How long do u cook chicken in the oven

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Overview

According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), a 4-ounce chicken breast should be roasted at 350°F (177˚C) for 25 to 30 minutes.

Cooking can be dangerous (especially if you’re a fan of flambé!). While the risks are relatively low when you’re creating a meal in your kitchen, baking chicken or cooking any poultry always comes with the potential for foodborne illness.

Fortunately, knowing how to properly prepare chicken can keep you safe and well-fed.

Salmonella is a foodborne bacteria that’s responsible for 1.2 million cases of illness and 450 deaths each year.

Salmonella is largely found in raw poultry. When poultry is cooked properly it’s safe, but if it’s undercooked or handled improperly while raw, it can lead to trouble.

All poultry in the United States is inspected for signs of disease, but this doesn’t mean it’s free of bacteria. As a matter of fact, it’s not unusual at all for raw poultry to contain many different types of bacteria.

The USDA has provided this guide for how to roast, simmer, and grill chicken:

This guide can help you estimate how long to cook your chicken, but because ovens have slight heat differences and chicken breasts may be larger or smaller than the average, it’s important that you double-check the internal temperature of the meat.

In order to destroy any possible contagions in your poultry, you must bring the internal temperature of the meat to 165°F (74˚C).

You can check whether you’ve achieved 165°F (74˚C) by inserting a meat thermometer into the thickest part of the breast. In this case, close is not good enough, so make sure you put it back in the oven if it hasn’t reached this threshold.

Don’t rely on how your chicken breast looks to determine if it’s ready. Pink meat doesn’t necessarily mean it’s undercooked. Similarly, white meat doesn’t necessarily mean all bacteria has been killed.

Be cautious about cross-contamination if you’re cutting into your chicken to check its appearance. When raw poultry comes in contact with work surfaces, knives, and even your hands, it can leave behind bacteria.

These bacteria can be transferred from surface to surface and end up in your salad, on your fork, and ultimately in your mouth.

Wash and thoroughly disinfect surfaces that come into contact with raw poultry. Use paper towels so they can be thrown away after picking up possible contaminants.

Preparation and storage are also important. The USDA suggests you always thaw frozen chicken in the refrigerator, microwave, or a sealed bag submerged in cold water.

Chicken should always be cooked immediately after thawing. Bacteria is more likely to grow on raw meat that’s between 40˚F (4˚C) and 140˚F (60˚ C).

Cooked chicken breasts should be refrigerated within two hours of cooking. Your leftovers should remain safe for two to three days.

So, now that you know how to safely handle chicken breasts, what should you do with them?

Chicken breasts are extremely versatile, and your options for how to prepare them are nearly endless. For starters, you can chop them into salads, use them in sandwiches, or cook them on the grill.

For a healthy take on a classic, try this oven-fried chicken breast recipe or these flavorful herb-roasted chicken breasts.

Don’t be intimidated by cooking chicken. When you know the best handling practices, chicken breast is a lean protein that’s both tasty and safe.

Comments

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This simple chicken recipe is, far and away, the easiest way to cook our favorite poultry that I know. You hardly need a recipe: just toss a mix of chicken breasts, thighs, and drumsticks with a bit of olive oil, salt, and pepper, then roast for about a half an hour. No flipping, no fussing, no nothing — and you can pile everything on a serving tray without the bother of pulling out the carving board. So smart.

This is the kind of recipe that belongs in your core arsenal as a home cook. It’s perfect for a crowd or when you want to cook a bunch of chicken for meals during the week, and it’s very easy to mix it up with fun spices or marinades. Here’s our step-by-step recipe for roasting chicken pieces.

Why This Method Works

As much as I love roasting a whole chicken, I’ve found that it’s not always the best if you’re cooking for more than a few people or if you want leftovers for other meals. In so many ways, roasting a bunch of chicken pieces is so much more practical — it’s faster (only taking about 30 minutes), everyone gets what they want (no fighting over drumsticks), there’s no carving required, and there are plenty of leftovers. You can also buy a bunch of chicken pieces when they’re on sale, stash them in the freezer, and then quickly thaw and roast for an easy weeknight dinner.

You can use a mix of chicken breasts, thighs, and drumsticks, or just cover a whole sheet pan filled with your favorite. With thighs and drumsticks, you can buy bone-in, skin-on pieces or boneless, skinless pieces; the meat is rich and fatty enough to cook fine either way.

If you’re cooking chicken breasts, however, definitely buy bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts.Boneless, skinless chicken breasts just become dry and stringy with this cooking method. For juicy results, you’re much better off baking skinless chicken breasts in parchment paper.

How Long to Cook Chicken Pieces

Cooking time is generally 20 to 30 minutes, or until the chicken registers 165°F in the thickest part. Amazingly, all the chicken pieces wind up cooking at about the same rate — dark meat pieces cook a bit slower than white meat, but the thickness of the breast meat means everything finishes around the same time.

If the chicken finishes cooking before the skin is as crispy as you like it, run the baking sheet under the broiler for a few minutes. This will get the skin golden and crispy without severely overcooking the meat.

Ways to Switch It Up

The recipe below is very basic — just olive oil, salt, and pepper. It’s fantastic, but if you make chicken on any regular basis, you’ll want to switch things up. You can marinate the chicken in a bit of olive oil and vinegar, or throw in any blend of spices that strikes your fancy. A few of our favorite combinations are in the box below.

You can also roast some vegetables along with the chicken for a very easy sheet-pan dinner. The vegetables roast in the chicken fat and juices, becoming tender and oh-so-succulent. Use less chicken (around 3 pounds) to be sure there’s enough room on the tray for the veggies. I love doing this with butternut squash, potatoes, broccoli, and cauliflower.

Favorite Additions to Make Basic Chicken Amazing

• Minced garlic + cider vinegar + fresh rosemary + honey
• Honey + mustard
• Lemon + minced garlic
• Honey + chili powder + cider vinegar
• Yogurt + cumin + coriander
• Soy sauce + miso + ginger + minced garlic + sesame oil