Baked BBQ Chicken Breasts
These Baked BBQ Chicken Breasts are juicy, tender and moist. With a sweet, smokey and tangy flavor everyone will absolutely love. It's pretty easy to make and the secret is in the delicious and flavorful marinade. You will find yourself making this recipe over and over again.
Ingredients
- 4 large large chicken breasts
- 1 cup unsweetened bbq sauce
- 1/4 cup honey
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 2 tbsp avocado oil
- 2 tsp smoked paprika
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1.5 tsp pink sea salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
Instructions
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Remove any excess fat from chicken breasts and pat dry. Place chicken breast in a gallon zip bag. Set aside.
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In a small mixing bowl or measuring cup, mix together the rest of the ingredients for marinade; bbq sauce, honey, lemon juice, lemon zest, avocado oil, smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, pink sea salt, and black pepper. Whisk together until well combined.
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Pour marinade over prepped chicken. Close zip bag while removing any excess air. Give chicken a good toss making sure chicken breasts are well coated with marinade. Place chicken in the fridge to marinade for at least 1 hour or preferably over night for more flavor.
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Once you are ready to bake chicken, preheat oven at 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
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While oven preheats, transfer chicken breasts to a baking dish. Using a pastry brush, brush some of the leftover marinade over chicken breasts (do not discard the rest of marinade). Place breasts in preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes.
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Remove chicken breasts from the oven, using tongs, flip breasts over. Brush some more marinade over the other side of breasts. Place back in the oven and bake for another 20 minutes.
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Remove chicken breasts from the oven. Flip over again. If you'd like to brush chicken with one more coating of marinade you can. Just make sure you place tchicken back in the oven for another 2-3 minutes. This will kill off any bacteria left in the marinade from the raw chicken sitting in it. Remove chicken breast from the oven and allow them to cool-down a bit. Serve immediately and enjoy!
Recipe Notes
Tips and Substitutions:
- Use chicken breasts that are the same size- This was they will all cook evenly and you don't end up with some breasts that are overcooked.
- Marinade chicken breasts for at least an hour- Preferably overnight. The longer you let them marinade, the more flavorful your chicken breasts will be.
- Don't skip brushing your chicken breasts with marinade- Don't skip doing this half-way through baking. This will add more flavor and make chicken breasts more juicy and tender.
- Unsweetened BBQ sauce- I like using unsweetened to control the amount of sugar in this recipe. Unsweetened BBQ sauce tends to be more on the tangy side which gives the chicken a good zest. You can use regular BBQ sauce too if you prefer.
- Substitute for honey- You can use maple syrup or omit all together for less sugar or if your BBQ sauce has some sugar already.
- Substitute for avocado oil- You can use refined coconut oil.
- Smoked paprika- You can use regular paprika. Smoked paprika does give BBQ chicken breasts a smokey flavor.
- Use thermometer to take internal temperature- You will know chicken breasts are done once internal temperature reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit.