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 place the chicken on a cutting board, cover it with 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 teaspoon olive oil
- 1½ tablespoon light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano, (or use thyme)
- ¾ teaspoon paprika
- ¾ teaspoon ancho chili powder, optional - (or use more or less according to your liking)
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder, (unsalted)
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, (or use more or less according to your liking)
- ½ teaspoon 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.
- Put the chicken on a cutting board and cover with plastic wrap or put it in a large ziploc. 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!
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
Brian Donley
The oven roasted chicken seasoning was horrible. We couldn’t even eat it. Through it away. I didn’t know you could screw up chicken so bad. It looks good but it’s not good. Foster Farms, you should check out these dumbbell recipes more closely.
Rika
Hey, I always welcome comments and feedback, even the negative ones! I think other folks like this recipe, sorry you didn't. I hope you do give another one of my recipes a try.
VALERIE LEE
i made this tonight and it was so juicy and tender. i will be making this again. i seasoned it to my liken and it came out real good. i put them on a plate and covered them with wax paper. the juices was just running out of the chicken breast.
Rika
Hi Valerie,
Thanks for taking the time to share your feedback. I am glad that this chicken recipe turned out well for you. I hope to hear from you again soon.
Best,
Rika
Kenny D
I'm late to the game here but wanted to chime in and say wrapping the breasts in plastic wrap gives no room for the breast to expand and flatten horizontally. Put them on a cutting board and cover with plastic wrap and pound them.
The reviewer that complained about the seasoning is hilarious. There is nothing here that could taste horrible unless you hate seasonings in general.
Rika
Thank you Kenny for the comment :). Great tip on wrapping the chicken...I should rewrite that part.
Best,
Rika