Everybody will love this Chicken in Creamy Mustard Sauce. It’s just 4 base ingredients – chicken breast or thighs, cream, Dijon mustard and wholegrain mustard. Optionally bump the dish up another rung with the addition of fresh tarragon and parsley too!
Chicken with creamy mustard sauce
This is one of those recipes that will save you on those nights you’re staring at chicken breast or thighs and wondering, “What the heck am I going to make for dinner, fast?”
Here, chicken is seared until golden and served with a creamy mustard sauce that takes barely a minute to come together. The trick to making such a simple cream sauce delectable is to mix the cream with 2 types of mustard. Dijon is there for its smooth and mild mustard flavour as well thickening power, while wholegrain mustard adds visual interest and lovely pops of mustard seeds.
If you want a truly guest-worthy version, there’s the option to add fresh tarragon. This soft herb is commonly used in French cuisine, and has a delicate but distinct flavour that goes wonderfully with anything creamy. It really gives this sauce a restaurant-like vibe. Try it once and you’ll understand exactly what I mean!
What you need for this dish
Here’s all you need to make this simple-yet-fabulous chicken dinner:
Chicken – While I prefer to make this with thighs because they’re juicier and require no prep, it will work just as well with chicken breast.
Other proteins – This sauce and same cook method will work perfectly with thin pork chops, turkey steaks or white fish fillets.
Cream – The creamy base for the sauce. It’s best to use thickened / heavy cream as you get a head start on thickening the sauce. However, it will also work with ordinary pouring cream.
Low fat cream – It will work but the sauce will not have the same luscious mouthfeel due to the lower fat content. The sauce will also be thinner for the same reason.
Dijon mustard – This plus the cream are the two key ingredients for the sauce. Dijon is a smooth, mildly-flavoured mustard that adds flavour as well as thickening the sauce. While not all Dijon mustards are created equal, there’s no need to use a pricey gourmet Dijon here. Just your everyday brands are fine.
Wholegrain mustard – The mustard seeds add visual interest as well as little pops of faint pungency in this sauce. Because this sauce is so simple as it is, I really urge you to use this mustard, but it’s handy to know that it’s not the end of the world if you don’t have it either. Just dial up the Dijon by an extra teaspoon or so to compensate.
Make it dinner party-worthy with fresh herbs
The mustard cream sauce is delicious as-is but the addition of fresh herbs really gives the sauce a bit more finesse. Here are the herbs that I like to use:
Tarragon – This herb has a mild aniseed flavour with subtle vanilla undertones. It’s commonly paired with both chicken and cream in French cuisine, which means I automatically think it gives this sauce a “fine dining” pedigree of sorts! 😂
Fresh parsley – For a hint of freshness but more for colour than flavour.
How to make Chicken with Creamy Mustard Sauce
If you’re using boneless chicken thighs as I’ve done, there’s no prep required. However, if you’re using chicken breast, you’ll need to split each breast in half to form 2 thin steaks. For the best results, I’d also recommend pounding them to an even thickness to both tenderise and cook through evenly.
Season both sides of the chicken with salt and pepper. (Note: If using breast, cut in half to form 2 thin steaks, and pound into 1 cm / 1/3-inch even thickness).
Cook chicken – Sear the chicken until golden and cooked through.
– Thighs: Use medium-high heat; 4 minutes on the first side and 3 to 4 minutes on the second side.
– Breast: It will only take around 2 minutes on each side over high heat.Pro tip: Don’t use a non-stick pan. The secret to a great pan sauce is the residual golden bits of meat stuck to the bottom of the pan after searing the meat (called fond in French). They’re packed with meaty, umami-laden flavours and dissolve into the sauce once you add liquid to the pan.
However, if you use a non-stick pan, you will not get fond. So it is best to use a cast-iron skillet or other heavy-based pan that does not have a non-stick coating to encourage fond development – we want a little sticking!
Remove chicken to a plate. The chicken will rest while we make the sauce. Resting meat is a key step with any cooked protein. Resting time allows the juices to re-settle within the meat so when you cut into the chicken to eat it, the juices stay in the meat instead of bleeding on to the plate. Wasted meat juices are the tears of weeping food angels …
Scrape out and discard any loose burnt bits so you don’t end up with black bits littered in your sauce.
Sauce – To make the sauce, simply put the cream and both mustards into the pan and stir until the mustard has dissolved. Scrape the bottom of the pan as you stir if you can feel the fond still stuck, to get all that good stuff into the sauce. Keep heating the sauce until it’s hot and that’s all you need to do. You don’t even need to bring it to a simmer, nor do you need to reduce to thicken the sauce as the dijon mustard thickens it for us.
Stir in the herbs right at the end, which preserves their fresh vibrancy. Adjust the sauce consistency if needed with a tablespoon of water.
Serve – To serve, simply place a piece of chicken on the plate and spoon over the sauce. The recipe makes about 2/3 cups of sauce which is plenty for the chicken with some leftover to also sauce up your mash or vegetable sides!
What I serve with this
For a speedy dinner option, I served this today with a Rocket Salad (though I skipped the parmesan) and a bread roll for mopping my plate clean.
Other starchy options for sauce-mopping include mash, rice, everybody’s favourite no-knead Crusty Artisan Bread or pasta. Try it with a Mega Italian Salad on the side, a fresh Garden Salad or a big pan of roasted vegetables.
I’d love to know if you try this! Let me know what you think. 🙂 – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Chicken in Creamy Mustard Sauce
Ingredients
- 700g / 1.4 lb chicken thigh fillets , skinless boneless (4 – 6 pieces, Note 1)
- 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 tsp cooking/kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
Creamy mustard sauce:
- 1/2 cup thickened/heavy cream
- 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tbsp whole grain mustard
- 1/4 tsp cooking/kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1-2 tbsp water , as needed
Optional herbs:
- 2 tsp fresh tarragon , finely chopped (Note 2)
- 2 tsp parsley , finely chopped
Instructions
- Season chicken with the salt and pepper.
- Sear chicken thighs – Heat oil in a large pan that is not non-stick over medium-high heat. (Note 3) Place chicken in pan smooth side-down and cook for 4 minutes or until deep golden. Turn and cook the other side for 3 minutes until cooked through (internal temperature 72°C/162°F, Note 4). Remove to a plate.
- Breast – If using breast (prepared per Note 1), sear on high for 2 minutes on each side, target temp 67°C/153°F.)
- Clean pan – Scrape any loose black bits out of the pan and discard.
- Make sauce – Return the pan to medium heat. Add cream and both mustards. Mix with a wooden spoon until mustard dissolves, scraping up any brown bits stuck to the pan. Once sauce is hot but not simmering, stir in salt, pepper and herbs (if using). If getting too thick loosen with a touch of water.
- Serve – Place chicken on serving plates. Spoon over sauce. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes:
- Thighs – pull off stove at 72°C/ 162°F, rises to 76°C/169°F after resting
- Breast – pull off stove at 67°C/153°F, rises to 71°C/160°F after resting
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
That time Dozer couldn’t attend an event with me so the organisers made a giant cut out of him to sit by my side on the stage. 😂 I’ll be doing a book tour update post soon where I’ll share more details about this event. I even did a cooking demo on stage!
This is also good with dill for the fresh herbs.
This was divine – made it last night. Only thing I did differently was add 1/2 a cup chicken stock before the cream to loosen all the bits on the pan. And a touch of paprika and Italian herbs on the chicken. Was a hit
This was delicious, I doubled the sauce recipe and added a little honey. It was devoured and enjoyed by all
Fantastic chicken and sauce. I halved the salt in the sauce. This would also be delicious served over rice or noodles. And I think the sauce would work well over pork chops also. Great recipe !!
I had 2 leftover chicken thighs and thought, what would Nagi cook? Searched the recipes and found this gem. I used the tarragon and parsley and it was delicious!
Easy and delicious – added some sautéed mushrooms. Company was impressed!
Quick and easy recipe ! I thought the sauce was a touch runny/watery but maybe because I’m used to thicker sauces (or I did something wrong 😂🤦🏼♀️). Tasty nonetheless
Had this for tea tonight. I have to be wary of cholesterol so I subbed the cream for twice as much (easily twice as much) Lite Evaporated Milk plus a couple of spoons of plain flour. I will definitely do this recipe again.
I have made this recipe many many times. It is always a hit and happiness after.
Basically you don’t need a recipe for this. It is more for inspiration, but so foolproof, quick, easy and yummy
Oh, my goodness, YUM!! So quick and easy and tasty.
I didn’t have Tarragon on hand, but next time will try to buy some. To make this dish go further (because meat is so expensive right now) and increase health benefits, I added sauteed mushrooms + garlic, diced red capsicums and baby green peas. Served over mashed potatoes. So tasty!!
This was surprisingly very good! It’s wonderful when you find a recipe that doesn’t have a hundred ingredients. I’m not a tarragon fan so didn’t use it and wasn’t going to run to the store for fresh parsley so just made the mustard sauce. It was delish!
This is a wonderful recipe. The sauce works really well with white fish such as barramundi as well!
Another excellent Recipe Tin Eats recipe! Basically foolproof, super easy, fast and oh so yum. I swapped the cream for cashew milk (cashews + water) because I always have that on hand and with some reduction the sauce got just as creamy and lovely as I would want. Fresh tarragon is rarely available where I live, so I used thyme, but I’ve had tarragon chicken before and it’s a great pairing, when you can get it.
What a marvelous time we live in that people share their delicious recipes with us for free 🙂
A perfect dish, again! Love all your recipes, always turn out amazingly! Thank you so so much.
Everybody loves this–I’m eating it right now! The taste is subtle, but very flavorful. This was one of those, “OMG no one has gone grocery shopping in a week” dinners. We had everything on hand! I started the sauce with a shallot (I got a great deal on them and I now I have to use them up!) which added a bit of sweetness. I doubled the ingredients for the sauce so that we would have enough to drizzle over simple boiled potatoes. This was so quick and easy, but tastes like something from a French bistro. Thank you, Nagi!
Another winner, simple, quick and delicious.
Thank you once again Nagi.
Creamy mustard chicken has enjoyed made a wonderful lunch.
Hi Nagi. I bought a cast iron pan but everything sticks! What can I do?
Also NEVER use soap or detergent to clean a cast iron skillet. People these days are MANIC about washing everything with soap, but this completely strips the seasoning from cast iron! To re-season your skillet, scrub it out very well, using steel wool but NO SOAP. You can even bring some plain water to boil in it then let it cool completely to soften any cooked on gunk. You can also use a metal spatula to scrape it; cast iron is pretty durable. Once your pan is clean and dry, rub it generously with bacon fat — most use plain, high temp vegetable oil, but I have heard this can become gummy over time but it should be fine if you have a reason you can’t use pork products. Place the pan in the oven and bake at 350°F for at least two hours. Let cool in the oven until completely cool, overnight is good. You may have some minor sticking at first until the seasoning deepens with use. In all honesty, I still get stuff crusted on the bottom sometimes, usually from a steak, but I bought a brass brush in the cleaning department of my grocery store which does a good job without scratching the surface the way a steel brush would
Hi Stephanie,
Was the pan pre-seasoned? That is, super heated and then treated with an oil coating.
Did you add oil to your pan when you used it?
When you clean cast iron you need to be gentle, so as not to take the “seasoning” layer off, allow it to dry and then add a very thin layer of a neutral oil on the surface so as to prevent it from rusting and food sticking at next use. I just use a little vegetable oil and spread it across the surface with a paper towel. Then it is good to go away until next use.
regards,
Ren
Love how simple this dish is, minimal ingredients, maximum flavour. Used chicken breast for this recipe and came out perfect. Paired with Nagi’s creamy buttery mash potato and green beans with garlic.