Recipe--Oven Baked Barbecue Chicken

A few years ago, I discovered the cooking show "America's Test Kitchen". I like their approach to cooking (very methodical) and for the last few years I have taken their magazine, "Cooks Illustrated". During my cooking periods, I try to make at least one recipe a month from their magazine and this is one from them. I have tweaked it a little here and there but this is basically their recipe.

Oven-Barbecued Chicken

1 bottle of barbecue sauce (18 ounce size)
olive oil
4-6 boneless skinless chicken breast. (I usually just have frozen chicken breasts in my freezer and the chicken breasts need to all be the same size to cook evenly in the oven, and often I have to cut them in 1/2 to make them the same size.)
bacon (optional)


FYI: Cooks Illustrated does taste tests and their winner for the best store purchased barbecue sauce is Bulls Eye Original. So, that is what I use.


Heat one Tablespoon of oil in the bottom of a ovenproof skillet on high heat until beginning to smoke. (If you don't have a pan that can go directly from the stove top to the oven, before I did purchase one, I just used a regular frying pan and then later transferred everything to a 9x13 baking dish, however for ease, it is best to use a dutch-oven pan or ovenproof skillet.)
Brown chicken until very light golden brown (1 to 2 minutes on each side--they won't be cooked through just brazed)
Remove chicken from pan and place on a plate.
Using a wooden spoon, scrape up browned bits on bottom of skillet and leave there.
Add sauce and simmer over medium heat until sauce is thick and glossy and spatula leaves a clear empty trail in sauce. (Just to define a little, take spatula and pull through middle of the sauce. If it takes a few seconds to run back together, it is done. There is no specific science to this and my husband and I discovered we liked it better thicker. It usually takes about 5 minutes to thicken.)
Off heat, return chicken to sauce, spoon extra sauce over each piece. (And, if you want, add a few pieces of pre-cooked bacon to the sauce as this time. This is one of my tweaks as I often have a few pieces left over from BLT's. It adds a great extra flavor to this recipe.)
Put skillet in oven and cook for about 10-14 minutes in a 325 degree oven until chicken is cooked through. Then, set to broil and cook another 5 minutes. Transfer chicken to plate and let rest for about 5 minutes. Serve with the sauce on the side.


Lately, we have been eating this in sandwich form and it is really good on yummy bread with dill pickles. While this recipe looks like it has a lot of steps, once made once, it is very easy and fast (total cooking time about 35 minutes).