An easy baked chicken breast recipe is a great kitchen basic to have in your back pocket. Deliciously seasoned baked chicken breast is satisfying and tasty served with your favorite side dish (think popcorn broccoli or creamy garlic mushrooms) and it’s the perfect protein to add to your weekend meal prep.
Baked Chicken Breast
Boneless, skinless baked chicken breast tends to get a bad wrap. Often times it’s over cooked, leaving the chicken dry and flavorless.
But, I promise you, this does not need to be the case and I would never encourage someone to choose health over flavor when we can have them both!
The good news is, making juicy baked chicken breast is very easy to do, once you know these simple chicken-baking techniques.
Let’s bake up some flavorful, juicy chicken!
What You Will Need
To make this baked chicken breast recipe, you will need:
- Boneless, skinless chicken breasts: You can buy them fresh or frozen, just be sure to let them defrost and come to room temperature before baking. I like to look for organic pastured chicken, and often use chicken that comes in my monthly delivery from Butcher Box.
- Avocado or olive oil: I prefer to use avocado oil when baking at high temperatures because it’s a very stable oil, but olive oil (or even butter) would certainly work.
- Seasonings: I went with a simple blend of salt, pepper, garlic powder and smoked paprika because it’s easy and delicious. Feel free to use any dry seasoning blend you prefer. This is where you get to play and have some fun!
If you make baked chicken regularly in the oven, I recommend having a heavy, sturdy rimmed baking sheet and a cooking thermometer on hand.
A rimmed baking sheet is one of my most used kitchen essentials and a thermometer is the easiest way to ensure that your chicken is not over or under cooked.
These are the tools that I use and recommend:
- Rimmed baking sheet: I use these pans for so many things in my kitchen and definitely consider them a kitchen staple.
- Instant-read cooking thermometer: I just ordered this one on Amazon. It has excellent reviews and is reasonably priced at $10.99.
How Do You Make Baked Chicken Breast?
Baked chicken breasts are super simple to make! Follow these easy steps and have tender and juicy chicken breasts each and every time.
- Pull chicken out of the fridge 20-30 minutes before baking. The closer the chicken is to room temperature, the more tender and juicy your chicken will be.
- Gently pound the chicken to create a uniform thickness all around. This step will help to ensure that the chicken cooks evenly. And you don’t end up with any areas that are over or under cooked.
- Brush both sides of chicken with oil. You can use avocado oil or olive oil (you can even use butter) to coat the chicken. Be sure to brush the breasts liberally on both sides to prevent the chicken from sticking to the pan. This will also help the seasonings stick.
- Season with your favorite seasonings. You can never go wrong with the simple combo of salt, pepper, and garlic powder; it’s a great base. But of course, have some fun here and experiment with your favorite dried herbs and spices.
- Bake at 450ºF for 12-18 minutes, depending on the thickness of your chicken breasts. If you are new to baking chicken, I highly recommend using your thermometer to make sure that you do not over cook the chicken. Pull the chicken out of the oven when the internal temperature of the meat reaches 160ºF (as the chicken rests, the residual heat from the chicken will raise the internal temperature to 165ºF, which is where you want the final temperature of your baked chicken to be).
- Rest your chicken once it comes out of the oven. This will give the juices an opportunity to redistribute and allow the chicken to come to 165ºF without overcooking the chicken. If you cut it right away, you will lose all of the delicious juices and some of the tenderness that we’re going for.
How To Store Baked Chicken Breast
I like to bake chicken breast on the weekend when I am doing my meal prep. This gives me a quick and convenient protein option during the week.
Store baked chicken in an airtight container in the fridge. It will keep well for up to 5 days.
Side Dish Ideas
Looking for some side dishes to serve with your baked chicken? Here are some of my faves:
Thanks so much for reading! You can watch the video down below and if you make this recipe I would love for you to give it a ★ rating below. And be sure to follow me on YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram and FaceBook for more healthy food inspiration!
Baked Chicken Breast
Ingredients
- 2 boneless chicken breast 6 ounces each
- 2 teaspoon avocado oil
- Garlic powder
- Smoked paprika
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Remove the chicken breasts from the fridge and allow them to sit at room temperature for 20-30 minutes before cooking. The closer to room temperature that they are, the better.
- Preheat oven to 450ºF. Place the chicken breasts between two pieces of saran wrap or wax paper and gently pound with a meat mallet*, starting from the center and pounding towards the edges. The goal is to create a chicken breast that is uniform in thickness so that it cooks evenly.
- Place chicken breasts on a rimmed baking sheet and drizzle each side with avocado oil and season liberally with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and smoked paprika.
- Bake for 15 minutes or until the chicken has reached an internal temperature of 160 degrees.
- Rest the chicken for 10 minutes so the juices can settle and the internal temperature rises up to 165 degrees. Serve and enjoy.
Jen McIntosh says
If I’m making more than 2 (say 4-5) how long would you approximate the cooking time to be?
Dani says
I would start by adding 5-10 minutes and then checking temperature as you go.
Patricia Roberts says
I have made this several times. I only cook one breast as I live alone. Don’t like them left over. Any way I cook it for 15 minutes and rest for 5. Is delicious. I use olive oil and Mc Cormack low sodium chicken seasoning. Comes out juicy and flavorful every time. Mix up fresh cooked veggies for sides.
Dani says
Yum, so delicious! Happy to hear that you enjoyed it, Patricia!