Perfect Oven Baked Chicken Breast are incredibly juicy and flavored with the perfect amount of seasonings. Foolproof tip shared on how to bake the juiciest chicken breasts ever.
Baked Chicken Breast Recipe
I never used to enjoy baked chicken breast until I found the perfect way to bake them. Every time I used to have them, they always came out so dry! They weren't good at all so; instead, I used to slice them in half (still do if they are large) and pan-fry them or grill them. Not anymore friend! Okay, well occasionally I will pan-fry or grill them if it's too warm to turn on the oven.
This perfect oven baked chicken breast recipe is to die for! They are juicy on the inside with the perfect amount of seasoning and flavor. I also like to call them an all-purpose chicken breast because they go with just about everything. It's a staple in my kitchen, and I hope they will be in yours as well.
What makes this baked chicken breast perfect?
Okay, I know you are dying to see how these chicken breasts are perfect! A couple of years ago I perfected my oven baked chicken breast recipe with my cajun chicken breasts (scroll down for the link, they are delicious!).
It's nothing complicated at all. The concept to making juicy, perfect chicken breasts in your oven every single time is with a high temperature, little baking temperature, covering the chicken breasts in foil, and then allowing them to rest for 5-10 minutes. That's it. I told you it was easy.
How long to bake chicken breasts?
- Set your oven to 450 degrees F
- Bake chicken breasts uncovered for 18 minutes
- Cover chicken breasts with aluminum foil and bake for another 5 minutes
- Allow chicken to rest under the foil for 5-10 minutes
The first time I made baked chicken breast for my mom, she was shocked and couldn't believe they didn't need to be baked longer. High temp + not a lot of baking time = perfect weeknight meal. Right?!
What to serve with baked chicken breast
I love having a small side salad with sliced cucumbers, diced tomatoes, and a little dressing with any meal. These Italian roasted vegetables are perfect when root veggies are in season. Instant pot mashed potatoes would be ultimate comfort food for me on the side. These lemon butter green beans are out-of-this-world delicious and would pair beautifully with an all-purpose seasoned chicken breast.
I could go on-and-on what to serve so take a peek at all of my side dishes to see if anything peaks your interest.
Other chicken breast recipes:
- Baked Cajun Chicken Breast
- Baked Teriyaki Chicken Breast
- Ranch Chicken Breast
- Air Fryer Chicken Breasts - Uses the same seasonings!
Helpful tools:
- Casserole dish - This isn't the exact one I have, I found mine at Pottery Barn, but this one is on my wants. It's a great staple casserole dish.
- Pink Himalayan Salt - This is my all-time favorite salt and I use it for everything. You will want to make sure it's ground in a salt ginger before adding into the spice blend.
Perfect Oven Baked Chicken Breast are incredibly juicy and flavored with the perfect amount of seasonings. Foolproof tip shared on how to bake the juiciest chicken breasts ever.
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp paprika*
- ½ tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp ground pepper
- ¼ tsp crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
- 1 tbsp dried parsley
- 2 large boneless, skinless chicken breast
- olive oil
- 2 tbsp butter
-
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
-
Mix together garlic powder, onion, paprika, chili powder, pepper, salt, crushed red pepper flakes, and parsley together in a small ramekin.
-
Slice the large chicken breasts in half lengthwise to create 4 chicken breasts.
-
Brush olive oil on both sides of chicken breasts. Rub the seasoning blend onto each side of the chicken breasts making sure all sides are coated well. Place seasoned chicken breasts in a baking dish.
-
Place half of a tablespoon of butter on top of each chicken breast. Bake for 18 minutes. Remove baking dish from oven and place aluminum foil on top and bake for another 4-5 minutes.
-
Remove chicken breasts from oven and allow them to rest for 5 minutes and serve.
- You make use smoked paprika for more flavor.
Hello. . . these chicken breasts look so easy and delicious. My question is you said to cut the two breasts in half.
In the picture you show only the two breasts. Are the other two underneath or was this just for the purpose of the
picture?
Thank you.
D
Thank you for pointing that out. In the written recipe it is two large chicken breasts split in half. In the photos, I only used the tops of both of the chicken breasts to make it look pretty! And my white little casserole dish is itty bitty and used only for photos, mainly. 🙂
This will be perfect for dinner!
They look so juicy and flavorful!
The chicken was absolutely delicious. The flavor was GREAT. I will be making this again.
So glad you enjoyed it, Bonnie! 🙂
If my chicken breasts are smaller so I still butterfly them?
I wouldn't, Erica.
Yummmmm,yummmm,yummmmm. Need i say more? This was delicious. It has a little kick with the red pepper but you can scale that to taste. My hubby and kiddos ate every last bit of it. Great recipe.
My picky husband is doing keto. Finding recipes he likes is quite a mission! My whole family loved this recipe! I made it with thighs, delish!! Adding to the rotation...easy and flavorful! Thanks!
Hi Chelsea, I love chicken a lot but I’ve never tried this recipe. I hope to give it a try soon!
Have you ever used frozen chicken breasts? If so, would the cooking times be the same?
I would allow for the chicken breasts to thaw before baking.
Made this for dinner tonight! It was so delicious and tender! Thank you so much for this recipe ???? Will be definitely making again!
The best roasted chicken by far! Juicy and very flavourful. Thanks for sharing!
Absolutely fabulous! Thank you! Didn’t split the breasts but pounded to uniform 1/2-3/4 inch! Perfect!
Absolutely PERFECT! Thank you so much for sharing this. It was a big hit with my husband.
These were perfect! Moist & delicious! Great recipe!
Glad you enjoyed them, Kathleen! They are a favorite!
Any suggestions for omitting the butter? Another form of healthy fat that can be used to moisten?
Thank you!!
You can try using avocado oil or even coconut oil, K. Let me know how it turns out!
I made this without modifications. It seemed like there would be a lot of seasoning, but I would have added more and my chicken needed to cook a bit longer. I would cook again though just with modifications.
OMG! THIS IS FREAKING AMAZING! You are the best. I tried to make bake chicken breast taste good and I lost the battle. Thank you so much, thank you everyone enjoyed the chicken. I got great compliments. Nia, you have to make sure your chicken is thin if it was thick you cook it longer. The seasoning was not a lot nor overbearing it's a rub, rubs are usually packed with seasoning and flavor.
Yay! So glad you enjoyed it, Melly! <3
Any issue in prepping these the night before and cooking the next day?
Shouldn't be a problem, Laura! Enjoy. <3
This looks very good! So once you cut the chicken in half would you say the pieces are about 1/4# each? Thx
I would say anywhere from 1/4 lb to 1/2 lb. Lately, I have been finding huge chicken breasts!
I made this chicken for dinner tonight,pretty good!
I will make for dinner again.
Our Aldi always has gigantic chicken breasts, my husband who loves to cook (and always has an opinion lol) made two last week and I wanted to use the other two tonight with this recipe. I sliced them in half (husband: you're not going to pound them?) and when asked I told him how long they would take to cook, he didn't believe me ("18 minutes isn't long enough for those chicken breasts!" ????) Fast forward, juicy tasty perfectly spiced chicken. I used grapeseed oil and plant based butter (got used to dairy free cooking when breastfeeding baby with milk intolerance) and still turned out great. I did double the spice mixture since I had so much chicken. Delicious, thank you!
I am on Keto and this was a wonderful addition to my growing recipes!! Easy,moist and flavorful!!
The seasoning on this chicken was delicious but I thought a tsp of salt was a little too much! The cook time was perfect, will definitely make again with 1/2 tsp salt. We served this with baked potatoes, green beans and carrots.
I have been doing chicken all wrong! Thank God I decided to seek a fail safe recipe and found yours. It was absolutely perfect! Can’t wait to try it again with other spice combinations. Thank you!!
So glad you enjoyed it, Robyn!! <3
Looks delicious and easy! What glass baking dish did you use to cook at 475?
You can use any baking dish you prefer, Jeanmarie!
Hi!
The chicken breast I have right now are pretty small, so my question is: do I still need to slice them? I am afraid to not overcook them if they are too thin...
So I am thinking to leave them as they are and cook them accordingly to the instructions..
What do you think?
Thank you in advance! 🙂
If you have thin chicken breasts there is no need to slice them in halve. Enjoy, Lulia!
This was FANTASTIC! I've never tasted such flavorful (and moist) chicken EVER. I loved it so much, I went out to buy more chicken today to make it again. A definite staple in my dinner rotation now!! Thank you for a great recipe.
I used Tastefully Simple Rustic Herb Seasoning instead and it turned out great! Husband loved it! Will definitely be making this again!!
Hi! I have made these 3 times now. My whole family loves them! I use full breasts but pound them thinner and double the spices. I can prepare them in the time it takes for the oven to pre-heat, including clean up. Today I will shred them for chicken enchiladas. Thank you for an awesome recipe!
Yay! So glad you and your family enjoyed it, Eileen! The enchiladas sound delish!
This chicken recipe is wonderful! The chicken is delicious and so easy to prepare. It’s now our favorite baked chicken recipe!
So happy you enjoyed it, Steve!
My kids love this recipe. So tender and juicy.
My husband tasted it, opened his eyes wide, and said, "Did you bookmark this?" I agree, it's a winner. Thanks for the surprisingly great recipe! It's really juicy and flavorful without making scour the store to find all the ingredients.
So glad you and your husband loved this recipe, Liz!
So, you split them in half, top to bottom, thickness wise? Not in half just cross-wise or length-wise top to bottom as is?
That's correct, Donna - lengthwise.
So, am I getting this right - given the huge chicken breasts sold, you cut them length wise. Correct?
That's correct, Pam! Enjoy!
I cook for approximately 50 people daily (mostly 18-22 yr. olds.) and they absolutely loved this recipe and said definitely a keeper to make again! Delicious flavor and so tasty...thank you so much for sharing!
Very flavorful, juicy and super easy. Will definitely make this again!
Very simple and extremely good, I changed the seasoning to my own blend. Everyone loved it. Thank you for sharing.
Not sure how the previous reviewers could say it was bland. It was AMAZING and made the house smell wonderful too! I used smoked paprika as suggested and may cut it back to 1tsp instead of a tablespoon - but other than that? Perfection! 1 dish, quick, insanely easy, bake while doing other things - this will definitely be a repeat.
I have tried many baked chicken recipes in the past. This is absolutely the best I have ever tried. I prepared the chicken exactly as you described in your recipe. I love it. This is the best seasoning mix. i may even try it on pork chops.
This recipe was delicious
So much flavour & chicken was so juicy
Whole family gives it a thumbs up
Best part is I have left overs for lunch tomorrow!
We love this! I make it all the time. It’s perfect for a quick weeknight dinner. I’m trying to cut out lunch meat & this makes delicious sandwiches. It also makes the best chicken salad.
Hello. I made this chicken breast dish on July 9, 2021. I followed the recipe to the letter except that I reduced the amount of salt in the rub to just 3/4 teaspoon instead of 1 teaspoon. The olive oil and the butter combined to make a wonderful sauce in the pan, which I spooned over the chicken breasts after they were plated. Very yummy! The hardest part of this recipe was slicing those slippery chicken breasts in half lengthwise and trying to not wind up in the ER. (I'm not that good with knives).
Super easy to make, healthy, and a huge hit with the family (even the picky eater!). What more could you ask for? Paired them with the buttery green beans and roasted red skins. Everyone cleaned their plate. 😋
Okay, I just made these and I think I made them correctly, they were very good. I surmise a picture of HOW you cut the chicken breasts would be helpful. I usually pound the chicken to even thickness, or slice them in half to create 2 pieces which are an even thickness. Saying to cut them vertically, I picture them to look like strips, and that's how I did it, but it didn't look as the picture you show.
That was FAAANtastic! It was the best baked chicken I've ever made. I ommited chili powder and chili flakes because I can't handle too much heat. Also my chicken breast were already kind of thin maybe half an inch thick once I was ready to put them in the oven, so I put them in for 15 minutes, then loosely covered with aluminum foil for five, then rested for five. Perfect! I also through on some bread crumbs. I'm pretty bad at cooking. I was never really taught. Lol. I'm so thrilled 🙂 Thank you!
We loved how tender and juicy the chicken breasts were and we will definitely use this recipe again and again. Next time, though, maybe we will use regular chili powder rather than hot!
This is absolutely delicious! So moist and flavorful. Anyone else having issues with either the olive oil and/or the butter spattering all over your oven when it goes in uncovered for that first bit of time? If so, any suggestions to mitigate that from happening? My smoke detectors keep going off! Also, I have used Lemon Pepper as a spice, and that is yummy, as well, but less flavorful than the original recipe here.
Made this last night for dinner and it’s a keeper!! Tasty, moist and tender. I will definitely share this recipe 👍🏻 ( I doubled the spices ) Thank you.
When you talk about the pink Himalayan salt, you mention that it should be ground in a salt ginger. I think you mean salt grinder =). Also, you don't mention the ingredient in the recipe - you only have what looks like plain salt in the recipe.
Very good! Loved not having to marinate the breasts as most baked chicken recipes call for ( and they still come out dry sometimes😡). The sauce was fantastic; hubby said this is a keeper! Thanks for a great quick and delicious recipe.
No joke this recipe changed mine and my husbands life, ha!! Before this we only ever made horribly dry chicken. This is juicy and flavorful. Thank you!!
Made this tonight for tea 15/09/2022 OMG they were delicious I used garlic butter to put on top of the chicken instead of plain butter they turned out absolutely gorgeous served them with sautéed cabbage, onions and fresh garlic and mashed potatoes absolutely one to keep thank you for sharing your recipe.
Easy enough, but wasn't our favorite... The seasoning was overpowering.
I have made this a few times…so delicious. I love spicy and even though this isn’t it gave me the flavors I love, have shredded up left overs and made chicken tacos and everyone loved the! 2 meals, one pan!!!