Baked Blackened Chicken
Baked Blackened Chicken
Assortment of seasonings to keep flavor in your baked chicken
Chicken after bariatric surgery
Most post-ops find their biggest struggle with chicken is to make sure it doesn’t get too dry. (By the way, small bite sizes are the biggest key to enjoying chicken! Oh, you already knew that?! Black bean sized bites are my recommendation.)
With all the ways to make chicken these days, I find myself baking chicken less and less often. Grilling chicken, Instant Pot Chicken…all the time. It dawned on me as I was prepping chicken to bake that I hardly ever do this anymore!
Tips for keeping chicken moist
A couple tips on this particular recipe is how you cut the chicken to be a bit smaller and a bit more even in size. I included some photos on the recipe steps below. I use kitchen shears to cut my chicken breast in half long-ways.
This method means less time the chicken needs to be in the oven, which cuts down on how long moisture will escape. I also note if the top of the chicken breast is much thicker than the bottom…
Now, I COULD pound out the chicken breast until it was thinner. However, like many of you I’m rushed when I’m making dinner so I just cut the big piece from the small piece and I take the smaller piece out of the oven first.
**Oh, I’m also a believer that my cooking stone helps keep in more moisture compared to a cookie sheet. You’ll see mine in the recipe photos, it’s a Pampered Chef item.
It’s all about the temperature
If you don’t have a meat thermometer, get one today. Seriously.
We all fear serving under cooked chicken but then we overcook it. Having an instant read thermometer means you can know when your chicken is 160 F and remove it from heat.
Yes, you want chicken to be 165 but thanks to “carry over cooking” you can remove from heat and it will reach the safe temperature.
Baked Blackened Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1/4 tsp cayenne
- 2 packets stevia or other no calorie natural sweetener
- 1/4 tsp onion powder
Instructions
- Heat oven to 400F. Mix all the seasonings together in a small bowl.
- Using kitchen shears, remove any unwanted tendons or fat. If breasts are large cut in half down the middle. (Photo is after cut in half)
- If any pieces have a thicker side and a thinner side, cut the two apart. This allows you to remove the thinner piece of chicken when ready to avoid overcooking, and allow the thicker piece to continue.
- Place chicken on a baking stone or cookie sheet. Use seasoning mixture to coat all sides of chicken. Place in heated oven.
- Bake for 20 minutes, checking on thinner pieces first and using a meat thermometer to read 160F before removing from the oven. Serve with vegetables.
