Baked Chicken Breast

This Baked Chicken Breast recipe is tender, juicy, delicious, and versatile! It’s great as a main dish, salad topper, chicken sandwiches, and meal prep. If you’re tired of dry and rubbery chicken breasts, here’s everything you need to know to ensure you always get a perfectly cooked and flavorful chicken breast every time.

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Juicy Oven-Baked Chicken Breast

Chicken breast, specifically boneless skinless chicken breast, is one of my favorite proteins because it’s relatively inexpensive, easy to work with (no trimming required), and versatile. One of the easiest ways to prepare it is by baking chicken breasts. It’s such a lean protein, it can be tricky to get it right without it overcooking or turning rubbery – that’s where this recipe comes in!

Unless you’re making Stuffed Chicken Breast, a breaded Chicken Parmesan, or a saucy Chicken Marsala, the number one mistake that people make with plain chicken breast is overcooking, which can make it tough, dry, and bland, so I developed this failproof method that will always result in ultra-juicy, tender, and flavorful chicken breasts.

Ingredients for Baked Chicken Breast 

• Chicken Breast – Try to find boneless, skinless chicken breasts and get the best quality you can afford. Also, try to find chicken breasts that are similar in size and even thickness so they cook evenly. Depending on the size of the breasts, you may need to adjust the cooking time. 
• Paprika – You can use sweet, hot, or smoked paprika for depth of flavor and it adds a nice color to the chicken breasts. 
• Garlic Salt – I use this all-in-one seasoning in a lot of my home cooking (Lawry’s brand is my favorite), but you can substitute 1 Tbsp of garlic salt with 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp garlic powder and 1/2 tsp dried parsley.
• Black Pepper – freshly cracked is always best.
• Oil or Butter – Olive oil works great, or you can use a cooking spray. You can also use melted butter for a little more flavor.

How to Bake Chicken Breasts 

• Prep – Preheat the oven to 400°F and arrange the chicken breasts on a baking sheet. 
• Oil – Pat dry the chicken and rub the chicken on all sides with the oil.
• Season all over with spices.
• Bake chicken for 20-25 minutes or until it reaches 165°F, then rest 5-10 minutes.

Baked Chicken Breast Time Chart

Cooking time can vary depending on how thick the chicken breasts are. If they are thinner, reduce the cooking time, and if they are thicker, adjust it upwards accordingly. The key to cooking chicken breast without drying it out is to make sure to pull it once it reaches a safe internal temperature of 165°F on a thermometer.

• 1/2-inch thick: 16-18 minutes
• 3/4-inch thick: 20-22 minutes
• 1-inch thick: 24-26 minutes

What is the KEY to Juicy Baked Chicken?

These are my best tips that all work together to make the juiciest chicken breast you’ll sink your teeth into.

• Use a thermometer to check when the internal temperature has reached 165°F. The biggest mistake with baked chicken is overcooking, so a thermometer is a smart investment to prevent overcooking – or, even worse, undercooking your meats!
• Adjust the timing for thickness – For even cooking, pound chicken breasts to an even thickness if needed and follow the timing chart above.
• Pat Chicken Dry – a wet piece of chicken won’t hold the seasonings well and is more likely to steam cook.
• Let it Rest – once the chicken is out of the oven, let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes for the

Do I Need to Brine Chicken Breast?

A brine is optional for chicken breast but it can add flavor and help to retain moisture in lean protein like chicken breast. It’s the same reason I use turkey brine – it adds extra insurance for juicy chicken. If you prefer to brine, here’s my quick-brine method:

How to Brine Chicken Breasts: In a bowl, combine 1 cup warm water, 3 Tbsp kosher salt, and 2 Tbsp granulated sugar, and stir (warm water helps it dissolve faster), then add 3 cups cold water to cool the brine. Submerge the chicken breasts and refrigerate:

• 15-30 minutes – for mild flavor enhancement
• Up to 2 hours for deeper flavor. If brining 1+ hours, rinse briefly under cold water to remove extra salt.
• If brined 15-30 minutes, use 1 1/2 tsp of garlic salt
• If brined 1-2 hours, use 1 tsp garlic salt to avoid over-salting

How to Serve Baked Chicken Breast

There are a million and one ways to serve this tasty, juicy chicken breast. You can chop, shred or leave it whole to use in so many recipes that call for chicken breast:

• In Salad – Add chicken to Cobb Salad, Caesar Salad, Greek salad, or Autumn Chicken Salad. You can also dice it up and make a Chicken Salad or Chicken Avocado Salad.
• Chicken Sandwiches & Wraps – Use baked chicken breast for a healthier Chicken Sandwich, or in Chicken Lettuce Wraps, Chicken Fajitas, or Chicken Sandwich Melts. You can also shred leftover chicken for Chicken Patties.
• Soups – shred baked chicken breast and put it into Chicken Tortilla Soup, Chicken and Rice Soup, or Chicken Noodle Soup.
• In Casseroles – add shredded baked chicken breast to Chicken Lasagna, Chicken Enchiladas, or Chicken Tetrazzini.

I hope you love this juicy baked chicken breast – it’s not only juicy, tender, and perfectly seasoned but super versatile and can be used in so many dishes. It’s also easy to scale the recipe up or down and keeps well for meal prep so you can quickly add protein to your menu throughout the busy workweek.

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