Learn the secret to tasty, moist, and crispy baked split chicken breasts. A great bone-in chicken recipe for an easy and economical family dinner the whole family will love.
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Introduction and My Rating
Many believe that bone-in and skin-on chicken has superior flavor and is extra moist and juicy. Who am I to disagree?
The trouble that most people have with bone-in chicken breasts is their huge size. They are hard to cook to a safe temperature, and the serving size is just too big. We can easily fix both those issues by just learning to prep them right with a few minutes of trimming.
Let's get it right the first time and every time with these easy step by step photo instructions. It is much easier than you think.
My Rating
This is so good that it has become our everyday roasted chicken recipe. It can't get much better than that.
🐓Split Chicken Breasts
Split chicken breasts are also known as skin-on bone-in chicken breasts. Most feel they have more taste and moisture than the more popular skinless version.
They are called split chicken breasts because, during processing, the entire breast is removed with some ribs. It is then "split" down the middle of the breast bone to produce two pieces.
But they have become progressively bigger over the last few decades. They are now too big for a reasonable serving size for most people.
They are also hard for most home cooks to get to a safe internal temperature without overcooking the outside. So most will skip them as an option or settle for poor results. We can fix that.
👨🍳The Secret
The “secret” to the success of this recipe is how to prepare a split chicken breast before cooking. You get a better serving size, more even cooking, and more surface area for the great spices.
Step one is cutting off the attached rib section. There is no meat, it takes seasoning, and tends to overcook.
Step two is to cut the breasts into two or three pieces. Trying to cook the whole thing at once will almost always burn it on the outside before reaching a safe 165° internal temperature.
⏰🌡️Time and Temperature
The best oven temperature is 400° convection or 425° for about 35 minutes. The time will vary by the size and thickness of the chicken pieces.
The reason for a bit higher temperature is two. First, we are aiming for crispy skin. And second, we cut those large breasts into pieces so the center will cook faster.
You can lower the recommendations by 25°, and the cooking time will increase by about 5 minutes.
The specific safe endpoint of cooking is a final internal temperature of 165° and not any less. Like most meat, never cook by time, always cook by temperature.
✔️Tips
Spicing
Like all recipes, season to your taste. Feel free to change it up.
I added some cayenne for the touch of spiciness. The recommended ½ teaspoon is about a 5/10 spice level for me. Cut it down or just skip it if you want.
The garlic is a little heavy for some. But like all spicing, adjust to your taste.
Do I need a rack?
No, but it is better with a rack. If you don't have one, use a good coat of oil on the tray to prevent sticking.
What's with the baking powder?
I used some baking powder to increase the crispness. A trick from Cooks Illustrated, although I have modified the technique.
The baking powder will pull water out of things like chicken skin. I find it works fairly quickly.
Some recipes will call for hours or overnight with the baking powder on the chicken, but looking at the science, I don't feel that is needed. Works for me.
I do suggest using aluminum-free baking powder. I just never buy baking powder with aluminum, which many can taste.
Or skip the whole baking powder thing. You will still have good results. Not quite as crispy.
Food safety
We no longer recommend rinsing chicken due to contamination of the surrounding area. Just a good pat dry with a paper towel is good. See Chicken... To Rinse or Not To Rinse? for details.
Also, the final internal temperature of the chicken in the thickest part needs to reach 165°.
📖Crispy Chicken Recipes
Oven Baked Chicken Legs – The Art of Drummies
Crispy Oven Baked Chicken Wings
Crispy Garlic Grilled Split Chicken Breast
🔪Instructions
Preheat oven to 400° convection or 425° conventional oven.
Pat dry chicken, then trim the chicken of any trim-able fat and remove the rib area and discard.
Cut the chicken into chunks—the normal size ones in half and the super humungous ones into thirds.
Prepare a baking pan with aluminum foil, a baking rack, and spray with PAM. Combine spices and then sprinkle and rub on all surfaces. Place on a rack with larger pieces in the corners. And thinner edges to the center.
Bake until internal temp of 165°. About 35 minutes depending on your oven and thickness of the chicken.
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📖 Recipe
Crispy Baked Split Chicken Breasts
Ingredients
- 3 split chicken breast - scale to what you need, AKA bone-in skin-on chicken breast
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon celery salt - optional if you have it
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper - optional
- 1 teaspoon Dual-action baking powder - Alunimum-free
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400° convection or 425° conventional oven.
- Pat dry chicken breasts. Trim the chicken of any trim-able fat and remove the rib area and discard.
- Cut the chicken into chunks. The normal size ones in half and the huge ones into thirds.
- Prepare a baking pan with aluminum foil, a baking rack and spray with PAM.
- Combine spices and then sprinkle and rub on all surfaces. You may not need all the spices, just to your taste.
- Place on rack (if you have one) with larger pieces in the corners. And thinner edges to center of the tray.
- Bake until internal temp of 165°. About 35 minutes depending on your oven and thickness of the chicken.
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips:
- Scale to the amount you want. I was cooking for leftovers and the packages usually have 3 breasts at our store.
- Properly cutting up and trimmed chicken breasts are important for this recipe to work. Better serving sizes, more even cooking, easier to get properly cooked and more surface area for seasoning. Good in every way.
- The celery salt adds some taste but skip if you don't have it.
- The cayenne pepper is also optional/to taste. The ½ teaspoon is a 5/10 heat level — more than some want. Don't use if feeding kids.
- I like cooking chicken on racks, but it is not that important here.
- Keep the thicker parts of the chicken towards the outside of the baking tray.
- Be sure to check for a final internal temperature of 165°. Do not guess or cook by time alone.
- Great leftover in the refrigerator for 3-4 days and can be frozen for 3-4 months.
Nutrition
Editor's Note: Originally Published May 25, 2011. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos and a table of contents to help navigation. Please enjoy one of our easiest, most flavorful chicken recipes.
Brooke
So many thanks for creating this post! I bought split chicken breasts at the grocery last night due to the unbeatable price! I knew I could tackle a little bit of trimming and basic deboning (One of the best kitchen skills I have learned is deboning chicken thighs.) but I needed to find a “how to” and your article explained it perfectly. I’m about to prep all of these super huge breasts for the freezer, and one or two (not decided yet if I want leftovers) for supper later tonight for my husband and me. Thank you so much for this valuable info, and the delicious sounding recipe!
Deborah Lein
Dear Dr Dan, Bought split bone-in skin-on chicken breasts by mistake. Here was your recipe to the rescue! However... I rarely cook with bone-in chicken. now I know why boneless is more expensive. More work and more waste. I sure could have benefited with more detailed explanation of cutting the ribs off. I worked my way through ribs AND wish bone AND breast bone and several more bony things. When I looked through the recipe for the tenth time, I realized the chicken photos had bones in them that I had so diligently and laboriously removed. Which just goes to show that I don't know what I don't know. Maybe it should have read, cut the ribs and don't worry about the other bones. Husband is lurking in kitchen saying this smells delicious. I hope so. I'm not cut out to be a poultry butcher on a regular basis.
Karen
Very,very good. Has been well received by fussy water in my house. Your dog's are lovely and I really enjoy the pictures.
Andi Fox
Just love the backing powder tip (hack? lol). Just wish I'd seen this recipe before I put the 3 huge chicken breasts into the oven. Love rosemary & thyme seasonings with chicken, but I like the idea of a little zing the cayenne will give.
Thanks & I'm signing up for your newsletter.
Andi Fox
J.J.
So delicious, crispy, fast, easy. This one is immediately in my top 3 chicken recipes--there used to be only 2! Will work into the regular rotation.
I have used skin on, bone in chicken pieces for a very long time. That's where the flavor and moisture come from.
susan
I have not made this yet, but wondering what the baking powder does. I've never seen it in this type of recipe before. Thanks.
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Susan,
Welcome to the blog.
The baking powder pulls water out the skin so it is crispier when cooked. It is a fairly common trick. You can skip it if you want and the skin will be a bit less crispy.
Dan
SurfNturf
So good!
I prepared this recipe as outlined and it is a winner.
Nice and crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside and a little heat for the tastebuds.
It's so simple and tasty that is going to be added to the regular rotation!
DrDan
Hi SurfNturf,
Welcome to the blog.
I do love this recipe, it is just so easy to get good results.
Thanks for the note.
Dan
Deb
Chernobyl chicken breasts on sale stupid cheap - trying tonight 😊
dick
easy recipe, baked instead of fried, pleasantly surprised as it is delicious, will make this and share with friends
Bonnie DiNardo
This recipe is both tasty and extremely practical for a two person household. Our supermarket frequently offers a 4-pack of bone-in skin-on split chicken breasts at a sale price. Trimming the ribs off and cutting the breasts in half enables me to bake all of them at the same time. Each piece is a nice portion. We can enjoy the crispy skin the day they are baked, refrigerate 2 pieces, and freeze 4 pieces. The skin and remaining bone partially encase the meat to help protect it from drying out. The pre-cooked chicken meat is like money in the bank. So worth the little bit of effort to cut it up!
DrDan
Hi Bonnie,
Welcome to the blog.
It is the easy solution to the problem of those huge chicken breasts they sale. You can't reasonable cook them well and one is too much for some of use to eat anyway. So this is my solution.
The first time I cut them up, I was thinking more surface area for seasoning. True but the portion sizes and ease of cooking are the main benefits.
I do like the skin on this recipe also.
Thanks for the note.
Dan
Richard
Great recipe. Thank you very much. Cook for a gang (gaggle?) of people. As a single dad this is a major hit! Only problem, they often invite their friends, without notice...(good problem to have.) Thanks again. You Rock!
DrDan
Hi Richard,
Welcome to the blog.
This is one of favorite recipes and as you see, it scales great. Glad it works well for you.
Thanks for the note
Dan
Monique
Making this for the third time this month. This recipe blew me away, soooo easy but oh so tasty :) my whole family loves it.
Thank you and greetings from Sweden :)
Christina
Hi Dan,
Thanks for the recipe - it turned out great! It was very good - juicy and flavorful:) Earlier tonight my husband said "eh" to chicken, after dinner said "very good, really good, etc."
Used spices as listed, but a few changes since I was using an air fryer - didn't cut in half, sprayed both sides of chicken with canola spray, cooked in air fryer at 390F for 25 minutes. Let rest w/foil tent for 5 mins.
The only thing I'll try different is to put some of the spices (no baking soda) under the skin and let it sit longer to get more flavor in the meat.
Thanks again,
Christina
Cristina
Delicious and easy to make! Even my one year old loved it and he can be a fickle eater.
DrDan
Hi Cristina,
Sorry for the delayed response.
Gald it worked well for you.
Dan
LAURIE
Love the tip about cutting breasts into smaller pieces, BUT -- discard what's cut off? Save any bones and scraps and freeze to make stock later on.
DrDan
Hi Laurie,
First, sorry to everybody for the lack of replies. I will try to do better.
Yep that works, but I lack freezer space anymore
Thanks for the note.
Dan
Kelly
Evenly cooked. Crunchy. Moist. Nicely spiced.
All you promised it would be.
I usually don't like breast meat, but this is a new favorite.
DrDan
Hi Kelly,t ma
This is one that I do repeat. I love cutting down the size of those huge breasts. It makes everything cook evenly and make the portion size I personally like.
Thanks for the note.
Dan
Jason Cummins
This was really good! I only used an 1/8 teaspoon of cayenne and I didn't have celery salt, but I added a little Italian seasoning, poultry seasoning, and chives. I was really happy with how it turned out. For now on I plan to make split breasts this way more often.
Dawn
Made this tonight using 10 thighs (bone-in). The only thing I added was to brush the thighs with a bit of EVOO 35 mins in. Total time 45 mins @ 450. Very tasty!
Gail
The recipe was very good, but with a couple of changes it is great.First I seasoned the chicken with the rub and put in fridge for 3 hrs.While oven was heating, some paprika was added to the chicken and let chicken sit while waiting for oven to reach temp.Mine was done in about 32mins.So check internal temp before 35mins so it doesn't get over done.