Baked split (bone-in) chicken breasts are healthy and delicious, with a juicy and tender inside with crispy skin. An easy recipe for a quick and economical dinner.
Everybody can use more chicken recipes that work. This roasted bone-in chicken breast recipe is one to keep with easy step-by-step photo instructions.
🐓Ingredients
Split chicken breasts (Bone-in)
Pantry ingredients—Garlic powder, onion powder, kosher salt, black pepper
Cayenne pepper—optional
Celery salt—optional
Baking powder Aluminum-free—Optional
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Featured Comment from J.J.:
"So delicious, crispy, fast, easy. This one is immediately in my top 3 chicken recipes…"
Split chicken breasts (bone-in) have superior flavor and are extra moist and juicy. They make a tasty and economical dinner the whole family will love.
Learn to easily trim whole chicken breasts into a better serving size with more surface area for seasoning and much simpler to cook to a safe temperature. Optionally, use baking powder to make the skin extra crispy.
👨🍳How to Bake Split Chicken Breasts (Bone-in)
- Pat dry chicken breasts, trim the chicken of trimmable fat, remove the rib and cut into 2 to 3 pieces.
- Combine spices and baking powder. Then sprinkle and rub on all surfaces. You may not need all the spices, just to your taste.
- Place on a baking pan with a rack. Let rest for 30 minutes if you have time, and use the baking powder.
- Bake until internal temp of 165°—about 35 minutes, depending on your oven and the thickness of the chicken.
This is a summary of the steps and ingredients. See the recipe card or the step-by-step photo instructions below for complete instructions.
⏰How long to bake split chicken breasts
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. This is much lower than the cooking time for whole bone-in chicken breast, which will be more like 50 minutes at 375°.
You can lower the oven temperature by 25°, and the cooking time will increase by about 5 minutes.
The safe endpoint of cooking is a final internal temperature of 165° in the thickest part and not any less. You must use an instant-read thermometer to prevent undercooking (unsafe) or over-cooking (drying).
Like most meat, never cook by time; always cook to final internal temperature.
Other Split chicken breast recipes
Bone-in (Split) chicken breast recipes are economical, easy, and packed with flavor. Stuff them like Garlic Butter Stuffed Chicken Breast or make Chicken Cordon Bleu. Or coat them with BBQ sauce and make Grilled BBQ Split Chicken Breasts or Baked BBQ Split Chicken Breasts. Or try a change of pace with Herbs de Provence Chicken Breasts or Mayonnaise Parmesan Split Chicken Breasts.
✔️Tips—get it right every time
- The “secret” to the success of this recipe is how to prepare the split chicken breasts before cooking. You get a better serving size, more even cooking, and more surface area for the great spices.
- You can use pan juices to help make gravy. See How to Make Gravy from Scratch for details.
- The spicing I have provided is an excellent garlic-based seasoning. Still, like most recipes, you can easily adjust the spicing to your taste using fresh herbs, rosemary, thyme, oregano, and basil may be added.
How to serve chicken breasts
Serve with Roasted Baby Potatoes, Cheesy Cauliflower Casserole, and green beans. Add some dinner rolls and a fresh strawberry pie with Jello for a great finishing touch.
❄️Store leftovers
Leftovers can be refrigerated in an airtight container for 3-4 days, but the skin texture will deteriorate. You can also freeze leftovers for 3 months.
Use the leftovers by just reheating, preferably in the oven covered. The microwave will affect the meat's texture. Also, leftovers are an excellent cut-up to top salads or make chicken salad or Waldorf Chicken Salad.
❓FAQs
No, but it is better with a rack and less sticking. If you don't have one, use a good coat of oil on the tray to prevent sticking. It is more important when you want crispy skin on all sides, like chicken drumsticks, or there may be lots of drainage that affects the texture, like chicken thighs.
The baking powder increases the crispness by pulling moisture out of the skin. This a trick from Cooks Illustrated, although I have modified the technique.
I find even short times with the baking powder will enhance the skin's crispiness. I suggest a 30-minute rest in this recipe before cooking, but even just applying the rub with baking powder and cooking immediately seems to enhance the crispiness.
You may skip the baking powder and still have good results—just not as crispy.
I do suggest using aluminum-free baking powder. I never buy baking powder with aluminum, which many can taste.
We no longer recommend rinsing chicken due to contamination of the surrounding area from splattering.
Rinsing chicken is no effect on the crispiness versus just patting it dry with paper towels. See Chicken... To Rinse or Not To Rinse? for a detailed discussion.
The safe internal temperature for chicken is 165°, according to the USDA.
🐓About Split Chicken Breasts (Bone-in)
Split chicken breasts are also known as bone-in chicken breasts. Technically, bone-in should include both sides of the chicken in one piece, but the breast bone is split during processing, creating two pieces. So they are called split or bone-in.
For years they were called skin-on bone-in chicken breasts, but since they are not generally sold without the skin, the "skin-on" part is frequently dropped. Most cooks feel they have more taste and moisture than the more popular boneless skinless chicken breasts.
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 home cooks will skip them as an option or settle for poor results. We can fix that.
This recipe is listed in these categories. See them for more similar recipes.
Have you tried this recipe, or have a question? Join the community discussion in the comments.
Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
Preheat oven to 400° convection or 425° conventional oven.
Pat dry the chicken, trim the chicken off any trimmable fat, and remove the rib area.
Prepare a baking sheet with aluminum foil and a baking rack—coat with PAM cooking spray.
Prepare a baking sheet with aluminum foil and a baking rack—coat with PAM cooking spray.
Combine spices and baking powder (if using) in a small bowl. Sprinkle and rub on all surfaces, but you may not need all of the spice mixture; just season to your taste.
Place on a rack skin side up with larger pieces in the corners—and thinner edges to the center. If you use baking powder and have time, let it set for 30 minutes to help dry the skin.
Bake until internal temp of 165°. It takes about 35 minutes, depending on your oven and the thickness of the chicken.
Let the chicken rest for 5 to 10 minutes before serving.
📖 Recipe
Baked Split Chicken Breasts (Bone-in)
Ingredients
- 3 split chicken breast - scale to what you need, AKA bone-in chicken breast
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper - optional
- ½ teaspoon celery salt - optional if you have it
- 1 teaspoon baking powder - optional Aluminum-free
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400° convection or 425° conventional oven.
- Pat dry the chicken, trim the chicken off any trimmable fat and remove the rib area.
- Cut the chicken into pieces—the normal-size ones in half and the huge ones into thirds.
- Prepare a baking sheet with aluminum foil and a baking rack—coat with PAM cooking spray.
- Combine spices and baking powder (if using) in a small bowl. Sprinkle and rub on all surfaces, but you may not need all of the spice mixture; just season to your taste.
- Place on a rack skin side up with larger pieces in the corners—and thinner edges to the center. If you used baking powder and have time, let it set for 30 minutes to help dry the skin.
- Bake until internal temp of 165°. It takes about 35 minutes, depending on your oven and the thickness of the chicken.
- Let the chicken rest for 5 to 10 minutes before serving.
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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 trimming chicken breasts is 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 it if you don't have it.
- The cayenne pepper is also optional/to taste. The ¼ teaspoon is a 2 or 3/10 heat level. Don't use it 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. Use an instant-read thermometer.
- Great leftover in the refrigerator for 3-4 days and can be frozen for 3-4 months.
Your Own Private Notes
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 Estimate
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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.
J.J. says
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 says
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 says
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 says
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 says
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 says
Chernobyl chicken breasts on sale cheap - trying tonight 😊
dick says
easy recipe, baked instead of fried, pleasantly surprised as it is delicious, will make this and share with friends
Bonnie DiNardo says
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 says
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 says
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 says
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 says
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 says
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 says
Delicious and easy to make! Even my one year old loved it and he can be a fickle eater.
DrDan says
Hi Cristina,
Sorry for the delayed response.
Gald it worked well for you.
Dan
LAURIE says
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 says
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 says
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 says
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 says
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 says
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 says
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.
Danna says
Delicious and easy! Loved it, will be a regular for my husband and I - thanks!
DrDan says
Hi Danna,
It is one I do frequently. Thanks for the note.
Dan
Jenn says
Just made this recipe- turned out great, it's delish! Thank you for sharing it!
DrDan says
Hi Jenn,
Glad it worked well for you.
Thanks for the note.
Dan