Apple Walnut Chicken with Honey Mustard Dressing
This Apple Walnut Chicken with Honey Mustard Dressing is an easy dinner all year round. The combination of chicken, apples, maple syrup and walnuts is complemented with a delicious Honey Mustard Dressing.
For many years my chicken of choice was boneless chicken breasts and the reasoning was simple. They were easy; that boneless business made much quicker work of many meals. Then one day, enter boneless chicken thighs. Goodbye chicken breasts! The ease makes a dish like this Apple Walnut Chicken with Honey Mustard Dressing great for a week night meal.
I have always been more fond of the darker meat in chicken; less prone to drying out certainly but I simply think it is more flavorful. Now that it’s readily available as boneless pieces, it’s taken over 1st Place in my heart for favorite chicken.
Using it in this dish with apples, maple syrup and walnuts that are complemented with a honey mustard dressing was a total win and all we needed was a bright green vegetable on the side with some crusty bread and it was perfect.
While I spent my adult life raising children as a single mom I always prepared enough food for a larger family; leftovers were my friend. Today you might think I would cut back and prepare less but the truth is I’m still making meals with the same quantities.
Dishes like this are perfect in conjunction with my FoodSaver. Do you have one? If not, it’s a vacuum sealer system and I couldn’t live without mine.
You put your food into a plastic bag and the FoodSaver both extracts the air and seals it tight. Dishes like this are perfect; I pack the whole meal of protein and vegetable in one bag. When I’m ready to prepare a serving for dinner it’s as easy as a few minutes in either the microwave or boiling water and voila…a delicious meal in minutes.
Right now I’ve got this dinner, some meatballs, another chicken dish and some favorite soups just waiting to be plucked out of the freezer. I’ve had mine for several years and it’s been a lifesaver.
If you’re in need of a simple one pan meal, try putting this tasty dish into your meal rotation; we simply loved it!
PIN IT! ‘Apple Walnut Chicken with Honey Mustard Dressing’
Apple and Walnut Chicken with Honey Mustard Dressing
Ingredients
- 6 Chicken Thighs
- 1 tsp Salt
- ½ tsp Freshly Ground Black Pepper
- 1 tbsp Olive Oil
- 1 clove Garlic minced
- 2 lg Apples rinsed; cored and sliced
- ¼ cup Maple Syrup
- ½ cup Walnuts chopped
For the Honey Mustard Dressing
- 2 Tbsp Honey
- 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
- 1 Tbsp Olive oil
- 2 tbsp Fresh Thyme chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350º
- Rinse chicken under cold running water and pat completely dry with paper towels. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Heat oil in an ovenproof skillet set over medium-high heat, add garlic and chicken thighs and sauté until browned, about 3 minutes per side.
- Remove chicken from skillet and arrange apple slices in skillet. In a small bowl, combine maple syrup and chopped walnuts. Spoon half of the walnut mixture over the sliced apples. Place the browned chicken breasts on top of the apple slices and spoon remaining walnut mixture over the chicken.
- Whisk together the honey, Dijon mustard and olive oil and drizzle over the chicken and then sprinkle it with thyme. Cover with lid and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through and apple slices are fork tender.
- Transfer to serving platter and serve.
Hi Barb ,well I have a question about this food . I wanted to use chicken breasts and I want to know if it will work the same because I am a huge fan of chicken breasts. I love all the flavors you using here by the way.
Certainly can…but the baking time will differ. Are they bone in or boneless; that will matter too. Just be aware of how that will affect baking time and check your internal temperature to be sure to get it right.
I way too often cook for hoards, too, even though it’s just the two of us. I’ve gotten better, but barely. 🙂 Anyway, agree about boneless chicken thighs! Best cut of the chicken at the moment, I think. Good stuff — thanks.
Well I think you need a FoodSaver John! I’ve most often used it to for freezing the quantity of meats I buy either from Costco or Sprouts when they have a great sale. I can’t buy 5 pounds…I’ve got to have TWENTY!
I’ll use it soon when I cook down a huge pumpkin that’s sitting on my front porch right now and it’s handy for saving the abundance from my garden too. Mine is SO old but I’ll use it until it dies…and not look at the new ones and get tempted to change my mind on that. 🙂