Juicy oven baked chicken breast? Help!

Obtain the freshest of banana leaves, wrap the chicken in them, place wrapped chicken in hole at least two feet deep lined with glowing coals of acacia wood, cover with more coals, cover with moist earth, and cook for twenty-seven minutes. Or--- do as I do and toss the whole thing it a pot of boiling water.

forgivensins wrote: »

I wrap it in foil before putting it into a baking pan (toss my herbs inside the foil as well)

I question the safety of cooking food in foil at all.

I use parchment paper.
http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-cook-the-best-chicken-breasts-in-the-oven-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-211453

WinoGelato wrote: »

arabianhorselover wrote: »

forgivensins wrote: »

I wrap it in foil before putting it into a baking pan (toss my herbs inside the foil as well)

I question the safety of cooking food in foil at all.

Why?

This^^

I've never heard of someone being scared to cook with tinfoil. Just don't accidentally bite down on it if you have fillings. Oh the horror - I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemies.

Yes, there are concerns about aluminum. I never use it for anything but tenting bread (or other things that need tenting) and wrapping around plastic wrap before freezing, so I never paid much attention to it.

But there is discussion and some people have stopped wrapping food in it before they bake it or whatever.

Hearts_2015 wrote: »

Alyssa_Is_LosingIt wrote: »

WinoGelato wrote: »

arabianhorselover wrote: »

forgivensins wrote: »

I wrap it in foil before putting it into a baking pan (toss my herbs inside the foil as well)

I question the safety of cooking food in foil at all.

Why?

This^^

I've never heard of someone being scared to cook with tinfoil. Just don't accidentally bite down on it if you have fillings. Oh the horror - I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemies.

It's the concern over aluminum leaching into the food. http://saveourbones.com/stop-doing-this-with-aluminum-foil/ I just Googled as I knew I'd heard something about it a number of times in healthy mags and such.

Yes. That is what I was referring to.

Hearts_2015 wrote: »

Kalikel wrote: »

Yes, there are concerns about aluminum. I never use it for anything but tenting bread (or other things that need tenting) and wrapping around plastic wrap before freezing, so I never paid much attention to it.

But there is discussion and some people have stopped wrapping food in it before they bake it or whatever.

I've more recently started using Parchment paper instead and love it! I haven't found a thing I can't use it for. SO it's a pretty good replacement over foil. Actually quite low cost compared to some of the foils.

@Kalikel Great tip on wrapping in plastic wrap first then foil. Or does plastic wrap contain BPA. lol Oh so many things in life to avoid and be aware of but yet not obsess over at the same time.

Thanks for the tips

I use Chicwrap. I don't know if it has BPA, but it works extremely well and doesn't cling to itself as badly as Saran Wrap or Handi wrap or the rest. It's more expensive, but considering how much I wasted when throwing out pieces I couldn't unstick, don't think I spend more.

I hop it's not poisoning me, lol.

@peachyfuzzle 's approach is closest to mine.

Pre-heat oven (mine's pretty darn accurate) to 350 or 300 convection.

Don't pull the chicken straight out of the fridge... pull it out earlier during meal prep.

Season outside of split bone-in, skin-on (my preference) chicken breast with your seasoning of choice. Could be salt and pepper or whatever. I grind up my own "seasoned salt" - paprika / cumin / pepper / variations of the day / salt mixture and store it in a big mason jar.

In a heavy oven-capable sauté pan, brown both sides of breast and the thick edge in a little butter + olive oil. Not dark brown but a pleasing light golden brown to seal in the juices. The outside will darken a little more in the oven. Pop the works in the oven. Remove when done by your thermometer or if practised, by touch.

Let it rest. That's important.

Often (provided the drippings have not burned, and they shouldn't) I'll pull the breasts from the pan and allow them to rest and make a little bit of a sauce with a spoonful of butter, a little stock and white wine if I have any, scrape the good stuff in, let it all reduce and then and only then season if needed.