Meal Prep Simple Roast Chicken

Some weeks I like to pre-cook chicken breasts for my post-workout lunch. I usually pair it with a salad, or roasted sweet potatoes (or any other veg you like). Meal prepping is a great way to 1) save money by not buying your lunch and 2) ensure you are eating a healthy meal. This is a super simple, easy, fail-proof way to perfectly cook up chicken breast.

While chicken legs and thighs are objectively better tasting, they are a little bit of a pain to prep, and eat at work(what with the bones and skin). So I sacrifice a little flavor for convenience here.

You will need a few pieces of hardware for this, but they are excellent kitchen investments anyways and I highly recommend you pick these up.

1/4 Sheet Pan. Pick up at a kitchen supply or Amazon . Don’t buy an expensive one, just make sure its aluminum. (As long as you are there, pickup the full size as well…you’ll need it for all the roast vegetables you are going to make)
Meat Thermometer/Alarm I love this one from Thermoworks. It’s accurate and easy to use. If you want perfectly cooked meat every time, you have to use a thermometer. You will use it every time you cook meat, and will be rewarded.

Ingredients
Boneless, Skinless chicken breast (free range, organic, if possible)
Kosher Salt
Ground pepper or
Seasoning of choice (discussed below)
1/2 Tbs of butter (grass fed if possible)
Olive oil
Splash of white wine or chicken broth (optional)

Directions
Preheat oven to 400
Rinse off chicken breast, and trim any excess connective tissue (non meat parts 😉 )and then pat dry with paper towel.
Line the sheet pan with foil and drizzle with a little olive oil and put the chicken on the tray and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper or seasoning of choice.
Put a little pat of butter on top of each breast and bunch up the foil up nice and close to the chicken making little walls to hold in the liquid.
Drizzle a little white wine or chicken broth (~1/8 to 1/4 cup) over everything. This will help keep things moist and add little flavor in the process.
Insert the thermometer probe so the tip is in the thickest part of the breast and set the temp to 155. (also make sure you turn on the alarm)
Roast until internal temperature reaches 155 F (about 20 mins depending on your oven) . Temperature is the only way to guarantee a perfect cook every time!
When alarm goes off, take out of oven and rest for 5 mins.(resting actually finishes the cooking process and should not be skipped)
Serve and eat, or let cool and then pack in reusable containers for your lunch!

Variations
While Salt/Pepper are a nice base, I like to use some pre-made seasoning mixes from Penzys Spices. Here are some of my favorites for chicken. Note that these already have salt in them, so don’t add salt and then the spice mix. Choose one or the other.