This chicken with mustard came about when I was looking for easy meals without a lot of shopping, prep or clean up and I’ve been into breadcrumbs (especially when tossed in butter) lately. Serves 4:
Crispy Baked Chicken with Mustard
- 3 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted
- 1¼ cups breadcrumbs (panko or regular)
- ¼ cup Dijon mustard
- 2 garlic cloves, grated
- 1½ tablespoons fresh thyme leaves, chopped
- 1 tablespoon olive oil, plus more for drizzling
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest, plus lemon wedges for serving
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Heat oven to 400°F/204°C. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Sprinkle chicken thighs lightly with salt.
In a small bowl, toss the breadcrumbs with the melted butter and ¼ teaspoon salt until they are well coated.
In another small bowl, combine the mustard, garlic, thyme, olive oil, Worcestershire sauce, lemon zest, black pepper and remaining ½ teaspoon salt.
Lightly brush the thighs all over with the mustard mixture and place them on the prepared baking sheet, skin sides up. Top evenly with the breadcrumb mixture and drizzle lightly with oil.
Bake for 35 to 45 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through and the panko topping is golden brown. If you want more color on the thighs, broil on high for 30 seconds to 1 minute, watching closely. Serve with lemon wedges.
My verdict:
Great! Crunchy chicken with good mustard flavor. I used homemade breadcrumbs and they worked well. This was another experiment using my air-fryer, so the cooking time was about 30 minutes without needing to use the broiler.
I slathered on the mustard mix, and pressed the breadcrumbs into the chicken thighs so they would stick to the chicken. A squeeze bottle with olive oil makes it easy to drizzle. Since there was room on the sheet pan, I tossed some zucchini with olive and sprinkled some of the breadcrumbs on them so we’d have a veg. Any vegetable (or potato) you like roasted, would work too.
