Honey Mustard Chicken (baked or grilled!) | Ambitious Kitchen (2024)

FAQs

Why put mustard on chicken before cooking? ›

It acts as a glue for spices

According to BBQ Host, the term binder simply refers to a glue-like condiment that helps other things stick together. In this case, mustard is the perfect binder for spices to adhere to chicken or any meat for that matter.

As a rule of thumb, you can marinate chicken anywhere from 15 minutes to 12 hours for bone-in chicken or 2 hours for boneless. Past 12 hours, you risk the ingredients of the marinade (such as sugar, acid, and salt) breaking down the muscle fibers in the meat, causing it to go overly soft or mushy.

I've found that the vinegar component in Dijon mustard is intense enough to work as an excellent marinade for steaks—it tenderizes the proteins, which is great for tougher cuts, and imbues the meat with a nice tanginess.

The mustard actually works to tenderize the meat and you will notice little more than a thin crust of it over the surface of the meat. In fact, mustard can help to produce the crust that is so sought after in traditional barbecue.

The key to grilled chicken is to precook it in the oven ahead of time so you know it's fully cooked and ready for the grill. Cooking it ahead of time also lets you cook it slowly, which yields nice, juicy, and tender meat.

Yes. Precooking food partially in the microwave, oven, or stove is a good way of reducing grilling time. Just make sure that the food goes immediately on the preheated grill to complete cooking.

Brine Before Grilling to Prevent Dry, Rubbery Chicken

Brining is simply submerging the chicken in a salt-water solution before grilling.

While both baking and pan frying can give you tasty, juicy chicken, if you are in a hurry, it is better to pan fry it. Because baked chicken breast is easy to dry out, it needs time to brine or marinade before you cook it.

How does Chick-fil-A get their chicken so tender? ›

Pickle juice is also known to tenderize meats, and Chick-fil-A's filets are definitely tender and juicy—though that could also be because of the restaurant's cooking method.

Getting a good sear through medium high heat, then reducing the heat to LOW and COVERING the chicken while it cooks. The butter, oil, and chicken juices create a super flavorful liquid that acts as a way to steam the chicken at a low temperature, ensuring that it is moist & tender on the inside.

In addition to proper seasoning, there's another trick to getting super flavorful chicken breasts — just pierce the breast with a fork a few times, or score it with a sharp knife. This works for a few reasons, but one of the most important aspects is that it helps marinades penetrate deeper into the meat.

There's no wrong way to cook marinated chicken: you can roast it in the oven, cook it under the broiler, or even deep fry it.

Information. Most recipes for marinating meat and poultry recommend six hours up to 24 hours. It is safe to keep the food in the marinade longer, but after two days it is possible that the marinade can start to break down the fibers of the meat, causing it to become mushy.

It's because you're missing a binder. Try coating the meat in mustard and then sprinkling it with the rub. It doesn't alter the flavor but keeps the rub where its intended to be – flavoring your meat. You can also use an oil with a high smoke point – such as generic vegetable oil.

It Adds Flavor to Classic Sauces

With sauces like this, mustard can be used much like you would use salt and pepper. It helps to add acidity and brightness to the dish. Stir a bit of mustard into classic pan sauces for steak, fish, or pork chops too. It will help add some thickness and body to the sauce.

In small quantities, it can enhance the natural taste of food, while in more significant amounts, it can dominate and overpower other flavors.

An entire bird rubbed in Dijon mustard and sprinkled with dry rub creates a coating that adds tremendous taste to poultry. After a few hours at a low temperature, with moderate smoke — a whole chicken becomes dark matte brown with some of the most tender lightly smoky meat.