How to Bake a Chicken Breast Dipped in Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Baked chicken with olive oil and seasonings is a delicious main dish. Eat it with nutritious sides such as a salads, cooked vegetables or whole-grain dishes like brown rice. Extra-virgin olive oil is the most stable cooking oil to use.

Are you looking for basic oven-baked chicken breast recipes? The USDA provides an easy one. After cooking it the first time, you may want to experiment with the seasonings, and vary them to suit your preference.

The below recipe is for chicken breasts with the bone intact rather than for the boneless variety:

1. Pour olive oil on the chicken breast or breasts in a bowl. Toss to coat.
2. In a separate bowl, combine all-purpose flour, nonfat dry milk, poultry seasoning, paprika, granulated garlic and ground pepper.
3. Coat the oiled chicken breasts with the seasoned flour.
4. In a conventional oven, bake on an ungreased baking sheet at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 45 to 55 minutes until golden brown. (In a convection oven, bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 to 35 minutes.)
5. Make sure you cook the chicken breasts until the internal temperature is at least 165 degrees Fahrenheit.

Certain cooking techniques can prevent chicken from drying out in the oven. The University of Chicago Medicine says the best way to cook a chicken breast in the oven and keep it moist involves a combination of searing and baking. The following recipe involves boneless chicken breasts:

1. Season the chicken with chipotle pepper or a combination of salt, ground pepper and chili powder.
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
3. Heat an iron skillet on the stove, and when hot, add enough oil to brown the number of chicken breasts you're cooking.
4. When the oil is hot, brown the chicken for 2 minutes on each side.
5. Put the skillet in the preheated oven and bake 6 to 8 minutes. You'll know the chicken is cooked when it's no longer pink and the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
6. Transfer the chicken to a cutting board, and allow it to rest 5 minutes.
7. Slice and serve with vegetables or a whole-grain dish such as brown rice.

Read more: The #1 Way to Cook Chicken Breast Without Drying It Out

Olive oil, especially extra-virgin olive oil, is associated with an array of health benefits, including reducing the risk of heart disease and helping with blood sugar control, notes the Mayo Clinic. To include it in your diet in ways other than simply drizzling it over a salad, you can also cook or bake with it.

When cooking oils are exposed to high temperatures, they break down and form substances called polar compounds, which are harmful to health. A June 2018 study published in Acta Scientific Nutritional Health tested common cooking oils to determine the how much of these compounds they produced when heated. The results showed that extra-virgin olive oil was the safest, because it produced the least.

Read more: What Are the Benefits of Drinking Olive Oil?

Although extra-virgin olive oil was the most stable, virgin olive oil and olive oil also performed well. The least-stable oils were canola, grapeseed and rice bran oil. According to the authors, extra-virgin olive oil's monounsaturated fat and antioxidant content make it more stable than the other oils.