This chicken with mustard sauce is an easy and elegant one pan meal. The amazing creamy Dijon sauce with rosemary will have you wanting to lick your plate clean!
Recipe Overview
Why you’ll love it: This chicken is all about the sauce!
How long it takes: 45 minutes
Equipment you’ll need: large skillet, stove, instant read thermometer (opt.)
Servings: 4
I like all of the recipes we create for you on Rachel Cooks, but every once in awhile, we sit and eat one and just rave about it. This recipe was one of those. Not on the first test…that was a total fail. The sauce separated and it just wasn’t all that great.
However, that’s what we’re here for. The fails happen in my kitchen so that they don’t happen in your kitchen.
Everything after that, though, was a home run. We tweaked that original recipe to fix the problems and the result is this amazing chicken bathed in a creamy mustard sauce.
Let’s be honest, this is less about the chicken and more about the sauce (at least for me). I could drink this sauce. Serve this chicken with something that will soak up the sauce. I like jasmine rice, mashed potatoes, or cooked noodles. Lately I’ve been on a polenta kick. Instant Pot polenta is a game-changer.
P.S. If you’re a fan of creamy sauces, be sure to try my creamy chicken and asparagus pasta or creamy coconut shrimp.
How To Make This Chicken recipe
To prepare this chicken, you’ll have to put it in the pan and take it back out a few times but it doesn’t change the fact that this is an easy one pan meal.
Less dishes always make me a happy, happy girl.
Brown the chicken. To start this chicken, you’ll heat some oil in a skillet, and then get that chicken nice and brown on both sides. This gives it SO much flavor and also starts the cooking process, so don’t skip it!
Cooking Tip
If the chicken feels like it wants to stick to the pan, it’s probably not brown enough yet. Give it another minute or two before you try to flip it.Bake the chicken. Once you’ve browned the chicken on both sides, you’ll move the pan to the oven to cook it all the way through. This helps the chicken cook evenly without drying out.
After the chicken has cooked through, place it on a plate and cover with foil to keep it warm and let it rest. While the chicken rests (this step will make it extra juicy!), you’ll make the sauce.
Make the sauce. The sauce begins with sautéed shallots. You’ll also add rosemary and garlic, which is when your kitchen starts to smell amazing. A bit of flour will help your sauce thicken.
This is where it gets really good with wine, mustard, and chicken broth. So much flavor! THEN, heavy cream. It’s really just the perfect sauce. It will thicken up into an irresistibly creamy sauce that’s perfect for spooning over the chicken, or you could also use it for dipping.
In this recipe, the wine is in the sauce, giving it a wonderful flavor. If you use wine in a chicken marinade, it will tenderize and subtly add flavor to the chicken. Some recipes, such as coq au vin, cook the chicken right in the wine.
Hmm, to cook with or drink? Usually white wine is used in the preparation of chicken, especially white meat (breasts), such as Chardonnay or Sauvignon blanc. If the recipe includes dark meat or the whole chicken, red wine may be used, such as Burgundy in the case of coq au vin.
Addressing the question of what to drink, it all depends on how the chicken is prepared.
You’ll find bottles of cooking wine in the grocery store by the vinegars. It often has preservatives and salt added. I much prefer using wine that I would drink. It adds more flavor to your dishes without any additives. Bonus: You can enjoy a glass of wine while you cook!
Make This Chicken Recipe your own
- Omit the cream. If you’d like to lighten this up a little or make it dairy free, you could try making it without cream. I just love the cream but it still has a lot of great flavor without.
- Omit the wine. You can substitute an extra half cup of chicken broth instead.
- More/less garlic: Feel free to add more garlic or leave it out, depending on your preferences. Amp up the garlic with sweet and creamy roasted garlic.
- Prefer dark meat? Chicken thighs work well with this recipe, too. Keep in mind that you may have to adjust cooking time.
- Sub in pork or salmon. This sauce is amazing with pretty much anything. If you’re looking for something different, try this salmon with creamy spinach and poblano sauce. It’s so yummy!
- Grill the chicken. Beautiful weather calling you outside? You could make this with grilled chicken and then just whip up this sauce on the stovetop.
- Gluten-free: Instead of thickening with flour, try using a gluten-free flour or cornstarch.
Store any leftover chicken and sauce in an airtight container in the fridge for up to three days.
Cream sauce can be a little tricky to reheat, but it’s doable. I recommend reheating on the stove in a small skillet or pan slowly over medium low heat. If you place a cover on the pan, it will prevent it from drying and will also help it warm faster.
Easy Chicken Recipes
Chicken with Mustard Sauce Recipe (creamy & delicious!)
Ingredients
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (1 ½ – 2 pounds total)
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ⅛ teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon oil (vegetable, canola or grapeseed)
- 1 medium shallot, finely diced (or finely chopped onion)
- 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
- 1 large clove garlic, minced (about 1 teaspoon)
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- ½ cup dry white wine (not sweet wine)
- 3 tablespoons grainy Dijon mustard
- 1 cup unsalted or reduced sodium chicken stock
- ½ cup heavy cream
- Optional: fresh chives or parsley for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400ºF.
- Trim chicken and sprinkle both sides with salt and pepper.
- Add oil to a large oven safe skillet over medium heat. When oil is hot, place chicken in skillet. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes or until golden brown and it removes easily from the pan (it shouldn’t stick). Flip each piece over and cook for another 3 to 4 minutes.
- Place the pan in the oven and bake for 10 minutes or until the internal temperature of the chicken breasts reaches 165ºF when checked with an instant-read thermometer in the thickest portion of the meat. Remove chicken from the pan and place it on a plate. Cover with foil.
- Return pan to burner over medium heat. Add shallots and cook for 3 to 4 minutes or until softened. Add rosemary and garlic and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute or until garlic is fragrant. Stir in flour and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly.
- Whisk or stir in wine while scraping all the brown bits off the bottom of the pan. Continue to cook for 1 to 2 minutes or until slightly reduced. Add mustard while whisking, and then add chicken broth while whisking. Cook for 5 to 6 minutes or until thickened slightly.
- Whisk in cream and cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently, or until thickened. Return chicken to pan to coat in sauce (or drizzle sauce over chicken) and serve immediately, garnished with fresh parsley or chives if desired.
Notes
- Omit the cream: If you’d like to lighten this up a little or make it dairy free, leave out the cream.
- Alcohol-free: Substitute an extra ½ cup of chicken broth instead.
- Prefer chicken thighs? They would work with this recipe, too. Keep in mind that you may have to adjust cooking time.
- Gluten-free: Instead of thickening with flour, try using a gluten-free flour or cornstarch.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Did You Make This?Share a comment and rating below! I love hearing what you think!
It was wonderful! Everybody enjoyed it and sent me back to the kitchen to make more sauce :)
I’m so glad it was a hit! Looks like a delicious dinner – thanks for sharing the photo!
I made this recipe a week or so ago – very delicious! I also loved how easy it was to make – sometimes I just want to make something that doesn’t take hours to put together and this was one of the good ones. Where we live, there’s a major problem getting b/s breasts that aren’t the size of my head…my solution is purchasing split chicken breasts and removing the meat from the bones. Then I make chicken stock out of what’s left. A bunch of years ago, we used to live in the city of Chicago and there was this butcher shop I always used to go to mostly buying b/s breasts. One day there were no other customers in the store and the butcher told me to come behind the counter to see how to remove the bones. I’ll never forget his kindness and the fact that he saved me tons of money going forward.
That’s so awesome! What a nice man!
Used the capers, substituted Greek yoghurt for the cream and served over couscous. Got great reviews from the family! (And also scooped up the leftover sauce while I was washing dishes!)
So happy to hear it was a hit! Thanks for taking the time to leave a review, it means a lot!