Looking for budget-friendly protein? Consider split bone-in chicken breasts. They’re less expensive than boneless, skinless chicken breasts and won’t dry out while cooking.
What is a split bone-in chicken breast?
A split chicken breast is a chicken breast with the bone and skin. Two split breasts equal one whole chicken breast. Sometimes, the breasts are still intact and might be called whole chicken breast.
Bone-in split chicken breasts are usually much cheaper than boneless, skinless chicken breasts, which is a plus! And, they are a great way to get white meat that stays moist while cooking. The bones and skin protect the breast while cooking, thus holding in the juices.
I regularly buy split bone-in chicken breasts and roast them over the weekend as part of my weekly food prep. Depending on size, 2-4 fit nicely in my dutch oven. The split breasts that I buy from the farmer’s market are smaller than the ones that I buy from Aldi. They cook easily and can be used immediately in recipes or freeze for future meals.
Stretch your dollar further with split chicken breasts.
- Make a bit of stock while the chicken is roasting. Details below.
- Save the bones for a bigger batch of stock later. I keep a bag in my freezer for the chicken bones. I also keep a bag of celery, carrots, and onion scraps in the freezer. When I have enough to fill a soup pot, I make a big batch of stock using my recipe: How to Make Chicken Stock.
How to Cook Split Bone-In Chicken Breasts:
- 2-4 split bone-in fresh chicken breasts, depending on the size
- 2 tablespoons butter, melted
- salt
- garlic powder
- onion powder
- paprika
- 1-2 celery stalk
- 1-2 carrot
- 1 yellow onion
- Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.
- Place the celery, carrot, and onion in a dutch oven and place the chicken breasts on top of the vegetables.
- Brush melted butter on breasts and sprinkle with salt, garlic powder, onion powder, and paprika, about ½ teaspoon each.
- Add 1-2 cups of water to the dutch oven.
- Place in oven and cook for 50-60 minutes or until chicken breasts are cooked through with internal temp of 165 F. Use a meat thermometer if you have one.
- Remove chicken breasts from the oven and allow them to cool before cutting.
- Depending on the size of the breasts, you will get about 1-3 cups of cooked chicken per breast. Typically, chicken breasts from the grocery store will be much larger than ones from the farmer's market. The cooked chicken can be kept in the refrigerator for up to a week and/or can be frozen. I like to freeze in 2 cup portions.
- You should have about a cup of delicious stock remaining in the pot. You can use this in soups, gravy, or other recipes. After removing the chicken breasts, discard the cooked vegetables, and carefully pour the remaining liquid through a sieve into a glass bowl. This stock can be used immediately as stock or store in the refrigerator for up to a week, or store in a freezer container in the freezer.
Ideas for the cooked chicken:
- Chicken & Black Bean Enchiladas
- Chicken, Sweet Potato, and Black Bean Quesadillas
- Chicken Corn Soup
- Easy Chicken Noodle Soup
- Chicken salad for sandwiches
- topping for salads
It’s funny how anything other that fully prepped chicken breast so often gets passed up… Bone-in pieces are so much tastier with a larger variety of meat and flavor.
Looks like a great recipe!
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