With just two ingredients, you can have a moist and tasty dinner with this simple method for a great baked BBQ split chicken breast. This requires a cooking skill level of 2/10. You can do it.
Introduction
It doesn't get simpler than this. Preheat oven. Cut chicken. Bake Chicken. Baste with sauce—Cook a few more minutes. Baste and serve with guaranteed results.
This recipe is somewhat inspired by a Pioneer Woman post or at least a little of the method, and the idea of having BBQ chicken was. I had the chicken but wanted something different.
I haven't made any Memphis BBQ sauce this spring, so her method (kind of) and my sauce. Yep, it worked just fine.
My Rating
This could be a five if you really love BBQ.
🐓Split Chicken Breasts
Split chicken breasts are also known as skin-on bone-in chicken breasts. 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. Many people feel they have more taste and moisture than the skinless boneless variety.
If there is a “secret,” it is how to prepare a split chicken breast for cooking.
Step one is cutting off the attached rib section. There is no meat; it takes seasoning and tends to burn. Not a must-do but a nice touch.
Step two is to cut it 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.
✔️Tips
Be sure to cut the chicken into more reasonable size pieces for both cooking and serving reasons.
Since the sauce is providing all the seasoning, there is no reason for another seasoning. Also, oil is not needed.
We no longer recommend washing chicken, just a good pat dry is all that is needed. For more information, please see Chicken... To Rinse or Not To Rinse?
Use the BBQ sauce of your choice. I used my My Memphis BBQ Sauce, which I love. Cooks Illustrated likes Bulls Eye Original. My Gates BBQ of KC sauce would also be great.
📖Split Chicken Recipes
Simple Grilled BBQ Split Chicken Breast
Crispy Baked Split Chicken Breasts
Oven Baked Mayonnaise Parmesan Split Chicken Breasts
🖼️Step-by-Step Instructions
Start with preheating the oven to 400° convection or 425° conventional. I started my Memphis sauce at the same time. You may leave the ribs or remove them, your choice.
Trim and split your split skin-on bone-in chicken breasts. Pat dry. (Image still has ribs attached.)
Prepare a smaller baking pan with aluminum foil (to help clean up) and a cooking rack sprayed with PAM. If you don't have a rack, you can skip it.
Arrange the breast with the thicker parts of each piece to the outside of the pan. (Image still has ribs attached.)
Bake until internal temp of 160°. That will be about 40 minutes depending on your oven and the size of the breasts. Remove from oven and brush on a coat of sauce. Place back in for another 5 minutes. Double-check that the internal temperature of the chicken is now at least 165° before removing.
Remove from oven and apply another coat of sauce. Serve.
📖 Recipe
Easiest Baked BBQ Split Chicken Breasts
Instructions
- Start with preheating the oven to 400° convection or 425° conventional. I started my Memphis sauce at the same time. You may leave the ribs or remove them, your choice. Trim and split your split skin-on bone-in chicken breasts. Pat dry.
- Prepare a smaller baking pan with aluminum foil (to help clean up) and a cooking rack sprayed with PAM. If you don't have a rack, you can skip it.
- Arrange the breast with the thicker parts of each piece to the outside of the pan.
- Bake until internal temp of 160°. That will be about 40 minutes depending on your oven and the size of the breasts. Remove from oven and brush on a coat of sauce. Place back in for another 5 minutes. Double-check that the internal temperature of the chicken is now at least 165° before removing.
- Remove from oven and apply another coat of sauce.
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips
- Obviously, scale to the amount you need.
- Use a sauce you love. I usually use my Memphis sauce.
- No other seasoning is needed.
- The rack is nice to use but not required. Just a good coat of PAM on the foil will do.
- Arrange the chicken with the thickest part to the outside of the tray. This will help a lot in even cooking.
- Good refrigerated for 3-4 days. Can be frozen but really, just freeze the raw chicken and cook fresh when you want.
- I never brine skin-on chicken breasts. They stay very moist anyway.
- Just pat dry the breasts. For safety, we do not recommend rinsing chicken.
To adjust the recipe size:
You may adjust the number of servings in this recipe card under servings. This does the math for the ingredients for you. BUT it does NOT adjust the text of the instructions. So you need to do that yourself.
Nutrition
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Editor's note: Originally published May 21, 2011. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.
Deborah
Chicken barbecue is an art that even competition grillers hate. I was lazy and wanted to cook indoors. This is awesome. Perfect consistency and moist. Thant you.
DrDan
Hi Deborah,
Welcome to the blog. Sorry for the delayed response.
The oven does save a lot of work and actually hard to get wrong.
Glad you enjoyed the recipe and thanks for the note.
Dan
Maya
Hi Dan.
Thx for the bbq chick recipe. I was afraid of the high oven temp 425 but I gave it a whirl. The 40 min was perfect. They came out very good. (My mom always said 350 was for baking not for cooking meat. )
DrDan
Hi Maya,
Sorry for the delayed responce.
I do a bit more higher temperature cooking than most. Thinks like this and chicken legs and thighs just do better at the higher temperatures. They are just more moist if you don't overcook them.
Thanks for the note.
Dan
Inspired by eRecipeCards
hey Doc... I just made one of your recipes and posted on my new blog...
erecipecards