How to Meal Prep Chicken in the Oven
How to Meal Prep Chicken in the Oven is simple marinades and a quick bake in the oven, and your chicken comes out juicy and tender, ready for any meal during a busy week.
Having healthy proteins ready to go in your fridge or freezer is SO helpful during busy weeks.
This is the best kind of meal prep chicken — 4 marinades that are SUPER easy and filled with flavor.
I’ll show you how to BAKE your chicken in the oven so it’s tender, juicy, and dare I say *moist!*
Side Note: These photos make one piece of chicken look undercooked — I promise it’s not! Shadows are a real thing… ?
How to Meal Prep Chicken in the Oven
First, let’s talk about marinades…
For the best meal prep chicken, you need to use a marinade that will pack some punches and give a bland protein something to talk about.
We’re making four different marinades that take about 3 minutes to whisk up, and you probably have all the ingredients in your pantry.
How do you make meal prep chicken taste good?
You use *really* good seasoning or marinades!
Smokehouse Maple Marinaded Chicken
We’ll start with my favorite of the four. It’s the one I make the most often, and pairs well for all kinds of dishes later.
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In a container, mix 1 tablespoon Smokehouse Maple Seasoning and 2 tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce.
Slide in your chicken breasts, and close the container.
Give it a good shimmy shimmy shake shake, and sit in the fridge for an hour or up to 24 hours.
Italian Chicken Marinade
Italian Chicken Marinade uses pantry staples for an easy marinade idea.
In a dish, add a teaspoon each of these spices:
- Salt
- Pepper
- Oregano
- Thyme
- Parsley
- Onion Powder
- Garlic Powder
Drizzle in a couple of tablespoons of Olive Oil and mix well to combine.
Smoosh your chicken around in it, and allow to sit for an hour or overnight. The longer the better!
Spicy Asian Chicken Marinade
This spicy Asian chicken marinade is the perfect complement to roasted veggies for a quick sheet pan stir fry any night of the week!
In a dish add the following:
- Soy Sauce
- Rice Vinegar
- Sesame Oil
- Chili Garlic Paste
Smoosh your chicken around in this, and let it hang out for an hour.
Montreal Steak Seasoned Chicken Rub
Montreal Steak Seasoning is something that lives beside my stovetop.
It’s something I always have on hand and use it on pretty much everything.
Shake a good amount out onto a dish.
Smoosh your chicken into the seasoning, and flip around a bunch to make sure it’s well coated. If you feel like you need to sprinkle some more on, go for it!
How to Make Juicy Chicken Breasts in the Oven
Preheat your oven to 425˚ — and make sure it’s *really* 425˚ by using an oven thermometer.
On a foil-lined sheet pan, drizzle some olive oil on top and brush around.
For extra easy cleanup, I use this kind of foil!
Place your chicken breasts on the sheet pan, allowing for adequate space between.
The closer you place them together, the more they will steam and not bake, and the yuckier they will be.
These are whole chicken breasts, that have not been cut down the middle — so each fit well on these quarter sheet pans.
I toyed with naming this “how to meal prep in a tiny kitchen without a grill” since that’s exactly what’s going on here… I’ve got a small oven/stove and a half sheet pan won’t fit inside.
Depending on how thick/thin your chicken breasts are, this could take anywhere from 15-25 minutes.
Investing in an internal meat thermometer is also an absolutely *clutch* kitchen item.
Chicken needs to cook to 165˚, but that means that at about 160˚, take your chicken out of the oven, and ‘carry-over cooking’ will take it the five degrees needed.
Two racks of chicken took 20 minutes to bake all the way through, and they turned out so juicy!
How do you meal prep chicken without drying it out?
If you are worried about your chicken drying out, during the last ten minutes, baste it with the juices on the pan.
Because you are cooking your chicken at a higher temperature for a shorter amount of time, it’s less likely to dry out.
How long does chicken last in the fridge and freezer?!
- Cooked chicken in the fridge lasts 3-4 days.
- Cooked chicken in the freezer lasts up to 6 months.
How do you store meal prep chicken?
I prefer to store in glass containers when I’m keeping things in the fridge.
These Pyrex containers are my absolute GO TO!
When I’m storing in the freezer, I’ll use BPA-free plastic containers. I like the ones with suction lids, just so no extra air gets in.
Now, you may need some recipes for using your meal prep chicken.
Well, here you go!
How to Use Meal Prep Chicken
Italian Meal Prep Chicken is used in this low carb and keto favorite!
It's easy, it's full of flavor, and it's perfect for meal prepping because the flavors only get better - Chicken Taco Casserole is a dish the whole family will love!
Cold sesame noodles with chicken and vegetables makes a delicious warm weather entree, and is perfect in a lunch box or for a picnic.
Cover your meal prep chicken with buffalo sauce and serve it as tacos! These quick and easy buffalo chicken tacos with ranch and coleslaw veggies will be a guaranteed hit with your whole family.
This Greek Mason Jar Salads recipe makes 6 large, filling, and nutritious salads that are healthy, low-carb, and gluten-free! It costs $11.76 to make 6, and EACH salad costs just $1.96!
Lettuce Wraps filled with tender chicken, and rice take summer eating to a whole new level. Tangy rice, crunchy nuts, currents and olives are wrapped in soft green leaves to make a fun-to-eat meal.
Easy Chicken Fried Rice is made with a little leftover chicken and cooked rice, plus plenty of veggies! This 20 minute weeknight dinner idea is just so simple to throw together.
Save this to your favorite meal prep board on Pinterest!
How to Meal Prep Chicken in the Oven
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 20
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Category: main dish, low carb lifestyle
- Method: oven baked
- Cuisine: american
Description
How to Meal Prep Chicken in the Oven is simple marinades and a quick bake in the oven, and your chicken comes out juicy and tender, ready for any meal during a busy week.
Ingredients
8 chicken breasts
Smokehouse Maple Marinade:
- 1 tbs Smokehouse Maple Seasoning
- 2 tbs Worcestershire sauce
Italian Marinade
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Pepper
- 1 tsp Oregano
- 1 tsp Thyme
- 1 tsp Parsley
- 1 tsp Onion Powder
- 1 tsp Garlic Powder
- 2 tbs Olive oil
Spicy Asian Marinade
- 2 tbs Soy Sauce
- 2 tbs Rice Vinegar
- 1 tsp Sesame Oil
- 1 +/- tbs Chili Garlic Paste
Montreal Steak Rub
- 1–2 tbs Montreal Steak Seasoning
Instructions
- Mix ingredients for marinades in individual containers.
- Add chicken to each, and coat well.
- Allow to marinate for an hour, or up to 24 hours.
Baking Chicken:
- Preheat oven to 425˚
- Cover rimmed baking dish with aluminum foil and slick down with olive oil.
- Place marinated chicken on sheet pans, being careful not to crowd.
- Bake at 425˚ for 15-25 minutes, depending on how thick/thin your chicken is.
- Cook chicken to 165˚ internal temperature.
- Serve with sides or over salad, or store in containers for later use.
Keywords: how to meal prep chicken in the oven
Thank you for this awesome idea to meal-prep chicken. Your recipes are awesome, and I can already think of many other variations using the same approach. 🙂
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Woo hoo!! Thanks, Anita!!
Oh my goodness are shadows a real thing in photography! So frustrating. These chicken breast look delicious, however. And I love MOntreal Steak seasoning. I never thought to make it myself! Guess what’s happening this week in our kitchen!
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Thanks, Luci!
I meal prep chicken in the oven every week. It makes healthy eating so much easier! But I don’t marinade it enough! That’s such a great idea that I’m going to start using!
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Yeah!! I was getting so tired of the same bland chicken — making a large amount of chicken with multiple marinades helps keep it exciting!
While they all sound good, it is the spicy Asian marinade that has my mouth-watering. Sounds like it would be enough on its own, that I wouldn’t need one of the extra recipes. I can’t wait to give it a try.
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It’s super great stirred into fried rice!
Thanks for the detailed post on this..very useful.
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Sure thing!
I love all the different ways to prepare chicken; it’s so versatile! Can’t wait to give these a try; looks too good to pass up!
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Woo hoo!!
This is what I need right now! I am thinking of how I could meal prep chicken in the oven and this is such a great post. Thanks for sharing.
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Of course! Glad I could help!
Great to have a recipe specifically to keep the baked chicken moist! Sometimes it gets dried out. Thanks for this!
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It sure does!! Thanks for the comment!
I usually roast an entire chicken for the week, but it’s only one flavor! This was a great way to mix it up all week.
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Woo hoo!! Love that!
This sounds so delicious! Love meal prep, and these marinades will help make different meals for the week.
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Yes, they sure will!