The Tips You Can't Ignore For Juicy Oven-Baked Chicken

As delicious as oven-baked chicken can be, unfortunately, it's not the easiest to get right at home. To find out the best tips for making juicy oven-baked chicken, Daily Meal spoke with an expert: Hammed, a chef, recipe developer, and author of the blog The Prince Eats. He says that brining the chicken and cooking it at the right temperature for an appropriate amount of time are both key.

Hammed adds, "For moist and juicy oven-baked chicken, I like to use a brine to add flavor and tenderize the chicken. Consider brining for at least a few hours if not overnight." Brining is the process of soaking meat in salted water to marinate and tenderize it. Typically, a brine consists of ¼ cup of salt for every four cups of water, and the mixture may include other spices. Sometimes other liquids can be used for brine — like buttermilk or pickle juice. Essentially, the salt helps keep the moisture intact within the meat. 

There's also dry brining, which means pre-salting the meat, without any water or liquid involved. With a dry brine, the salt brings out the natural moisture in the meat; that moisture dissolves the salt, making a natural concentrated brine. This results in the salt being absorbed into the meat and, just like with a wet brine, helping the meat maintain its moisture. Hammed explains, "A dry brine will give you juicy meat and crispy skin, while a wet brine will also give you juicy meat, however, a less than crispy skin."

Brining the chicken can go a long way, but there's still a common mistake to avoid when roasting it. Hammed says, "Baking chicken longer than necessary and under the wrong temperature is the cause of dry chicken."

When making oven-baked chicken breasts, for example, you want to follow the recipe temperature — but you also want to take them out of the oven when they reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit to avoid drying out the chicken. Relying on time alone can sometimes cause overcooking it.

Hammed also says to consider "using a wireless thermometer and tracking app to set a precise cook time for your baked chicken. The combination of the two will leave you with perfectly juicy chicken." Buying a high-quality meat thermometer will go a long way — after all, investing in one is the easiest way to make sure your meat is perfectly cooked every time.