How Long Does It Take to Bake Chicken Breast?
Here’s a few guidelines to keep your family healthy, while still cooking a moist and delicious baked chicken.
- Bake a Boneless, Skinless Breast for 25-30 min at 350 degrees
- Bake a Skin and Bone Breast Breast for 35-40 min at 350 degrees
More Chicken baking Tips:
- Make sure chicken isn’t frozen before baking.
- Place chicken breasts on baking dish with sides (to catch the grease), skin side up.
- Rub olive oil on breasts, sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Let rest 10 min before slicing.
Note: You can bake chicken breasts at higher temperatures than listed above for shorter times. However, be careful not to overcook and dry out the chicken. Nobody likes rubbery chicken!!
For a super-moist, kid-friendly baked chicken, try this recipe for Tin Foil Baked Chicken.
How to Tell if the Chicken Breast is Fully-Cooked?
- When pricked with fork, there should be clear juices, without any pink liquid.
- The meat should completely opaque (white, not jelly-like) when sliced.
- The perfect temperature should be 165°F internally.
Tips for Preventing Food Poisoning from Chicken
According the Centers of Disease Control, the biggest risk of food poisoning is actually from the raw chicken juices, not from under cooking the center meat.
The vast majority of bacteria form on the outside of the raw food, which will become the warmest area when cooked. But the problem comes when juices contaminate the chicken during slicing.
That means, you can actually cook a chicken breast to the perfect temperature, and then contaminate everything by using unclean utensils during serving!
Remember to use a non-wooden cutting board (bacteria like to live in wood, but can’t live in plastic), and keep all knifes and utensils clean — and thoroughly wash everything that’s touched raw chicken juices, like your hands — keep any uncooked things away from the cooked food.
Remember, cleanliness is actually more important than temperature when cooking poultry.
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