How to Bake Chicken

How to Bake Chicken1 How to Bake Chicken Ask your children what they would like to eat and you will invariably be met with shouts of “chicken”! Children love chicken in every form. And since it is a tender meat available universally, it is an international favorite too. You can cook it in any form and it will taste just fabulous. Baking chicken is a very easy way of cooking chicken and you can either bake it as a whole or in pieces which you have a preference for. You can prepare the chicken in various ways depending on your taste and also garnish it as you like. Since it is very easy, you will learn how to bake chicken very quickly.

Ingredients:

2-3 lb cut up chicken
Marinade
Freshly ground pepper and salt
Olive oil
Dried or fresh herbs like tarragon, rosemary, oregano or thyme
Roasting pan
Meat thermometer

Procedure:

When you buy chicken, make sure that you get it cleaned nicely and then wash it well with plenty of water. For best results, you should pat the chicken dry. Marinating the chicken can be done overnight and it will allow the marinade to completely condition the chicken. You can choose an Italian dressing marinade which you can mix with the chicken in a shallow bowl and store in the fridge overnight.
The next day, you can take the chicken from out of the fridge and start cooking it. Since you will be baking in the oven, you need to preheat it to 350 degrees F. The roasting pan on which the chicken will be placed should be coated with olive oil. Now keep the chicken in the roasting pan side up after taking it out from the marinade. Use any of the herbs that you want along with salt and pepper. In case you have used a marinade, there is no need to season.
Without covering the chicken, bake in the oven for 50 minutes. A meat thermometer will tell you if the chicken is done. The meat in the chicken breasts should reach 170 degrees F and in the thighs, it should be 180 degrees F. Try to take the reading from the deepest part of the meat.
When the chicken is baked, it will lose its pink look. Until the chicken has changed color and gone from pink to brown, you should allow it to cook. You can also poke a knife in the deepest part of the chicken to check if there are still unbaked juices. You will finally know that your chicken is ready to be eaten.

Your children will probably be running in and out waiting for you to serve the dish. When you finally carve out the pieces and serve them on a plate, it will be a pleasure to watch their faces. You will get the just result of your hard work.