I haven't always been a fan of baked chicken. Honestly, for the past 7ish years chicken hasn't been my favorite protein to eat...ever since I got pregnant with my first baby it's been hard for me to eat. The only way I've been able to enjoy eating chicken is to eat it grilled!
These past few months I've been trying my best to bulk prep our protein for the week, which means getting it all cooked and ready to go! While doing this I discovered my new favorite way to cook chicken! I still love grilled chicken, but we currently don't have that option in our home so I had to improvise. This method is so dang easy and you can bake as much or as little chicken as you'd like!
Perfectly Baked Chicken
Ingredients:
Chicken breast
Sea salt (I like Redmond's Real Salt)
Garlic powder
Smoked paprika
Extra virgin olive oil
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Lightly brush you baking dish with olive oil to help prevent any sticking. Generously coat each chicken breast, top and bottom, with salt, garlic powder, and paprika, then place in baking dish. Bake chicken in the oven for 20-30 minutes (depends on thickness of chicken), or until the chicken's internal temperature has reached 165 degree F. Once done, pull chicken out of the oven and immediately cover the pan to trap in moisture. Let the chicken sit for 5 minutes before serving!
I love how versatile this recipe is! If you're wanting to back chicken for a Mexican dish than add some cumin and drizzle some lime on top! If you are going more for an Italian dish add some Italian seasoning on top! And if you're wanting more of a grilled feel to your chicken bake it in a cast iron pan, seasoning it with Redmond's Smoked Salt! Their smoked salts are sooooo good!
You all know that I'm passionate about empowering you in learning about the health benefits of our food! That being said, let's talk about protein for a second. Protein is so incredibly important to include in our diets. I know most of us think, "I know it's important, and that's why I eat it every day". However, MOST OF US, especially women, are NOT eating enough protein to help their bodies thrive as they exert so much energy into being mom's, exercising, or even just aging! Protein is essential to helping our muscles not only grow, but work properly (this includes the famous muscle called the heart!).
Along with helping build and keep muscles healthy, protein is also essential in proper hormone function. As women, every month when our period comes we lose blood, which means we lose iron. And in order to replenish this iron we need to eat adequate amounts of protein to build our blood back up. If we don't have good levels of iron, not only do we become anemic, but our hormones won't be able to cycle through our body properly, which leads to all sorts of hormone issues that can affect our physical and emotional stress. WE NEED PROTEIN!!!
How much protein do you need a day? AT MINIMUM, 100 grams or roughly 6 oz of protein at each meal. Are you getting enough??? Try tracking your protein for a couple of days and see if you are. You might be surprised!
Happy cooking!
Love,
Danielle
P.S.
If tracking your protein is too stressful for you to navigate on your own, don't worry! This is why I created my 4 week Intro to Learning Nutrition online course! In this course I teach you all about serving sizes, and how to easily measure food without actually measuring! (Did you know that's even possible?)
Or
If you're wanting more personalized plans to help you hit your nutrition goals without any guessing, I have a couple of new openings available for one-on-one coaching!
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