Say goodbye to bland and boring chicken. These baked chicken breasts are juicy, tender, and perfectly seasoned – and they’re so easy to make!
Recipe Highlights
I’ve made these baked chicken breasts more times than I can count. They’re great for dinner and perfect for meal prep. Change the seasonings to match your meal!
- Flavor: Perfectly seasoned and juicy, oven-baked chicken is an easy go-to anytime. This chicken pairs well with almost any side dish.
- Skill level: Season, bake, and serve with only one dish to wash.
- Prep note: Double the recipe and meal prep to use all week long.
- Recommended tools: An inexpensive meat thermometer is my number one kitchen recommendation for perfect proteins, especially chicken.
Ingredient Tips For Baked Chicken Breasts
- Chicken: Use boneless, skinless chicken breasts that are similar in size so they cook evenly. In this recipe, I use 5-7 oz breasts.
- Oil: Olive oil helps the seasonings stick and helps with browning. Any light tasting oil can be used.
- Seasonings: In the recipe below, I use a simple seasoning mixture; you can use your favorite purchased mixture or a blend from your spice cabinet.
Seasonings For Chicken Breasts
This chicken is versatile; you can use your favorite seasoning blends like Greek Seasoning, Cajun Seasoning, or a simple lemon pepper blend.
Make it a meal: Add whole mushrooms, thinly sliced onions, sliced zucchini, and strips of colorful bell peppers to the sheet pan and bake up an instant veggie side dish.
Tips for Juicy Chicken
- Cooking time: The most important thing is to make sure the chicken isn’t overcooked. Using a meat thermometer, cook to 165°F.
- Cooking temp: I cook at a high temperature to get nice browning on the outside while keeping the meat tender. Bake chicken breasts at 400°F for 21 to 26 minutes.
- Rest time: Let the meat rest after cooking to allow the juices to recirculate back into the meat, keeping it extra juicy.
Serving Suggestions
- Sides: This baked chicken breast recipe pairs with almost anything from Oven Roasted Potatoes to Seasoned Rice. I also love to serve it with roasted broccoli or asparagus.
- Salads: This chicken is great hot or cold in salads like cobb salad or Caesar salad—and any leftovers can be chopped up for a chicken salad sandwich.
- Pasta: Baked chicken is perfect for adding slices to pasta like alfredo or served alongside mac and cheese.
Storing Leftovers/Meal Prep
Store leftover baked chicken breasts in an airtight, covered container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Chicken can be sliced or chopped and frozen for meal prep.
More Chicken Breast Recipes
Did you make these Oven Baked Chicken Breasts? Leave us a rating and comment below!
Baked Chicken Breast
Equipment
- 9 x 13-inch Baking Pan lightly greased
Ingredients
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts about 6 oz each
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- ½ teaspoon seasoned salt or table salt
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F. Lightly grease a rimmed baking pan or line it with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, combine chicken breasts, olive oil, Italian seasoning, seasoned salt, paprika, and black pepper. Mix well to coat.
- Transfer the chicken to the prepared pan and bake uncovered for 21 to 26 minutes or until the chicken breasts reach an internal temperature of 165°F.
- Transfer to a plate or cutting board and rest for 5 minutes before slicing.
- Cut into slices and drizzle with the juices.
Video
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Chicken, Dinner, Entree, Main Course
Cuisine American© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
Have you adapted this recipe for the air fryer / convection oven?
You can follow the cooking times in this air fryer recipe.
No carb counts were in the Nutrition Information…
This recipe has 0 carbs.
Hi Michelle, the carb count in this recipe is negligible. But our values are only estimates and we recommend using an app like MyFitnessPal for a more accurate information based on the ingredients and brands you used.
This is my go to recipe for baked chicken. It’s so flavorful and moist.
Made this chicken for an Italian salad with chicken & it was fast, easy & wonderful!
I dipped the chicken pieces in melted butter first then sprinkled on the spices( instead of the olive oil). Came out great! My husband said I could do that one again!! (not a fan of new recipes) It was moist and delicious
I have this recipe on repeat! Juicy, nicely seasoned, and easy.
This recipe makes juicy, delicious chicken breasts. They are so easy to make. I’ve made they a few times and the family loves them!
My big chicken breast was not nearly cooked in 30 minutes at 400F. I don’t believe all those anonymous reviews that say it’s the best chicken breast recipe.
The recipe indicates that the breasts should be 6 ounces each. They will cook correctly in 30 minutes. Perhaps yours were more than 6 ounces, since you said they are “big” and that is why they weren’t cooked through in 30 minutes. Hope that helps.
thank you for simple recipies for chicken! I love them!
Love this recipe! It’s very simple and easy to prepare, and had a lot of flavor. I used chicken tenders, not breasts, and cooked it for 20 minutes. I will definitely be making this again!
delicious!!
This is the ONLY way I make chicken now!! I love it! The juiciest chicken breast I’ve ever had! When making, I always make enough to make her divine classic chicken salad. Another 5 star recipe!!
Delicious
Best chicken recipe ever! Mine always turns out perfectly!
This chicken recipe is very flavorful, moist and easy to make. Your recipes are always my “go-to”. I’ve never have been disappointed. Always looking forward to your daily e-mail for recipes.
That is so sweet of you! Thank you ❤️
so easy to make and delicious to enough.
Make this recipe a lot and everyone loves it. Very moist and flavorful.
I love your spice jars. Where did you get them please and thank you. My spices are a mess and driving me crazy. Could you possibly take a picture of how you store your spices. The tiered shelf doesn’t work form me. I’m short and if I reach for one in the back, they fall over and fall out onto my kitchen counter.
Hi Kathy, I use these metal square spice containers for all my spices and label the fronts with the spice it contains. I do have mine on a tiered shelf but I can definitely understand how that could be difficult!
Hi Holly! Do you use the 4oz or 8oz of those spice containers? Thanks! :)
That depends on the spice, but for most spices we use the 4 ounce size.
Recipe looks great, cannot wait to try it, maybe this weekend.
As far as seasoning goes, one of my favorites is to sprinkle chicken or fish with lemon pepper. Yum!!
Being on a reduced sodium diet, I appreciate this recipe having a reasonable sodium level. Thank you.
That sounds delicious, John! Thank you for sharing.
Love this recipe
Use it all the time
Moist and Tasty