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Oven-Baked Chicken Bites

Delicious, quick, and easy! The perfect weeknight solution.

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When I am rushed in making dinner or I am lacking culinary creativity, I always seem to turn to boneless skinless chicken as the cornerstone of our meal. And I don’t think I’m alone in that habit! There are, after all, about a million-and-one ways to prepare it and most of them are quick and easy. This oven-baked preparation is both of those things – since the chicken is bite-sized it bakes up fast – but thanks to the seasoned buttery coating, it’s also incredibly tasty. (In other words, here’s a go-to delicious protein option for you that works any night of the week.)

This takes so little effort on your part. The only work you need to do is to cut up some chicken breasts and toss them in a mixture of paprika, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, Italian seasoning, and salt and pepper. That takes all of a couple minutes to mix together, but you could always use your favorite seasoning mix to make things extra easy.

All that’s left to do is dot it with some butter and pop it in the oven.

As the chicken cooks, the butter melts and mingles with the seasoning to create a buttery sauce that you can spoon over the chicken when you serve it. (Over rice or noodles? Even better.) I love this method because you get moist flavorful chicken every time, it’s so versatile, and it’s so quick!

Yield(s): Serves 4

5m prep time

15m cook time

4.4
Rated 4.4 out of 5
Rated by 84 reviewers
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Ingredients
  • 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed
  • 1/2 teaspoon paprika
  • a pinch of cayenne pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Preparation
  1. Preheat your oven to 425°F.
  2. In a small bowl, stir together paprika, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, Italian seasoning, and salt and pepper.
  3. Place chicken in a 9x13-inch baking dish and sprinkle with seasoning mix. Drizzle with olive oil and toss to coat.
  4. Place butter on top of chicken and bake until chicken is cooked through, 16-18 minutes, stirring chicken halfway through.
  5. Remove from oven and let rest 5 minutes before serving. Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Eat Well 101.