Word of Mom | Family Life
Good Eats

A Baked Chicken Recipe Your Kids Will Love

used here under creative commons licensing

Before my kids were born, I loved baked chicken. I had a go-to baked chicken recipe, but I also loved trying out different sauces and spices, playing with different sides and cooking methods and biscuit recipes to find the perfect chicken meal.

And then I had kids.

Like everything else, things that previously seemed easy were suddenly complex. Making a roux (the basis for most white sauces) that needs constant stirring is impossible when you have a colicky baby and a preschooler who's in to everything. Plus I was constantly distracted, never remembering when I'd put my chicken in or when it was supposed to be done (forget about getting aroung to cooking a side dish!).

And then as I was watching the Food Network at my sister's house, I saw one of their chefs extolling the virtues of a probe thermometer. I'd tried using the ones you stick into the chicken and use in the oven, but I couldn't ever read them without opening the oven — and they caused more bother than they were worth. A probe thermometer, on the other hand, has "reader" that sticks in the chicken (or any other meat), and a cable that connects to a digital thermometer that sits on the counter. It's easily accessible without opening the oven: You program it with the type of meat you're cooking, and it beeps to warn you right before the meat is done so you can pull it out of the oven and let it finish heating on the stove. Perfect baked chicken is a part of my dinner rotation again.


  1. Wash the chicken parts and lay them in a roasting pan or casserole dish.
  2. Pour a tablespoon of oil over them (I prefer olive, but you could use anything that takes medium heat).
  3. Sprinkle them liberally with spices. Depending on my mood, I'll go simple with salt, pepper, and garlic, or go crazy with curry powder and whatever else smells good.
  4. Insert the probe thermometer into the largest piece of chicken.
  5. Put the casserole dish into a 350°F oven.

I sometimes make veggies or pasta to go along with the chicken, or I cut the cooked chicken to make burritos. My kids have gone from wrinkling up their noses at overdone chicken to begging to help sprinkle spices. I can have dinner in the oven in 10 minutes — which means I get more time to spend with my kids in the evening.

Probe thermometer: best $20 I ever spent.

What is your favorite baked chicken recipe? Tell us in the comments section below!

Photo credit: Flickr

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