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“I made this for the family yesterday and it got thumbs up from everyone, even my picky youngest, thanks so much Sue!!” ~Jordan
crispy mustard chicken recipe from Ina Garten’s Foolproof
Ina has a way of zeroing in on what makes food delicious, without unnecessary steps, frills, or ingredients. Her simple mustard chicken has mouthwatering eye appeal and always bakes up crispy outside, juicy inside. It’s a guaranteed family pleaser, and makes a perfect meal for entertaining ~ who doesn’t love roast chicken?
what’s in this post
- crispy mustard chicken recipe from Ina Garten’s Foolproof
- ingredients for Ina Garten’s mustard roasted chicken
- mustard chicken recipe note
- related: The recipes that made Ina Garten Famous!
- which cuts of chicken to choose for this recipe?
- how to make fresh breadcrumbs
- related: How to Make Homemade Breadcrumbs
- mustard chicken is like fried chicken without the frying!
- craving more chicken?
ingredients for Ina Garten’s mustard roasted chicken
- chicken pieces, skin on
- the cut is up to you (see our guide, below.) I use whole legs (thigh and leg attached) and breasts, but you could use all thighs, or a whole chicken, cut up.
- buttermilk
- why buttermilk? The acids and enzymes in buttermilk tenderize the chicken and the thick texture clings to the surface to grab ahold of all those wonderful crumbs.
- bread crumbs
- fresh or dried? You can use either but we love the texture of freshly made crumbs.
- olive oil
- Dijon mustard
- 1/2 cup of mustard is in the marinade, which sounds like a lot, but only a portion will remain in the finished dish.
- lemon zest
- garlic
- thyme
- use fresh thyme here.
- salt and pepper
mustard chicken recipe note
Usually I follow Ina to the letter, she’s that reliable. In this case, though, Alexandra from Alexandra Cooks, (one of my favorite blogs,) made a couple of minor changes which I think are spot on. She substituted buttermilk for white wine in the coating/marinade for the chicken, and used fresh bread crumbs instead of the panko crumbs Ina calls for. I think they are brilliant changes, so I’ve kept them. The result is perfectly roasted chicken with a delightfully rugged crust.
related: The recipes that made Ina Garten Famous!
which cuts of chicken to choose for this recipe?
We’re using skin on chicken, and every cut of chicken will work, so use what you love. Just be aware that different cuts of chicken will cook at slightly different rates, so if you’re mixing large breasts and tiny thighs or legs, you’ll need to account for that.
- If you’re a fan of dark meat, use legs and thighs.
- If white meat is what you love, you can use all breasts. The buttermilk and crumb crust will keep moisture in, so don’t shy away from white meat in this recipe.
- Ina calls for a whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces.
- I used a combination of breasts and my new favorite cut, the whole leg (drumstick and thigh attached.)
- I even use this recipe to coat chicken tenders!
how to make fresh breadcrumbs
You can easily make your own fresh breadcrumbs for this mustard chicken ~ it’s so quick and easy you’ll wonder why you ever bought them. For this recipe Ina uses Japanese dried breadcrumbs (panko) but we’re using fresh bread, processed in a food processor until fine and fluffy. I think the fresh crumbs make a more luxurious coating.
- Take fresh or day old bread. You can remove the crusts, or leave them on.
- Break it up into rough pieces.
- Place in a food processor and pulse/process until the bread breaks down into crumbs. You can make them as coarse or as fine as you like. This only takes a few seconds.
- Store any unused crumbs in an airtight container.
related: How to Make Homemade Breadcrumbs
mustard chicken is like fried chicken without the frying!
This chicken is everything you’d hope it would be. Moist and perfectly done inside, with a golden, crunchy mustard and thyme crust, it’s like fried chicken without the frying! We’ve made it countless times and it has never let us down. I highly recommend giving it a try.
Ina Garten’s Mustard Roasted Chicken
Video
Equipment
- foil or parchment paper
Ingredients
- 2 chicken breasts and 2 whole leg/thighs, bone in, skin on
- ½ cup Dijon mustard
- ½ cup buttermilk
- 4 peeled garlic cloves
- a small handful fresh thyme leaves
- zest of one lemon
- 1 1/2 tsp salt, more or less to taste
- 1 tsp freshly cracked black pepper
- 2 cups fresh breadcrumbs*
- 1/4 cup olive oil
Instructions
- Put the chicken pieces in a large zip lock baggie or other container. Mix the buttermilk and the mustard and pour over the chicken. Coat all the surfaces, and marinate, tightly covered, for a couple of hours or overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 400F
- Set up a food processor fitted with the metal blade. With the machine going, drop in the garlic cloves to mince them. Turn off the machine and add the crumbs, thyme, lemon zest, salt and pepper to the bowl. Drizzle in the olive oil and pulse the machine to combine everything.
- Put the crumbs into a pie plate, or other wide shallow bowl, and press each piece of chicken, skin side down, into the crumbs. The marinade will help the crumbs adhere to the meat. Press the crumbs in with your hands to completely coat the top. Set the chicken down — crumb side up — on a foil or parchment lined baking sheet. Press any remaining crumbs onto the bare spots on the chicken. Don’t waste any!
- Bake the chicken for about 40 minutes, until the topping is browned and the chicken is cooked through (if you want to be exact, 165F.) I ran mine under the broiler at the very end to get a little more color.
Notes
- Take fresh, day old, or toasted bread. You can remove the crusts, or leave them on.
- Break up into rough pieces.
- Place in a food processor and pulse/process until the bread breaks down into crumbs. You can make them as coarse or as fine as you like.
- Store in an airtight container.
Nutrition
craving more chicken?
Lemon Chicken Salad with Buttermilk Dressing
Japanese Chicken Katsu Curry Bowl
The BEST Chinese Chicken Salad
Must I leave the skin on?
No, feel free to use skinless chicken, it will work fine.
I enjoyed trying this recipe but I found it not as flavorable as anticipated. I found that the breadcrumb mix needed more olive oil to bind it together and more salt and pepper on the chicken breasts. ( I used bone in chicken breasts). At the end of the cooking time, the breasts were so tender and moist which was really great and they made a good presentation on the plate. Thanks for the recipe.
Excellent! I used boneless, skinless chicken breasts. This was amazing! This is definitely a dish that’s worthy of serving to company.
I will never just roast chicken thighs again. I will always make them this way. This was the juiciest, most flavorful chicken ever, and the combination of buttermilk and mustard added a nice tang but didn’t overwhelm the chicken with their own flavors. I used only thighs and substituted rosemary (LOVE!) for thyme (NOT SO MUCH!), and it was perfection.
Hi Sue,
We’d love to include the image and a link back to your recipe for our upcoming Ina Garten roundup. Could you contact me to let me know if we have permission to do so?
Just emailed you, and sorry mine bounced, I’ll check into that asap.
I will give this another try by removing the skin from the chicken. Made this with chicken thighs and the skin remained rubbery and very unappetizing. The breading was tasty so I will try again and believe this will greatly improve the experience.
Really, really good!
Would this recipe work with turkey breast?
Yes, sure! You’ll want to cook it a little longer until the internal temperature is 165F
Hi. Looks great! To confirm, we only bread the 1 side with the skin?
That’s how I did it, but you can certainly coat the entire pieces if you prefer.
This recipe is so delicious and fairly simple. I prepped the chicken and marinated it for a few short hours, I only had thick chicken breasts, so I cut them into tenderloins, coated both sides and baked for the 40 minutes, the flavor was delicious, I was worried that may come out dry but NO, not at all, perfectly juicy. Family loved them. Thanks!
I’m so happy you enjoyed this Lucille, I think that coating really does keep the chicken nice and moist.
Really interested in trying this recipe! Our grocery store was almost out of meat….except for a big bag of chicken drumsticks with thighs. So we grabbed!! My question is would pork rinds sub for bread crumbs? Diabetic and they shoot my blood glucose u p and new at learning to cook differently.
I haven’t experimented with that, but worth a try!
You may want to try nut crumbs if you can have nuts. There’s a brand called Appel Foods that is delicious.
I’ve tried them, they’re genius!
Please do a version for the air fryer. I would love this recipe on a night I can just throw them in after I have prepared them that morning. I work late so sometimes I need a shorter cook time but just as juicy and crisp. Thank you!
I was sent a picture of this from a friend and knew I had to try it myself! Due to the current state of the world, I only have chicken tenderloins on hand, but figured I’d wing it anyways. And I’m so so SO glad I did! This is now going into my regular recipe rotation!
Thanks Jay, that’s so nice to hear!