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!
This recipe is amazing served fresh out of the oven with some veggie sides. But you can also slice, shred, or dice them to use in other dishes, like chicken noodle soup, chicken salad, or chicken chili.

If you love juicy chicken breast recipes, I’m sure you’ll love this one. 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 recipe and helps the chicken breast to be tender, moist and juicy too. This sauce is so good that you don’t need to even use a chicken marinade.
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 need to pound the chicken breast with a rolling pin or meat mallet. You also don’t need parchment paper or plastic wrap. Alright, let’s start and make this recipe!
Here’s What You’ll Need
- 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 — I went with grass-fed butter for richer flavor and top-notch quality.
- Italian seasoning – You can also use dried oregano.
- Fresh parsley — chopped
- Garlic — minced
- Olive oil — extra virgin
Instructions to make Baked Chicken Breast
1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Season all the sides of chicken breast with salt, pepper and paprika. In a cast iron skillet or another oven-safe skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Once the skillet is hot, add the chicken breast. Sear for 1-2 minutes on each side, or until golden brown.

2. In a small bowl mix together the butter, Italian seasoning, parsley, and garlic. Set aside.

3. Pour the garlic butter mixture over the chicken breasts. Place the skillet in the oven and cook for about 20-30 minutes, or until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165°F. Use an instant read thermometer to check the internal temperature.
4. Remove the cooked chicken breasts from the oven. Using a spoon, drizzle some of the butter sauce from the skillet over the juicy, tender chicken breasts 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. You can also make it with bone-in and skin on chicken thighs too.
- Let the oven baked chicken breasts 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 them 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 it’s smaller than 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 a meat thermometer. Chicken is fully cooked when it reaches an internal temperature of 165°F (74°C).
This ensures they stay juicy and don’t dry out. Be sure to insert the thermometer into the thickest part of the chicken for an accurate reading.
How do you keep baked chicken moist?
Be sure not to overbake the chicken to prevent them from drying out.
We also spread the garlic butter over the chicken breasts for extra moisture. That’s how I make delicious perfectly baked chicken breasts that retains all its natural juices.
Do you need to flip chicken when baking?
No, there’s no need to flip them when baking.
What if I don’t have a cast iron?
You can use a regular skillet to sear your chicken. When you are ready to bake the chicken breasts, transfer them to a foil sheet pan, casserole, or an oven-safe baking dish. Then, add the garlic butter.

Serve this Recipe with:
This is the most popular chicken breast recipe on this site. My readers usually love to serve it with salads, rice, mashed potatoes, or roasted veggies like broccoli and cauliflower.
You can also serve with a delicious quinoa salad, roasted asparagus, yummy air fryer sweet potato fries or cauliflower rice.

Garlic Butter Baked Chicken Breast
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Ingredients
- 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- salt and 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.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.
Darrel says
Seared and used the oven temp probe, got to temp very quickly! Turned the oven off and left for 10 min. Put the juices in the rice, and served with buttered peas. Happy wife…
Olivia says
So happy you and your wife enjoyed this recipe 😉
Marlena says
My husband is a very picky eater when it comes to chicken. I tried this recipe last week and he absolutely loved it. He asked for it again tonight!
Olivia says
So happy to hear that!
Vicki Modica says
Made this for dinner and it’s really good.. very garlicky but you adjust to taste.. I always add much more herbs to flavor things and put a ton of smoked paprika, thyme, Italian seasoning, season salt, pepper, parsley and onion powder on the chicken while pan searing. Had 1/2 stick of butter melted in the pan to sear, then added another 1/2 stick to the pan and the minced garlic right before putting it in the oven. I also basted the chicken a few times with the butter while in the oven, too. The breasts weren’t all even, so I had to take out the smaller pieces before the larger one so it didn’t dry out, but it was very flavorful and really fast and easy. Made some boiled little tiny golden potatoes and after I drained the water I added a good amount of butter to the pan to melt, with salt, pepper and a ton of parsley. Creamy and yummy 😋
Olivia says
So thrilled to hear you enjoyed the recipe and made it your own! Your additions of smoked paprika, thyme, Italian seasoning, season salt, pepper, parsley, and onion powder sound absolutely delicious – talk about a flavor-packed meal! The basting with butter in the oven and the creamy touch to the potatoes make it all sound irresistibly good. Thanks for sharing your tips, and I’m glad it turned out flavorful and quick for you. If you ever try more recipes, feel free to share your creative twists!
Amber Bevins says
My family loved this recipe! The flavors are outstanding and the chicken is so tender and juicy! One of our favorites for sure!
Olivia says
Awww how awesome to hear that! My family also love this recipe so much. It’s easy and tender and flavorful! Perfect for a weeknight dinner.
Teresa says
I tried this recipe for dinner yesterday. It was delicious!! Perfectly seasoned, tender, and so juicy! It was so easy to! My husband loved it as well. It will definitely be on the go to list from now on. Thank you for sharing it!
Olivia says
I’m thrilled to hear that you enjoyed the recipe! It’s wonderful to know that it turned out deliciously seasoned, tender, and juicy. I’m glad both you and your husband loved it! Having it on your go-to list is fantastic, and I’m grateful for your kind words.
Trina Cummings says
The chicken was tough but it was good
Olivia says
Thanks for sharing your feedback! I’m glad you found the chicken tasty, despite it being a bit tough. Next time, you might try cooking it for a bit less time to avoid it becoming tough.
Jane Arkell says
I have tried this recipe and it is quite possibly the best one so far for boneless chicken breasts.Every ingredient compliments the other..not to mention that it’s done in an iron frying pan. Additionally this gem of a recipe freezes very well.Thank you so much for sharing this!!
Olivia says
Wow, I’m thrilled to hear that you loved the recipe! Thank you for trying it out and sharing your feedback—it means a lot!
Pam J says
This turned out just okay. The flavor was good but the chicken wasn’t tender or moist. I think next time I will pound the chicken.
Olivia says
It sounds like you had a good flavor but the texture wasn’t quite right. Did you find that you might have overcooked the chicken a bit? Sometimes that can lead to it being a bit tough and dry.
Pamela says
This had a very good taste and we liked it, however, it wasn’t tender. I did use an in the oven temperature probe and removed it at 160° and let it finish cooking during the rest time. Next time I will try pounding the chicken a bit.
nancy c massie says
Excellent chicken breast – so flavourful, incredibly easy and not dry! After one go, it will enter regular rotation.
Olivia says
Right? My favorite chicken breast recipe EVER!