Everyone will love this chicken drizzled in a creamy mustard sauce. He’s only four basic ingredients: chicken breast or drumsticks, heavy cream, Dijon mustard, and whole grain mustard. Optionally, garnish with fresh tarragon and parsley to take the dish to the next level.
Chicken with creamy mustard sauce
This is one of those recipes that helps me when I’m looking at chicken breasts and thighs at night and wondering, “What am I going to have for dinner?” It’s served with a creamy mustard sauce that takes less than a minute to mix. The trick to making such a simple cream sauce delicious is to mix two kinds of mustard with the cream. Dijon is there for its smooth, mild mustard flavor and thickening power, while whole grain mustard adds visual interest and beautiful mustard seeds.
If you want a truly hospitable version, you have the option of adding fresh tarragon.Commonly used in French cuisine, this tender herb has a subtle yet distinctive flavor that pairs beautifully with anything creamy. To do. This sauce really gives it a restaurant-like feel. Try it once and you’ll understand exactly what I’m saying!
What you need for this dish
Here’s everything you need to prepare this easy and wonderful chicken dinner:
- Chicken – While I prefer to make this with thighs because they’re juicier and require no prep, it will work just as well with chicken breast. Other proteins – This sauce and same cook method will work perfectly with thin pork chops, turkey steaks or white fish fillets.
- Cream – The creamy base for the sauce. It’s best to use thickened / heavy cream as you get a head start on thickening the sauce. However, it will also work with ordinary pouring cream.Low fat cream – It will work but the sauce will not have the same luscious mouthfeel due to the lower fat content. The sauce will also be thinner for the same reason.
- Dijon mustard – This plus the cream are the two key ingredients for the sauce. Dijon is a smooth, mildly-flavoured mustard that adds flavour as well as thickening the sauce. While not all Dijon mustards are created equal, there’s no need to use a pricey gourmet Dijon here. Just your everyday brands are fine.
- Wholegrain mustard – The mustard seeds add visual interest as well as little pops of faint pungency in this sauce. Because this sauce is so simple as it is, I really urge you to use this mustard, but it’s handy to know that it’s not the end of the world if you don’t have it either. Just dial up the Dijon by an extra teaspoon or so to compensate.
MAKE IT DINNER PARTY-WORTHY WITH FRESH HERBS
The mustard cream sauce is delicious on its own, but adding fresh herbs makes it richer. Herbs that I use often are:
Tarragon – This herb has a mild aniseed flavour with subtle vanilla undertones. It’s commonly paired with both chicken and cream in French cuisine, which means I automatically think it gives this sauce a “fine dining” pedigree of sorts!
Fresh parsley – For a hint of freshness but more for colour than flavour.
How to make Chicken with Creamy Mustard Sauce
If you’re like me and use boneless chicken thighs, no prep is needed. However, if you are using chicken breasts, each breast should be split in half to create two thin steaks. I also recommend pounding them to a uniform thickness.
- Season both sides of the chicken with salt and pepper. (Note: If using breast, cut in half to form 2 thin steaks, and pound into 1 cm / 1/3-inch even thickness).
- Cook chicken – Sear the chicken until golden and cooked through.– Thighs: Use medium-high heat; 4 minutes on the first side and 3 to 4 minutes on the second side.
– Breast: It will only take around 2 minutes on each side over high heat.Pro tip: Don’t use a non-stick pan. The secret to a great pan sauce is the residual golden bits of meat stuck to the bottom of the pan after searing the meat (called fond in French). They’re packed with meaty, umami-laden flavours and dissolve into the sauce once you add liquid to the pan.However, if you use a non-stick pan, you will not get fond. So it is best to use a cast-iron skillet or other heavy-based pan that does not have a non-stick coating to encourage fond development – we want a little sticking! - Remove chicken to a plate. The chicken will rest while we make the sauce. Resting meat is a key step with any cooked protein. Resting time allows the juices to re-settle within the meat so when you cut into the chicken to eat it, the juices stay in the meat instead of bleeding on to the plate. Wasted meat juices are the tears of weeping food angels …
- Scrape out and discard any loose burnt bits so you don’t end up with black bits littered in your sauce.
- Sauce – To make the sauce, simply put the cream and both mustards into the pan and stir until the mustard has dissolved. Scrape the bottom of the pan as you stir if you can feel the fond still stuck, to get all that good stuff into the sauce. Keep heating the sauce until it’s hot and that’s all you need to do. You don’t even need to bring it to a simmer, nor do you need to reduce to thicken the sauce as the dijon mustard thickens it for us. Stir in the herbs right at the end, which preserves their fresh vibrancy. Adjust the sauce consistency if needed with a tablespoon of water.
- Serve – To serve, simply place a piece of chicken on the plate and spoon over the sauce. The recipe makes about 2/3 cups of sauce which is plenty for the chicken with some leftover to also sauce up your mash or vegetable sides!
What I serve with this
or a speedy dinner option, I served this today with a Rocket Salad (though I skipped the parmesan) and a bread roll for mopping my plate clean.
