How To Make A Juicy Baked Chicken Breast

Hello, my friends, it's Danny and today I am showing you how to make a juicy baked chicken breast now I know often times when we think of baked chicken we think of dry flavorless overcooked chicken but I promise you that does not need to be the case I know I for one am not willing to sacrifice great flavor in the name of health nor should you be so

I'm gonna share all of my tricks and tips to help you learn to make a nice juicy tender baked chicken breast and if you stick around to the end of the video, I'm also gonna share one of my favorite ways to enjoy this chicken and that is topped with my creamy dairy-free garlic mushrooms now the first thing that I like to do is take my chicken out of the refrigerator about 20 to 30 minutes before we get it in the oven this gives it the opportunity to come up to the room the temperature which is going to help keep it nice and juicy and tender once we bake our chicken now when it comes to chicken I always do my best to buy organic chicken and the chicken that I'm using today comes from a company called butcher box they offer a monthly delivery service where they deliver a variety of grass-fed beef pastured organic chicken and heritage pork right to your door so if that's something that interests you

I'm gonna leave a link down in the description box below so you can learn more about it and just an FYI if the organic chicken is not an option for you do not worry about it don't sweat it just buy what's available and enjoy it now it's also important before we bake our chicken breasts that it's dry otherwise once we get it in the oven it's gonna end up steaming and that is not what we're looking for so what I like to do is just take a few papers towels and just Pat it down a bit to absorb any of the extra moisture now you may have noticed that I don't wash or rinse my chicken

before I work with it on any potential bacteria that could be on the chicken, it's gonna get killed off once it cooks in the oven so you really don't need to worry about it however one the thing I do like to do is make sure that I am washing my hands several times throughout the cooking process this way if I touch the chicken and then I'm gonna touch something else like my salt or my pepper or my spoon I'm not getting chicken on everything that I'm touching now the next step to making sure that you nice juicy tender chicken breast is to make sure that it's the same thickness all the way around right normally when we buy a chicken breast there's different levels of thickness throughout the breast some of there's a little bit thicker some is a little bit thinner and what happens is if you cook it this way it's not going to cook all at the same time and the thinner parts of the chicken is gonna become overcooked and the thicker parts risk being undercooked.

so what we need to do is create a uniform thickness before we bake the chicken so here's how I like to do that I'm just going to start by laying down a small piece of plastic wrap or wax paper on the counter then I'm gonna lay the chicken breast on top of that and then place another piece of wax paper or plastic wrap over the top then I'm going to be using a meat mallet to do the job but if you did not have a meat mallet you could also use a rolling pin or a heavy pan or even a Canobie okay and what you're gonna do is you're gonna pound down and out so you're gonna look for the thick areas hit down and outwards to thin them out a bit and you're just gonna eyeball where it looks a little thicker and aim for those areas until it's even out now once you're done your chicken breast should like nice and even all around just like this and this is how you know that it's gonna cook evenly once you get it in the oven now from here I'm just gonna get them on to a rimmed baking sheet I lay them on there upside down and drizzle a little oil over them

I'm using an avocado oil you could also do an olive oil here and then just gently rub it all over the bottom of the chicken flip the rest over drizzle that oil over the top as well rub that in and then we're ready for the spices now I'm keeping the seasoning very simple today I'm just doing a little bit of kosher salt some black pepper garlic powder and a little bit of smoked paprika for color now this is where you can have some fun with the recipe because simply by changing up the seasonings you can completely change the flavor of the dish a few other blends that I really like to turn to the area a little bit of chili powder over the top I also love a Chinese five-spice powder or even a simple Italian blend but of course use what you have use what you love from here I'm gonna pop my chicken into a 450 degree oven for about 15 min or until the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 160 degrees then I'm gonna pull it out and let it rest on the counter for another five minutes or so you let all of those juices redistribute and you're gonna see that the residual the heat from the chicken is gonna bring the temperature up to 165 which is exactly where you want your chicken when you're ready to eat it and if you take a look come on down and see here that once you cut into the chicken breasts it's nice and tender and juicy.

now if you were making this chicken for your meal prep you would take it from here transfer it into an airtight container and it will happily last in your fridge for up to five days if you wanted to enjoy this chicken breast as is you could easily serve it up with some of your favorite sides a few of our favorite go-to sides to enjoy with this chicken is my chopped corn broccoli my sweet potato wedges or a nice big kale salad but as promised I want to show you one of my favorite ways to eat this chicken and that is with my creamy dairy-free garlic mushrooms poured right over the top so I have a nice large saute pan heating up over a medium heat and to that, I'm adding just one tablespoon of olive oil and then once that oil is heated through I'm adding in 10 ounces of sliced cremini mushrooms now to prepare my mushrooms all that I did was wipe them down with a wet paper the towel you want to remember that mushrooms are like a sponge so you don't really want to run them underwater

otherwise, they're gonna become waterlogged so to wipe off any excess the dirt you just take a wet paper towel and wipe them down then I just trim off the bottom of the stem and cut them in two slices now once you have them in the pan you don't want to touch them if you want to let them Brown up and release from the pan and naturally and once they're looking just like this then you're ready to add a nice big pinch of kosher salt and some fresh chopped garlic give that astir let it go for about 3045 seconds or until that garlic is just starting to become fragrant then I add in some canned coconut milk and a little bit of fresh chopped thyme now if you open up your coconut milk and it's separated just run it through the blender really quick so this way it's nice and rich and creamy before you add it into the pan and on another note if you do dairy you could also use some cream here as well I'm gonna let that simmer for just a couple of minutes and you're gonna see that very quickly it's gonna thicken up and all of these flavors are going to come together and that's how you know that your mushrooms are ready to go so just shut off the heat spoon some of the mushrooms over your chicken breast.

and then I like to finish it with a little bit of fresh chopped parsley over the top this chicken is so juicy and so tender and I just love the way that it pairs with the rich creamy mushrooms you have got to try this one this could certainly be a nice light meal just the way it is or if you wanted to make it a little more family-friendly delicious you could serve it with your favorite grain and a green vegetable on the side so good now if you guys liked this recipe, please take a moment to subscribe like and Share this video with anybody else you know who wants to make healthy eating you so go so simple Subra thanks so much for watching, I'm Danny's fees and I'll see you back here next time with some cleaner and deliciousness Cheers funny about now that you're eating yeah you can't stop the idiot alright ready.

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