Oven Roasted Chicken

Oven Roasted Chicken Breasts

Ina Garten is known at "The Barefoot Contessa" on her cooking shows.  I love to watch her prepare her recipes; I always learn many tricks and tips. Over the years, I've heard her mention the best way to roast chicken breasts is to buy the bone-in, skin on chicken breasts, rub on a little olive oil, and season with salt and pepper.  I finally got around to trying this and it is so easy and good.  This is so much easier and better than grilling or baking boneless, skinless chicken breasts.  The chicken is very juicy and flavorful.

Here is a recipe link to Ina Garten's recipe (she uses the roasted chicken in chicken salad):

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/chicken-salad-sandwiches-recipe-1946257

In the link above, you can see Ina Garten uses her oven roasted chicken breasts to make chicken salad, but really you could use this chicken for anything. Above you can see the dinner I had the other day.  Black rice, oven roasted cauliflower (with garlic, turmeric, and cumin), and sliced roasted chicken.  There are a ton of recipes out there that call for pre-cooked chicken or rotisserie chicken.  So if you find yourself craving roasted chicken or in need of some pre-cooked chicken for a recipe, give this a try.  I will definitely be doing this a lot in the future.

Below: you can see that I seasoned my chicken with a ton of Montreal Steak seasoning (McCormick brand).  It's a combination of coarse salt, cracked black pepper, granulated garlic, and many other spices.  It's great on chicken, beef, and potatoes.  But of course you can season your chicken with just salt and pepper.

Oven Roasted Chicken Breasts

Ingredients

4 split (2 whole) chicken breasts

olive oil 

salt and pepper (I used Montreal Steak seasoning)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place the chicken breasts, skin side up, on a sheet pan and rub them with olive oil. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through. Set aside to cool.

Yesterday I used my leftover roasted chicken in some soup. I'll share that recipe tomorrow.