Chicken cooked in a skillet with a pan sauce is one of my favorite ways to make a quick and easy meal feel special- any food feels more special (and, frankly, delicious) when you have a delicious sauce to pour over everything! This honey mustard chicken uses chicken breast cutlets, rather than whole chicken breasts, to cut the cooking time down to only 10 minutes and ensure even cooking. They’re seared in a skillet in oil before making a simple honey mustard pan sauce in the same skillet, deglazing the pan with chicken broth and stirring in butter (because, yum), whole grain AND dijon mustard, and honey. Then, the chicken is coated in the delicious honey mustard sauce and served. Here’s how I did it!
What are Chicken Breast Cutlets, and why should I use them?
Chicken breast cutlets are, essentially, whole chicken breasts that have been cut in half horizontally. They’re half as thin as whole breasts, making them easier to cook quickly. Usually, you can find chicken breast cutlets already cut at your store. But you can easily make your own if you prefer by just cutting a whole breast in half! They’re often marked up in price if you buy them pre-cut. I used chicken breast cutlets for this recipe because: a) I wanted a leaner meat, since the pan sauce already had olive oil and butter in it, and b) because they cooked up super fast, making this a really fast and easy recipe. You can use chicken thighs if you prefer. Dark meat takes longer to cook than white, so allow for a few extra minutes of cooking time for boneless, skinless thighs. If you want to use bone-in, skin-on thighs, sear them skin-side down in the skillet, flip, and finish cooking them in the oven before making the pan sauce. You can also use whole breasts for this recipe- finish baking them in the oven or, after searing them on both sides, add a little chicken broth to the skillet, cover, and turn the heat down a bit to let them finish cooking. You may also want to pound them to be an even thickness, since it’s hard to uniformly cook chicken breasts.
What is a pan sauce, and how do I make one?
A pan sauce is, um, a sauce made in a pan. Haha but more specifically, it’s usually made in a pan after searing meat in the same pan. When you sear the chicken, parts of it will stick to the pan. This may stress out out, especially if you hate doing dishes, but have no fear… all those stuck-on bits will come off when you make the pan sauce! After you’re done cooking the chicken, remove it to a plate. What’s left in the pan will be little stuck-on bits of chicken, intensely flavored with salt and pepper. Then, you’ll deglaze the pan. Often, wine is used to deglaze, but in this recipe I used chicken broth (white wine would be great, too!). Just add the liquid in- it will sizzle a lot. Then, use a wooden spoon to scrape up the browned bits at the bottom. Then, reduce the liquid in the pan by letting it simmer for a little. It will thicken and the flavor will become more concentrated. For this honey mustard pan sauce, you’ll add some butter, whole grain mustard, dijon mustard, and honey. Then, add the chicken back in and spoon the sauce on top! YUM. I served this honey mustard chicken with mashed cauliflower. It would be great with rice, or mashed potatoes, or noodles- anything to soak up that delicious sauce! And if you happen to have any leftovers, the chicken is great served cold cut up in a salad.
Other chicken and pan sauce recipes
Creamy Chicken and MushroomsChicken Piccata with Lemon Butter Caper SauceCrispy Honey Buffalo Chicken Thighs
Other easy chicken recipes:
Two-Ingredient Crispy Oven Baked BBQ Chicken20-Minute Sesame ChickenOven Broiled Tandoori ChickenEasy Chicken Tikka Masala
Enjoy!