How To Bake Chicken Breast

The best cut of meat that is the favorite of food lovers is perhaps the chicken breast. Tender and succulent, chicken breast is low on fat, and so it rates highly in the diet conscious health chart. Since chicken breast is easy to prepare and requires just little more than sprinkling of a few spices, it is a very good and healthy option to rustle up a quick meal, when pressed for time. Chicken breasts are also very versatile, and so they taste fabulous in any manner in which you cook, and whatever marinades or condiments that you use. You can poach, grill, steam, sauté or microwave them, but nothing can be compared to baking the delicacy. When baked right, this meat can hold its own against a variety of other dishes that challenge the taste buds. However, baking chicken breasts is quite difficult a task, as most often people end up over-baking, the end result being a dry, tough and stringy meat. To avoid this, you must give particular attention to the baking time and the temperature at which it is baked. This is the most important aspect that you must keep in mind while baking. To help you hone your skills at baking chicken breasts, read below for a number of tips as to how you can go about it.

Tips For Baking Chicken Breasts

First of all remove the bone and the skin of the chicken breasts. Boneless and skinless chicken breast is the best way to bake them.
Baking generally can be done using two methods - dry heat and moist heat. The only difference between the two being that moist heat baking is done using a parchment.
Chicken breasts when baked using dry heat should use high heat and so must be cooked for a short period of time. In moist heat baking, low heat should be used and the chicken should be cooked for a longer period of time.
Chicken breasts do not cook evenly in dry heat baking. So, it is best to pound the chicken to even thickness, so that it cooks evenly.
Chicken breasts bake relatively fast, as they have little connective tissue. Thus, the time required to soften the connective tissue with heat is not required.
Before baking it is best to brine the chicken. This will also ensure that the chicken is juicy and moist. Since there is very little fat in the chicken breasts, it tends to get dry if baked for too long.
Brining the chicken can be done very easily at home. Take a vessel large enough to hold all the chicken breasts. Fill the vessel with water and mix salt. The amount of salt that you use should be three tablespoons for every four cup of water. Submerge the chicken in the salt water and keep it in a refrigerator for one hour. However, if the chicken is pre-brined at the store, then it is not necessary to brine again.
Chicken breasts must be ideally baked till the internal temperature of the meat reaches to 160 degrees F. To be on the safe side, bake till the temperature reaches to 165 degrees F. This will ensure that the meat is moist. So, make sure that you have a meat thermometer before baking.
After baking, the meat should be cooled very quickly, as the internal temperature of the meat will rise in the first few minutes of removing from heat. You can place the baked chicken breasts in a container in ice cold water.
If you are baking the chicken breasts in parchments, then make sure you preheat the oven to 425 degrees F first. Then spread the parchment foil on the baking dish and arrange the breasts in it. Garnish with lemon slices and other spices and herbs. Now, fold the edges of the foil after bringing them together. Bake for 15 to 25 minutes or longer if you are baking more than four breasts.

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