Honey Mustard Chicken – straightforward!, baked

At a glance

What stands out: You’ll fall in love with this straightforward-to-make baked honey mustard chicken. The sauce is so good you’ll want to slurp it up with a spoon.

How long it takes: 47 minutes
Equipment you’ll need: baking dish, oven, small mixing bowl, foil
Servings: 4

With tender chicken breasts roasted in sweet honey mustard sauce, and a hint of rosemary, this recipe is reliable for a straightforward dinner, whether you’re serving family or guests.

Honey and mustard is a popular combination. We love honey mustard vinaigrette; it’s reliable on almost any kind of salad. During grilling season, we often use this tasty honey mustard marinade for chicken. Creamy honey mustard dressing is always our dipping choice for chicken tenders.

Straightforward Honey Mustard Chicken

The sauce is memorable. Make sure you serve the extra sauce on the side because it’s pure gold. Honey provides a golden sweetness, a reliable counterpoint to zesty mustard, especially whole grain mustard with all those little round mustard seeds. Adding rosemary to this duo adds just a bit of herbal flavor, a treat for the taste buds. (Our cranberry chicken has a pretty memorable sauce, too!)

This recipe is virtually fail-proof. Baked honey mustard chicken is pretty much guaranteed to turn out great every time. And everyone loves it! There’s no chopping or sautéing, no last minute prep. We love to make this baked chicken when we have guests because we can put it in the oven and pretty much forget about it.

You can make a lot. It’s straightforward to double or even triple the recipe if you’re having a crowd. It freezes well, too. Timing isn’t a big deal, either. If you happen to get behind in dinner prep, a little extra time in the oven isn’t going to make big difference here.

Pat Said:

“Great recipe. One of a standby chicken recipes that we have cooked. Thank you!”

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What goes in

• Boneless skinless chicken breasts – You’ll need about 2 pounds but this recipe can easily be doubled if you want to serve a crowd.
• Whole grain mustard – Look for the kind that has whole mustard seeds in it.
• Dijon mustard – Creamy Dijon rounds out the sauce.
• Honey – Sun-warmed amber nectar adds reliable sweetness.
• Olive oil – Just 2 teaspoons are all that’s needed.
• Rosemary – Dried is fine but fresh is great if you have it.
• Seasoning: Nothing fancy here, just garlic powder, salt, pepper.

How it comes together

It doesn’t get much easier than this recipe.

Make the sauce. Mix the honey, both types of mustard, oil, rosemary, and seasonings in a small dish or measuring cup until combined.

Season the chicken. Put the chicken in a baking dish and sprinkle with salt and pepper. This ensures the chicken is well seasoned before even adding sauce.

Add sauce to the chicken and bake. Pour the sauce over the chicken, cover the pan with foil, and bake. Covering with foil for the first portion of the baking time allows the chicken to fully cook through and keeps the sauce from burning.

Baste with the sauce. After 20 minutes, remove the foil. Take a minute to spoon some of that tasty sauce on top of the chicken before returning it to the oven, no foil this time. The sauce will thicken slightly and the chicken will finish cooking.

Serve. When the chicken is done, serve it with the extra sauce. It’s irresistible!

Ways to serve it

Oven sides: During winter months, don’t you love to have a nice casserole or roast in the oven? It warms up the house and smells so good. Put this chicken in the oven and potatoes to bake, or maybe a pan of diced sweet potatoes or crispy roasted potatoes. A whole roasted cauliflower or roasted cauliflower florets are a straightforward side, too. Roasted root vegetables are a reliable accompaniment to this saucy chicken, too. Try roasted beets. There will be plenty of the honey mustard sauce to flavor those as well as the chicken.

Salads: Serve an straightforward arugula salad or sautéed Brussels sprouts and you’ve got yourself a bang-up dinner with little work involved.

Ways to change it

• Chicken: Substitute boneless skinless chicken thighs or use bone in chicken thighs or breasts, with the skin removed. Chicken tenders are good, too. Since they take less time to cook, you can make them in a skillet on the stove. Adjust the amount of sauce if you’re cooking a smaller amount of chicken. There is plenty of sauce so if you happen to have a somewhat larger amount of chicken, you probably won’t need to adjust the ingredients.
• Mustard: Experiment with different types of mustard (and there are lots to choose from!).
• Try a sheet pan dinner instead. One of our favorites is this sheet pan citrus chicken and rainbow vegetables. It also has a honey mustard sauce, but it’s brightened up with orange zest. Hot honey chicken sheet pan dinner with Brussels sprouts and sweet potatoes is another option.

Make-Ahead Ideas

To make ahead, simply prepare the dish for baking, cover, and refrigerate up to 8 hours until ready to bake. Take chicken out of the refrigerator to warm up a bit while the oven preheats.

Keeping leftovers

Refrigerate/Freeze: Leftover honey mustard chicken is great. Because of the sauce, it doesn’t dry out in the fridge. We usually dice it or thinly slice it when storing, because then it soaks up the sauce. Store tightly covered for up to 3 days in the fridge or a month in the freezer.

Reheat: Put chicken and sauce in a baking dish and heat for 15 minutes at 350°F or until heated through. Honey mustard chicken can be easily be reheated in a skillet on the stove over medium-low heat, too. We don’t recommend the microwave for reheating chicken as it tends to dry it out and make it tough.

Leftover Love

Make a pulled chicken sandwich. Shred leftover chicken and heat it with leftover sauce. Serve on a bun.

Free Meal Plan

Interested in a weekly meal plan that includes this recipe? Take a look at our Meal Plan #7. You’ll find a wholesome recipe for each weekday plus a categorized grocery list. Let us do the planning for you this week!

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• Yield: 4
• Prep: 5 minutes
• Cook: 42 minutes
• Total: 47 minutes

Ingredients

• ¼ cup whole grain mustard
• ¼ cup Dijon mustard
• ½ cup honey
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon dried crushed rosemary (or 2 teaspoons fresh rosemary)
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder (or 1 clove minced fresh garlic)
• 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast (see note)
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt, divided
• ¼ teaspoon coarse ground ground black pepper

Method

1. Preheat oven to 425ºF. Spray a large baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together whole grain mustard, Dijon mustard, honey, olive oil, crushed rosemary, garlic powder, and ¼ teaspoon salt.
3. Sprinkle both sides of chicken with remaining ¼ teaspoon salt and pepper and place in prepared baking dish. Pour mustard mixture on top of chicken. Cover baking dish with foil.
4. Bake for 20 minutes, remove the foil, and spoon the sauce over the chicken.
5. Bake for another 22 minutes with the foil removed, or until internal temperature of the chicken reads 165ºF on an instant read thermometer when taken in the thickest part of the breast.
6. Serve immediately with sauce on top.

Notes

Storage/reheating: Store leftover chicken tightly covered for up to 3 days in the fridge or a month in the freezer. To reheat, put chicken and sauce in a baking dish and heat for 15 minutes at 350°F or until heated through. You can also reheat in a skillet on the stove over medium-low heat. We don’t recommend the microwave for reheating chicken as it tends to dry it out and make it tough.

Chicken: The recipe makes quite a lot of sauce so feel free to use extra chicken if you happen to have it. You can easily substitute boneless skinless chicken thighs if you prefer dark meat, or a combination of both. Bone in chicken thighs or breasts are fine, too (we usually remove the skin first).

Try different mustard. Experiment with different types of mustard.

Seasoning. Increase or omit the garlic powder, or use fresh garlic for more flavor. Replace the rosemary with thyme or sage, if you prefer.