Oven Baked Chicken Breasts are a juicy main course, with skinless chicken breasts, kosher salt, and coarse ground black pepper.
You can oven roast pretty much anything, like Cheesy Baked Spaghetti, Baked Scallops, and Crispy Baked Fish Sticks. However, Oven Baked Chicken Breasts are an all time favorite for a quick weeknight dinner. They’re flavorful, easy to make, they only take roughly 30 minutes to make, and they keep well in the fridge for later.
This Chicken recipe is really simple. All you need is a baking sheet, some salt, pepper, and vegetable oil and you’re ready to go. To start, preheat the oven and rub the chicken breasts with your seasonings. Next, set the chicken breasts in a single layer on the baking sheet and put them in the oven. The meal prep is super fast and the cooking time is really short for a baked chicken breast recipe, and they come out juicy and moist. This is a great, easy recipe to try, especially if this is your first time cooking or you’re teaching one of your kids.
Since you only use a single baking dish to make Oven Baked Chicken Breasts and season the meat when they’re already laid out and ready to go, the clean up is extremely easy. Keep in mind that when you cook your boneless skinless chicken breasts, you need to always thoroughly clean and disinfect the workspace when you’re finished to avoid getting ill. The extra time is so worth it to not get sick with Salmonella.
The best thing about making flavorful, juicy chicken is that it tends to keep well in the fridge. This recipe in particular works extremely well as leftovers or mixed into other dishes. You can serve it up on sandwiches, make a nice soup out of it, or make a delicious chicken casserole. If you’re looking for low carb main dishes, Oven Baked Chicken Breasts are great in Chicken Lettuce Wraps. Just shred them and coat them in the sauce as directed.
What to Serve with Oven Baked Chicken Breasts
Spinach Gratin
Caprese Salad with Balsamic Reduction
Popeye’s Green Beans (Copycat)
Easy Pasta Salad
How to Make Oven Baked Chicken Breasts
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (204.4 degrees C.)
- Season chicken with salt, pepper, and vegetable oil and place in baking pan.
- Cook chicken for 20-25 minutes until the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165 degrees F (73.8 degrees C).
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Variations on Oven Baked Chicken Breasts
- Spices: Add more flavor to your chicken with oregano, chili powder, chicken seasoning, paprika, Italian seasoning, Cajun seasoning blend, onion powder, or garlic powder before you put it in the oven. You can even add a drizzle of lemon juice on top to give it a little extra zing. The lemon juice makes the chicken even more juicy and crisp. Sprinkle shredded Parmesan cheese on top to make them have a crispy layer of melty goodness. Drizzle a little olive oil for a more Italian inspired dish.
- Leftovers: Oven Baked Chicken Breasts are perfect for a ton of other recipes, which saves you time later in the week. Tear the chicken into bite sized pieces and serve them in sandwiches, in chicken salad, or make them into a soup.
- Flavors: This chicken recipe provides the perfect base to try out different flavored sauces. Try the BBQ sauce from Slow Cooker Barbecue Ribs, the Honey Mustard Sauce from Honey Mustard BBQ Chicken, or delicious Buffalo Sauce.
Bone-In VS. Boneless
Why choose boneless over the bone-in? Boneless chicken becomes more tender during baking. It is also easier, since you don’t have to pick around any bone to get to the meat. The cook times are different because skinless boneless chicken breasts don’t take as long to cook through. Skinless boneless chicken breasts can dry out a little more during cooking, but that shouldn’t be too much of a problem. Make sure you season them and add enough vegetable oil. You should also keep an eye on them to avoid overcooking and drying them out.
How Long Are Oven Baked Chicken Breasts Good?
- Serve: Don’t leave cooked chicken out for longer than 2 hours or it can make you sick. Always allow the chicken breasts to cool before you refrigerate them, or they can grow bacteria and make you sick. If the chicken dinner you made last night was left out, you should throw it away to be safe.
- Store: Put your Oven Baked Chicken Breasts in a sealable container or plastic wrap to refrigerate. When they are sealed up, the Oven Baked Chicken Breasts will stay good for about 3 days.
- Freeze: Frozen Oven Baked Chicken Breasts are good for about 6 months. Make sure they don’t thaw or aren’t sitting bare on the shelf. Seal them up well, or you’ll regret it when you try to eat them and they’re freezer burned. Eat them sooner rather than later if you want them to stay flavorful.
More Chicken Recipes
BBQ Pulled Chicken
Classic Chicken Noodle Soup
Curry Chicken Salad
Baked Honey Mustard Chicken
When Are Oven Baked Chicken Breasts Safe to Eat?
Always check the internal temperature before you serve baked chicken to make sure that it has cooked all the way through. Insert a meat thermometer into the widest part of each boneless skinless chicken breast to get a good reading. The USDA’s website says that the internal temperature should be 165 degrees F (73.8 degrees C). Remember that the best chicken is the kind that doesn’t make you sick.
Ingredients
- 4 chicken breasts , boneless and skinless
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Season chicken with salt, pepper, and vegetable oil and place in baking pan.
- Cook for 20-25 minutes until the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165 degrees.
Nutrition
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These cook up so tender and flavorful. I did add different spices to up flavor for my family. These are great left over for Chicken Salad or Chicken Sandwiches. Thank you for so many great recipes!
When do you add the paprika and garlic powder?