I really like having pre-cooked chicken in the fridge that I can use to quickly whip up a sandwich or wrap, or add protein to a bowl of pasta, salad, or one of my “leftovers” bowls. While I often use a rotisserie chicken for this purpose, they are sometimes just too salty and we have a hard time going through a whole chicken between the two of us. So, this week I experimented a bit more with the “low and slow” roasting method and made these incredibly tender and juicy Herb Roasted Chicken Breasts.
Roast Low and Slow for Tender Chicken
I first used the “low and slow” technique with my Oven Roasted Chicken Legs and was really pleased with not only the texture of the meat, but the delicious juices that were left in the dish after roasting.
This time I combined the butter with a trio of herbs and slathered it over two bone-in, skin-on split chicken breasts. The breasts were quite large, so I lowered the heat a bit and let them roast even longer before removing the cover to let them brown. The results were even more incredible. I pulled the meat from the breasts after cooking, drizzled the juices over top, and have been snacking on the meat all week.
Can I Make Herb Roasted Chicken Breast in an Instant Pot?
Yes! You can make this dish even faster and easier! Just follow the technique used in my Pressure Cooker Chicken and Rice recipe (pressure cook then broil to brown the skin). 👍
You ready for the most tender and juicy chicken breast EVER?
Herb Roasted Chicken Breast
Servings 4Ingredients
- 3 Tbsp butter, room temperature ($0.33)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced ($0.16)
- 1 tsp dried basil ($0.10)
- 1 tsp dried thyme ($0.10)
- 1 tsp dried rosemary ($0.10)
- 1/2 tsp salt ($0.02)
- Freshly cracked black pepper (about 10 cranks of a mill) ($0.03)
- 2 split chicken breasts* (about 3 lbs. total) ($6.85)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 275ºF. Remove the chicken from the refrigerator and allow it to warm slightly as you prepare the butter herb mix (5 minutes or so).
- In a small bowl, stir together the butter, minced garlic, basil, thyme, rosemary, salt, and pepper. Rosemary pieces can be quite large, so either chop or crumble the dried pieces with your hands before adding them to the mix.
- Place the chicken on a cutting board and pat it dry on both sides with a clean paper towel. Smear the butter herb mixture over both sides of the chicken. Drying the meat will help the butter herb mixture stick. If the meat is too cold, it will form condensation as you rub the butter mixture over the surface and the butter will not stick.
- Place the seasoned chicken pieces in a casserole dish that is deep enough to fully contain the chicken. Cover tightly with foil, or with the dish’s lid if there is one. Bake the chicken in the preheated oven for 90 minutes, basting once half way through.
- Ater 90 minutes, remove the foil, baste again, and adjust the oven’s temperature to 425ºF. Bake the chicken at 425ºF for 20 minutes without the foil, or until the skin is deep golden brown and crispy. Remove the chicken from the oven and let rest for 5-10 minutes.
- Slice the breasts or pull the meat from the bone. Reserve the juices from the bottom of the casserole dish for drizzling over top of the meat.
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Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!How to Make Herb Roasted Chicken Breast – Step by Step Photos
Begin preheating the oven to 275ºF. Take the chicken out of the refrigerator so it has a few minutes to come up to temperature. In a small bowl combine 3 Tbsp room temperature butter, 2 cloves minced garlic, 1 tsp dried basil, 1 tsp dried thyme, 1 tsp dried rosemary, 1/2 tsp salt, and some freshly cracked pepper (about 10 cranks of a pepper mill). Rosemary pieces can be large, so I just crush them up in my hand before adding them. Stir this mixture up until it forms a paste.
Place two split chicken breasts (bone-in, skin-on, about 3 lbs. total) on a cutting board and pat them dry with a paper towel. They need to be fairly dry for the butter to stick. Also, if the chicken is too cold they will form condensation and become wet again, which is why you’ll want them to warm a bit as you mix the butter. Spread the butter herb mixture over both sides of the chicken, coating it in a thick layer.
Place the seasoned chicken breasts in a casserole dish that is deep enough to fully contain the chicken. Cover the dish tightly with foil (this is important to hold in the moisture), or if the dish has a lid that’s even better.
Roast the breasts in the 275ºF oven for 90 minutes, basting once half way through (replace the foil as tightly as possible after basting). After the full 90 minutes, remove the foil, baste one more time, and adjust the oven’s heat to 425ºF.
Return the chicken to the oven and roast for 20 minutes without the foil, or until the skin is deep golden brown and crispy. (I garnished with some chopped parsley to give the photos color, but it’s not necessary.)
Give it one last baste with those delicious juices for good measure and let the meat rest for 5-10 minutes.
Letting the meat rest a few minutes helps keep the juices inside and the meat nice and moist! Serve the chicken whole, or slice it up…
And don’t forget to pull any bits and pieces of meat left on the bones, like you would with a rotisserie chicken. It’s just too good to let any go to waste!
After I removed all the meat from the bones, I gave it another good dose of those delicious juices. SO GOOD.
It makes an impressive main dish, but I’m just adding a few pieces to everything I eat this week! Depending on how you serve it and how big your chicken pieces are, you’ll get 4-6 servings. Make sure to save those juices and pour them over top before stashing it in the fridge!
Hi Beth, I am very amazed with all the details in your steps, quality of your photos and most of all – the recipe itself! Can’t wait to try it – thank you so much for sharing it!
Hi Beth,
What cooking times would you recommend for boneless chicken pieces? Boneless, skinless breast tenderloins is all I have in my freezer currently.
Thanks!
I haven’t tried this with boneless, skinless, unfortunately. :( It will likely be quite different, so I’d need to test it out before taking a guess.
Hi! I tried cooking this recipe today with my fiance, using boneless, skinless chicken breasts. It didn’t come out perfect, but it came out pretty damn good (that’s props to the author, though).
We had 3 fairly large breasts and followed the recipe as close as could provided human err; we also added in some small cut carrots and potatoes to roast. And then started to follow cooking instructions exactly.
We ended up taking it out about 5 minutes into the 425 degree cook. Now, I definitely will get skinned chicken next time, since I want that crispy exterior. And we didn’t realize our new cooking thermometer was set to Celsius and let our poor chicken get to 200 degrees before taking it out, but it’s still amazingly moist and tender all things considered. But it measured at about 94 degrees Celsius after the first baste, so here’s what I suggest:
Instead of basting it 45 minutes, baste it at 30. Then increase the heat to the suggested 425 if you’re looking for crispy skin or a better colored chicken. After 15 minutes maybe I’d take it out and check it either with a thermometer or by slicing into it. Since we messed up, all I can really say is the thermometer is your best friend and give you an estimate until I (inevitably) try again.
If anybody is really that invested, I’ll post an update over the weekend after (hopefully) getting it right!
I’m actually making it tonight with boneless, skinless breasts, so I’ll let you know how it goes!
What would the time and temperature be for boneless skinless chicken breasts?
Can I use bone in chicken thighs?
It will likely need a different cooking time/temperature combo because they are a different size and are much more tender than breasts. Unfortunately I haven’t tried it with thighs, so I don’t know exactly what would be needed.
Hi Beth,
Thanks so much for including tips like patting the chicken dry, leaving it out for 5 minutes and having the butter at room temperature. And the “why” this is important, so I know not to skip that step!! Very helpful for beginner cooks like me!
Tasted absolutely delicious!! Thanks so much 😊
I made this tonight with 4 big boneless skinless chicken breasts. So I had to double everything. I had to bake it for about 70 minutes on 275 and another 25 minutes on 425. I drizzled the juice over the chicken a few times throughout it cooking and it was so flavorful and delicious.
I made this the other day and it was so good! I ate it all over a few days with some jasmine rice. Leftovers reheated in microwave were still great. I also love that it can be used with ingredients I usually have in my house (although bone-in breasts can be a little hard to find sometimes). I have an Instant Pot and I might try this recipe using it next time.
What would the cooking times be for boneless/skinless chicken? Please and thank you 😊
I haven’t tested this with boneless skinless, but it will be quite different because the bone and skin insulate the meat and keep it moist during this low and slow baking process. It might not be possible to get the same effect with boneless skinless chicken.
I made this tonight with boneless/skinless chicken breasts and it turned out more than amazing!!!
I cooked for a total of about 60-65 minutes including the time when I turned the oven up (45-50 minutes at 275 and about 10-15 minutes at 425). Seriously want to make it again tomorrow :)
Made this tonight….OMG they were sooo good. Tender, juicy and so flavorful! Followed the recipe exactly as stated, definitely worth the wait time. And the “sauce” I could have eaten all of it with a spoon (did save most of it for the chicken:). Thank you for sharing this!
I was wondering instead of the oven, can you make this through the crock pot? and if you can, how long do you leave it in the crock pot and do I put it in low setting and then crank it up to high?
No, unfortunately this one needs the dry heat of an oven.
After I have used a prepared chicken from the grocery store, for at least 2 or 3 dinners, I throw bones and all into a crock pot with about 1/2 cup of water, turn on slow for 4-5 hours. Then I dump it into a sieve with a bowl underneath it to collect the drippings. After it cools I can easily remove the chicken bits off the bones. I have enough chicken and chicken stock to make soup or a casserole.
I have an herb garden and this recipe allowed me to use my herbs. This recipe was so quick and easy,and the smell while cooking was OMG heaven. The taste was out of this world good. Thank you for sharing.
P.S I through some red potatoes in halfway through cooking. Awesome!
Really really good. Whole family loved!
Looks so good. Will this work with chicken thighs as well?
These times and temperatures are for large bone-in, skin-on breasts specifically. It would need to be adjusted for thighs.
I followed all your instructions for getting the chicken to be dry (I even left it out even longer than recommended and spent extra time drying it) and could not for the life of me get the butter to stick. It ended up mostly in chunks which I assume will just slide off. I know I shouldn’t be, but I’m so frustrated and wondering if this will actually work- its still in the oven. Although I don’t spread butter thick over the turkey when I do it at Thanksgiving, but it still turns out okay. Thoughts and further suggestions?
Was the butter cold? Now that I’m thinking about it a bit more, I bet softened/room temperature butter would be much easier to spread on the skin.