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Looking for a quick and flavorful way to cook chicken breasts? This Baked Maple Dijon Chicken Breast recipe is perfect for any night of the week. Plus, we’re sharing our best tips for cooking chicken breasts in the oven.
Maple Mustard Chicken Recipe
These perfectly cooked Maple Dijon Chicken Breasts are your answer to a quick and delicious weeknight dinner. The chicken is pounded out to an even thickness and topped with a creamy maple dijon sauce and then baked to perfection. And we’re sharing all the tips we have to make sure you get the juiciest chicken possible! Serve this along side sweet potato fries, mashed potatoes, cauliflower rice or on top of a big salad and dinner is served!
Ingredients Needed
- Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
- Dijon Mustard
- Maple Syrup
- Lemon Juice
- Salt and Pepper
- Fresh Thyme
How to Make Perfect Juicy Baked Chicken
The secret to getting juicy and flavorful chicken is ultimately about not overcooking it. That is the single most important step of cooking chicken breasts, which are lower in fat than their dark meat counterparts.
A small step you can take that goes a long way to making perfect chicken is to pound out the meat to an even thickness with a meat mallet (or a rolling pin). This ensures the chicken is perfectly cooked throughout, instead of having some parts of the chicken overcooked because they are thinner.
In addition, if you had the extra time on your hands you could prepare the chicken breasts with the maple dijon sauce ahead of time to let the meat marinate. This isn’t essential, but it does bump up the flavor a bit. You could do as little time as 30 minutes or even overnight.
Lastly, and the most important step is to remove the chicken just before it has finished cooking. As all meat does, the chicken will continue to cook after it has been removed from the oven. We always suggest using an instant-read thermometer to check the temperature of meat, and chicken breast should be removed from the oven between 155º-160º. Once the chicken has been pulled out, cover the pan with aluminum foil and allow the chicken to rests. This let’s the chicken finish cooking to 165º and lets the chicken rest so all the juices stay within the chicken breast.
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What to Serve with Baked Maple Chicken
Serve this maple dijon chicken up with your favorite sides. Here are some of ours:
- Oven Roasted Vegetables
- Baked Sweet Potato Fries
- Classic Mashed Potatoes (Paleo + Vegan)
- The Best Rice Ever (Stove Top and Instant Pot)
- Maple Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Bacon
- Avocado and Corn Salsa
If you like this chicken breast recipe, check out these others:
- French Onion Chicken Bake
- Chili Garlic Chicken Satay Skewers
- Instant Pot Balsamic Chicken
- Chopped Antipasto Salad with Chicken
BAKED MAPLE DIJON CHICKEN BREAST
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup dijon mustard
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon salt plus more
- ½ teaspoon black pepper plus more
- 2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 4)
- Fresh thyme for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400ºF.
- Whisk together dijon mustard, maple syrup, lemon juice, ½ teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper. Set aside.
- Place chicken breasts on a steady surface between two sheets of parchment or plastic wrap. Using the flat side of a meat mallet or rolling pin, pound each to an even thickness of 1”. Season chicken with a pinch of salt and pepper.
- Place chicken inside a 9x13” baking dish. Pour the sauce over the chicken and cook until the chicken is nearly finished cooking through, to 160ºF, about 30-35 minutes.
- Remove the chicken from the oven and loosely cover the chicken with aluminum foil to let it rest for 5-10 minutes while it finishes cooking.
- Slice and serve with your favorite sides.
You cook it with the baking dish covered or uncovered??
Uncovered. But if it’s getting darker than you prefer you can always cover. BUT you do cover once you remove from the oven. See step 5.
Wonder if the recipe could be doubled and cooked in a slow cooker? Maybe with some chicken broth?
We haven’t tested this in the slow cooker so can’t say for sure that you’d get the same results! Let us know if you try it.
This absolutely delicious. It is now a staple recipe for us. I make it almost once a week. The only suggestion that I have is to at least double the sauce. It is wonderful on mashed potatoes but the recipe as printed does not make enough.
Delicious! This will definitely become a weekly staple.
Made this last night, let the chicken marinate throughout the day. Wow, what a tasty recipe. I will definitely make this one again. 5 STARS!!!!!
So happy you loved it!
Can this be made in the instant pot you think?
It will change it slightly–but it should work on manual high pressure for 8-10 minutes depending on how large your chicken breasts are!
I noticed you drizzled a sauce over the top once cooked and cut… was that a reserve of the Dijon sauce?
That is the “pan drippings” from the baking dish.