Great tasting chicken can be baked whole or in pieces. This is a most versatile meat that can be served with many flavours and styles. The first and most important step to bake chicken is to ensure the meat is thoroughly defrosted. The easiest way to do this is to pop the frozen chicken into the refrigerator 24 hours before you are ready to cook it. If you have less time available, you can also immerse the chicken in cold water for several hours prior to cooking. Don’t forget to check the chicken is defrosted and to wash the meat under cold running water tap first.
Now onto how to bake chicken: Use a bowl to add in various marinades and add the chicken in to soak up these flavours. Chicken can be marinated anywhere between 2 and 8 hours and make sure you keep it in the fridge. Some ingredients which you can consider to use as marinates include the following:
•    Add salt to various seasonings such as cumin, paprika, rosemary and pepper
•    A lemon, lime,  Soya sauce, ketchup, oils, water or even beer can be added as liquids to the marinate
•    Garlic, lemongrass or chilli can also be used in the marinate to add in stronger flavours
Whisk your chosen ingredients together in the bowl and allow the chicken enough time to absorb these flavours. Preheat the oven to 180C (350F). Line a roasting tin or baking tray with aluminium foil and coat the foil with a little oil before placing the chicken onto it. For how to bake chicken with a crispy skin, coat the skin with a small amount of oil and add further seasoning such as salt and pepper to suit your own taste.
Individual chicken breasts will take between 25 to 30 minutes to bake in the oven. To check the meat is thoroughly cooked, the meat juices must be clear. Check this by using a knife to prick the meat in the centre of the chicken and check the juice colour. A meat thermometer is ideal to further check the chicken is cooked. The thermometer should read between 160C and 170C at the centre of the meat. If the chicken is whole, the cooking times need to be adjusted according to the weight. When using this recipe on how to bake chicken, don’t forget to remove chicken giblets from the cavity of a whole chicken before you bake the chicken.  A whole chicken will take between 1 to 11/2 hours to bake. The thermometer should read 170C for breast and 180C for thighs.
Once you have baked the chicken, it needs to be left for 10 minutes before carving the meat. A delicious glaze using ingredients such as butter, apricot jam or white wine can be added to whole chickens 30 minutes before the chicken is baked. Chicken can be served with your favourite rice, potatoes or add salads as sides. It’s very easy to bake chicken and what a healthy and great way to feed your family and friends. We hope you enjoy your delicious recipe on how to bake chicken.