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
Made this tonight. Simple & delicious. Paired it with Kale (kale, tomatoes, onions, olive oil, lemon juice)
Ventured away from the recipe a little – Not enough maple syrup, so I added honey. Also threw some dehydrated onions in the mix. Yummy reviews from all at the table!
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It’s in the oven right now, and smells phenomenal!
I marinated the chicken in a freezer bag this morning but around lunchtime I couldn’t resist making just one piece. So, I put 2TB olive oil, a sprinkle of salt, pepper, dried rosemary, and cayenne pepper in the pan and tossed in one marinated chicken thigh. I seared both sides on high, deglazed the pan with white table wine, covered the pan, and let it steam for a bit. Perfect with brown rice and some cabbage (roasted in a lemon olive oil with fresh black pepper).
Fixed this for dinner tonight….It ‘s a keeper for my family! I used chicken breast instead of thighs and adding the rosemary and letting it stand for 5 minutes I think made the dish! YUMMO!
So I’m the idiot that picked up maple flavored pancake syrup instead of maple syrup….will this work, or do I need to go back to the store for the real stuff?
I made this last night for my family, and it was amazing! I used chicken hindquarters, (which were $0.99 a pound 🙂 and cooked it for 45 minutes and it turned out great! Its toddler pleasing too, my 2 year old even asked for more. No leftovers for this family. This will be a go-to sauce for lots of things and it was sooo easy, my husband (who is the better cook) was impressed. Can’t thank you enough.
Thanks for posting this recipe. It was very delish. Kid pleasin’ too!
I have this in the crockpot right now. It was so hard to tell between all the comments because they all varied so much. What I did, I took 7 chicken breasts, 2 10 oz bottles of Dijon mustard, 1 cup of the maple syrup, 3 tbsp of the vinegar. It made enough sauce to cover the chicken. I will update as soon as its done. I also use frozen chicken breasts. I plan on shredding them and putting on wild rice with steamed vegetables… Also found the recipe on Pintrest.
Is the chicked supposed to be covered while it is cooking?
I didn’t cover mine, and it came out nicely browned like in the picture
Making it tonight – fingers crossed!
Just want to say thank you for sharing this recipe. My husband and I both enjoyed it for dinner tonight. Will likely make it again. I am not a mustard lover, so I went just a little less mustard and a little extra maple syrup. I did not think it had a strong mustard taste.
This dish is Fabulous… We love it.. Thank you….
Not a big fan of the maple syrup. Has anyone substituted honey!
you won’t taste the maple at all.
This was a wonderful dish. I used apple cidar vinegar because I didn’t have rice wine vinegar. We like mustard in our house and this was a wonderful recipe. I echo the tips from others to line your baking dish for easy clean-up.
I was hoping that some others who made this dish and were successful could list there ingredients by brand. I made it tonight. I didn’t have real maple syrup in my pantry or my bddget this week so I had to use the faux stuff. This may have been the issue. The flavor is good though. I don’t quite get how some people thought it was strong I felt it was mild. I think the issues in all of our differences might be brands of products. Mine didn’t brown quite as much as the picture but it did have some lightly brown edges. My sauce was also separated when it came out of the oven. Not sure how to change that. Again I think it might be the fact that I didn’t use real maple syrup but I am not sure. Thanks for any feedback.
Eeck! That is supposed to say their not there, lol.
If you want the chicken to be browner, try putting it on broil for a very short time, checking every minute or two to make sure it doesn’t burn. To get the sauce back together at the end, take the chicken out and whisk the sauce- should come together for you.
Wow I made this tonight… Pheee F’ing nominal.. Yum!! And so so easy. Put it Over lightly blanched spinach with garlic and a dash of balsamic! Thank you!!
Made this last night, and it was delicious. My recommendation is to taste the sauce before you pour it over the chicken, and adjust accordingly–more mustard / more syrup–until you get the flavor you want. Everyone’s taste is different, and I’m in a big believer in tasting things as you go along! Served with roasted asparagus and mashed potatoes. Mine also got the nice caramelization, although I did have to cook mine longer–my oven was probably off-temp.
Just made this dish….Boom goes the dynamite
🙂
My husband ‘LOVES’ chicken and I am always looking for different, easy recipes. I have all the ingredients for this so….this is what we are having for dinner tonight! Thanks for the recipe. I am going to ‘bookmark’ this page so I will always have it handy.
Made this for dinner tonite and it was a winner! Used 3lb of boneless, skinless thighs, but didn’t double the sauce. I agree with the previous reviewer to taste the sauce before you pour it over the chicken. I ended up adding an addition TBS of rice vinegar and a dash more of maple syrup. I flipped the thighs over halfway thru, but next time will probably leave them as they were just starting to brown on the top. I ended up broiling for a minute to brown before serving. Rosemary was a nice pop of flavor and complimented the other flavors well. Yum, yum! Served with roasted red & sweet potatoes and roasted broccoli. My kids devoured this! Thank you!
Yes, we had it for dinner also. Big hit with the husband. He said, “Let’s have this one again!” So I guess I will add this one to my recipe collection. I have at least 50 recipe books and find the best recipes online…go figure.
I made this tonight for my husband and his dad, both are extremely picky eaters… and are skeptical of almost anything I make because it’s “wierd.” In fact, my husband saw me pulling the ingredients out of the fridge, and said, “What are you making?!”
I did everything exactly the same as the directions, except half way through when it called to baste the chicken with sauce there wasn’t much sauce to baste with… so I just made another batch of the same marinade and poured it on the chicken! I found that when I tasted the marinade before hand, I needed to add more maple syrup to make it taste less “mustardy.” Depending on the type of Dijon you use, this may be the problem with others saying that this recipe ended up tasting like mustard.
On another note, I would never cook chicken BREASTS at this temp or this long in the oven. Chicken thighs have enough fat to stay moist at high temps, chicken breasts could get very dry or stringy cooked in the same way.
Despite their doubts, both my husband and father in law really enjoyed it! I served it with rice cooked with veggie broth and sauteed veggies, but the flavor of the chicken is very “normal” and I could see it going well with roasted red skins, mashed potatoes, or any kind of roasted veg or starch.
BOTTOM LINE: Try this recipe, taste the marinade first, if too mustardy add more maple syrup, make sure to season your chicken, and use chicken thighs, not breasts!>>if you use breasts, adjust cooking time!
I made this the other night and it was delicious. We had the pub style mustard and I didn’t want all the little seeds in there, so I strained out the seeds. I used 4 thighs and I halved the sauce which just coated each piece perfectly. When it was done I couldn’t taste even the slightest hint of mustard. The bottom of my pan had a bunch of rendered fat but no sauce left at the bottom, but the chicken was left moist and very flavorful with no hint of mustard or maple, just left a nice flavor. So for those of you who don’t care for mustard, just use less of the sauce… Just about enough to coat each piece before cooking. Next time I am going to try this and grill the chicken instead.
Oh I also wanted to add that when I tasted the sauce first it was VERY mustardy. I was a little apprehensive, but after it was cooked I never would have even known there was mustard in it.
This was delicious. I thought it was going to be dry for such a high heat, but it was moist and seasoned perfectly. Clean up was a little tough because a lot of the marinade was burnt onto my casserole dish. None the less, I will definitely make this again!
Patty,
Next time, line your dish with either the parchment paper with foil on one side or just alumium foil and fold it over the sides. I just lifted that paper right out of my dish and it was clean as a whistle. I used breasts since my husband does not care for thighs and it still came out great. And YES…it was delicious!!!
I’ve also started lining my dish with foil. Maybe a good coating of cooking spray would also work. Whenever the sauce gets baked on to my pan, I just put it in the dishwasher. Then, after a few days in the cabinet, the rest of the black char just flakes right off.
I have made this several times and all 3 of us really enjoy it. Even my 4 year old son, who is quite picky, devours it and asks for it all the time.
Hooray! Thanks for the feedback!
I can’t WAIT to make this tomorrow night for dinner. It looks insanely delicious!!!
Mine is in the oven right now, and I’m wondering how everyone else’s sauce looked while cooking. I peeped in there and the sauce seemed to be foamy and chunky (almost all gone as well), not the thin sauce pictured. Is this normal? It smells great, I just hope this is the right process for it to go through!
Ok so the anticipation was worth it. I made it for dinner tonight and my Husband and I LOVED it. Chicken was juicy, tender and very delicious!!! Perfect mix of flavors. Thank you for sharing.
I made this tonight with chicken breasts, cooked it for about 30 minutes at 450, then 5 minutes at 400 just to make sure it was cooked thoroughly (I’m a freak about making sure food is cooked through and I broke my meat thermometer). It turned out great, especially considering how easy it was! For five minutes my boyfriend wouldn’t stop saying how good it was, and I cook every night so that’s saying something haha.
I tripled the recipe, as I have a teenage son, and a neighborhood of teenagers. I taste tested the marinade before adding the chicken. Yummm! I marinated for 3 hours. Also I used bone in thighs. My thought is bone in is so much more flavorful & I think it might keep it more moist and thus more tender. Besides I couldn’t find boneless. It’s in the oven right now on the middle rack, and my house smells AMAZING! I basted @ 15 minutes and @ 20 minutes I turned it on low broil for 15 minutes. Then I just let it hang out on the counter for like 1/2 hour. Three teenagers & 1 adult…no chatter for like 15 minutes. We just ate. Served it with roasted potatos, spinach & strawberry salad and fresh croissants. All I can say is wow.
Just made this for my man tonight and we loved it! It was such a different flavor from our usual spice cabinet… and kind of an addicting one at that. I used breasts instead of thighs but still cooked it at 450. After 30 minutes I switched the oven to hi broil to get the nice browned look. This turned out to be a very good decision – the sauce that was coating the chicken took on a whole new level of flavor! I made pasta, and broccoli with a little garlic and cheddar. My bf decided to use the leftover sauce on his pasta – it was definitely not my typical Italian dinner. Loved it!
I saw this on Pinterest and it looked so yummy I had to try it. I was a little skeptical after reading the mixed reviews, but made it anyway and OMFG it was delicious! A lovely savoury flavor with just a hint of mustard and sweetness from the syrup. My extremely picky fiancé who seems to get quite wary of trying new recipes I find absolutely loved it! I used good quality Dijon but only maple flavored syrup and rice vinegar, so I’m wondering if the bad reviews could possibly be attributed to the quality of the mustard?
Thanks for the recipe, now to test it in my even pickier step daughter!
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I made this last night and it was awesome!! I used chicken breasts instead of thighs and cooked it at 400 and it was incredibly moist and just delicious. I pared it with roasted carrots and brussel sprouts and the whole meal was wonderful. Thanks for sharing this recipe. It’s a keeper!!
Ok, all the comments (pro and con) made me curious. I am following the recipe exactly; was going to sub red wine vinegar for rice vinegar since I had it on hand, but due to all the comments, I think it is best to follow it exactly the first time. BTW, the vinegar only costs 1.72 at walmart so not a big investment. It is now in the oven in a oven bag, since I really don’t want to scrub a pan (and if it is disgusting I can easily discard). My husband loves dijon mustard, me not so much. I will let you all know how mine turned out. Certainly is easy so I hope it is a keeper.
A tidier list of ingredients and directions would be most appreciate. Scanning through the post is a pain.
Ok, I guess my opinion after making this last night…..NOT A FAN. Husband also did not care for it. It makes a nice sauce and it looks good, but the taste was a little strange in my opinion. No, it did not taste like mustard or syrup, just kind of strange. Was fun to try something new, but I think I save the rest of the boneless, skinless thighs for teriyaki chicken on the grill.
I only have Hungry Jack syrup. Will that work in place of the Maple Syrup?
No. Just splurge on the real thing!
Made this twice- once using Honey Dijon and once using pancake syrup- I don’t know what it is about this recipe, but I’ve never had left overs!!! Absolutely delicious! For those not liking the overpowering mustard taste, I highly recommend using honey mustard. This is now a regular in our menu rotation!
I fixed this for company last night and it was a hit. We really liked it. I used both boneless thights and boneless breasts. I may try honey dijon next time and there will be a next time. Sooo good.
I made this last night and it was good, hubby really like it. I could taste mustard, but it wasn’t overpowering. The only thing I didn’t care for was the fattiness of the chicken thighs, we just don’t ever eat them. I’ll use chicken breasts next time. I think I might try marinating them in the sauce for a while and then grilling them. Good recipe!
Looks delish. Mines in the oven right now. Can’t wait until its done.
Can i use red wine vinegar instead?
I don’t have time to go through all the responses to see if someone mentions this but heck….. I was DUMB enough NOT to spray the glass baking dish I used and that mixture was baked on there enough to make me want to toss that pan right in the trash. eeeks….. I worked HARD in the clean up for this tasty chicken dish!
SPRAY that baking dish but GOOD with PAM especially the SIDES. 🙂
Made this last night and it was fabulous~NOT grainy, not mustardy at all. However my glass casserole dish does have baked on mixture from the middle up. Did some people say you can prepare this in an aluminum cooking pan?
I lined my baking dish with foil and it came out clean as a whistle! 🙂
It didn’t live up to its name, it didn’t please any man in my house or woman for that matter. I was politely asked NOT to make it again 🙁
I’ve made this recipe twice now and it was delicious both times. My boyfriend isn’t the biggest fan of mustard, but he really likes this dish. The mustard isn’t overpowering. I used real maple syrup and a creamy dijon mustard. I really enjoyed this dish. The chicken thighs are really fatty, so I trimmed the fat before I cooked them. This meal is definitely in my rotation of weeknight meals. Super easy and really tasty.
Made this tonight.
Rave reviews from the husband and three teenagers.
This is DEFINITELY going into the regular rotation.
Thanks for the noms!
Could not resist, wrapped my boneless skinless chicken thighs in bacon (how can that not be wonderful and please my man?) and put on top of rice…..we will see how it goes! It is in the oven now and my rosemary is all ready to go 🙂