Easy Weeknight Oven Poached Chicken

A couple of super simple tricks will have you making oven poached chicken breasts a weeknight protein with leftovers to use in salads or re-purposed in other dishes.

This is really so easy that I hesitate to call it a recipe, just a few things done right to ensure you have moist and tender chicken breasts. Normally I de-saturate my photos, however above I left it natural so you can really see just how juicy these breasts can be if you follow my tips.

Poach in Paper

This effectively creates a mini steam oven to evelop your chicken. Pull the chicken from the oven at exactly 160 degrees and cut the envelope open to allow the excess steam to escape. Check out my tips and tricks post on how to make this really easy.

Use a Meat Thermometer

There is no other way to get chicken breasts cooked right. Take my advice, cook to 160 degrees, carry-over cooking will get you to 165 degrees.

Use Simple Seasoning

Keeping the seasoning relatively neutral allows for maximum flexibility when re-purposing the chicken. Lemon, butter, salt, pepper and thyme are all that I generally use.

Enjoy the Results of Lazy Cooking

Once you see just how easy and effective this really is you will make this a regular part of your meal plans. Roll that beautiful steam footage.

Easy Oven Poaching for Great Results

4-10 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 lemon

butter

salt

pepper

thyme

sheet pan or smaller oven-safe baking dish

parchment paper

stapler - this is optional but it really makes things easy

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Tear off two equal-sized sheets of parchment paper a bit wider than your sheet pan or other oven-safe baking dish. Line the bottom with one sheet and add the breasts to the tray allowing for about 1 finger width between them. Tuck the tails under the fat section to ensure even cooking. Dot with a pat of butter and a lemon slice. I like to use a Microplane to grate some zest onto the breasts and release the essential oils of the lemon. Salt and pepper the breasts liberally and season with a couple of pinches of thyme. Seal in the parchment and bake for about 40 minutes, just until your meat thermometer registers 160 degrees

Pull immediately, and release the steam. You cannot wait on this because a minute really matters here. Be careful it is hot, I use a long chef's knife to cut up and away from the paper. Let them rest for 5 minutes to allow the proteins to re-absorb some of the juices. Store them with the pan drippings added back to enhance the moisture.

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