This roasted maple dijon chicken is packed with amazing flavor and is super easy to make. I've found that sometimes buying the whole chicken leg is cheaper than buying a pack of chicken thighs. I'm wondering what the story is with that. Anyone else notice this? Be that as it may, if you're looking for a great chicken option you should definitely try this roasted maple dijon chicken. This is a dinner for two recipe that you can easily adapt if serving more people.
Simple Ingredients That Pack a Huge Flavor Punch
The best part about this recipe is that you're getting all the flavor of marinating the chicken without marinating the chicken. This is a straight-to-the-oven, easy meal with incredible flavor. The paste ingredients that we smear on the chicken form an amazing juice at the bottom of the pan. This is why I Iine the pan with parchment paper. We want to keep all the juices together so they don't dry up in the bottom of the pan. Just spoon them over your chicken when serving. Best. chicken. ever. And if you need some help with prep, you can check out my how to trim the fat from chicken thighs video to so you know how to cut out all the fat.
Double the Recipe and You've Got Built-In Lunches
As many of you know, I do love cooking with leftovers in mind so I don't spend unnecessary money eating out. It came from an experience I had years ago at a corporate job. Many of my co-workers were eating out lunch every.single.day. I never understood how they could afford to do that. Lunch costs at least $10-15 per day if you're lucky. Not to mention, it's not as if there are a lot of healthy take-out options.
If we train ourselves to think of a menu each week, get the shopping done, get the cooking done at night and package the leftovers? Believe me, you will save a ton of money if you start cooking a little bit more at night so you can take it for leftovers tomorrow.
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I realize not all foods re-heat well and I do take this into consideration when I think of leftovers for lunch. This roasted maple dijon chicken is a great option for a reheat.
Make a little more now, save time and money later. It's really that simple.
Roasted Maple Dijon Chicken: Easy Steps for an Amazing Dinner
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Dinner for Two: Roasted Maple Dijon Chicken
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: 2 portions 1x
Description
Roasted maple dijon chicken is a gourmet dinner for two that you can easily scale-up to serve more guests.
Ingredients
- 2 chicken legs
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
For the paste:
- 2 large garlic cloves, smashed
- 1 teaspoon chopped sage (or rosemary or thyme)
- 2 tablespoons dijon mustard
- ¼ cup good maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
Optional:
- 1 bunch of asparagus for side dish (or your favorite veggie or salad)
- Fresh lemon wedges for asparagus
- Fresh chopped parsley garnish
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Instructions
- Chop the fresh sage. You can use sage, rosemary or thyme for this. I stacked the sage leaves on top of each other (4-6 depending on size of leaves), rolled them up and diced them down from there. I used one teaspoon finely chopped, but you can use more if you want!
- With the two large garlic cloves, smash them down with the side of your knife (my video shows this well). If there are any large pieces, cut once or twice to make it smaller. If you’re not comfortable doing that just give both garlic cloves a rough chop.
- Trim the fat from the chicken legs. I have a great instructional tutorial if you have time (how to trim the fat from chicken thighs). Generally, trim all hanging fat and all the fat underneath as well. There are hidden pockets of fat so watch out for that. Do your best to trim as much as you can. Put chicken on small sheet pan or plate.
- Use a light sprinkling of salt and pepper on both sides of the chicken. For both sides it probably amounts to ½ to ¾ teaspoon of salt and ¼ teaspoon of pepper, approximately.
- Make the paste: to a small bowl add the Dijon mustard, fresh sage, smashed garlic, maple syrup, and soy sauce. Mix together until well combined.
- Transfer chicken to a large bowl and add the maple/Dijon mixture. Toss and turn the chicken to coat evenly. Transfer chicken and all the sauce to a parchment paper lined baking dish – I used an 11x7 baking dish. The parchment paper will preserve the awesome juices so we can spoon it on top when we serve.
- Bake in a preheated over at 400 for one hour. Half-way through cooking, baste the chicken with the sauce in the pan. At the end of cooking - this is optional - switch oven to broil and let chicken crisp for a minute or two. Keep your eye on it here it can burn easily.
- While the chicken is cooking you can make a veggie side or salad. I made asparagus. Chop a small portion of the stalks from the bunch. It’s usually a little discolored and can have a bitter taste.
- I filled a large pan with water and placed the asparagus in the water. When the chicken is almost done. Turn heat on medium-to-high and cook with lid on for 8-10 minutes, depending on how al dente or soft you like your asparagus.
- Optional add-ons for this are a few lemon wedges. One wedge to squeeze onto the cooked asparagus and two more to garnish plate.
- Fresh chopped parsley for garnish is another optional add-on. It’s up to you, but I do think it make a nice presentation.
- After the chicken is cooked and cooled for 5-10 minutes, transfer chicken to two plates. Carefully tilt the baking dish so you can spoon the sauce onto the chicken. This is amazing flavor so don’t skip this. Add asparagus to plate, squeeze fresh lemon over it and some parsley garnish if using. Serve immediately.
- This is an easy recipe to double using the recipe multiplier tool in the recipe card. Just remember the numbers are doubled in the ingredient list, but not the written instructions.
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