This post is sponsored by Foster Farms Air Chilled Chicken but the content and opinions expressed here are my own.
This oven-baked chicken breast is a must-try chicken recipe! It's so delicious! The meat is so juicy and perfectly cooked with a homemade chicken seasoning blend! It's an easy weeknight dinner meal, fast, and packed with flavors!
There are so many chicken breast recipes out there! If you really want to know the secret to tender and juicy chicken, please keep reading because I am going to show you the best way to cook chicken breasts in the oven! I think you really have to try this oven-baked chicken breast recipe! No marinating or brining required!
This easy chicken recipe is made with simple seasoning! The chicken breast is baked in the oven at a high temperature until caramelized. Always cooked in perfection every time! It never fails me and I know that you're going to love it!
Check Out More Delicious Chicken Recipes:
- EASY ZA’ATAR ROASTED CHICKEN BREAST
- SUN-DRIED TOMATO CHICKEN BREAST WITH CREAM SAUCE
- HARISSA CHICKEN RECIPE – OVEN ROASTED!
- CREAMY CHICKEN MARSALA
- SLOW COOKER CREAMY CHICKEN WILD RICE SOUP
- GENERAL TSO’S CHICKEN (SWEET AND SAVORY DEEP-FRIED CHICKEN)
- CHICKEN IN BLACK BEAN SAUCE
- MEDITERRANEAN ROAST CHICKEN WITH VEGGIES
- THAI BASIL CHICKEN (PAD KRAPOW GAI)
- HEALTHY BAKED CHICKEN TENDERS (AKA CHICKEN STRIPS)
- PANKO BREADED CHICKEN KATSU
Chicken breasts are a good source of lean protein without consuming a lot of fat depending on how you cook them. For many people, dark meat or chicken thighs are always the winners in my chicken recipes because they consider it to be more tender and flavorful than white meat. Well, not anymore! This chicken breast recipe proves that you can cook chicken breast beautifully, juicy, tender, and without drying it out!
Now, let's talk about the ingredients!
The Chicken Breast Seasoning Blend:
It's made with basic pantry ingredients: light brown sugar, paprika, ancho chili pepper, oregano (which can be replaced with any of your favorite herbs such as thyme), cumin, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.
The brown sugar is the most important ingredient in this recipe. It adds sweetness to the meat, it makes the chicken sweat while it bakes and resulting in more tender and juicy meat, and also gives that beautiful caramelized color on the surface.
To balance out the sweetness flavor from the sugar. I added ancho chili pepper and paprika. These spices add both vibrant colors and flavors to the dish. Both spices have a mildly sweet flavor but don't have much heat at all. The ancho chili pepper adds a nice smoky flavor to the meat. Therefore, this oven-baked chicken breast recipe is not considered as spicy food and very kid-friendly!
Feel free to add a small amount of chili powder or cayenne pepper if you want to add an extra spicy kick to the dish.
How to Oven-Baked Chicken Breast:
In this recipe, you are going to use medium-size chicken breasts that will take about 18 minutes to bake at 425F. It's relatively quick and easy! And the result is phenomenal!
You Should Pound Chicken Breasts Before Cooking Them:
Chicken breasts come in different sizes, therefore, they will cook at an uneven rate. For that reason, you will need to pound them out so they can cook at the same time. The pounding will also tenderize the meat, making them more tender.
Pounding the chicken breast to even thickness is very easy. Basically, you just need to wrap the chicken breasts in plastic wrap, and pound using a meat mallet or rolling pin or the back of saucepan until all the pieces are of an even thickness. You want to start pounding from the thicker part area first.
Also, if the chicken breasts are too big, you can slice it in half horizontally, starting at the thickest end, working away from you and toward the thinner end.
In this recipe, I used Foster Farms Air-Chilled Chicken. Because air-chilled chicken doesn’t absorb excess water, it tends to cook faster than when chicken is water- chilled. It also offers other benefits such as better taste and texture. By using Foster Farms Air-Chilled Chicken, you will spend less time in the kitchen and more time with family eating quality, healthy ingredients!
You can learn more about Foster Farms Air-Chilled Chicken here.
I hope you will enjoy this chicken breast recipe! Don't forget to share and come back here to tell us what you think about this recipe!
Oven-Baked Chicken Breast
Ingredients
- 4 Foster Farms Air-Chilled Chicken boneless skinless chicken breasts, (about 5 oz each)
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 1½ tbsp light brown sugar
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp dried oregano, (or use thyme)
- ¾ tsp paprika
- ¾ tsp ancho chili powder, (or use more or less according to your liking)
- ¼ tsp garlic powder, (unsalted)
- 1 tsp kosher salt, (or use more or less according to your liking)
- ½ tsp black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F and line the baking sheet with foil and parchment paper.
- Trim any membranes or fat from the breasts with a knife.
- Wrap the breasts in plastic wrap (or ziploc) and pound with the flat side of a meat mallet, rolling pin, or the back of the saucepan to an even thickness.
- In a small bowl, mix in all the seasoning ingredients: light brown sugar, cumin, paprika, ancho chili pepper, oregano, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine.
- Place the chicken breasts in a single layer in a large baking sheet.
- Rub chicken breasts with olive oil and sprinkle and rub both sides evenly with homemade chicken seasoning.
- Bake for about 15-18 minutes depending on the thickness or until the chicken is cooked through and no longer pink.Note: An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read at least 165 degrees F (74 degrees C).
- Remove the cooked chicken breast from the oven then transfer to a clean plate. Serve and enjoy!
melissa chapman
You have really shown a great way to serve chicken which sometimes is very bland. I am sure we all need to spice up our cooking while we are stuck inside.
cait
i always find chicken breasts to be sure hard to perfect so I cant wait to attempt this!
Amber Myers
Looks amazing! This would be a delicious dinner, that's for sure. I'll have to try it out.
Tasheena
This looks so yummy and really flavorful. Looking forward to making this recipe for my family.
Marysa
This sounds like an easy and versatile recipe. I will have to give this a try sometime.
Heather
That looks just scrumptious! Chicken can get boring so I love how you spiced it up!
Beth
These look delicious! My son is home from college and eats a lot of chicken. I'll share this recipe with him.
Rena
I would rather bake anytime but my problem is never knowing what spices would be best used. This looks delicious!
Lynndee
My husband and son are huge chicken eaters so I always browse for new chicken recipes to try. Saved your recipe. Thanks!
Jenn @ EngineerMommy
I love chicken that's baked in the oven. These pictures look so mouth-watering. I need to try this recipe.
Kathy
This looks so amazing. Chicken is my favorite meat. I've been looking for recipes to make with chicken too. I will certainly be trying this soon.
Catalina
My family loves chicken breasts! These look so juicy and crispy! I can't believe they are made in the oven!
Kita Bryant
Oven baking chicken breast is really the best way to cook it. It is always so tender and juicy.
Bohemian Babushka
BB is more of a dark meat lover, but she knows the rest of the familia are gonna love this. Gracias for the recipe.
Lizzie Lau
Chicken breast is one of those things that needs some attention to detail. It can be tender and juicy or it can be dry beyond redemption. Your oven-baked chicken recipe looks like a winner!
Swathi
The chicken looks delicious and juicy great meal any day. I would love to try it.
Renee
My family really liked this recipe. I am awful at cooking tender, juicy chicken. And I hate a lot of steps. I put the chicken breast into a ziplock bag, pushed out all the air, put 2 sheets of paper towels on top to protect the bag, and then I hammered the heck of each one. I put them right on baking sheets and added a lot of olive oil and the spices. My family did not really like the chili powder, I may leave that out in the future, and the thyme/oregano wasn't necessary for us. I think more garlic powder and a little onion powder would have been better. But, the sweetness was wonderful, the chicken was tender and delicious, and it was actually done in 16 minutes! I was shocked how quickly it was done! Thank you for this wonderful recipe.
Rika Livingston
Hi Renee,
Thanks for sharing your useful feedback! Honest and helpful, other users may like your variation more so I'm glad you provided that alternative! I am also thrilled that your family liked the oven-baked chicken breast recipe. Based on your comment, I think you are going to love this https://poshjournal.com/lemon-pepper-chicken-thighs recipe (It works with chicken breast as well). It has garlic, onion, brown sugar, lemon, but made without ancho chili powder.
Best,
Rika
Yvette
I made this recipe today. I had all my ingredients lined up but I still forgot to add the brown sugar. Ugh! Anyway it was still very good and tender. And I realized I’ve been cooking my chicken way too long 😁
Rika
Hi Yvette,
I am glad that this oven-baked chicken recipe still turned out well even without the brown sugar! Thanks for taking the time to share your feedback! I truly appreciate it and I am sure that readers will find your comment really useful!
Best,
Rika