This Juicy Oven Baked Chicken Breast Recipe is ultra tender every time thanks to these tips and tricks I’m sharing with you!
Say goodbye to boring, bland and dried out baked chicken breasts.
Yes, it’s true, you CAN have tender and juicy white meat chicken that’s BAKED in the oven!
Oven Baked Chicken Breast Recipe
- Start by using a heavy rolling pin or meat mallet to pound your chicken breast to an even thickness.
- Season liberally with my special seasoning blend (in the recipe card below).
- Bake for just 20 minutes, then let rest for 5 minutes under foil before slicing.
How To Get Juicy Baked Chicken
Is it really necessary to pound the chicken breasts to an even thickness before baking? Yes, it is absolutely necessary if you want juicy chicken. Here’s why…
The natural shape of a chicken breast is teardrop, with a thicker, meatier portion at the bottom of the teardrop. Chicken must be cooked to 165 degrees F before safely consuming. If you do not pound the chicken down, the thicker portion will take longer to cook to the safe temperature, while the thinner section of chicken breast will get overcooked and result in a dried out, choke-it-down chicken breast.
Do yourself a favor and pound the chicken.
The Perfect Chicken Seasoning Blend
I’m sure you could season your chicken breasts with just salt and pepper and they would still come out fine, but this blend of spices will take your baked chicken to the next level.
- Brown Sugar – the sugar helps to tenderize the chicken, trust me, it’s a good idea.
- Chili Powder – adds a delicious smoky flavor, plus gives great coloring to chicken
- Parsley – great for adding a balanced herb flavor
- Salt – the seasoning of life
- Pepper – because it goes with salt
- Garlic Powder – adds delicious flavor
- Onion Powder – compliments the garlic powder
- Cumin – this really gives the chicken something special
Combine the spices together and rub generously into the chicken breast before baking.
How Long To Bake Chicken Breast?
Since we’re not going to sear chicken in a skillet before finishing of in the oven, you’ll want to start your chicken at a high temperature in the oven.
Make sure your oven is preheated to 425 degrees F before baking. Cooking at a high temperature will help to lock in those juices, resulting in tender, juicy chicken every time.
- 4 to 6 ounce chicken breasts – 18 minutes
- 7 to 8 ounce chicken breasts – 20 minutes
- 9 ounce and above – 22 minutes
Remember to use a meat thermometer to check for an internal temperature of 165 degrees F. Let chicken breasts rest for 5 minutes under a loose sheet of foil before slicing.
More Baked Chicken Breast Recipes
I’m confident that you’ll get fantastic results with this recipe as long as you follow the tips and method I’ve shared here.
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Juicy Oven Baked Chicken Breast Recipe
This ultra juicy Oven Baked Chicken Breast Recipe only takes a few minutes of prep, resulting in tender, juicy chicken breast every time!
- Prep Time: 5
- Cook Time: 20
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 4 to 6 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 4 (7 to 8 oz) boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 3 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tbsp chili powder
- 1 tsp parsley flakes
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp cumin
Instructions
Pre heat oven to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with non stick spray.
Place the chicken breasts between two sheets of parchment paper and pound to an even thickness. Drizzle both sides of chicken with olive oil.
Combine seasonings and sprinkle generously over both sides of the chicken breasts. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and cover loosely with foil for 5 minutes before slicing. Enjoy!
Notes
If your chicken breasts are smaller in size, reduce the cook time to 18 minutes. If the chicken breasts are larger, increase cook time to 22 minutes. Check that internal temperature reaches 165 degrees.
Keywords: Baked Chicken Breast, Juicy, Tender, Oven
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It was a hit I was skeptical because of the sugar .. I used all the seasonings and added sum ..but glad I tried it the chicken was tender and juicy and even my pickiest eater enjoyed it
★★★★★
Does it matter if it’s extra virgin olive oil or regular olive oil?
Nope, you can use either extra or regular.
This was delicious and a keeper for my family. It looks just like the pic, blackens beautifully and taste great.
★★★★★
I’m so happy you enjoyed the recipe Robin!
I tried this with chicken breast and it was delicious! Is it okay to switch it to drum sticks?
★★★★★
You can definitely cook drumsticks using this recipe. Just make sure the chicken reaches 165 degrees F.
I made this for dinner tonight. IT WAS EASY AND DELICIOUS!!
My husband said “this tastes like something you get in a restaurant”
Great recipe!!
That’s awesome!! So glad you all enjoyed the chicken! 🙂
Tried this tonight. Was great! Have a picky eater and she loved it.
★★★★★
So glad your picky eater enjoyed it too! That’s definitely a weeknight win! 🙂
Your recipe says to sear the chicken is the part where tinfoil is loosely fit for 5 minutes the searing part?
I am about to make this delicious looking chicken breast. I just had one question before I began.. when I put the chicken breast in the oven.. am I covering it with foil or just after it’s done?
Sorry if I’m too late in responding, but you’ll only need to cover with foil after it’s baked.
We made this for supper last night and girl let me tell you! It’s DELICIOUS. Your baked chicken now has a place in our dinner rotation. The whole family was pleased. Thanks for sharing!
Woohoo! So glad you enjoyed the chicken. I’m happy to be a part of your dinner rotation! 😉
Tried this tonight and it was delicious. Family loved it.
★★★★★
Fantastic! So glad you enjoyed it Dale! 🙂
Can you use chicken tenderloins?!
You definitely can. I would just make sure to check them earlier because they’ll cook faster than chicken breasts.
Didn’t have parsley or garlic powder but still yummy. Put chicken on spinach, feta, onion and greek dressing. We like it.
★★★★★
Sounds like a great dinner all the same! Glad you enjoyed it!
I Made this tonight and turned out really well! I enjoy making chicken with easy ingredients that my kids will try and eat and this was a homerun in my house!
★★★★★
Nice! I love it when even the kids give it two thumbs up!
This looks fantastic! I’ll be trying it tonight for dinner and I don’t have any parsley. Could you please recommend a replacement, or would you just omit it? Thanks!
You could omit the parsley or use cilantro if desired. 🙂
I love chicken and am always looking for new recipes! I loved this recipe so much! I’m doing weight watchers and am going to share in my next meeting! Thank you for sharing such a tasty recipe!
★★★★★
Thank you so much Kathy! I’m so glad you enjoyed the chicken and are willing to share. 🙂
I’m a dad looking to learn to make something easy for dinner. I substituted the cumin and chili powder for turmeric and paprika because we had those ingredients. The prep was easy and the chicken was juicy after pounding the chicken. My family and I all enjoyed this. I am definitely flagging this page for the future.
Fantastic! So glad you’re family enjoyed it, that’s definitely a dad-win! 😉
This was a great recipe. I omitted the olive oil in favor of Worcester sauce. I also highly recommend adding mint leaves. I added chocolate mint leaves (dried) and it added a refreshing flavor in each bite and complimented the chili powder nicely. Will be using this recipe for a ling time to come.
★★★★★
I’ve never seen chocolate mint leaves before, I bet that would add a great flavor to it. Thanks for sharing your modifications and I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe Amber!
I made this last night, rubbed with oil and spices, marinated for 5 hours. Heated a cast iron pan on grill with avacado oil got it hit put chicken in, close grill cook 10 min, flip cooked another 8 ( check temp) it was SO DELICIOUS! Thank you.
Awesome! So glad you enjoyed the chicken Erika!
This recipe is amazing. The chicken was very juicy and tender. The olive oil, spices, herbs, and sugar combined to give this chicken an excellent flavor that even my picky eaters enjoyed. This is a must!
★★★★★
Thank you! So glad you enjoyed the chicken!
First off, we made this last night, and we liked it. Very juicy considering it is baked in a “rub”. Very different, good flavor! I find one needs to practice it a few times to find the “right” amount of rub to dress the chicken with so that it is not too heavy, not too light. This of course, is all varying personal preference.
I do however have a question on how the nutrition value is/was calculated. Says this recipe serves 6, but uses only 4 chicken breasts – is each chicken breast 196 calories as claimed, or is there some other math that was used? Keep up the good work!
★★★★
The chicken breasts I used in this recipe were very large, and I cut them into strips to serve. To get the most accurate calorie count, you’ll want to adjust it to the size of your chicken breasts that you’re using.
The chicken recipe is beyond amazing. Mine actually turned out like the picture online and that never happens. I have never posted any like this on social media but I feel like I had too.
★★★★★
Aw! That means so much to me. Thank you for your sweet comment Jennifer! So glad you enjoyed the chicken!
Tried this tonight. Served it with basmati rice and a garden salad. HUGE hit!!!! Thank you!
Awesome! So glad you enjoyed it Nudrat!
Tried this tonight and it came out really good. This is my new way to make my chicken breast! I love the ever so slight sweetness with the brown sugar…finally no dry chicken breast.
Yay! So glad you enjoyed it!
Hi Shawn,
I made your recipe today and man it was awesome… I will keep recipe for sure and put it in my box. Thank you so much and God bless.
P.s. kids loved it also
Thanks Scott! Glad you guys enjoyed it!
Great recipie! I switched out the brown sugar for coconut palm sugar because that’s all I had. I also switched out the chili power for cayenne pepper. It was so good and just the right amount of spice. Thank you for sharing this recipie. Definitely book marking this to use in the future!
★★★★★
I tried printing this recipe and the print was so light I couldn’t read it.
Hi Nancy, I’m so sorry it didn’t print out well. I would suggest trying to print in grayscale, to make sure you’re printer isn’t using any color. Sometimes if your color is running low it’ll have a hard time printing the dark gray print.
Ohhh! I bet that had some nice spice to it with the extra cayenne pepper! So glad you enjoyed it!
Incredible! I made it with Truvia Brown sugar (cuts 75%of the sugar calories with stevia) and both my husband and I both flipped for this! Lots of room to tinker with, my husband isn’t a cumin fan, so I will lower that flavor by cutting that measures in 1/2, but will turn up both the onion and garlic. Yum, yum and lastly – YUM!
★★★★★
Haha! So glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for the comment!
I grill the breast on inside cast iron grill instead of oven and use just about the same ingredients except the sugar(gonna try it) and it comes out outstanding!
Perfect! So glad you’re enjoying the recipe!