I have never gotten so many compliments before, let alone for a piece of chicken. David suggested calling this chicken, “So Good it Can’t Be Described, Explosion on Your Taste Buds Chicken.” Exactly. I have never encountered a dish that is so basic and simple to put together yet creates such a big pay off. This chicken, quite simply, is one of the most savory things I’ve ever eaten. If you are the busiest person on the planet and don’t have much cooking experience, but you have to prepare a meal to woo the love of your life, cook this chicken!
To make this chicken, which you should absolutely do immediately, preheat your oven to 450º F. Then, mix together 1/2 cup of dijon mustard, 1/4 cup of maple syrup, and 1 tablespoon of rice/rice wine vinegar.
Put 1.5 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken thighs into a foil-lined or disposable oven-proof, 8×8 inch baking dish. Six thighs came in my package, which made enough to serve 3 people. Then, salt and pepper the thighs. Pour your maple mustard mixture over them, turning the thighs in the mixture so they are fully coated.
Put the chicken thighs into the oven, and let them bake for 40 minutes or until a meat thermometer reads 165ºF. Baste the tops of the chicken with the sauce half way through. I find that a meat thermometer is essential in cooking because it allows me to check for doneness without cutting into the meat and losing its precious juices. Let the chicken rest for 5 minutes before serving. Plate the chicken, whisk the sauce that remains in the baking dish, and then spoon the extra sauce over the top. Sprinkle over some fresh rosemary. If there is ever a time to use fresh herbs, THIS IS IT! The flavors are just so good together. Enjoy the savory goodness of this meal!
I adapted this recipe from “The I <3 Trader Joe’s Cookbook” by Cherie Mercer Twohy. Thanks, Jenna!
Shopping list:
- Chicken thighs- 1 package
- Dijon mustard- 1/2 cup
- Maple syrup- 1/4 cup
- Rice/rice wine vinegar- 1 tablespoon
- Fresh rosemary
- Salt and pepper
Tried this recipe tonight and it came out great! Didn’t have rice wine vinegar so I used red wine vinegar. I also left the chicken in the oven for 10 extra minutes and it came out perfectly brown. Deelish!
I made it for dinner tonight and my husband loved it! I did forget the rosemary. Will definitely be making it again and again.
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Followed the recipe exactly as written…and it was simply not good. The only positive was that the chicken was tender. If you don’t like mustard then this dish is not for you. I don’t care for it, but the rest of the family does, and I read several comments stating this dish doesn’t have a strong mustard taste once mixed with the other ingredients. I disagree. Also, my dish did not look one bit like the final product photo here. I even tried broiling it a bit, but that just ever so slightly browned the top. The rest of the dish was soupy.
Totally bummed that this didn’t work out, as it looked delicious in the pictures!
You said your family liked it…I’d think that’d be a positive. “It was simply not good…” again, everyone but YOU liked it. How about saying that? “I don’t like mustard, so I didn’t like it, but the rest of my family loved it. The chicken was tender.” – Geez!
I agree. It was a HUGE hit with my Husband! I gave him the larger piece of chicken and I took the smaller one. Mine was a bit dry, but again, I think it’s because I gauged the temp of the chicken on the larger piece, which ended up being more moist than my itty bitty piece. Next time I will make sure all the pieces are the same size. But I thought overall, it was really good, even if my piece was drier than his. I will DEFINITELY make this again!! YUM YUM YUM!!!!
I don’t think she meant that her family liked the chicken, I think she meant the rest of her family likes mustard, so she tried it, but it wasn’t what she expected because it did taste like mustard, and she wasn’t happy with it.
I don’t think everyone has to love every dish, but sounds like if you don’t care for mustard, you might want to skip this recipe.
I think that the anonymous poster just disiked the way sherry reviewed the recipe. Starting off with how it was not good, but then saying her family liked it. I agree, if you don’t like mustard, this is not the recipe for you. Our house loved it!
Bleh! Wayyyy too mustardy! No one thought this was very good at my house. I guess it’s good if you LOVE overly mustardy chicken.
out of curiosity, since I’ve seen this a couple of times, what kind of mustard did you use?
Amazing!! Thank you very much for shearing this!! Everyone loved it even though I didn’t follow the exact recipe (I realized later I didn’t have all the ingredients). I used white vinegar, not real maple syrup and plain yellow mustard! It was still absolutely amazing! Thank you
This was pleasing to my man, too. A little on the sweet side for me, but he loved it and said it was a keeper. I used chicken breasts instead of thighs and cut them in half. I also used a non-stick skillet since the pics made clean-up look like a nightmare on a baking dish. I think next time I will deglaze the pan with some chicken broth to make a gravy of the leftover sauce in the pan. Thanks for sharing!
I forgot to add I did have to adjust the quantities a little it was a matter of tasting and adding this and that. I also made it in the stove top, just added some water and that it, I Browned it a bit first
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I hate mustard, but loved this recipe! It did not have that nasty yellow mustard taste to it at all. Really good flavor combo IMO.
I followed it exactly the first time and my husband loved it. I made it with regular yellow mustard when I ran out of Dijon and my husband loved it. I added garlic to it and my husband loved it. I’ve substituted white wine vinegar with great success as well. Hubby requests it and even raved about it to my MIL. If that’s not a keeper, I don’t know what it.
Awesome recipe as is or as a base to experiment. Thanks so much for sharing!
Followed the recipe except used vinegrette instead of the rice vinegar. I did brown the chicken in a pan first and made sure it had plenty salt and seasoning before I put the mustard mixture on it. Baking time was perfect. Be sure to leave it uncovered to get the top nice and brown.
I’m in love with this incredible and incredibly easy recipe! Even my husband who laughed at its name while we were cooking together said this is the best thing we’ve made in a long time! The skin was of course the best part. We followed the recipe exactly and it was not too mustardy at all. In fact I may even up the Dijon a bit next time. We had jasmine rice and string beans with it. Can’t wait to make this again!
Can you use split chicken breasts?
yes
I made this last night and it was AWESOME. A couple of tips from reading the older posts….Grey Poupon is very strong, I used Trader Joes dijon and did not find it over powering at all, I would guess you could use brown or grainy mustard too and it would be fantastic. You HAVE to use real maple syrup. Fake stuff is full of sugar and would make this dish sickeningly sweet. I do not know how the picture chicken is so crispy brown, mine did not brown at all but was amazing…..
Probably from using FAKE maple brown syrup, Since the sugars cause the chicken to carmalized.
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Just made this tonite and it was a hit! Loved the sauce and it was easy to prepare. Definitely would recommend the rosemary–gives it a good kick.
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I found this recipe last fall (2012) and I have made it SO many times since then. it’s PERFECT and SO yummy!!!! Thank you so much for sharing this!
Thank YOU for making it!
I added chopped bacon and it was so savory and yummy! Great recipe everyone loved it!
My husband and I loved this!! He’s not a big chicken fan and I hate mustard but it was amazing!! I did use a honey dijon mustard and I used a bit more of the maple syrup than the recipe called for!! It was perfect and my hubby said he would eat this any day!! 🙂 A new favorite in our house!!
Totally did not care for this at all. My husband tried it and couldn’t finish, got up and made himself a grilled cheese. Sorry, wasn’t for us!
Man pleasing chicken indeed! My husband ate so much of it I barely got to taste it. Faint wait to make this for a diner party or occasion.
Made this tonight and sorry to say was a big thumbs down. The mustard flavour was just too strong. Used all the right ingredients and measurements. DH couldn’t believe it used 1/2 cup of dijon mustard. If you’re not sure I would aim on side of caution and put less in. We used Maille Dijon.
When I’ve tried cooking this recipe at a lower temperature or for less time, I’ve found it too mustardy too. But 450 for 40 minutes is like magic. Could your oven temperature be off?
If you don’t like the strong mustard taste, I would recommend using maybe more syrup and less mustard. Or find a dijon mustard that maybe you prefer on it’s own, one that doesn’t taste too mustardy, more on the sweet side…if that makes sense.
We love this recipe. If you don’t like the mustard, but the rest of the recipe is to your liking, just dial back the mustard. Easy fix. It came out all carmelized and tender. We’ll make this one again.
I don’t know what these negative reviews are all about. I found this recipe via pinterest, read the mixed reviews and said uh oh, but decided to try it anyways, and thank god I did.
I’m eating it right now, I literally had to take a moment to come praise this recipe, delicious! I wasn’t able to get it to caramelize but other than that, the taste is great.
Definitely will make again!
Made this last night for my family and all but my pickiest eater LOVED it… especially my husband! 🙂 It was super easy too! I didn’t have any rice wine vinegar so I substituted it for white vinegar and used about half of what the recipe originally called for. I also didn’t have pure maple syrup either so I just used what I had, pancake syrup! While it was cooking I thought it might end up like others have said and taste too mustardy (All I could smell was MUSTARD!) but it turned out perfect! Will be making this a part of our menu rotation! Thanks!
Let’s just say I found myself licking the spatula, HA! My husband and I loved it! The flavor almost reminded me of the breakfast dish – chicken and honey butter biscuits. I didn’t use the vinegar and because I used Zataran’s (super spicy) mustard, I added a little honey and diet mayo to tone down the kick. I’m counting cals and this version only had about 225 per 4oz portions.
As always, THANKS FOR SHARING!
I have never heard of such biscuits… but I want one!
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oh so good I made it tonight me and my husband loved it so much .. so tender and juicy I loved it
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Turned out so good.
Hi, if you don’t like the recipe or it just didn’t turn out for you, here is one I use that even the kids liked , I have actually doubled the recipe every time now because everyone just wants the sauce to put all over their meal not just the meat, their potatoes , their vegetables, rice etc…. I have poured this over chicken too but pork chops is must faster unless you cut up your chicken into small pieces and pan fry. I have never cooked my meat in it, I do like the recipe says and make it in a pan and then pour over the meat.
errrrrrrrrr I forgot to add the url for the recipe , so sorry here it is
http://www.eatcleandiet.com/the_kitchen_table/recipe/recipe.aspx?id=467
Love this! I am not a big mustard fan so I used a little less than called for. It came out amazing! I have used Dijon and even spicy brown mustard ( didn’t realize I had the wrong one until after I mixed it in) and both were good! Even my 3 kids (ages 6, almost 5 and 3) like this meal.
You say in your first part of the instructions to place the chicken in a foil lined baking dish, but the dish in your photo doesn’t look like it has foil in it. Which is it, foil or no foil? I’m making this tonight, hoping to please my hubby!!!! Also, do you cover the chicken while in the oven, or leave it uncovered to cook?
I instantly assumed that the burned, are-you-doing-the-dishes-tonight baking dish was the reason for the recommendation to line the pan with foil. Do you really need to ask that question? Even better than foil is to line your baking dish with parchment paper. Best labor saver you will ever have in your kitchen.
Look, I’m not a gourmet chef. Whenever I try a new recipe, I try and follow the instructions to the “T”. She said to line the pan with foil but her photo shows otherwise. I was just asking a simple question to make sure I cooked the dish correctly. Geez.
Thank you for the great recipe! We made it tonight with rice and sauteed brussel sprouts. Think we will try it with other mustards and see how it is but it is fantastic as is.
I made this tonight. I don’t usually review recipes but with the mixed reviews I thought I would add my thoughts! I was nervous when I read that some people felt like it had a strong mustard taste. I like a little mustard now and then, but not overbearing. And my kids do not like mustard! They have been extremely picky lately which has really made trying new recipes a lot less fun! 🙁 I followed the recipe as written except I had dried rosemary not fresh, and I used boneless, skinless chicken breasts instead of thighs. I used Grey Poupon Dijon mustard and for my fear of it being too strong I used just less than a half cup. While it was in the oven I was still a little worried bc it did smell mustardy. When it was finished I was pleasantly surprised! It really didn’t taste mustardy. I knew it was there, but it blended nicely with the other flavors! My kids didn’t even realize it had mustard in it! It’s good, and I will make it again. To be fair, I don’t think it’s the most amazing chicken ever, but definitely a good weeknight meal and a keeper! I would even make it for a casual dinner for company. Thanks for the recipe! It’s always nice to have different ways to cook chicken and especially that are so easy!!
Delicious!! I will make this again and again for sure! I added a little bit of honey to the sauce, and after reading through other comments, I turned the broiler on for the last 10 minutes of cooking. Thank you for a great recipe!
I gotta say, this wasn’t so bad! I used red wine, and Mrs. Butterworths original syrup, since I didn’t have maple or rice wine… We eat mustard chicken a lot but with regular mustard and mayo, but this was a sweet change. wasn’t too sweet as others’ said, but then again I used that type of syrup. Great recipe! BTW my kids loved it 🙂
Made this last night and it was absolutely delicious! Followed the recipe exactly as written (except I used bone-in thighs and I didn’t have any fresh rosemary on hand) and it came out of the oven nicely browned just like yours. From the mixed reviews and my dislike of mustard I was hesitant to use the full amount of dijon that’s asked for, but I did and I’m so glad I didn’t second guess because the sauce was so good. I wish I made rice to go with this dish because it would soak up all the extra sauce so well. Will definitely make this again!
As I posted before, I made this for the hubby and he absolutely loved it! I saw this recipe on another person’s blog, I’m wondering if they stole it from you and just didn’t give you any credit. But I did notice one thing they did differently and I’m wondering if anyone else has tried this. After cooking, they removed the chicken and added some cornstarch to the sauce in the pan, to thicken it up. Then drenched the chicken with it. Anyone else tried adding cornstarch to the sauce after cooking?
Hi! I am hoping to make this tonight, but I bought bone-in thighs. Should I adjust the temp./cooking time? I just noticed the recipe says you used boneless..
Thanks!
Typically when you cook bone-in chicken, it takes a little longer to cook than boneless. But it definitely will give your chicken more flavor. I would suggest cooking it as the recipe states and just checking the temperature of the chicken towards the end of cooking to make sure it is 160-165 degrees F. If it hasn’t reached that temp, cook for a little longer and monitor it. Good luck! This is a great recipe, I hope you and your family enjoy it!
You could debone the thighs. Just feel for the bone with your fingers, use a knife to slice through the meat, and work it out. Voila!
I originally made this for a casual get together with my husband and friends last fall. My friends are used to my husband cooking when they’re invited, so they were suspect, to say the least. Over New Years, they reviewed all meals we’d shared during the year (usually a couple of times each month), and all agreed the best had been the Man-Pleasin’ Chicken, though they renamed it All-Pleasin’ Chicken for obvious reasons. I I must have given my copy away, so re-googled it to make tonight, and was surprised to see some negative reviews. It’s always come out great for me, and pleased suspect friends, husband, and even in-laws!
That is a great story, and I’m glad you were able to impress! I can’t lie– I even impress myself when I make this chicken 🙂
This dish was awesome! Perfect blend of flavors.
I made this 10 minutes ago. It was fantastic. I used thights with the skin on. I used Grey Poupon and added a bit more maple syrup. Will cook this again. Thanks!
I made this tonight and it was fantastic. I used thighs with the shin on. I used Grey Poupon and used a bit more maple syrup. I was awesome and I will make again soon!!
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I made this tonight and it was great! The hubby and I both really enjoyed it. I followed your recipe exactly and it worked perfectly. I’m not a fan of mustard, but I trusted the reviews and am glad I did. It reminds me of the Alice Springs chicken from Outback- minus all the extra fat and calories! Just delicious!
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Would this work if I cooked the chicken and sauce over a bed of vegetables? The temp and baking time look about right if I were to cut up some onions, summer squash, zucchini, and possibly some potatoes and cook them right in the sauce.
Nevermind. I tried it with the veggies and it worked just fine. Decent recipe. Thanks for sharing!