15 Best Baked Chicken Recipes
While you're no doubt here for the recipes, today's special offer is a free bonus lesson in semantics. Before you expire from boredom, we just mean that we're going to explain how baked chicken differs from roast chicken. While both cooking methods simply involve taking raw chicken and sticking it in the oven until it reaches the magic number (that being the USDA-recommended 165 F), there is one significant difference, that being that roasting is a word we usually use to mean that the chicken is left whole, whereas baking implies that it's cut up into parts.
In this selection of chicken recipes, you'll find some that call for breasts, while others use thighs, wings, drumsticks, mixed chicken parts, or even chicken livers. There's also one where the chicken, while split in two, is actually whole so it's technically roasted instead of baked. If you want to switch up any of these recipes (except the liver one) to use your preferred pieces, you may, of course, do so, since who are we to say if one part is better than another? You will need to change the cooking times a bit, though, since while breasts and wings generally bake at the same rate, drumsticks take about 5 minutes longer and thighs up to 10 more minutes.
1. Secretly Baked Bisquick Fried Chicken
While fried chicken is delicious, it's also messy, time-consuming, and can even be dangerous to make since large pots of boiling oil weren't used as a medieval siege defense weapon for nothing. (Well, actually they weren't used much at all outside of movies, but you get the point.) This recipe eschews the oil for the oven, making for a much safer entree.
2. Simply Baked Chicken Livers
These baked chicken livers are not only simple to make but are nutritious all the way through. A squeeze of lemon or sprinkle of vinegar would complement their earthy flavor quite nicely, as would a side salad of slightly bitter mixed greens.
3. Firehouse Chicken Wings
Despite the name, these chicken wings aren't even slightly incendiary. Instead, they are sticky and sweet with a sauce made from ketchup, brown sugar, cider vinegar, and Worcestershire sauce.
4. Stuffed Chicken Breasts
While some stuffed chicken breast recipes keep it simple with compound butter while others go with a heartier combo of meats and cheeses, this one opts for the middle ground by using a blend of cream cheese, mozzarella, spinach, and artichoke hearts. As this all-in-one entree already includes green vegetables, it needs no other accompaniment than a starchy side of steamed rice or buttered noodles.
5. Cornflake Chicken
Sure, cornflakes make for a quick, convenient breakfast, but they can also do double duty as a stand-in for breadcrumbs in this oven-fried chicken recipe. If you're wondering what makes the cereal stick to the chicken, the answer is mayonnaise.
6. Chicken Parmesan
Chicken parmesan isn't really an Italian dish — no, not even if you call it pollo alla parmigiana. That doesn't matter, though, since cheesy chicken breasts topped with marinara make for a tasty all-American entree.
7. Easy BBQ Chicken
Even if your ambition is to throw down with Bobby Flay in a "BBQ Brawl," the conditions won't always be optimal for outdoor cooking. In that case, you can always just coat a few boneless, skinless breasts with bottled barbecue sauce and stick them in the oven for the easiest barbecued chicken ever.
8. Jerk Chicken
"Don't be a jerk" is a thing we would never say to a chicken. Jerk chicken is delicious and despite the lengthy list of ingredients involved, is actually quite easy to make.
9. Baked Chicken Wings
To make the perfect hot wings — or mild ones, for that matter — you don't need a deep fryer, Instead, coat the chicken with a tiny bit of baking powder along with a selection of seasonings, bake until the skin is super-crispy (the baking powder helps with this), and then toss them with your choice of flavorful sauces.
10. Breaded And Baked Chicken Tenders
If you love breaded chicken tenders but find that the frozen kind doesn't quite cut it, here's a bit of good news: It's not difficult at all to start from scratch and make homemade ones.
11. Crispy Southern Oven Fried Chicken
Yes, it's another oven-fried chicken recipe, but you can never have too many of those. Plus, this one's extra tasty because both hot sauce and smoked paprika are used to flavor the crumb coating.
12. Easy Oven-Baked Chicken Thighs
Some people like light meat, while others prefer dark. If you're in the latter camp, it's your clucky day — this recipe for baked thighs with baby potatoes may be one of the easiest one-pan meals you could hope to find.
13. Easy Baked Honey Garlic Chicken
Honey and garlic may sound like a slightly unusual matchup, but sweet and savory pairings are trendy these days. Since chicken tastes great with each of these flavors separately, why wouldn't the combination work?
14. Easy Tandoori Chicken
While true tandoori chicken is cooked in a clay oven called a tandoor, you may not have the space to add such a piece of equipment to your kitchen. In that case, you can opt for the simpler route of baking tandoori-style chicken in the oven instead.
15. Oven-Roasted Spatchcocked Chicken
This hybrid recipe could be considered either baked or roasted since it involves an entire bird that is technically all in one piece, but has been cut open and flattened. This technique, called spatchcocking, allows the chicken to cook much more quickly than it would if left intact.