- Today, I'm gonna show
you how to make a recipe that you should all know how to master, and that is juicy, tender and extremely flavorful
baked chicken breasts. If you've ever struggled with dry, rubbery and flat out
boring chicken breasts, you are in luck, because today's recipe is
about as easy as they come. All you've got to do is make
my special seasoning mix, rub it all over the chicken and then bake the chicken
for the right amount of time. And that's the important part. As always I'll share a
few tips in today's video to ensure baked chicken success. So let's dive in. The first tip I have for
the best baked chicken is to let your chicken
come to room temperature. When you cook cold, straight
from the fridge chicken, it's more likely to cook unevenly with an over cooked outside
and under cooked inside. So let it sit at room temperature for about 15 minutes before cooking. And this is really easy to do as you can just take it out of the fridge and let it rest on the counter, while you get all of your
other ingredients together. The next thing you'll want to do is try to get all of your chicken breasts about the same size. If you bake a five ounce chicken breast alongside a nine ounce chicken breast your smaller chicken breast
will likely turn rubbery by the time your bigger one is done. And lastly, because chicken
breasts naturally have one end that's thicker than the other you can gently pound the thicker part of your chicken breast
for a more even thickness which then translates
into more even cooking. Just place it between two
pieces of plastic wrap and use a mallet to lightly pound it. Now, in full disclosure,
I don't always do this but it does help with more even cooking if you want to give it a try. All right, let's make this
seasoning mix for this chicken. While there are seriously
endless combinations for flavoring chicken, this
is a really tasty dry rub that everyone always loves,
and it couldn't be easier. Just mix one teaspoon of kosher salt, one teaspoon of paprika, half a teaspoon of garlic powder, half a teaspoon of dried thyme, and about a quarter teaspoon
of fresh cracked black pepper. And then give that a stir
to mix it all together. Lightly coat the chicken
breasts with about a tablespoon or so of all of oil or avocado oil and rub it in on both sides. Not only does this help
the seasonings stick to the outside of the meat, but it also helps to keep
the chicken nice and moist. Sprinkle the seasoning
mix all over the chicken and then get in there
with your hands once again and rub it all over both
sides of the chicken. If your chicken breasts are in
the six to seven ounce range, you should have plenty of
seasoning for four breasts. My chicken is on the larger side today at nearly eight ounces each, these were just large
organic chicken breasts, but you can see that there's
still plenty of seasoning, and you can always use more
or less of the seasoning to tailor it to your taste. (cheerful music) Preheat your oven to
425 degrees Fahrenheit and then place the chicken breasts in an oven safe baking dish. The high heat at 425 well
cook the chicken quickly and help to retain more
moisture in the meat rather than cooking at a low temperature for a longer amount of time, as that usually results in drier meat. Now, ideally, you'd like
a little bit more space between the chicken
breasts than I have today, but as I mentioned, these
breasts are on the larger side, so they fit a bit more
snug in my baking dish. Place the chicken in the oven and cook it for 18 to 25 minutes, depending on the size
of your chicken breasts. Now, something I do that
most people don't do is flip the chicken halfway through. Most will say that this isn't necessary, but I strongly feel
this is one more reason why my chicken is always so juicy. Both sides of the chicken get coated in the juices from the pan, and you never end up with a dry outside. So I've mentioned that cooking the chicken the right amount of time is key and the size of your chicken breasts and your particular
oven or both variables. That's why it's always best to use an instant read thermometer to double check that internal temperature. Chicken should be cooked
to 165 degrees Fahrenheit to be safe. But if you cook it to that
temperature in the oven it will exceed 170 as it rests, and you'll end up with dry meat. Just as I explained on my
turkey and prime rib recipes, there's always carryover
cooking with meat. Now, chicken breasts,
because they're smaller and have less mass, will have
much less carryover cooking, but they will increase in
temperature several degrees once they're removed from the oven. So I always removed my chicken breasts at 160 degrees Fahrenheit, knowing that they'll increase to that 165, once they've rested. I'll flip my chicken over one last time and you can see that the
outside is not dry at all. It's been coated in all those pan juices and it's super moist,
just as the insight is. And you'll see that when I
slice into it here in a second. You can serve this chicken
was so many amazing sides and I have dozens and dozens
of recipes on my website, including the rice and
garlic sauteed spinach that I'm plating today. The seasoning mix on the
outside of this chicken is loaded with flavor. And when you slice into it, it's so incredibly tender and moist. Just look at all of those
juices glistening in the light. This is the perfect
weeknight dinner recipe and it's what I often use
for meal prep for the week. Just place the cook chicken breasts in a storage container in the fridge, where they'll stay good for
about three to four days, and then top the chicken on salads and bowls throughout the week. I hope you guys enjoyed today's video. And if you did make sure
to give it a thumbs up, share it with your family and friends, and I will see you
again in the next video. (light music)
