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!
Can you make this in a pressure cooker?
We haven’t tested the recipe in a pressure cooker yet to know. But you can certainly try!
This has been my favorite chicken recipe since I found it on Pinterest many months ago. Even the pickiest eaters have picked all the meat off the bones! It takes time, but very little effort and the leftovers are lovely. It’s the kind of recipe that you love to share, but also want to keep top secret!!
Happy to hear it Mary!
K so something is very confusing about this recipe…your picture of the cooked chicken shows boneless chicken breasts, but in the pictures on how to prepare, you clearly have chicken on the bone.
I used bone-in breasts. I simply removed the bone after roasting, so I could slice it.
Hi Beth! I have made this chicken for my family 3 times now and we can’t get enough of it, it’s always gone in one sitting, no leftovers. It’s delicious! Thank you so much for sharing this with us. I plan on making it again but with a brined whole chicken this time, can I bake it at the same temperature and for how long? I like the low temp, slow cook in the oven, it makes for a juicy perfectly cooked chicken!
Hi Cleopatra! Unfortunately I’m not practiced with roasting whole chickens, so I’m not sure what the best time and temperature would be. But in cases like this, I like to turn to the pro’s, like Bon Appetit. They have a Slow Roasted Chicken recipe that suggests 325F for 2.5-3 hrs.
I happened upon your excellent site. Here is a recipe for slow roasted whole chicken that never disappoints. In my experience, the spices/flavorings are optional as is the overnight prep (altho recommended). The downside is the leathery skin. But this is far superior to poaching or simmering for making cooked chicken for other recipes.
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/45954/roast-sticky-chicken-rotisserie-style/?internalSource=hub%20recipe&referringContentType=Search&clickId=cardslot%201
Cheers.
It takes a long time to cook so prepare in advance! So delicious! Worth the effort! I say effort, however it’s very easy. I just forget about how much time it takes and sometimes forgot to begin cooking until it’s too late. 🙄
SO GOOD!! slow cooking worked so well – thanks!
how many does this serve?
It just depends on how much chicken you like to serve per serving. I usually keep my meat servings a bit on the small side, so I would consider each breast to be two servings, making this a four serving recipe. If you like larger portions, it would probably be two.
Just out at the pub… put mine on a timer #looking4wards #juicyherby🐔
Sounds good
My store didn’t have Bone-in skin-on chicken breasts only whole legs. Will my cook time be the same??
I’ve used the same method for chicken legs, you can find the recipe here. :)
This was delicious! I had it for supper and some left over for lunch. I used boneless skinless chicken breast and did not find my meat was dry at all!. I used the drippings to put on top of my steamed veggies!
What temp did you use for the chicken that was boneless and skinless
So this is lovely… Having a few chicken breasts left over that needed cooking off… I looked for a new recipe I hadn’t tried yet. The chicken tasted fantastic, however the extra note at the end left me baffled. After following the whole method and my chicken nicely in the oven, I scroll a little further down to see this recipe is for bone in and skin on chicken 😂…
Not to worry. I kept a closer eye on the chicken, checking the temperature periodically. Then browned for 10 minutes or so at the end.
Very nice, but perhaps edit the ingredients to say “skin on” chicken breasts, to avoid the confusion I’ve been through.
That’s what a “split chicken breast” is. An intact breast that is just split in half, bones in, skin on. :) It’s always a good idea to read a recipe from beginning to end, notes and all, before beginning.
I do need to agree with Danny Wilkin’s suggestion here. I think a lot of us novice home cooks don’t know what a “split chicken” is, and don’t always read every single footnote. I did the exact same thing – made the whole recipe, and only realized as I was putting it into the oven that it was supposed to be bone-in, skin-on chicken. But I do have to say that even with using boneless skinless breasts, it was moist and delicious! I cooked for about 70 minutes at 275, then another 15-20 minutes at 350 with the lid off.
What temperature/cook time would you recommend for boneless chicken breasts?
I actually don’t suggest this recipe for boneless breasts, especially if they are also skinless. Unfortunately it just doesn’t work the same. The bone and skin helps keep the meat moist and remain tender.
Could you do more straightforward chicken recipes without butter? Most of your simplest (in terms of flavors and ingredients) chicken recipes have butter, and I can’t eat meat and dairy together. Thanks for your consideration! I love your recipes and use them often.
Can you use vegan butter?
Have you tried Earth Balance? They make an excellent vegan butter that is also soy free. have found it to be the best substitute I have found for cooking and baking and it even comes in stick form as well as tub!
Using coconut oil in place of butter is excellent! I don’t eat meat and dairy together either.
Don’t ditch the juices after the chicken is gone…. use the leftover juices to make rice. I love using a fatty, herb-y, buttery broth to cook rice in! Just add enough chicken broth to make up the difference if there is not enough liquid.
Love this idea! Thanks for the suggestion!
What would you recommend for cooking temperature/cook time if I did this with an entire chicken?
Unfortunately it’s really hard to say without testing it. I’m not very experienced with roasting a whole chicken, so I can’t make an educated guess.
I tried this recipe tonight and the chicken came out a little dry. Would you suggest a lower baking temperature, or a shorter baking time?
I know I’m not the OP, but I would recommend adjusting the baking time. Dry chicken usually just means it’s overcooked.