasts rest before cutting into them — a tip which applies to cooking any meat, truly. If you cut in right aside, you will lose all of the amazing juices and some of the tenderness that we ’ re going for. But if you give your impertinently baked chicken breasts a brief rest, it will finish cook and lock in all of those delicious juices, resulting in the most sensitive and juicy and delightful baked chicken .
I recommend loosely tenting a sheet of aluminum foil over the pan to keep the heat in while the chicken rests. And then after 5-10 minutes, you can last serve and enjoy your perfectly-cooked chicken breasts .
And enjoy every last bite. ♡

How To Season Baked Chicken Breasts:

Again, I ’ m a big fan of the classical paprika-garlic-pepper mix in the recipe below. But if you ’ d like to mix things astir, feel free to sub in any of your favorite dry flavorer mixes, such as :

How To Use/Serve Baked Chicken Breasts:

The easiest way, of path, is just to serve these roasted chicken breasts fresh outta the oven. But feel spare to besides slice, shred, or dice these oven baked chicken breasts for use in another recipe, such as these faves :

How To Store Baked Chicken Breasts:

once the chicken has been baked, it can be stored in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Or you can freeze it for up to 3 months. ( < – I recommend shredding, dicing or slicing the wimp before freezing for easier use. )