Name: Baked Bbq Chicken Breast
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 23 min
Total time: 33 min
Ingredients: 4 boneless (skinless chicken breasts, weighing between 230 g - 250 g / 8.2 - 8.8 oz); ½ teaspoon smoked paprika; ½ teaspoon garlic powder; 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper; 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (more to taste); 75 g/ 2.7 oz/ ¼ cup barbecue sauce (your favorite brand); 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard; 1 tablespoon olive oil; ½ tablespoon cider vinegar; 1 ½ tablespoons runny honey; ½ teaspoon fine sea salt + more to taste

Moist and delicious baked bbq chicken breast, baking barbecue chicken in the oven has never been easier.

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Baking chicken breast is one of the most popular ways of cooking chicken. And baked bbq chicken breast is one of my newest ways of cooking it in the oven.

baked and broiled baked bbq chicken breast

Why bake chicken breast?

Well, it is healthy, easy to make, very quick and always delicious. The breasts, some spices and usually you will not need anything more to have a healthy and tasty dinner on the table in no time.

Except for some nice sides. How about a simple salad with a yogurt dressing, some oven-baked potato wedges, or some spicy roasted pumpkin wedges?

Or an amazing rice dish like this Jollof rice or this orange rice?

Making bbq chicken is not always an easy task for us. We only grill outside a few times in summer, but otherwise, I don’t bother much with grilling. Even when we do grill, my brother-in-law is our grill master, so I don’t even get near the grill that often.

But baked bbq chicken is something else. You start with baking the meat in the oven, brush it with the spicy and sweet marinade and broil it for the last 5 minutes.

The broiling will give it a nice sticky crust similar to the one you would get when grilling. Not to mention that the broiling will make it look much nicer and inviting.

What do you need?

First, you will need to marinate the meat. You will need more than just a couple of spices, but nothing particularly expensive or difficult to find.

Smoked paprika, not hot
Garlic powder
Black pepper
Cayenne pepper (all affiliate links)
Sea salt

And then you will need a few more (wet) ingredients like:

Barbecue sauce – use your favorite brand.
Dijon mustard or another kind of medium to slightly hot mustard that you like.
Olive oil
Cider vinegar
Honey

Chicken breast:

I had rather large boneless skinless pieces, weighing between 230 g- 250 g / 8.2 – 8.8 oz.
If your pieces are smaller or larger, reduce or increase the cooking time accordingly.

How to make?

Marinade:

Mix together all the ingredients. Set aside.

Chicken:

Place the breast between two sheets of clingfilm. Pound with a meat mallet (or a heavy saucepan) at the thickest part, so that they can cook evenly. They should be roughly 1.5 cm/ 0.6 inches thick.
Place them in a baking dish (ceramic or glass) and cover with the marinade. They should fit in the dish in a single layer.
Turn in the marinade to coat all over.
Cover the baking dish with clingfilm and refrigerate for at least 2-3 hours or, even better, overnight. Turn the meat in the marinade a couple of times in between.
Remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before cooking, so that it has time to reach room temperature.

Bake:

Preheat the oven to 220 degrees Celsius/ 430 degrees Fahrenheit.
Line a baking tray with aluminum foil (parchment paper would burn under the broiler, at least it does in my oven).
Place the marinated breast pieces on the baking tray. Reserve the marinade.
Bake for 16-18 minutes or until it reaches the internal temperature of 65 degrees Celsius/ 150 degrees Fahrenheit.

Broil:

Broiling the baked bbq chicken breast ensures that it has a nice, appealing crust and finishes the cooking process.
The meat will not be cooked entirely in the oven, to fully cook it you will have to place it under the broiler for about 5 minutes or until cooked through and nicely colored.
Brushing it with the leftover marinade gives it more flavor, makes it a little sticky, and helps it look nicer.
Before brushing the pieces with the marinade, carefully tilt the baking tray over the sink and pour away the accumulated cooking juices. They would only burn under the broiler.
Brush generously with the leftover marinade and broil for 5 minutes or until cooked through, with an internal temperature of 74 degrees Celsius/ 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
Let rest for 3-4 minutes before slicing.

baked bbq chicken breast on a baking tray

The internal temperature of chicken

It is not mandatory to use a meat thermometer (affiliate link) to check the internal temperature. But, using a thermometer guarantees the best results, which is cooked through yet still moist and juicy chicken breast.

If you don’t have a meat thermometer, keep to the indicated cooking times and check by inserting a toothpick in the thickest part of the breast, the juices should run clear.

Should you have smaller pieces, reduce the cooking time slightly, about 12-15 minutes total time for a breast weighing about 180 g/ 6.4 oz.

If the pieces are larger, increase the total cooking time slightly, about 20-23 minutes for a chicken breast weighing about 300 g/ 10.5 oz.

Always make sure that a safe internal temperature is achieved before serving. And that would be 74 degrees Celsius/165 degrees Fahrenheit.

What to serve with it?

Baked barbecue chicken is the kind of dish that can be served with almost any side dish you can think of. Last time I served it with plain rice and broccoli.

Here are some ideas for quick side dishes: