Norecipes - Elevating Everyday Meals

menu icon
go to homepage
  • Start Here
  • Recipes
  • Ingredients
  • About
subscribe
search icon
Homepage link
  • Start Here
  • Recipes
  • Ingredients
  • About
×
Home ► Recipes ► American

Grilled Chicken with Honey Mustard Dressing

Updated: 10.18.23 | Marc Matsumoto | 18 Comments

5 from 3 votes
Savory chicken grilled, sliced and served with baby greens and a honey mustard dressing. An easy, wholesome and delicious weeknight meal.
Recipe

When I was a kid, summer vacation always started with an annual trip to McDonalds. The pilgrimage, which coincided with the last day of school, was something that I looked forward to for weeks, and I always got the same thing: a 6 pack of chicken nuggets with honey mustard sauce.

It's strange to look back now and think about how much I looked forward to the oddly uniform nuggets of spongy mystery meat, but in retrospect I think it may have been the sauce. The sweet floral honey and tangy acerbic mustard are contrasts that go together like black and white.

While this grilled chicken with honey mustard dressing shares ease and speed with its distant cousin from the Golden Arches, that's about where the similarities end. It's a quick weeknight meal that you make, not because it's quick, but because it's delicious.

The chicken is seasoned simply with salt and pepper before going on the grill, so the flavor of the chicken has a chance to shine. As such, be sure to use the best quality chicken you can find. Together with subtly bitter mustard greens, peppery arugula and the sweet and the tangy dressing, this makes for a delicious protein packed meal that will fill you up without bogging you down.

Finally, if you get bored with the honey mustard dressing, you could make my ginger miso dressing, or creamy sesame dressing for this as alternatives to mix things up. And if you're using your grill to cook this already, my Grilled Endive Salad would make a great side dish.

More Chicken Salads

  • Chinese Chicken Salad
  • Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps
  • Hiyashi Chuka

📖 Recipe

Grilled Chicken with Honey Mustard Dressing

5 from 3 votes
Print Pin
Prep Time 5 minutes mins
Cook Time 15 minutes mins
Total Time 40 minutes mins
Yield 2 serving

Units

Ingredients 

  • 250 grams boneless skin-on chicken thighs
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ teaspoon black pepper
  • 80 grams baby greens
  • 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon honey
  • 1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
  • ½ tablespoon lemon juice
  • ½ teaspoon hot mustard (optional)

Instructions

  • As far in advance as you can, sprinkle both sides of the chicken with the salt and pepper. Ideally you'll let it sit for 30 minutes so the salt can penetrate the meat, but if you're short on time, you can move ahead right away.
  • Wash the salad greens and dry in a salad spinner.
  • Heat a grill or grill pan until hot.
  • Drizzle 2 teaspoons of olive oil onto the chicken and rub all over both sides.
  • Place the chicken skin-side down on the grill until it has good grill marks, and then flip and grill until the chicken is cooked through (registered 160 degrees F on a thermometer). Transfer the chicken to a cutting board and let it rest for 10 minutes.
  • Whisk the olive oil, honey, whole grain mustard, lemon juice and hot mustard together in a bowl.
  • Slice the chicken into bite-sized pieces.
  • Drizzle a few spoonfuls of dressing onto the greens and toss to coat. Salt and pepper to taste.
  • Arrange the chicken on top of the salad and drizzle with the remaining dressing.
Recipes in your inboxDon't miss out SIGN UP!

Comments

    5 from 3 votes (2 ratings without comment)

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




  1. Richard says

    December 17, 2023 at 10:56 pm

    5 stars
    This is the best use of a Chicken thigh I have come across - at least using it as the star not an ingredient. Normally I end up tweaking these recipes a bit for my taste, but this one is spot on. A+ 🙂

    It sounds pretty plain and simple, but the end result is fantastic. I'm tempted to brine it gently, but I am not sure I want to mess with perfection.

    Reply
    • Marc Matsumoto says

      December 17, 2023 at 11:34 pm

      Hi Richard, I'm happy to hear your enjoyed it! Chicken thighs might be my favorite cut of meat because they're so versatile (as an ingredient, as a flavoring, or as the star of the show). I have a few other recipes on here where they really shine, so I hope you have a chance to check them out. Here's a method I've been enjoying recently that gets really crisp skin with juicy meat: https://norecipes.com/chicken-ginger-scallion-sauce/ It works with any sauce.

      Reply
    • Marc Matsumoto says

      December 17, 2023 at 11:35 pm

      BTW, regarding a brine it's certainly an option to make the chicken more moist, but it does have tradeoffs (it waters down the natural flavor of the chicken while preventing the skin from crisping). If you just want to infuse it with flavor, a dry brine is the way to go.

      Reply
  2. Marc Matsumoto says

    October 07, 2015 at 10:37 pm

    There are a lot of sites out there you can look up estimated nutritional value of each ingredient by weight. Then you can total them up. I don't include the nutritional values here because they can be wildly inaccurate (for example the amount of calories in 250 grams of chicken will depend largely on how much fat the chicken you buy contains).

    Reply
  3. Kathy Elmore says

    October 07, 2015 at 5:27 pm

    I would like to know where to find the nutritional value of them as well.

    Reply
  4. Kathy says

    March 10, 2015 at 7:23 pm

    Where can I find the nutritional values of these recipes?

    Reply
  5. Patricia Horton says

    July 27, 2014 at 7:52 pm

    this will be my sunday dinner the chicken looks delious

    Reply
  6. Tay Mor says

    February 26, 2014 at 7:35 pm

    I'm Jamaican, so it will be difficult for me to 'season' the meat so sparsely with just salt and pepper, but I will deffo give this recipe a shot! Seriously the imagery alone made me drool!

    Reply
  7. Jen Haylock says

    November 17, 2013 at 7:00 am

    deboning a chicken leg is pretty easy...I always buy my chicken whole and debone then make stock out of the bones. the main trick is to chop the knuckle off the end of the drumstick before slicing into the meat. this way you only have to deal with the knee joint which once you have sliced the leg lengthwise and scraped down the bone with the knife to separate the meat and bone should just be able to be broken away from the cartilege. digging the rest out isn't too difficult but can be a little fiddly. make sure you have a very sharp thin blade (like a filleting knife) and practice will do the rest

    Reply
  8. Tristan Leterrier says

    October 19, 2013 at 10:13 am

    l tried it yesterday and it's just delicious. I had to learn how to debone chicken leg myself (it isn't sold deboned in france) but wow, it was worth it.
    the crispy chicken skin, the juicy meat , and the dressing with the salad are in perfect harmony !!

    Reply
  9. Marteen Hook says

    October 04, 2013 at 6:21 am

    Grilled chicken with honey and mustard sounds very delicious. I am going to try this recipe asap. Thanks for this superb recipe.

    Reply
  10. Yogicfoodie says

    September 04, 2013 at 4:12 pm

    Thank you for wonderful lunch!
    Next time I'm going to make a gallon of this honey mustard dressing.
    I did put a bit more lemon juice in, however, my quest for the best honey mustard
    dressing is over.
    Thank you.

    Reply
  11. Marc Matsumoto says

    August 30, 2013 at 5:54 am

    Hi Kirstine, if your oven has a broil mode, and you can move your rack to the top position, you should be able to do it in the oven. Just put a wire rack on a baking sheet and put the chicken on the rack before putting it under the broiler. Broil skin side down until the meat side is browned and then flip and broil until the chicken is cooked and the skin is starting to crisp.

    Reply
  12. kirstine says

    August 30, 2013 at 12:21 am

    marc, can I still do it with oven like baking it? thanks.

    Reply
  13. Marc Matsumoto says

    August 16, 2013 at 4:52 am

    Hi Monica, it's hard to give you a recipe without trying it out first, but you could probably do something by eliminating the peanut butter and brown sugar and cooking down some mangoes after you've fried the garlic, ginger and spices. Hope that helps.

    Reply
  14. Monica says

    August 15, 2013 at 9:55 pm

    I know that this is not related AT ALL, but your cooking inspires me to try and make up recipes. That being said, I'm using your slow roasted salmon technique and while the curry sauce you created to pair it with is AMAZING, I have a ton of mangoes and avocados. I was wondering if you knew of a mango curry sauce similar to the one above that would pair well with the salmon. Any tips suggestions would be awesome 🙂 (the avocados I used for a mango avocado salsa that I tried with the salmon)

    Reply
  15. Asha Shivakumar says

    August 15, 2013 at 7:09 pm

    Omg..this looks so good Marc. I've been following your blog from when I saw your tutorial on youtube for photography. Your pictures are beautiful.

    Reply
  16. Melanie W says

    August 12, 2013 at 1:51 pm

    This looks great, perfect for the summer!

    McDonalds was a road trip staple for me too.

    Reply
Marc Matsumoto

Welcome!

I’m Marc Matsumoto, a former chef raising a family in Tokyo, Japan. I believe anyone can become a great cook with the right ingredients and a few techniques, so I created No Recipes to help you unlock your culinary potential!

Start Here

Check out my member site for access to my secret stash of easy original recipes that I cook for my family!

Take a Peak →

Trending Recipes

  • A plate of homemade Japanese yakisoba (stir-fried ramen noodles) with pork cabbage, onions and benishoga (red pickled ginger).
    Yakisoba
  • Closeup of a plate of homemade California rolls filled with crab, avocado and cucumber wrapped in tangy sushi rice and nori.
    California Roll
  • Black Pepper Beef is a classic Chinese stir-fry made with beef, onions, and peppers.
    Black Pepper Beef
  • With spaghetti and spicy cod roe in a creamy sauce, this Mentaiko Pasta is a classic Japanese-Italian mashup that's as easy to make as it is delicous.
    Creamy Mentaiko Pasta
  • Salmon Onigiri split in half showing tender salted salmon flakes wrapped in a fluffy layer of Japanese short grain rice.
    Salmon Onigiri
  • Easy onigiri rice ball recipe stuffed with a delicious mix of canned tuna, mayonnaise and soy sauce.
    Tuna Mayo Onigiri

Trending Categories

  • Easy Japanese Recipes
  • Ramen
  • Summer
  • Japanese (Modern)
  • Japanese (Traditional)
  • Japanese (Chinese)

Footer

About

  • About
  • Help Me
  • Hire Me
  • Photography
  • FAQs

Connect

  • Email Updates
  • Contact

Legal

  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy

Copyright © 2024 Marc Matsumoto. All rights reserved

  • Facebook
  • X
  • Pinterest
  • Email
  • Reddit
  • Flipboard

Rate This Recipe

Your vote:




A rating is required
A name is required
An email is required

Recipe Ratings without Comment

Something went wrong. Please try again.