My former Applebee’s order in middle and high school: chicken tenders with a decent sized amount of honey mustard sauce for dipping. Give me all the tangy sweetness, please.
Not gonna lie, I’ve always been obsessed with all things mustard. I love dipping my carrots in dijon. Can’t have a sandwich without spicy or brown mustard…or any mustard really. I get weak for a good honey mustard pretzel combo. Can’t ever have a hot dog or corn dog without yellow mustard. The list goes on.
Today I’m sharing one of my favorite mustard uses: a honey mustard chicken marinade to make the BEST honey mustard chicken! You can grill or bake it, and the honey mustard marinade is great for a salmon, too.
Keys to a delicious chicken marinade
A great chicken marinade requires three key ingredients to make your chicken super juicy and flavorful:
- Fat from oil or even full fat yogurt or buttermilk
- Acid from vinegar or citrus fruit
- Plenty of seasonings like spices and fresh or dried herbs
This honey mustard marinade, of course, has all three, plus some sweetness to make it extra delicious.
Get all of my tips and tricks for making the perfect chicken marinade, plus ways to grill different parts of chicken here!
Honey mustard chicken ingredients
This easy grilled honey mustard chicken recipe has just 4 main ingredients that make the most delicious combo perfect for chicken. Options to make it a little spicy, too, because you know how I do. Here’s what you’ll need:
- Honey: for the delicious, sweet base of the honey mustard marinade.
- Dijon mustard: a little tangy whole grain mustard to pair with the honey.
- Olive oil: you’ll want a bit of olive oil to add moisture and coat the chicken completely.
- Garlic: fresh garlic brings out all of the flavors. Garlic powder would also work if you don’t have any fresh garlic!
- Salt & pepper: add plenty of salt and pepper for the perfect amount of seasoning.
- Optional: a pinch of cayenne pepper for some heat. Or even a teaspoon of curry powder for something a little different!
- Chicken: this marinade will work for 1 pound of boneless skinless chicken breasts, chicken thighs, wings or even drumsticks!
How to make the best honey mustard chicken marinade
- Add all of your marinade ingredients to a large bowl and stir well.
- Add your chicken and stir again to evenly coat the chicken.
- Cover and place the bowl with the chicken in the fridge for 30 minutes to one hour, or even longer for a more intense, flavorful marinade.
- Grill or bake your chicken however you’d like! We love grilling ours. See below for tips on grilling or baking your chicken!
Baked or grilled: you decide
- To bake: you’ll want to bake your marinated chicken on a parchment-lined pan or in a baking dish at 400 degrees F for 20-30 minutes until the internal temp reads 165 degrees F. Get all of my tips for baking perfect chicken here!
- To grill: as I mentioned, we love grilled honey mustard chicken! You’ll grill your chicken at 400 degrees F for about 6-8 minutes on each side. Check out this guide to grilling perfectly juicy chicken every time.
Can you freeze this chicken marinade?
Yes! If you’d like to save your chicken & marinade for later:
- To freeze: simply pour the honey mustard chicken marinade into a resealable, freezer-friendly bag, add your chicken, and freeze the entire bag for up to 3 months.
- To thaw: when you’re ready to cook it, simply thaw the chicken in the marinade overnight in the refrigerator and cook and bake however you’d like.
Ways to use honey mustard chicken + pairings
This delicious honey mustard chicken recipe can be used in tons of your favorite recipes:
- Make easy chicken kabobs
- Serve with my grilled garlic fingerling potatoes and a side salad
- Enjoy with delicious grilled veggies and rice or cauliflower rice
- Add it to a summery pasta salad recipe
- Top a beautiful, crunchy salad or serve it on the side
- Serve it with grilled sweet potato fries and an amazing, healthy coleslaw
- Throw it in a wrap with other veggies
I hope you love this honey mustard chicken — feel free to bake or grill it. If you make it, please leave a comment below and rate the recipe — I really appreciate it! xo.
Honey Mustard Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 pound chicken breast or chicken thighs
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 3 tablespoons dijon mustard (I like the grainy dijon mustard!)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 garlic clove, finely minced or grated
- Optional if you like a bit of heat: ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- Freshly ground salt and black pepper
Instructions
- In a large bowl, mix together honey, dijon mustard, olive oil, garlic, cayenne pepper and salt and pepper. Add chicken and stir well to coat the chicken in the marinade. Cover and place in the fridge for 30 minutes to an hour. Grill or bake chicken however you’d like. Serves 4.
- To grill chicken: Preheat grill to 400 degrees. Once preheated, place your chicken on your grill, and close the lid. It’s important to keep the lid of your grill closed while your chicken is cooking so that no heat escapes. Cook your chicken on the grill for 6-8 minutes on one side. After 6-8 minutes open your grill lid and flip your chicken with tongs. A great tip is to only flip your chicken breast once so that it stays nice and juicy (and creates delicious grill marks!). Cook your chicken breast for 6-8 minutes more. Cook time will vary a bit depending on the size of your chicken and what type of cut, so be sure to check the internal temperature in the thickest part of the chicken breast using a meat thermometer. When the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees F, your chicken is done and can be transferred to a clean plate or cutting board.Immediately cover chicken with foil to seal in the juices and allow it to rest for 5-10 minutes before cutting into it. This will help you achieve that juicy, chicken breast you’re looking for!
- To bake your honey mustard chicken: preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place chicken on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink and internal temperature reads 165 degrees F.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eats
This post was originally published on July 7th, 2020, and republished on July 21st, 2022.
117 comments
In the oven at present. However the recipe does not say if conventional or fan forced. I am using the latter. Hope it does not over cook.
The chicken should cook just fine but let me know how it turned out!
delicious, house mates and I all loved it
I’m so glad! 🙂
I too am a big fan of mustard, and this marinade was fantastic. I used our local Arizona honey, and Trader Joe’s Dijon combined with a bit of stone ground. Easy and perfect for a light summer dinner. I had to resort to baking as its too hot for grilling here, but it did not disappoint. I’ll be making it again for sure.
So good! Glad you enjoyed 🙂
This had so much flavor for such a short time marinating. It grilled perfectly and was very juicy… we all loved it!
Absolutely! Perfect dinner 🙂
Probably the BEST chicken recipe out there. The combination of flavors were so simple yet gave it that perfect juicy golden look and taste. I could not recommend it more and can’t wait to make it again!
So happy you loved it!!
Made this last night- super fast easy marinade & it was delicious!! Thank you!
So happy you enjoyed!
Loved this!! Made it last night for my boys and hubby and everyone loved it! I added about half a lemon for a bit of acid and it was so yummy. Thank you!!
Amazing! So happy to hear that 🙂
Made it today. We enjoyed it very much. Thanks for sharing this action. Thanks for looking for more recipes like this.
So happy you enjoyed!
I am not typically a big mustard fan but had to try this recipe, as the photo is mouthwatering and I am SO happy I did! The marinade is delicious and perfect for a summer meal. It has a good flavor without being overpowering! I baked mine and the chicken turned out super moist.
The mustard is subtle but so delicious 🙂 glad you loved it!!
My husbands highest praise is typically “Pretty good”. This dish got a “holy f*ck this is good!”
Mind you, my cooking skills are great so this is just a really simple yet delicious dish! I used a combination of grainy bourbon mustard and dijon. It truly was amazing!
Haha love that!! Perfect dinner 🙂
Woww, I love chicken very much, This recipe is looking awesome, I and my friend will try this recipe for sure…. : -)
I hope you both love it!
This recipe is delicious! I don’t have a grill so I used a George Foreman griddle and it was perfect! Will definitely be making again.
Love it! Glad you enjoyed!
Can I marinate the chicken for longer than 1 hour (I.e. 5 hours)?
Sure!
Another excellent recipe Monique! Thank you! I would recommend after making the marinade, to set aside a few tbsp so you can drizzle it on top. Husband and I LOVED this recipe, it is SO easy with ingredients I always have on hand. Enjoy!
So happy you both loved it! And great tip with the marinade 🙂
I haven’t cooked them yet, but I have been trying to collect more meal prep recipes and this one seems so much simpler than others I have seen, which immediately attracted me to it. I always have these ingredients on hand! I immediately made a batch last night and will grill them tonight. I am going to make a batch for the freezer too.
Perfect! Hope you love them!
I made this for the entire family and they extremely loved it. They want to have more of it. It’s addicting!!
So happy to hear that! Love this one 🙂
“Ambitious Kitchen Honey Mustard Chicken” everyone in my family knows what a delight they are in for when that is on the menu for dinner. I discovered this recipe sometime during quarantine and honestly I think I have made it every week since I made the discovery (not even exaggerating) it’s really just that delicious and the best part about this recipe is that it’s so quick and easy but oh so flavorful! I like to pair my chicken with sweet potato fries and I’ll let you in on a little secret… I make a litttttttle extra honey mustard marinade for sweet potato dipping 😉
This is one of the easiest marinades to whip up and imparts such excellent flavor even with a short marinade time. It’s become my go-to “uhhh what do I do this with chicken?!” Recipe! Love it a lot.
Love those types of recipes 🙂 glad you enjoyed!
Wow this is delicious 👌🏻
Glad you enjoyed!
Loved this simple recipe! I’m making it for the 2nd time in a week. It’s a staple now.
So happy to hear that!
I made this for my husband and 3 kids. My 8 year old who DISLIKES chicken more than anyone I know, was nose up not wanting to have anything to do with what I put on her plate, until we some how convinced her to try it. She gobbled her entire piece of chicken up. It was a MIRACLE, I will definitely be making this again.
Amazing!! So happy to hear that 🙂
This is my family & I’s FAVORITE chicken recipe ever. It is requested every week and always such a hit. It’s my go to when we have company over or as a quick weeknight dinner. It is best marinated overnight, however it’s not necessary. It makes the chicken so flavorful and does not taste too “seasoned”. I like that it can be paired with almost anything from potatoes to salad.
Amazing! So happy to hear that 🙂
I don;t have honey on hand could I swap in maple syrup? Thanks!
Absolutely, I do it all the time 🙂
Love this recipe! I used chicken thighs (what I had) and it turned out delicious
I made baked chicken wings with this recipe and it was fantastic! I marinated for about 4 hrs then baked at 425F for 50 minutes and they had the most perfect, crispy skin. The honey mustard flavor was not strong, but definitely there! Will set aside some of the marinade to maybe brush on after baking next time to get even more of that mustard flavor.
That sounds amazing! And yes, great idea to brush on some more 🙂
Super easy and made my chicken very flavorful! Wondering if this would do well on salmon, too?
Yes, absolutely!
I love this recipe and I’ve made it heaps of times! It’s such a delicious flavour combination and I often find myself craving it!
This is the best grilled chicken recipe! It’s not dry like grilled chicken can usually get. It’s the perfect amount of flavor!
Absolutely! So glad you loved it!
So great! I didn’t have chicken breasts so I used boneless chicken thighs— I also baked instead of grilled. I would recommend baking for less time with the thighs, about 18-20 minutes. Great recipe and SO easy, will definitely make again!
I can’t wait to try out recipes.
Definitely the best chicken I had in a long time.
Easy to prep and really tasty.
So happy to hear that!
I love all your recipes lately! Thank you!! Simple marinade that was really flavorful! I used regular Dijon because that is what I had on hand and marinated about an hour. Chicken was moist and tasty. I cooked on convection – 400 for 35 min, I will definitely make again!
So happy to hear that! Love this one for an easy dinner add-on 🙂
Honey mustard for the win! . . . During 2020’s lockdown, my husband and I rented a house over Labor Day weekend that had a porch and kayaks and a GRILL! As city people, we *never* get to grill, so it was a big deal that we were looking forward to. AK did not disappoint! We let the chicken chill in the marinade for a few hours, and while hubs grilled it up, I roasted some broccoli and cooked some jasmine rice as sides. It was a perfect end-of-summer meal, one I’d be happy to make again any time, thank you!
Love that! So glad you both enjoyed!
Such a flavorful recipe for so few ingredients! My whole family loved it.
Absolutely! Glad it’s a hit 🙂
Very excited to try this recipe out. In the directions you mention possibly adding curry powder, when would you do that? It is just an addition, it doesn’t change anything else in the recipe, right? I absolutely love honey mustard, but my hubby isn’t as big a fan – I think the curry might make a difference.
You can add it to the bowl with the rest of the marinade ingredients 🙂 Let me know how it goes!
New go to dinner recipe! Super easy and so flavorful! I like to add this chicken on top of a salad as well.
So happy you’re loving this, Shannon!
This is my go-to marinade recipe for chicken. My husband says it tastes like Hawaiian flavorwhen it’s grilled. We love it!
So happy you guys are both loving it! 🙂
Very good recipe but are the nutrition facts correct? 13g carbs for 4oz?
It’s from the honey!
This recipe is amazing and probably my our favorite chicken marinade! It’s definitely going into our regular recipe rotation. Even the pickiest eaters in my family loved it. I marinated chicken thighs in the fridge for 24 hours and it was perfect.
Omg I’m SO happy you’re loving it! Yay!
I love this recipe! I grill up a batch every week to add to my salads and bowls. Perfect char from the honey. 👌
This is so simple and delicious! Baked the chicken tonight with some asparagus and am real mad there are my any leftovers.
Delicious!
I made this tonight for grilled chicken thighs & it was delicious! My husband kept going on and on about how good it was. I loved that it was simple ingredients that I already had on hand and could be put together in less than 5 minutes. Next time I’ll probably set some of the marinade aside before adding the chicken to drizzle on top after it’s been cooked. This will definitely be a staple in our house now. 10/10!
Ooh good idea to reserve some of the marinade for the end! I’m so happy you guys are loving it 🙂
I love a simple, easy, marinade!
Delicious ! Thanks & I will be using it again until it starts to snow! I love to bbq!
Yay! I’m so happy you love this one, Deborah! Thanks for the review 🙂
So easy, so perfect! Going to be making this on repeat this summer.
Simple, super juicy chicken. Meal prepped this and it was still juicy days later!
Oh I’m so glad to hear that! Great call to meal prep this one 🙂
Absolutely love the recipes, I’ve never felt so fit and healthy and I am 53 with lupus,
So happy you love them, Kimberley — thanks for the sweet comment!
This is excellent & soooo easy! A definite keeper! I’ve made it twice in one week on the grill- it’s that good! Oh and I have to say if you have the time, allowing it to marinate for 24 hours ( which I did the second time) makes it even yummier! This will definitely be on the 4th of July grilling menu! Thanks for a great recipe!
I’m so glad you love it, Sherry! And great to hear that the long marinade worked well 🙂
I was inspired by the email with the Father’s Day recipes so we made this on Sunday. It was very easy and incredibly flavourful! Everyone loved it. We will definitely be making this again. We marinated the chicken for about five hours (only because I wanted to have everything prepped!) and it was great!
Another amazing simple, delicious and easy recipe! I have used chicken breast and chicken thigh with this marinade and it never fails! I have also tried it both on the grill and in the oven, I prefer the grilled version! Love this recipe and highly recommend it!
This is my new favorite grilled chicken recipe! I used thighs and they came out so flavorful and amazing. This is a nice alternative to the usual BBQ grilled chicken in the summer. And it’s so easy!
I love love love this marinade! For unforeseen reasons I had to leave my chicken bathing in it for 3 days and it was an unexpected happy accident. So juicy, so flavorful, and tender! You def don’t need to marinate your chicken in this amazingness for 3 days, but if you do, you won’t be disappointed! So good! My husband and I agreed that “we can have people over for this,” which is our litmus test for good recipes!
Haha so glad it still turned out amazing!! And that is so sweet, I hope everyone loves it if you end up serving it to guests ❤️
LOVED this recipe. I am trying to be better about making my own “store-bought” sauces, and this recipe was better than anything I would have bought pre-made. Thank you for posting!
Ahh that’s amazing, Lynn! Love that goal, and so glad you enjoyed this one 🙂
So delicious and flavorful! Used on chicken thighs. We made extra sauce to dip our chicken in after grilling.
Made this tonight and it was delicious! I used hot honey to give it a little kick. Highly recommend grilling this chicken this summer!
Oooh hot honey’s such a great idea! Glad it turned out amazing!
Woah! This is so darn delicious!!! I’m so grateful to have such an amazingly flavorful recipe to make in my own kitchen with ingredient quality I can control.
I’m so glad you loved this one, Jenny! Thank you so much for commenting 🙂
i made it yesterday
It turned out so good.
I had everyone wanting more after it was all gone.
Thanks for the recipe.
WOW. Such juicy, flavorful, delicious chicken! I cannot wait to make this again.
Yay!! So happy it turned out delish!
Amazing and so easy I loved it and so did my family!!!
I have made multiple times, it is delicious! I double the recipe and grill the chicken. I let it marinate for the day or the night before.
Absolutely delicious. Used 1tbs grainy mustard and 2 tbs regular Dijon. Grilled on the bbq. Wil go into the regular rotation. Thanks for a terrific recipe
Absolutely! So glad you are loving this recipe ❤️🙂
I was wondering if you could provide baking instructions. Thanks!
They are above in the recipe!
Delicious chicken!! My husband loved it. We had it with baked potatoes and Caesar salad <3
You have some interesting points in this article. I would never have reviewed any of this if I hadn’t come across this.
This is the absolute best chicken marinade recipe I’ve ever made! I’ve made it countless times now, it’s great for simple chicken breast by itself or for grilled chicken sandwiches. Absolutely recommend grilling these up, putting them in brioche buns with dijon and chipotle mayo, provolone (melted on top of the breasts on the grill), leafy lettuce, red onion, and avocado. Beautiful, healthy, and delicious! Thank you for this recipe!
I have made this recipe at least 5 times and played with varying types of mustard and honeys (hot honey has been good for a kick!) and it has not once tasted bad. I love it so much and use it for meal prep all the time. Also, to not waste the marinade, I cut up veggies – sweet potato, onion, etc – and toss the leftover marinade in it before throwing them all in the oven. Thank you for such a fun and versatile recipe!
Awesome recipe! Thank you!
Absolutely – glad you are enjoying this recipe 🙂
One of my all time fav chicken recipes!! I have grilled and baked the chicken before, and both times it was 100. I love using chicken thighs for this recipe. Thank you so much!
Of course! I am so glad you are enjoying this recipe and it turns out great for you!
Thank you for sharing such a versatile and flavor-packed recipe! I love the idea of using honey and dijon mustard as the key components of the marinade; it’s a combination that can’t be beaten. Your detailed instructions and tips make the process so much easier. Plus, the mention of optional spices like cayenne or curry powder caught my eye – it’s wonderful to have that flexibility for anyone wanting to add an extra kick or a different flavor profile. I can’t wait to try this out on my next BBQ session, and I can already tell that it’s going to be a hit! And the fact that it can be used not just for chicken but also salmon adds another layer of versatility. Thank you for sharing your passion for mustard in such a delicious way!