This delicious maple mustard chicken is both easy and restaurant-quality! It starts with boneless, skin-on chicken breasts, which is a best-of-both-worlds cut of chicken. No bones to deal with, but all the benefits of the skin-on in terms of great presentation and moist chicken breasts.
Sadly, this lovely piece of chicken is not always easy to find. If there is a butcher shop in your neighbourhood, that’s a great place to find them. Stock up and freeze them!
Alternatively, if you can still find bone-in, skin-on chicken breast at your grocery store, you can remove the bone from the breast quite easily. If all else fails, a boneless and skinless chicken breast will work here.
Ingredients and substitutions
A few notes about the key ingredients …
Boneless, skin-on chicken breast – Most butcher shops will have boneless chicken breasts with the skin left on. If that isn’t an option, a boneless, skinless chicken breast will work (though it will be less pretty and you won’t benefit from the bit of fat from the skin when cooking the chicken. Be careful not to overcook!).
Maple syrup – The real thing is the only real option here. I love Grade B or Amber maple syrup for the best flavour.
Sherry vinegar – Sherry vinegar can be a little hard to find sometimes. It would be in with the other vinegars at the grocery store. If you can’t find it, you can substitute rice wine vinegar, champagne vinegar or white wine vinegar.
Mustard – Jarred Dijon mustard is perfect for this dish. Use the smooth Dijon and not the whole-grain version.
How to make maple mustard chicken breast
This is a visual summary of the steps to make this recipe. Always refer to the complete instructions in the recipe card below when making the recipe.
- As noted above, you’ll want to start with boneless, but skin-on chicken breasts. These are easily available at most butcher shops. I started with two huge breasts here, which each will make two servings. If using grocery store chicken breasts, you can use 4 of the smaller breasts. Season them well with salt and pepper.
- Place the chicken breasts skin side down into hot oil in a skillet. A stainless steel skillet or cast-iron skillet will give you the best results. Cook until the skin is lovely and golden.
- Transfer the skillet with the chicken breasts to the oven to finish cooking.
- Test the chicken breasts. They should register 165F internal temperature when done.
- Return the skillet to the stove-top and add the maple syrup and vinegar to the pan. Bring the liquid to a boil.
- Flip the chicken breasts over so the skin is down and allow them to cook briefly in the glaze to coat the skin.
- Transfer the glazed chicken breasts to a plate to rest.
- Add the chicken stock to the skillet and quickly finish the pan sauce.
- Season the sauce with thyme leaves, salt and pepper, to taste. Serve the chicken over mashed potatoes and spoon the pan sauce over the top.
Recipe tips!
- As noted above, if you make an outing to get the boneless, skin-on chicken breasts, buy a couple extra and freeze them. They are great to have on hand!
- The chicken breasts I got from the butcher were huge! You could easily get two servings from one breast, so while they may seem a bit more expensive, they are less so if each one is two servings.
- If you opt for skinless chicken breasts, be sure to add the chicken top-side down into a hot pan of oil and allow it to cook undisturbed for about 3 minutes to develop some colour on the chicken breast.
- If you have a lot of chicken bits in your gravy, you can pour it through a sieve before adding the thyme leaves if you like.
- Serve the chicken and gravy over a mound of plain or garlic mashed potatoes. Add a green vegetable on the side for a lovely chicken dinner.
Want to save this recipe?
Enter your email and I’ll send it to your inbox. Plus, you’ll get great new recipes from me every week!
By submitting this form, you consent to receive emails from Seasons and Suppers.
You can unsubscribe at any time.
Get the Recipe: Maple Mustard Chicken Breasts
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 1/2 lb boneless, SKIN-ON chicken breasts, 4 small or 2 large breasts
- salt and freshly ground pepper
- 2 Tablespoons pure maple syrup
- 1 Tablespoon sherry vinegar, or rice wine vinegar, champagne vinegar or white wine vinegar.
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 2 Tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, or a pinch of dried thyme leaves
- salt and freshly ground pepper , to taste
Instructions
- Tip! A stainless steel or cast-iron skillet is perfect for this dish as it browns nicely, makes lots of flavourful browned bits and goes perfectly from stove-top to oven. Be careful with non-stick skillets as they may not be rated for a 450F oven. If you don't have an oven-safe skillet, you can transfer the chicken to a rimmed baking sheet instead.
- Preheat the oven to 450°F (non-convection/not fan-assisted).
- Add the olive oil to an oven-safe skillet (stainless steel or cast-iron skillets work well) and heat until shimmering over medium-high heat. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and add it to the skillet skin side down. Cook over medium-high heat until the skin is nicely browned, about 3 minutes. Flip the chicken so it is skin-side up and transfer the skillet with the chicken to the preheated oven until just cooked through, about 15-20 minutes (depending on size). The chicken should register about 160F internal temperature.
- Tip! Consider doubling the gravy if you like lots of sauce for potatoes.
- Return the skillet with the chicken to the stovetop burner (**Careful! The handle is hot!!!). Add the maple syrup and vinegar to the skillet and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Flip the chicken skin side down and cook about 30 seconds or until the skin is nicely glazed. Transfer the chicken to a plate to rest, skin side up.
- Tip! If you have a lot of chicken bits in your gravy, you can pour it through a sieve before adding the thyme leaves if you like.
- Add the chicken broth to the skillet and boil over medium-high heat until it is reduced by one-third, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Stir in the mustard, thyme leaves and season with salt and pepper.
- Serve the chicken with the pan sauce spooned over the top. I like to place the chicken on top of mashed potatoes.
Notes
More maple mustard recipes to love!
Hi! I’m Jennifer, a home cook schooled by trial and error and almost 40 years of getting dinner on the table! I love to share my favourite recipes, both old and new, together with lots of tips and tricks to hopefully help make your home cooking enjoyable, stress free, rewarding and of course, delicious!
