Recipe: Perfect Roasted Chicken Breasts

It seems like in the past 10 years or so, the biggest food trend has been "pre-made" foods. Everything from pre-made smoothies, to pre-packaged, pre-made kids lunches, to pre-cooked, pre-grilled chicken strips. If you want convenience foods, you've got a plethora of choices.

But let me encourage you if I may, to actually buy some raw chicken and cook it yourself sometimes. It is SO much cheaper and it tastes SO much better (plus you're cutting out some of those pesky preservatives!).

If you're not in the mood to cook a whole chicken (which I know can seem overwhelming, but it's really quite easy), then let me encourage you to step out of your "boneless-skinless comfort box" and try another cut of poultry, which is much less expensive and much more flavorful.

Have you ever seen these on sale at your grocery store?

They are typically called "Split chicken breasts with ribs" and they come with the skin still on them.

I realize this may gross out a lot of you, but stick with me.

First off, did you see that price?! $3.87 - that's a steal! I sometimes see chicken breasts at our Publix running over $10 for the same amount of chicken. Big savings!

Secondly, I learned long ago from both Ina Garten and Martha Stewart that if you cook the chicken with the skin on and the bone in, the chicken stays extremely moist and you'll get so much more flavor. (That's why at Thanksgiving you typically cook a whole turkey - skin, bones & all. It's much more moist & flavorful that way.)

Now, don't be scared of the skin or bones, because you'll barely have to handle them. Promise!

Here's my favorite go-to recipe from Ina Garten:

Ingredients:

3-4 Chicken breasts (skin on, bone-in)

Kosher salt

Fresh ground black pepper

Olive oil

Directions:

1. Rinse & pat dry the chicken breasts and lay them on a sturdy, rimmed baking sheet.

2. Liberally coat both sides of each breast with olive oil.

3. Again, liberally sprinkle both sides of each breast with salt & pepper.

4. Bake at 350 degrees for 40  minutes.

5. Let rest on baking sheet for at least 5 minutes before cutting.

This is how your chicken will look after baking: crispy and golden on the outside and perfectly white and juicy on the inside.

The skin peels off very easily at this point and if you run a sharp knife along the rib line, you can easily pull away the entire chicken breast.

I use this recipe when I want to make a salad with chicken in it (Cesar, Cobb, etc.), and use any leftovers in black beans & rice or quesadillas. It's an extremely versatile recipe because the chicken isn't heavily flavored, so you can use it for just about anything. Of course it's also delicious just by itself with a side of veggies and some rice.

So, next time you want chicken for dinner, but don't want to pay the high prices for the de-skinned, de-boned breasts, give this recipe a try. I bet you'll become a fan just like me.