Wondering how to bake chicken with marinade? This post will be your guide. We’ll cover how to prepare chicken for the oven, how to marinade and the baking technique that traps the moisture in.

Chicken is one of the most versatile meats. You can cook it in a pan, on the grill, or even with a slow cooker. Today we are going to discuss how to bake chicken with marinade.

Easy Oven Baked Chicken Breasts (with the best marinade)

The best EASY Oven Baked Chicken Breasts with the best chicken marinade is the perfect simple dinner recipe. Cook once and eat chicken recipes all week!

Oven Baked Chicken Breasts for Meal Planning

Eating right and meal planning is always a goal of mine. I’m incredibly horrible at it because, after cooking/baking all day for this blog, I’m exhausted. If dinner that day isn’t one of the recipes I made, then it’s way too easy for me to default to take-out or frozen dinners. That’s why, on Sundays, we always try and meal prep protein for the week.

We started doing this last year when my husband was doing Atkins. Every Sunday he would grill chicken breasts, skirt steak and some turkey sausages so that he had proteins for lunch all week long. I’d also use some of them in dinners (make it once, eat it twice). At the end of a long day it’s much easier to deal with already cooked chicken breasts than starting from scratch.

It’s always so hard for me to cook chicken just perfectly so that it’s moist and tender but cooked all the way through. I’ve found that there are a few secrets to making the perfect Oven Baked Chicken Breasts and I’m going to share them with you!

Using my easy tips for making Oven Baked Chicken Breasts will result in the perfect chicken every time. It’s flavorful and easy and perfect for meals all week long.

We make about two pounds of chicken every weekend and then use it throughout the week. It’s so much better when you get it all cooked ahead of time!

The three secrets to the perfect oven baked chicken breasts are:

Even thickness of your chicken breasts.
The perfect chicken marinade recipe.
An instant read thermometer.

Let’s talk about each component. First, thickness of your chicken.

Most of the time, chicken breasts are thicker at one end than the other. To combat this, I place them in a gallon size bag and pound them even with a rolling pin. The more uniform your chicken breasts are, the more evenly they’ll cook. Otherwise, they’ll be dry at one end and raw on the other.

Chicken Breast Marinade for Baking

I absolutely love this recipe and it’s a variation of the steak marinade I always use.

I know, it has a lot of ingredients, but it tastes so much better than a store-bought marinade. In a pinch we buy 30-minute marinades, but I much prefer this one.

Your marinade ingredients are:

Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Lemon juice
Honey
Worcestershire sauce
Low-sodium soy sauce
Dijon mustard
Garlic
Pepper, onion powder, and Italian seasoning

Simply mix those together in a bowl or measuring cup. You don’t have to chop the garlic, just crack it a bit and you can leave it whole.

Add your chicken breasts and let them marinate for at least 4 hours or up to overnight. Marinating time is important for your chicken! It helps the chicken absorb the flavor but also keeps it moist and tender.

How to cook marinated chicken in the oven?

Once the chicken is done marinating, I add them to a baking dish I’ve sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. You’re going to bake them at 400°F until they’re cooked through, about 35-45 minutes. This is where an instant read thermometer comes in handy! They aren’t expensive and will ensure your chicken is cooked just perfectly without any guesswork.

When are oven baked chicken breasts done?

Your chicken breasts will be done when they reach an internal temperature of 165°F. That’s why it’s important to pound them to even thickness and have the thermometer!

Once your chicken is done, let it rest about 10 minutes before slicing. The flavor of the marinade adds so much to the chicken and it’s perfect with any side dish!

Make a large batch of these oven baked chicken breasts once a week and use them in recipes all week long!

Oven-Baked Boneless Chicken Breasts

This Oven Baked Boneless Chicken Breast recipe makes the juiciest and most flavorful chicken. It’s easy to make, and it’s my go-to chicken recipe.

This recipe makes four servings and costs about $10.74 to make, which is just $2.69 per serving. Chicken is a great dinner option that everyone loves.

The finished Oven Baked Boneless Chicken Breast sliced on a blue plate.

Say goodbye to dry chicken forever! This chicken recipe is far from dry and chewy, and you won’t need a dipping sauce to get through eating it. It is juicy and tender. The secret is in the marinade!

The chicken sits in the marinade and then is baked until golden perfection. The savory marinade gives this chicken a flavorful, mouth-watering taste that is hard to beat.

With a few simple steps and thirty minutes of bake time, this Oven-Baked Chicken Breasts recipe will become one of your go-to chicken recipes!

You do not need to cover this chicken while baking. This is a hands-free recipe once you place the chicken in the oven. Let the oven do its magic and then check to ensure the chicken has reached the appropriate internal temperature before removing it.

How to Bake Boneless Chicken Breast in the Oven:

First, make the marinade. Then pour the marinade over the chicken and chill for at least 30 minutes.
Let the chicken sit at room temperature for 20-30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and drizzle olive oil in a baking dish.
Next, bake the chicken for 20-25 minutes. Let the chicken rest for five minutes.
Finally, slice and serve immediately.

A picture collage of How to Make Oven Baked Chicken Breasts.

Cook’s Tools:

9×13-inch baking dish
Measuring spoons
Liquid measuring cup
Whisk
Mixing bowl
Instant-read thermometer

How long do I cook chicken breasts for in the oven?

For juicy and tender chicken, bake it for 20-25 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees F with an instant-read thermometer. Bake the chicken at 375 degrees F.

Do you bake chicken in the oven covered or uncovered?

How do you keep chicken moist when baking?

The secret is in the marinade. Ensure you have enough time to let the chicken sit in the marinade for at least 30 minutes. Doing this will not only enhance the flavor of the chicken but also makes the meat tender and juicy.

Juicy Baked Chicken Breast Recipes – 6 Ways

Get juicy baked chicken breast every time by first marinating your chicken and then baking it at 375ºF until juicy perfection,

You are going to love these 6 oven baked chicken breast recipes. In this post, we’re teaching you how to bake chicken breast perfectly every time along with sharing all of our tips and tricks in getting flavorful baked chicken breasts.

We Love Baked Chicken Breasts

Baked chicken was a childhood dinner staple of mine. Whether it was Italian chicken or a simple baked chicken and rice, we loved every bite.

In my adulthood, I continue to eat a lot of chicken breast, but in a variety of different cooking methods – grilled chicken, stovetop chicken, Instant Pot chicken, and baked chicken.

I love that this lean cut of chicken is easy to flavor, cook, and is high protein. Today, we are talking about a very popular way of cooking chicken- oven baked chicken breast!

oven baked chicken breast is:

High-protein: one 4 oz. chicken breast has 25g of protein. Um, yes, please!
So juicy: perfectly cooked baked chicken breast comes out so juicy.
Quick: you can have dinner ready in less than 30 minutes!
Versatile: chicken breasts can be flavored in so many different ways that it never gets old!
Flavorful: whether you’re using a chicken dry rub or a chicken marinade, chicken breast can be easily infused with flavor.
Meal-prep: when in doubt, make a double or triple batch. Baked chicken can be used for meal-prepping multiple meals throughout the week. Check out our best chicken meal prep recipes.

What kind of chicken breast should I use?

We recommend using boneless skinless chicken breast for this recipe, but bone-in will work too. You’ll need around 1 – 1.5 lbs.

It’s always best to buy high-quality meat, so try and look for organic, free-range chicken breast. This type of meat is not only better for you, but also tastest better.

Finally, you want to make sure that your chicken breast is all relatively the same size so that they cook evenly in the oven.

How to Bake Chicken Breast – 3 Steps

FLAVOR CHICKEN

The two main ways to flavor oven baked chicken breasts for baking are dry rubs and marinades. You guys are absolutely obsessed with our 6 chicken marinade recipes post, and that is how the 6 baked chicken breast recipes in this post were made. Let’s break down both methods below.

Marinades are essentially like a flavor bath for chicken breasts typically made from oil, spices, citrus, and other flavors. Marinades infuse your entire chicken breast leaving them moist and juicy. Marinate your chicken for at least 30 minutes, or for the best results, 2-4 hours.
Dry rubs give chicken breast a flavor infusion in a different way. Chicken dry rubs and chicken seasonings really add flavor to the outside of your chicken and the flavor is usually pretty strong. Dry rubs can help add texture and sometimes even a crust!

How much marinade do you need for 1 lb. of chicken?

We suggest using around 1/2 cup of marinade per 1 – 1.5 lbs. of chicken breasts.

How much dry rub do you need for 1 lb. of chicken breast?

Use anywhere from 1-3 tablespoons of dry rub per lb. of chicken breasts. One thing to look out for is the amount of salt in your dry rub. Too much salt is never good.

chicken breast marinading in a plastic bag.

here’s a tip

Short on time and ingredients? Pop over to the store and buy a store-bought salad dressing such as Italian or French and use that as a marinade for your oven baked chicken breasts instead!

BAKE CHICKEN @ 375ºF

There is a lot of controversy on the internet about the perfect oven temperature for baked chicken breasts. 400ºF? 350ºF? 425ºF?

I’ve been baking chicken breasts for 30+ years (okay, at least watching my mom do it!) and the perfect temperature that gets you juicy, tender chicken breast every time is 375ºF. At this temperature, you won’t dry out your chicken; it’s foolproof!

If you use a lower temperature you might end up with tougher chicken breast and if you use anything hotter, you might end up with a drier chicken breast with a more well done outside.

How long to bake chicken breast at 375ºF?

Bake 1 lb. of chicken breast at 375ºF for 20-25 minutes. You know your chicken is done when the internal temperature reads 165ºF.

How do I know when my chicken is done?

The most scientific way to know that your chicken breast is done cooking is by using a meat thermometer. Stick the thermometer half-way into the thickest part of your chicken breast and then measure the temperature. It should measure at least 165ºF to be safe to eat.