The most popular Healthy Baked Chicken Breast Recipes all in one spot. Oven-baked chicken breasts are super juicy and delicious!
Make several, add some sides and you’ve got the best chicken meal prep done.
If you need shredded chicken you can use the slow-cooker or instant pot but if you want to enjoy the chicken breast as such, make sure you pan-fry or bake.
Here is how to make the juiciest chicken breasts in the oven and then all those amazing healthy baked chicken breast recipes that are perfect for meal prep.
How to Keep Chicken Breasts Moist and Juicy?
Since pan-frying is kind of a mess I prefer oven-baking over pan-frying. And this is the best way to go about it:
- SHORT ON HIGH!
What this means is the higher the oven temperature and the shorter the cooking time, the better. If you bake only chicken breasts alone, make sure to preheat the oven to 450F (230C) and bake them for 10-25 minutes depending on the weight and thickness.
A chicken escalope for example, a 1/2″ thick tiny chicken breast, and well spread out chicken cubes can bake in as fast as 10 minutes and 1.5″ thick 10.5 oz heavy chicken breasts will take up to 25 minutes.
The absolute easiest way to figure out how long YOUR chicken breast takes to cook (you know, the one that is 9.837492 oz heavy and 1.233949″ thick and never the thickness or weight of all those bloggers explaining stuff online), is to get a meat thermometer! (As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases).
That way it literally doesn’t matter how heavy or thick your chicken breast is. You will aim for 155F internal temp. The FDA recommendation for safe chicken consumption is 165F internal temperature but during the resting time, the chicken will rise another 10 degrees. Hence, you have to pull it out before it hits the 165F internal temperature.
The Best Healthy Baked Chicken Breast Recipes
Now, this is where things get tricky. It’s easy to achieve juicy and moist chicken breasts when baking them alone. Once you throw in other ingredients into the equation to make a whole recipe in the oven everything changes though.
Most vegetables burn on the outside when roasted at 450F and continue to be raw on the inside. 450F is definitely NOT an ideal temperature for veggies. But veggies are a MUST for healthy baked chicken breast recipes, right?
After several tests, I found out that 400F is the perfect middle ground. Some veggies can withstand up to 30 minutes at 400F without burning, others only 10-ish minutes.
That’s easy to remedy though. Just add those veggies that can’t withstand high temps for long to a separate baking sheet and add to the oven later in the process. OR you can also cut the chicken into cubes to accelerate the chicken cooking process.
And now without further ado, let’s get to all those delicious Healthy Baked Chicken Breast Recipes:
Greek Baked Chicken Breasts
These Greek Chicken Meal Prep Bowls are one of the most popular healthy baked chicken breast recipes on the blog so far. The third most popular recipe video on my Instagram of all of 2018.
Delicious homemade Tzaziki, juicy baked chicken breast, and plenty of veggies. Mega delicious and nutritious!
Mexican Baked Chicken Breasts
Closely followed in popularity come these Mexican Chicken Meal Prep Bowls. People rave about the spicy seasoned and juicy baked chicken breasts and the pico de gallo on top.
Super fresh, high in protein and an absolute flavor explosion.
Cajun Baked Chicken Breasts
The winner in terms of ease and fast prep are by far these Cajun Chicken Meal Prep Bowls. By cutting the chicken into cubes you accelerate the baking process and by adding a ready washed slaw to your baking sheet you’ve got lunches ready in 26 minutes flat.
Absolutely in love with taking less than 30 minutes of my Sunday to prepare delicious lunches for the week.
Maple Dijon Baked Chicken Breasts
These Maple Dijon Chicken Meal Prep Bowls scream fall and winter! They are so incredibly delicious and the best part….the veggies take almost the exact same time as the chicken.
They are sweet and savory at the same time and taste great when eaten cold, too. So perfect for on the go when there is no way to reheat your lunch bowl.
Teriyaki Baked Chicken Breasts
I tried and tried and tried to make this an oven only recipe but I failed too many times. There just isn’t anything like Instant Pot Rice. Other than that everything is baked in the oven though and man o man is this delicious!
Super juicy baked chicken breast smothered in thick teriyaki sauce and crunchy roasted veggies. Bliss!
Thai Curry Baked Chicken Breasts
You all know I am IN LOVE with Thai Curries and clearly there couldn’t miss a Thai Chicken Curry Meal Prep Bowl in round-up. My life wouldn’t be complete without Thai Curries.
The sauce is unbelievably good and the veggie mix the absolute best for the coconutty curry sauce!
There you have it the in my opinion VERY best healthy baked chicken recipes of all times! Juicy chicken, plenty of veggies and delicious spices or sauces to make lunchtime healthy AND exciting every single day!
Healthy Baked Chicken Breast Recipes
Ingredients
- 2 10-oz chicken breasts
- 2 tsp coconut sugar
- 1/2 tsp chili powder
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp coriander
- 1 Tbsp poultry seasoning
- 2 small sweet potatoes
- 6 fingerling potatoes - baby potatoes cut in half work, too
- 8 oz bunch asparagus
- 1 red bell pepper
- 8 oz French green beans
- 4 cloves garlic, chopped
- 3 Tbsp avocado oil
- sea salt
- pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400F.
- Make dry rub for one chicken breast by mixing: 2 tsp coconut sugar, 1/2 tsp chili powder, 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp coriander, and sea salt and pepper to taste.
- Pat chicken breasts dry with a kitchen towel then add to a large baking sheet. Sprinkle one breast with dry rub, and the other with poultry seasoning.
- Cut sweet potatoes and potatoes into wedges and add to the same baking sheet. Drizzle the wedges with avocado oil and season with sea salt and pepper.
- Place baking sheet in the oven for 15 minutes.
- In the meantime, wash and towel dry asparagus, cut off the dry ends and add to a separate baking sheet. Drizzle with avocado oil and season with sea salt, pepper, and chopped fresh garlic. Place in the oven with the chicken for 12 minutes, then remove and let rest.
- In the meantime, deseed and slice bell pepper and add to a separate baking sheet with the green beans. Drizzle with avocado oil and season with sea salt, pepper, and chopped fresh garlic. Place in the oven with the chicken for 15 minutes.
- By now the chicken alarm should have gone off. Take out the chicken and potato wedges and give the wedges a turn so they brown evenly. Then return the baking sheet into the oven for a further 10 minutes.
- Remove everything from the oven and let the chicken breasts rest for at least 5 minutes before cutting into them. In the meantime divide potatoes, and vegetables amongst 4 meal prep containers.
- Cut the chicken into cubes and add to the meal prep containers. Store in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Silo says
Which of these can be frozen in advance? Trying to prepare for upcoming surgery and long recovery time. Or would you have other suggestions/recipes instead? Thanks!
Lorena Grater says
Tzaziki (in the Greek one) and Pico de Gallo (in the Mexican one) can’t be frozen but everything else can :)
Punam's Indian recipe says
Seems soooo… delicious. Can’t stop cooking now.