Easy Recipe for Baked Chicken

When you don’t have much time to prepare dinner, but you would like to be able to serve something hot and delicious, try this recipe for baked chicken.   Preparation time is less than 10 minutes, leaving you with plenty of time to do other things while the baked chicken is cooking.

Easy Recipe for Baked Chicken

1 chicken, cut into 8 pieces
Olive oil
Salt and Pepper

1.    Preheat your oven to 400 F.

2.    Remove chicken from the packaging and rinse thoroughly under running water.  Pat chicken dry with a paper towel and set aside. 

3.    Add a small amount of olive oil to a baking pan large enough to hold the eight pieces of chicken.  Make sure that the olive oil is evenly distributed throughout the pan. This will prevent the chicken from sticking to the pan.

4.    Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper.  Using fresh ground pepper in this step will improve the taste of your finished product.

5.    Place the chicken, skin side up, into the pan.  Do not crowd the pieces together in the pan. Try to make sure that each piece of chicken is not touching.

6.    Cook the chicken for 30 minutes at 400 F, then lower the oven temperature to 350 F.

7.    Cook the chicken for 15 more minutes, until the juices run clear or the internal temperature of the meat reaches 170 F for the breast portions and 185 F for the thigh and leg portions.

8.    When the baked chicken is done, remove the pan from the oven and let the chicken rest in the pan for 5 minutes to soak up some of the juices.  When you’re crunched for time, serving the baked chicken with a purchased deli salad and a basket of ready-to-eat rolls will give you a delicious meal with minimal effort. This recipe makes four servings.