Can Baked Chicken be Juicy?

I don’t like to fry foods very often.  Not only is it less healthy, but it makes a big mess in my kitchen.  The problem with this is that my husband loves fried food especially fried chicken.  I have tried cooking chicken in all sorts of ways over the years, but he really never liked them all that much.  Another problem is that he likes dark meat and I like white meat, so over the last few years I have been experimenting with different chicken recipes for thighs and legs and I would just throw a breast in for me.  Some would be okay but nothing he really liked much until yesterday.  My daughter has been sick, so I stayed home from church with her and cooked lunch.  My husband has mentioned that we need to try to brine our chicken when we would see it on a cooking show or a Facebook recipe.  So I started looking for a recipe that I thought we would like, I couldn’t find one so I took a little from several and made my own.  It was a hit, my husband kept saying how good the chicken was and I didn’t even have any thighs which are his favorite.  I had 3 large boneless breasts and 6 legs that I baked.   They were large boneless breasts so they cooked in the same time as the legs.  If you had small boneless breasts or tenderloins, the cook time would need to be shortened.  We had one breast leftover that I chopped up and put in the freezer for another meal.

I had thawed the chicken completely in the fridge.  I put 4 cups of warm water and 1/4 cup kosher salt in a large bowl, and stirred until the salt dissolved.  I pricked the chicken all over to allow the brine to get into the meat and placed it in the brine.  One of the recipes I looked at said to allow the chicken to soak in the warm water for 15 minutes or place in the refrigerator for up to 6 hours.  I put mine in the fridge for about 2 hours.  When I was ready to cook, I removed the chicken pieces from the brine, patted each dry and placed them on a large baking pan.  I rubbed olive oil over all the pieces of chicken and sprinkled with our favorite seasonings, then turned them over and sprinkled the other side.  I used salt, pepper, garlic powder, and seasoning salt.  The seasoning salt is what gives the chicken the reddish color.  I then placed them in the oven on 350 degrees for 40 minutes (that is the temp and time I needed for another dish I was also cooking), I then turned them over and turned the temperature up to 450 degrees for 20 more minutes.   That is all there was to it, easy to prepare and oh so tasty, but it does take some planning ahead to allow the chicken to have time in the brine and cook for an hour.  It probably took about 30-45 of prep time this time while I was figuring it all out, but the next time it will be quicker since I have a plan now.

I hope you enjoy the recipe as much as we did.

Juicy Baked Chicken

Ingredients

4 cups warm water

1/4 cup kosher salt

2-3 lbs chicken pieces

2-3 tbls olive oil

salt

pepper

garlic powder

seasoning salt

Mix water and kosher salt in a large bowl, stirring until salt is dissolved.  Pierce chicken pieces with fork to allow brine to get into the meat.  Place chicken in brine and soak for at least 15 minutes or place in refrigerator for up to 6 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Remove chicken from brine and pat dry, place chicken pieces on large baking pan and rub with olive oil.  Sprinkle seasonings on chicken to taste, turn over and repeat with seasonings.  The chicken will cook best if it is not touching.

Place in oven for 40 minutes, turn chicken over and turn oven up to 450 degrees and cook for 2o more minutes.  Remove from oven and allow to rest for 10 minutes, then serve.

Did you try the recipe?  Have any tips?  Leave a comment below and let me know.

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