This one’s for everyone who put chicken breast in their shopping trolley this week… JUICY Oven Baked Chicken Breast. Rubbed with a simple seasoning then baked until caramelised, this is a terrific chicken breast recipe you’ll make again and again….
Though I always stand firm that brown meat is better than white – more flavour, more juiciness – lean chicken breast is a regular in my shopping trolley, week after week.
So today, I’m sharing my recipe for how I make Oven Baked Chicken Breast. As simple as it sounds, if you wack a seasoned breast in the oven without thought, the chances are you’ll be chewing your way through dry chicken, furiously squirting over copious amounts of ketchup to try to salvage it.
It doesn’t need to be that way. Enter – a fabulous chicken seasoning for baked chicken breast:
Chicken Breast Seasoning
The secret ingredient in this is brown sugar. Yes it adds sweetness but don’t worry, this Baked Chicken Breast is still savoury. There are 2 reasons why this is my secret ingredient:
1. It makes more seasoning, so you can coat the breast thoroughly and give it a beautiful crust without overpowering it with lots of spices that need longer to cook than chicken breast does;
2. It makes the chicken sweat while it bakes, so you end up with wetness that makes the chicken more juicy than the usual baked chicken breast.
How long to cook chicken breast
A 150 – 180g / 5 – 6oz chicken breast will take 18 – 20 minutes to bake at 220C / 425F. Cooking it hard and fast at a high temperature is the secret to gorgeous caramelisation and ultra juicy chicken inside. No dried out breast around here!!
The seasoning for this chicken is actually a really great indicator for when the chicken is cooked to perfection. Basically, once the surface of the chicken is caramelised like the photo above, it’s cooked to perfection inside so get it out of the oven!
In addition to the seasoning and cooking quickly at a high temp, my last tip for a truly great Baked Chicken Breast is to pound it to even thickness, either with a rolling pin, meat mallet or even with your fist (very therapeutic). This has the double effect of even cooking as well as tenderising the meat.
OK, enough food chatter. Signing off here! – Nagi x
Updates
* Further to the many email requests, I have now published the Garlic Butter Rice with Kale pictured in the photos!
* The story and details of the Handcrafted Japanese Knife giveaway that originally accompanied this recipe when published was moved into a separate post because the Giveaway has finished.
My tips for a truly juicy, Oven Baked Chicken Breast: a touch of brown sugar in the seasoning which makes the chicken sweat while it bakes so it creates a semi "sauce", and cooking fast on a high temp! Go by the colour of the crust to know when it's baked. Pictured with this Garlic Butter Kale Rice. Recipe VIDEO below.
- 4 chicken breast , 150 - 180g / 5 - 6 oz each (Note 1)
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 1 1/2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp dried oregano or thyme , or other herb of choice
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp each salt and pepper
- Finely chopped parsley
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Preheat oven to 425F/220C (standard) or 390F/200C (fan / convection).
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Pound chicken to 1.5cm / 0.6" at the thickest part - using a rolling pin, meat mallet or even your fist (key tip for even cooking + tender chicken).
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Mix Seasoning.
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Line tray with foil and baking paper (sugar caramelises, it's annoying to clean off tray). Place chicken upside down on tray. Drizzle chicken with about 1 tsp oil. Rub over with fingers. Sprinkle with Seasoning.
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Flip chicken. Drizzle with 1 tsp oil, rub with fingers, sprinkle with Seasoning, being careful to cover as much of the surface area as you can.
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Bake 18 minutes, or until surface is golden per photos and video, or internal temperature is 165F/75C using a meat thermometer.
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Remove from oven and immediately transfer chicken to serving plates.
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Wait 3 - 5 minutes before serving, garnished with freshly chopped parsley if desired. Pictured with a side of Garlic Butter Rice with Kale.
1. If your breast is quite large eg 250g / 8oz+ each, cut them in half horizontally to form 2 thin steaks and skip the pounding. Make sure they are no thicker than 1.5cm / 0.6" thick at the thickest point - if they are, pound using fist.
This can also be made with thigh fillets (boneless, skinless). Follow the recipe but cook for 25 minutes for small / medium thighs and 30 minutes for larger ones.
2. Nutrition per serving, assuming 150g/5oz chicken breast.
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
Quick video tutorial on how to bake chicken breast!
LIFE OF DOZER
It’s just hanging there, taunting him. He sniffs at it, suspiciously….
I just mde this or it’s in the oven now. It looks good but all the juices from the oil and chicken make all the seasoning want to go to the bottom of the pan. How do I avoid this in the future? I didn’t have brown sugar what I did have was organic coconut sugar alt to cane sugar. It’s brown but I hope tastes as good. I used ms dash and Italian seasoning I had to improvise I didn’t have everything lol.
My husband said to write this recipe down, then write it down again, then put it on my phone , then email it to myself so I don’t lose it. States this is “the bomb.”
Nagi,
Thank you for this delicious recipe. My family has been looking for flavorful healthy meals and this recipe is perfect. I just browsed a few more of your recipes and the carnitas are next. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and talent.
Thanks for the feedback Tim! Glad you enjoyed this 🙂 N x
That’s great to hear Tim! Thanks for letting me know you enjoyed this 🙂 N x
Thank you so much for the recipe. It was delicious.
Loved the recipe – very juicy. What spices would you use to make it a bit spicy?
Cayenne pepper!
So simple and so delicious! Didn’t change a thing and turned out juicy and flavourful!
I love hearing that! So glad you enjoyed this Mary-Ann! N x
I like that it’s low in calories and looks juicy and delicious. Perfectly cooking chicken breast is almost everybody’s challenge, and I better bounce out of your blog before spending half my day browsing it 🙂
Always lovely to see you here Muna! I hope you are well! N x
Excellent recipe ngai!
You nailed it for sure!
Thank you & well done!
Terrific to hear you enjoyed this!! Thanks! N x
Tried this out the first time and must say it was easy to make and amazing!! The family thoroughly enjoyed it for a first time recipe. I was skeptical about the brown sugar but after it was baked, realized that they do sweat as per your notes 🙂
Great job with the recipe..keep up the good work and keep sharing especially for working mothers where we do need simple recipes that are not time consuming.
That’s great Iris! Thanks for letting me know! – N x ❤️
Easy, very moist and tasty. Definitely a keeper. I used some onion powder, curry powder and turmeric instead of garlic powder and herbs …very good!. And I cooked halved fresh peaches with a little molasses in the center in the same pan. Perfectly yummy!
That’s great Ruth! Thanks for letting me know! – N x ❤️
Oh my gosh! This is so yummy and didn’t take much effort to make.! It is very moist and has such delicious flavor. And the pounding was lots of fun! : ) Thanks so much for sharing. I can’t wait to have some friends over and cook some chicken….and act like it was really difficult to do.
Love hearing that Catherine! I’m so pleased you love this as much as I do! N x
Hi Nagi made this last night it’s a keeper.i have them on my grocery list for a repeat performance. I intend to make the sweet potato salad also. I will serve it as a light lunch I cook I cook twice a day for my invalid husband who cannot eat bread so a quick sandwich is off the menu I look for simple dishes .Thank you. I’ve been scanning the internet for the lovely bottles u used for the salad dressings do your Rember where you sourced them? I’m sure I would have more impetus to make more than one salad dressing at a time. So pretty.Tks
Hi Beryl! I’m so pleased you enjoyed this! The bottles were from a discount store, just a local one. I haven’t seen them since unfortunately. But I just use normal jars for all my salad dressings!
This is a delicious and very easy recipe which I love. It makes cooking a lot less stress free.
What would be the best way to re heat the chicken if you want to pre cook it in the afternoon before serving at a dinner party?
Thank you
Robyn
Hi Robyn! To be honest, breast is not the best for reheating because it’s so lean 🙂 But if you wanted to do so, then microwave is best. Loosely cover with cling wrap to keep the moisture in and reheat gently so it’s warm, not piping hot – don’t want to risk overcooking!
Oh – my – goodness! First let me say, I have never liked chicken breasts that I cook. They always come out exceptionally dry, so I would replace chicken thighs for every chickent breast recipe I found. THIS time, I decided to try the recipe as written, since you addressed the dryness factor and assured me that this would work. Well, you were absolutely correct! My breasts, though abnormally large, came out extremely juicy and tender after beating them to a meaty pulp. And even though I used a 9×13 baking dish instead of the tray, the results were the same. They even remained juicy the next day when I microwaved leftovers. This recipe will stay in constant rotation for me.
Glad you enjoyed it Martye! Thanks for letting me know! N x
i have never left a review on a recipe before, but i had to. i can’t cook very well and chicken? even less! but this recipe was awesome and so good. i used rosemary instead of oregano/thyme and it was delicious. thank you!!!!
You’re so welcome Sunny! Glad you enjoyed it 🙂 N x
I was searching the web for a chicken breast recipe and decides to try this one. All I can say is wow! This recipe was exactly as it is described, juicy, tender and delish. Thanks for the recipe..
This is great chicken! The first week after my wife found this recipe I had it every night straight for the entire week.
Wow, high praise!! 🙂 N xx