Quickie Recipe: Baked Chicken Breast (Photo Tutorial)

The summer season is almost fully upon us, so what better way to lose those extra pounds eh?! 'Neways, for the longest time, I was never keen on cooking chicken breasts, because I baked them right away and after cooking, I felt they always had this raw taste to it.

Well, rewind to sometime last year and during one of my usual experimentation's, I finally figured out how to bake chicken breasts properly, really straightforward too!

To bake chicken breasts, here's what you'll need:
1 3-pack chicken breasts OR 3 chicken breasts
5-7 tbsps Weber roasted garlic and herb seasoning (or any other brand of garlic & herb seasoning)
2 tsps Curry powder (just for color)
Cooking oil spray

Lightly rinse chicken breasts
Cut off any fat
Cut each chicken breast into 2 or 3 pieces, put in a bowl
Add seasonings, rub into chicken well
Put bowl of chicken in fridge for about 45 minutes (less if you're in a hurry- at least 15 mins)
Pre-heat a dry fry pan over medium heat
Spray a generous amount of cooking oil spray
Pan-fry chicken on both sides (*just the outer part will cook*), about 2-3 mins on each side
~At this point, pre-heat oven to 350 degrees~
Once both sides are pan fried, let cook another 5-7 mins or until it *looks* mostly cooked with pink centers (like below)
Spray chicken breasts with cooking oil spray
Put fry pan into oven (you can use a baking pan layered with foil if you prefer)
Let bake on the top layer of your oven rungs for 20-25 mins (at 20 min mark, you can flip chicken)
Turn oven off, leave chicken in for about 5 mins for the juices to settle
Voila!

Serve alone, cut up in a sandwich or with a salad. I ate this alone with some dressing; I like to mix Raspberry Walnut Vinaigrette and Light Ranch dressings to make a custom dressing, tangy, but I like it.
The dressing looks like a yogurt mix in the above mix, but I promise it's my mixed dressings, really. However, that's an idea! I've never eaten chicken breasts with yogurt before, but I imagine it won't be bad at all, might just have to try that. Oh yeah, and I changed those little dressing bowl holders because I couldn't decide which color I preferred, minor behind the scenes issue :)

The Weber garlic & herb seasoning, I got from Sam's Club. If you've ever been to a Costco's or wholesale store, they always have little stands set up throughout the store where attendants are usually giving away bite sizes of something they're promoting. The seasoning was being promoted, I tried the grilled chicken and man oh man, it tasted really good, so my friend and I got one each.

It's the perfect blend of spices (minus pepper), there's no need for Knorr cubes or anything like that. It's a dry rub with minced garlic, salt and other spices. I didn't add dried pepper as I don't like heat on my chicken breasts, totally odd, I know.

If you can't find it, try another brand, and if it's not so good, you can always tweak it by adding some dried pepper, curry powder, adobo seasoning and knorr or maggi cubes.


Enjoy...