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Easy Baked Chicken Breasts Recipe

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Easy Baked Chicken Breasts Recipe – Tender and juicy, perfectly baked chicken breasts! The one and ONLY method and recipe you will need for baked chicken.

Easy Baked Chicken Breasts Recipe - Tender and juicy, perfectly baked chicken breasts! The one and ONLY method and recipe you will need for baked chicken.

How to make juicy and tender baked chicken breasts with just one simple method!

You heard that right: The one and ONLY method you will need for baked chicken.

I have used this recipe for perfectly baked chicken time and time again, all with different seasonings and flavors, and it has YET to disappoint. It’s so tender and so juicy that you will most likely come on over here and thank me for sharing this little secret of a method. Maybe? 😳 😉

By the way, HI, friends! Are you feeeeeling it? The little bit of January-nano-second-extra-daylight? Sun goes down at 4:18 p.m. now instead of 4:17.6 p.m.! High-Fives, everybody! Spring is NEAR! 🙌

Easy Baked Chicken Breasts Recipe - Tender and juicy, perfectly baked chicken breasts! The one and ONLY method and recipe you will need for baked chicken.

Nah, I know we have a couple months left of this dreary sleepy weather, but the one thing that I DO like about winter is all the cooking I can do. I am way too cold to go out there so I just sit in my kitchen and draft up recipes. Then, I test them, then we eat them, then I make them again, photograph them, AND finally I get to share them with you in my little space here.

Easy Baked Chicken Breasts Recipe - Tender and juicy, perfectly baked chicken breasts! The one and ONLY method and recipe you will need for baked chicken.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED TO MAKE THE MOST PERFECT BAKED CHICKEN BREASTS:

Today I am going to show you how to make the most perfect baked chicken breast. All it involves is butter. AND parchment paper, and seasonings, and a fork, and knife. Fork and knife not needed until you’s are ready to eat ’em up. 🍴

What you see up there is 4 chicken breasts all topped with my choice of seasonings and pats of butter. However, all of that is not the secret to my method. The secret is:

Easy Baked Chicken Breast Recipe - Tender and juicy, perfectly baked chicken breasts! The one and ONLY method and recipe you will need for baked chicken.

Easy Baked Chicken Breast Recipe - Tender and juicy, perfectly baked chicken breasts! The one and ONLY method and recipe you will need for baked chicken.

My husband’s hands…

KIDDING! 😆

WHAT IS THE SECRET TO TENDER AND JUICY CHICKEN BREASTS?

The secret is in that parchment paper placed over the chicken breasts. Parchment paper prevents the chicken from drying out. In this way, the chicken bastes in its own juices and we end up with perfectly tender, juicy chicken breasts. 👏👏👏

Easy Baked Chicken Breasts Recipe - Tender and juicy, perfectly baked chicken breasts! The one and ONLY method and recipe you will need for baked chicken.

This is also why we all love those juicy “In-Foil Chicken Recipes“; they cook up inside foil packets in their own juices and always come out moist! Like so:

But this time, instead of wrapping it all up inside foils, we’re just going to cover the chicken with parchment paper. This makes the chicken sweat while it bakes and the result is a juicier, tender chicken breast.

You can use this method and recipe pretty much any time that you need to bake up some chicken breasts. It’s a tried and true method, taught in culinary schools, and it works each time with whatever seasonings you wish to use.

SIMPLE CHICKEN SEASONING

My go to’s are:

  • salt
  • pepper
  • oregano
  • Italian seasoning
  • garlic powder
  • and more garlic.

I’m pretty sure garlic is part of my DNA… or something like that.

Easy Baked Chicken Breasts Recipe - Tender and juicy, perfectly baked chicken breasts! The one and ONLY method and recipe you will need for baked chicken.

MORE BAKED CHICKEN RECIPES

Garlic Yogurt Baked Chicken

Baked Chicken with Spinach and Artichokes

Baked Garlic Butter Chicken

Italian Chicken and Vegetables In Foil

ENJOY!

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TOOLS AND INGREDIENTS USED IN THIS RECIPE

WATCH HOW TO MAKE EASY BAKED CHICKEN BREASTS

5 from 10 votes
Easy Baked Chicken Breasts Recipe - Tender and juicy, perfectly baked chicken breasts! The one and ONLY method and recipe you will need for baked chicken.
Print
Easy Baked Chicken Breast
Prep Time
5 mins
Cook Time
30 mins
Total Time
35 mins
 

Tender and juicy, perfectly baked chicken breasts! The one and ONLY method and recipe you will need for baked chicken.

Course: Dinner
Cuisine: American
Keyword: baked chicken breasts, chicken breasts recipe
Servings: 4 Serves
Calories: 161 kcal
Author: Katerina | Diethood
Ingredients
  • olive oil cooking spray
  • 4 (1 pound) boneless, skinless chicken breasts (washed, dried, and trimmed)
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
  • 1/2 teaspoon (or to taste) garlic powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon (or to taste) dried oregano
  • 1/2 teaspoon (or to taste) Italian Seasoning
  • 1 tablespoon butter, cut up into 4 pats
  • parchment paper
Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 400F.

  2. Lightly grease a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray.

  3. Arrange chicken breasts in baking dish and rub in the minced garlic over each chicken breast.

  4. Season chicken on both sides with salt, pepper, garlic powder, oregano, and Italian seasoning.

  5. Place a pat of butter over each chicken breast.

  6. Place a sheet of parchment paper over the chicken breasts. Tuck the edges so that it's snug around the chicken.

  7. Bake for 30 to 33 minutes, or until chicken's internal temperature reaches 165F.

  8. Serve right away OR remove from baking dish; let completely cool and keep in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. 

Recipe Notes

WW Freestyle Smart Points: 1

Nutrition Facts
Easy Baked Chicken Breast
Amount Per Serving (1 chicken breast)
Calories 161 Calories from Fat 45
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 5g 8%
Saturated Fat 2g 10%
Cholesterol 80mg 27%
Sodium 157mg 7%
Potassium 419mg 12%
Total Carbohydrates 1g 0%
Protein 24g 48%
Vitamin A 2.4%
Vitamin C 2.2%
Calcium 2.8%
Iron 4.8%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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Comments

  2. I saw a chef use parchment paper by wetting it in water & crumple it , shaking out the excess water & it so much easier to manage…that what I did with this recipe, it was the most amazing chicken ever..thanks Bonita

    Reply

  3. YUM!!! SUPER MOIST AND JUICY. This is my first time baking chicken EVER, and this turned out super delicious juicy and moist. Thank you for this beautiful simple recipe.

    Reply

  4. I do agree with you that the parchment paper is such a secret to keep the juiciness of the chicken breasts. Sometimes with other food like vegetables or pork, chicken, etc I don’t use the paper and it turned out overburned a little bit and dried. Anyways, Baked chicken breasts are yummy! 😋
    – Natalie Ellis

    Reply

  8. This recipe is absolutely fantastic!!! First of all, I don’t like to cook because it never comes out right. i’ve tried different website recipes and it seems cook-times are all over the map for the same dish. One site had a cook time of 18mins-Really? Geez, no wonder it was pink inside and tough to chew. I threw it away.

    Anyway, the first time I made this a few days it ago, I expected another disappointing failure–but NO!!
    The breast was fully cooked at instant-read temp 0f 165f, the meat was very tender and juicy and actually tasted like chicken and that someone else made it–not ME!

    Now just to be sure, I pre-seasoned another breast the same way and left it the refrigerator overnight. The next day I cooked it exactly the same way as before and lo-and-behold it came out perfect again!! This is a WINNER!

    I’ve already bought more breasts in anticipation of another successful meal! I’ll quickly burn myself out on this I’m sure, so I hope you have other recipes as I will certainly try them. Thank you!!!!

    Reply

  9. It’s insane how you have to fight the web page to get to the actual ingredients and details ! Like woah ! You want your work to be appreciated try not to let the website burry all your hard work before we can even see what you did ! Lol
    Anyways! Now that I got through all the ads and can finally see the details…….. this looks good . . But had to wait till I could let the web page to load to finish the recipie. So I’ll let you know how it tastes . Seems like it will come out good.!but pleaSe let people see the recipie so they can make it instead of being redirected from web sites . Makes it hard to coook it if they can’t see what was posted !
    Thanks for post .

    Reply

  10. Used this recipe a month ago and it was the most delicious chicken we have ever eaten. One thing I did do was add fresh asparagus and sliced mushrooms before folding the parchment paper. Now my husband is asking for this meal again. Thank you for this wonderful recipe

    Reply

  11. Delicious! I didn’t have fresh garlic so I used powder (I know….), and omitted the butter subbing veg stock. They were the most amazing, moist chicken breasts I’ve had ever! I will try it with the fresh garlic and butter next time. Thanks for the recipe.

    Reply

  13. Didn’t have parchment paper so I had to Use Aluminum foil, worked great and really moist. O
    I used all different seasonings that I had plus yours. Thanks for this great recipe.

    Reply

  14. Excellent easy to do recipe with outstanding flavor.i like using a clay baking dish and it did well.

    Reply

  17. I realize this sounds like a dumb question, but I dont’ understand the tucking the parchment paper under the chicken thing. My butter sticks to the paper when I try to tuck the parchment under the chicken. Is it supposed to be tucked in tightly all round? Just lengthwise? I appreciate the hard work that goes into making a recipe and posting it on your blog and not trying to nitpick, but another photo of what it looks like all tucked in would be helpful. Thanks!

    Reply

      • I’m glad you asked this because I didn’t see the question that the first commenter had posted. I’m VERY sorry about that!
        You don’t have to tuck the parchment paper all under and around the chicken… tuck it just around the edges so that the liquid does not escape. The liquid is what will keep the chicken moist. Refer to the 4th picture from the top and that’s as much tucking as needs to be done. 🙂 I hope this helps! Please let me know if I’m still not making sense. 😀

        Reply

  19. Can you leave out the pat of butter? I’m marinating with a Greek Chicken Marinade. Will the chicken still be juicy and tender if I do not add a pat of butter to each?

    Reply

  22. I’m just about to make this but wasn’t sure if the recipe is calling for 4 chicken breasts totaling 1 pound or each chicken breast is 1 pound for a total of 4 pounds? Please help. Thank you!

    Reply

  26. I’ve made this multiple times since I found this recipe…..my family LOVES it! Absolutely delicious, juicy and easy! Waaaay better and faster than cooking on a grill.
    Thank you for a perfect recipe!

    Reply

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