This tasty baked chicken breast is cooked with garlic butter sauce in the oven for 20 minutes until tender and juicy. It’s sure to become an instant family favorite!
If you love juicy chicken breast recipes, I’m sure you’ll love this recipe. My husband also loves it, especially because I cook it in garlic butter sauce. Who doesn’t love a buttery flavoured sauce?
This sauce gives more flavor to this chicken breast and helps it to be tender, moist and juicy too. This sauce is so good that you don’t need to even use a chicken marinade.
Don’t be afraid to bake chicken in the oven – it won’t be dry or tasteless. This is one of the juiciest chicken breast recipes you can find online.
This is also one of my favorite chicken recipes because it’s so quick and easy to make. No weird steps, no wrapping or brining needed. You don’t even need to pound the chicken breast with a rolling pin or meat mallet and you don’t need to use parchment paper or plastic wrap either. The garlic butter sauce will bring all the flavors.
Ingredients to Make Baked Chicken Breast
- Chicken breast — I use boneless skinless chicken breast.
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper — Keep in mind that kosher salt is twice the size of table salt. A sprinkle of table salt is much saltier than the same amount in kosher salt.
- Paprika — Use sweet or smoked paprika. You can replace paprika for other spices like garlic powder and chili powder too.
- Butter — use Ghee if you’re doing Whole30.
- Italian seasoning – You can also use dried oregano.
- Fresh parsley — chopped
- Garlic — minced
- Olive oil — extra virgin
Instructions to make Baked Chicken
1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Season all the sides of chicken breast with salt, pepper and paprika. In a cast iron skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. When the skillet is hot add chicken breast. Sear for about 1-2 minutes each side or until golden.
2. In a small bowl mix together the butter, Italian seasoning, parsley, and garlic. Set aside.
3. Pour garlic butter mixture over the chicken breast. Place skillet in the oven and cook for about 20-30 minutes or until chicken breasts gets to an internal temperature of 165F.
4. Remove from the oven. Using a spoon, pour some of the butter sauce left in the skillet onto the chicken breast before serving.
Olivia’s Recipe Tips
- After removing the chicken breast from the fridge, pat dry the chicken with paper towels.
- Replace chicken breast for chicken thighs or even chicken legs if it’s what you have. I prefer to make this recipe with boneless skinless chicken breast. However, you can make it with bone-in and skin on chicken thighs too.
- Let the baked chicken rest for 5 minutes before serving.
How To Store Leftovers
- To Store: Let the chicken cool, then place it in an airtight container. I prefer using glass containers because they don’t retain smells and are easier to clean. It’ll last for up to 4 days in the fridge.
- To Freeze: You can freeze it for up to three months. For convenience, I suggest shredding, dicing, or slicing the chicken before freezing.
- To Reheat: Microwave your baked chicken with a damp paper towel over top the container to keep it moist.
How long to Bake Chicken Breast?
The cooking time will depend on the size of your chicken breast and also on the power of your oven. Some ovens have slight heat differences.
But according to USDA, a 4-oz. chicken breast should be bake at 350°F (177˚C) for 25 minutes or 30 minutes. If the chicken breast is smaller then 4oz, bake it for about 20 minutes.
However, to bake a 5 to 6 ounce chicken breast at 400F, it will take around 20 to 25 minutes.
How do you know when boneless chicken breast is done?
Check the temperature of the chicken breast with an instant read thermometer. Chicken is cooked when it reaches the internal temperature of 165°F (74˚C). Don’t forget to always insert the meat thermometer into the thickest part of the chicken.
What should I serve with this Baked Chicken
- Serve it with a salad on the side.
- Over roasted veggies.
- Over quinoa, rice, dinner rolls or mashed potatoes if you’re not following a low-carb diet.
More Chicken Breast Recipes to Try:
- Delicious Chicken Mushroom that are both super easy to make.
- Super Juicy Chicken Breast that we love for dinner.
- Chicken Fajitas and it’s stays good in the fridge for up to 4 days.
- Easy and quick to make Mediterranean Chicken Skillet.
Frequently Asked Questions
If you don’t have a cast iron pan, no need to worry. Use a skillet to cook chicken, then transfer to a foil pan or baking dish before adding garlic butter and baking.
Tip: if you bake it in a sheet pan or casserole, add some potatoes, cauliflower and broccoli to make it a one-pan meal.
No, there’s no need to flip it when baking.
I recommend using a garlic butter sauce, as it adds extra moisture to the chicken. This is how I prepare this easy chicken dinner to ensure it retains all its natural juices.
It comes down to what you prefer and how you like your chicken. Both baking and pan-frying can make tasty chicken breasts, but baking usually needs less oil, which some people prefer for health reasons.
For more quick and easy chicken breast recipes for dinner, give my family’s favorite dishes a try like this Stuffed Chicken Breast. We also love this Instant Pot Chicken Breast and this Air Fryer Chicken Breast Recipe.
Garlic Butter Baked Chicken Breast
Video
Ingredients
- 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 + 1/4 teaspoon paprika
- 4 tbsp butter (melted) use Ghee if you're doing Whole30.
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic minced
- 1 tbsp. olive oil extra virgin
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Season chicken breast with salt, pepper, 1/2 teaspoon of paprika and set aside.
- In a small bowl mix 1/4 teaspoon of paprika, butter, Italian seasoning, parsley, and garlic. Set aside.
- In a cast iron skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. When the skillet is hot add chicken breast. Sear until golden. It’s about 1-2 minutes each side.
- Pour garlic butter mixture over the chicken breast. Place skillet in the oven and cook until cooked through. It’s about 20-30 minutes or until chicken breasts gets to an internal temperature of 165F.
- Remove from the oven. Using a spoon, pour some of the butter sauce left in the skillet onto the chicken breast before serving.
Tips
- Fresh garlic tastes a lot better than pre-minced garlic, so I recommend you use fresh garlic cloves.
- Get chicken breasts similar in size, so they cook evenly.
- If you don’t have a cast-iron skillet, you can cook the chicken in a regular pan. After cooking it on the stove, transfer the chicken to a baking dish or sheet pan. Finish cooking the chicken in the oven.
- To store: Store leftover chicken breasts in an airtight container for up to 4 days in the fridge.
- To reheat: You can reheat in the microwave when ready to eat. You can also eat chicken cold.
- To freeze: Freeze the cooked chicken breasts in a freezer-safe bag or container for up to 3 months.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.
Watch the Baked Chicken Breast Web Stories.
Kim Pate says
Very good!!
Olivia says
Thanks!
carolyn says
2/23/23
I made this tonight for dinner. It was delicious and juicy. I had to substitute the fresh parsley for dried as I didn’t have any fresh on hand.
Olivia says
Happy you liked this recipe!
Amy says
I’m planning on making this for dinner. Looks yummy! But I don’t have fresh garlic cloves. How much minced shud I use in its place?
Olivia says
1/2 a tablespoon should be fine.
James Neal says
Tasty
Olivia says
Totally!
Mike says
Ordinary baked chicken. Way overcooked at 20 minutes. Enough butter and garlic makes anything tolerable!
Olivia says
As it was mentioned on the post, the cooking time will depend on the thickness of your chicken breast. It can be short or longer.
Lina says
Wow! Family of 6 here so I doubled the breasts, tripled the spices and added 2tsps of brown sugar to spice mix, tripled the butter and garlic. Added two twigs of rosemary and one lemon cut in round wedges. Absolutely phenomenal and everyone loved it! Even my picky eater! That’s a winner right there 🤩
Served with jasmine rice and tomato salad. Did I mention this is my first time using a cast iron? Thank you for this amazing recipe!!
Olivia says
Your comment made my day!! Thank you so much for stopping by. Thank you so much!
Zinta says
This was amazing and super easy!
Olivia says
Right? One of my fave chicken recipes!
Laura says
Awesome chicken! We thoroughly enjoyed!
Olivia says
That’s awesome. Happy you liked this recipe!
Mel says
The ingredient list only lists 1 tsp paprika, but the recipe instructions use paprika in step 1 and 2. Should the paprika be divided?
Olivia says
Thanks for pointing it out. I just fixed it on the recipe card. Thank you!
Ja says
This was very good and very easy to make. I sliced the breast at an angle and placed on top of bed of seasoned brown rice, with a side of stir fried green beans.
Olivia says
Sounds yummy!!
Lillie says
This recipe was so delicious and so easy to make. My family loved it. Definitely a keeper!
Olivia says
That’s awesome. Happy you and your family liked this recipe! Thanks for stopping by.