This Honey Mustard Chicken tray bake recipe isn’t just delicious, sticky and succulent… it’s also very flipping convenient too!
It’s a full meal all made in one pan, including potatoes, carrots and flavourings, which means you can throw it all in together and leave it, and there’s hardly any washing up after dinner.
You know I sing the virtues of one pan dinners a lot, and this chicken with honey and mustard sauce is just another one of my simple, easy favourites that requires not a lot of thought, effort or ingredients.
Tray bakes are nothing fancy, but they are exactly what we need for a whole, nutritious, quick family dinner that everyone will think tastes amazing.
They are perfect for those busy evenings when you’re juggling picking the kids up, doing homework, getting ready for clubs, sorting the laundry out, watering the plants, contemplating sitting down for FIVE minutes maybe?!
They can also substitute a roast dinner at the weekend if you have the will but not the time or energy!
Why you’ll love this chicken tray bake
⭐️ Budget meal but impressive
⭐️ Low effort, maximum results
⭐️ Delicious, sticky honey mustard sauce
About this Honey and Mustard Chicken Thigh Tray Bake
Tray bakes with chicken, sausages, fish or anything else really are lifesavers and I always get them on my weekly meal plan on those weeks when I know I need all the prep-ahead, hands-off cooking I can get.
This Honey and Mustard Chicken is a fantastic addition to your go-to recipes for this very reason (not to mention that tender, delicious chicken and wonderful honey mustard sauce that takes everything to the next level).
After almost an hour in the oven, the waft of sweet, sticky, spicy sauce is the stuff foodie dreams are made of. Even better, this tray bake chicken recipe is made using low-cost chicken thighs, and other than carrots and potatoes, it’s made up of store cupboard staples, making this super economical as well as easy.
Other Chicken Tray Bake Recipes
Ingredients for Easy Honey Mustard Chicken
- Chicken thighs – I use bone in, skin on for flavour (see notes below)
- Garlic granules– Not to be confused with garlic salt!
- Olive oil
- New potatoes
- Carrots
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the sauce:
- Garlic – Fresh of pre-prepared is fine
- Honey – Runny honey is easier to whisk but normal is fine
- Wholegrain mustard
- Dijon mustard
- Water
How to make Honey Mustard Chicken
1. Start by rubbing the chicken thighs with garlic powder and salt and pepper. Fry them in hot oil until brown all over. Meanwhile, make your sauce.
2. Add carrots and potatoes into the pan and pour over the marinade, coating well. Bake in the oven for about 45 minutes or until cooked through.
Substitutions
- Vegetables – I use new potatoes with the skins on, but you could use any other type chopped up. I use baby carrots too but you can use regular carrots if you like (chopped into smaller chunks). You can substitute the vegetable to what you have in. Green beans would work well.
How to store leftover chicken
In the fridge You can keep this recipe in the fridge for 3 days. Reheat fully by before serving or eat cold.
Can you freeze Honey Mustard Chicken? This might be a little tricky but it’s doable, as long as you haven’t already frozen the meat.
It would be best to add the chicken and the honey mustard marinade into a dump bag, then freeze without the veggies. This will give the dish a different consistency (less ‘saucy’) but the chicken will be delicious. Or you could make some fresh sauce when cooking.
Top tips for making this Honey Mustard Chicken Tray Bake
Chicken
I use these with bone in and skin on. They are cheaper and also the skin becomes deliciously crispy and golden. You can use boneless skinless chicken thighs, but they may not look quite as good. They may also need slightly less cooking time.
Dijon mustard
This is French mustard. It gives the sauce a subtle creaminess. Don’t substitute for English mustard! Your nose and taste buds would get a shock.
Wholegrain mustard
This gives the sauce texture and ‘bite’. If you don’t have any you can leave it out but the flavour won’t be quite as good.
FAQs
Sure! You could omit the carrots and potatoes, reduce the sauce by half, and use the cooked chicken to make a Honey Mustard Chicken Salad instead.
All of the ingredients in this recipe should be naturally gluten-free, yes. But please do check any packets to make sure first, especially the honey.
As this is a tray bake meal, it doesn’t require any extra ingredients or effort. However, if you just want to make the chicken this way, you could accompany this with a number of other side dishes, such as Homemade Chips, salad, Colcannon mashed potato, wedges or rice.
Let me know how you got on and what you thought of these recipes. Please rate the recipe using the ⭐️ below.
Also I’d LOVE to see your cooking creations. If you’d like to share yours with me, you can tag me on Instagram (@tamingtwins).
Honey Mustard Chicken {One Pan Meal}
Ingredients
- 1 kg Chicken thighs I use bone in and skin on.
- 1 tsp Sea salt
- 1/2 tsp Freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tsp Garlic granules
- 1 tsp Olive oil
- 750 g New potatoes Quartered
- 500 g Carrots Peeled and chopped
For the sauce
- 4 Cloves Garlic Peeled and crushed
- 150 g Honey
- 6 tbsp Wholegrain mustard
- 4 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 4 tbsp Water
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200C.
- Rub the chicken thighs with the salt, pepper and garlic powder.
- Heat the olive oil on the hob in a very large oven proof lidded dish.
- When the oil is very hot, put the chicken thighs in, skin side down, and cook for about 5 minutes until browned all over.
- While the meat is browning, mix the sauce ingredients in a small bowl and whisk until combined.
- Add the potatoes and carrots to the chicken and pour over the honey and mustard sauce. Make sure everything is coated.
- Pop into the preheated oven with the lid off for about 45 minutes. (I always use a pan with a lid as if at any point it looks like the dish may be burning and the chicken isn't cooked through yet, I can pop the lid on).
- Check that the chicken is cooked through and the potatoes are tender and serve immediately. If either are not fully cooked, pop back in to the oven until they are.
Notes
You may want to adjust the weight of chicken thighs you buy to allow 2 per person. Garlic granules:
NOT Garlic Salt! (I once made this mistake – YUK). It’s just a dried, blended garlic. I like using it for rubbing meat to fry as it doesn’t burn like fresh garlic. Olive oil:
This should be regular Olive Oil NOT Extra Virgin Olive Oil. For one, that’s too expensive for this! Plus it will smoke too much when you fry the chicken. Garlic:
In the sauce I use fresh (not dried) garlic. Frozen, pre-prepared, is perfect (it’s what I use mostly as one of my favourite shortcuts). Honey:
Runny honey or regular honey is fine. I use runny just because it’s easier to whisk in. Mustards:
Dijon is also called French Mustard (it’s slightly different in the US but not enough to affect the recipe). Wholegrain is important as it also adds a little texture. Potatoes:
I used new potatoes with the skins on. You could also use any other potato chopped into small chunks. Carrots:
I used baby carrots as they were what I had at home. If you’d prefer to use regular carrots, just peel and chop them into large chunks.
The Breastest News says
This looks totally delicious! I really need to try this for the family as will save time putting everything in the oven. It’s hard making the kids wait for a family dinner isn’t it. We all eat together as much as we can but def have to get the snacks out for my two (6 year old and 19 months) as they just can’t last till 5pm/5.30pm.
Sarah Barnes says
Oh my goodness, the waiting for dinner grumpiness has reached new heights this week since they started school! Pleased to hear it’s normal! Hope you enjoy the recipe 🙂
Debbie says
Made this for my family last night and it was a big hit. Feel like i’m in a dinner time rut at the moment so need some new ideas. Looking forward to trying some of your other recipes that have taken my fancy.
Sarah Barnes says
Ahh that’s great to know Debbie, thanks for your comment!
Alan Loaring says
My Wife and Stepdaughter absolutely love this dish and make me cook it at every opportunity.
Anna Field says
We’ve just finished eating this and it was GORGEOUS!!
Sarah Barnes says
Yay! So Pleased you liked it Anna!
Sarah says
Delicious!!! Stumbled across your insta the other day, I had got chicken thighs out of the freezer this morning but no idea what to do with them until a quick search of your page, this recipe is such a winner! Thank you from another Sarah and another twin mum! x
Melanie Clark says
This was a bit of a gamble for my 4 year old and sometimes fussy husband, but it was amazing! Had some leftovers for lunch the next day too, will definitely add it to my repertoire and make again! 👍🏼
Bev May says
Just made this and it was fab! Thank you so much. Bev
Dani says
This dish never disappoints, enjoyed whenever presented as a meal. My husband loves this dish.
I always add the carrots and potatoes, sometimes l add french beans to the dish for the last 5 minutes or so. I like serving this with some fresh crusty bread to soak up the juice.
Kerryanne says
Delicious! Next time I make this I think I will cover with foil (my lided dish is too small) and then take the foil off to crisp up the skin near the end.
Nicky says
Yum!! I made this last night, really tasty. I used chicken breasts, turned out really well.
Following you from New Zealand 🇳🇿💗
Jade says
Made this today and it was brilliant.
Husband said it was the best traybake we have ever had (and we have had lots!) Daughter was eating the dressing out of the jug she loved it so much and toddler actually stayed at the table. Incredible. Plus it’s so easy to make that the kids helped too and it was still speedy. Thank you.
Abi says
I made this on Sunday as a quick mini roast as the day just flew by with boys having 2 lots of football. It went down a treat! Super quick and easy with clean plates at the end.
Love, love, love your recipes and working my way through the alow cooker meals now 😋