The 10 Commandments of Baking Chicken

First thing's first: raw chicken needs salt and pepper, and lots of it. Before you put anything else on the chicken before you bake it, sprinkle a generous pinch of kosher salt all over both sides of the chicken, followed by a nearly equal amount of black pepper. This is the only way to ensure the chicken gets seasoned all the way through.

Recipe featured: lemon-thyme baked chicken

One of the trickiest parts of baking chicken is knowing exactly when it's done. To avoid dry, overcooked chicken or pink, undercooked chicken, invest in a meat thermometer to take the guesswork out of it. Chicken is fully cooked when it reaches an internal temperature of 165°F.

Since chicken is such a lean meat with little fat, it needs some help in order to be juicy and flavorful. Cook with fat, preferably ghee (clarified butter) or olive oil, because they can withstand high heat without burning. And don't skimp on it! Fat means flavor, so drizzle several tablespoons of olive oil or top with a few tablespoons of diced butter or ghee (and don't forget to grease your baking dish, too).

Recipe featured: lemon-pepper baked chicken

While boneless, skinless chicken breasts are a common weeknight staple because of their convenience, they're not the best option when it comes to flavor. Try bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts next time, and you'll benefit from a much more moist and tasty bite of chicken, even if you have to cut around the bone.

Recipe featured: Chrissy Teigen's brick chicken

And the other too-often overlooked cut of chicken is the thigh. Not only are chicken thighs notably cheaper than chicken breasts, but the dark meat also contributes to their unbeatable flavor. Alton Brown has said you only need one thing to flavor chicken thighs — salt — and he's definitely not wrong.

Recipe featured: one-pan chicken thighs with carrots and leeks

Brining, or saturating in salty liquid, is a game changer when it comes to cooking meat, especially chicken. The chicken locks in tons of moisture when it sits for an extended period of time (at least two hours) covered in a solution made of water, salt, and any number of additions, from beer to brown sugar and soy sauce. You'll never taste a juicier or more flavor-packed piece of chicken than after brining and baking.

Recipe featured: beer-brined chicken breasts

Raw chicken is a blank canvas, and there are plenty of ways to customize it. Think of fresh herbs and dried spices as chicken's best friend, and choose any theme you like. You can go the Italian route and bake chicken with olive oil, thyme, and lemon, infuse Mexican flavors with chili powder, cumin, and lime zest, or experiment with your favorite spice combinations.

Recipe featured: lemon-thyme baked chicken

Whether you're roasting a whole chicken or baking thighs or breasts, you're going to have residual juices in the baking dish — don't discard them! You can use the juices from the chicken, lemon, vegetables, and anything else you added to the dish to make a quick pan sauce or to drizzle on top of the chicken for extra flavor.

Recipe featured: one-pan lemon chicken potato bake

You might have been told to baste chicken, but it's an unnecessary step that you should avoid. What happens when you open the oven periodically to baste the chicken is the oven temperature lowers, making the cook time longer. The same idea goes for not basting your turkey: as long as you coated the top in olive oil or butter, the chicken will get perfectly baked on top and stay moist in the center, and you don't want to disrupt the oven's temperature.

Recipe featured: lemon-pepper baked chicken

Just like steak, chicken should rest after being taken out of the oven. Allow the chicken to rest untouched for five to 10 minutes because a lot of juices build up during the cooking process and the moisture will lock inside.

Recipe featured: baked honey mustard chicken