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Chicken and Apples in Honey Mustard Sauce

Posted by Elise on Mar 16, 2004

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Chicken and Apples in Honey Mustard Sauce

I love visiting friends who are terrific cooks. I'm always learning something new. This delicious recipe comes via Heidi, mother of my three fairy godchildren, in Carlisle, Mass. Massachusettes is apple country, so no surprises that Heidi would have found this recipe in the Boston Globe. It's quick, easy, and healthy too.

Chicken and Apples in Honey Mustard Sauce Recipe

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Preparation time: 30 minutes.

Ingredients

1/2 cup apple cider
1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp mustard
2 Tbsp seasoned dry breadcrumbs
4 4oz chicken breasts
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 small unpeeled apples, cored and cut into eighths (use Golden delicious, Granny Smith, Jonathan, Pippin, or McIntosh apples, see cooking apples chart)
1/2 cup chicken broth
Fresh parsley

Method

1 Whisk cider, cornstarch, mustard, honey, salt and pepper (to taste) in a bowl. Set aside.

2 Spread bread crumbs on a piece of wax paper, lightly coat chicken with crumbs.

3 In a large non-stick skillet, heat the oil and add the chicken breasts. Cook over medium heat until golden brown on one side, about 3 minutes. Turn chicken, add apples, and cook until browned on the other side.

4 Add chicken broth, cover and simmer until chicken is tender, about 15 minutes.

5 With slotted spoon, remove chicken and apples to serving plates. Whisk cider mixture again and add to skillet. Cook and stir over high heat until lightly thickened and bubbly, 1 to 2 minutes. Spoon over chicken and apples, sprinkle with parsley.

Serve with rice. Serves 4.

Indexed: Apple, Chicken, Chicken Breasts

21 Comments

Tried this a couple days ago with Fujis. The apples were so-so, but I really liked how quickly this all came together. An easy, tasty dish!

Posted by: bigBess on March 27, 2004 2:38 PM

Hi Bess, I bet Fujis are almost too mild for this recipe. Probably works best with Granny Smith, like so many recipes that call for cooking apples. I think I used a Pink Lady, which was also pretty mild. Glad you liked it!

Posted by: elise on March 28, 2004 8:47 PM

An extremely nice change from your normal Italian or comfort styles of chicken. And very very good - now a requested family favorite! I did change one thing. As I did not have apple cider on hand I went with a different dressing to mix in with the broth - it had 1/2 c. mayo, 2 tsp. mustard, 2 tblsp. honey, 1 tblsp. lemon juice mixed together. Did the same as I would've with the dressing called for and mixed it in with the broth after the chicken and apples were removed and thickened it up a little bit. The apples added a delicious touch. Thanks Elise for this recipe! Oh also I used organic Braeburn I believe and they were perfect.

Posted by: Pink Sun Drops on February 2, 2005 9:30 PM

Are the chicken breasts bone in or boneless? Looks delicious.

Posted by: Jane on June 6, 2005 8:43 AM

Well I have to say this is one of the tastiest things I have ever cooked. I prepared this dish with granny smith apples (recommended be Elise) and they worked out great. I followed it up with a side of Green Beans with Almonds and Thyme which was amazing. I was planning on having some rice along with this meal but I forgot to put the lid on the pot after the water evaporated and..well.. no rice tonight. I’m a 22yr old college student just looking for easy but tasty recipes and this definitely fit the bill. Thanks!

Posted by: Mikey on September 28, 2005 3:06 PM

Just tried it - really loved the chicken. It was moist and delicious. I used 1 pink lady apple for 2 chicken breasts. Turned out great.

Posted by: George on December 23, 2005 7:14 AM

I was looking for a mustard and honey sauce and found this, all i can say the sauce is realy good :D

Posted by: Chris on August 18, 2006 4:18 PM

Didn't like this at all. Used Granny Smith Apples and nobody liked them. Chicken is okay but I have made similar recipes with a tastier honey mustard sauce.

Posted by: HJ on September 18, 2006 9:35 AM

Here's the sauce I prefer. From GH or BHG years ago:

1T olive oil
1 T flour
1 T pepper
1lb chicken cut to 1 inch
(I think the above might be better w/ the bread crumbs in this recipe though)

1 medium onion chopped
14 oz chicken broth
2 T dijon mustard whisked w/ 2T honey

Chicken cooked in skillet 4-6 mins, removed. Add onion cook 3-4 mins remove. Cook broth on high 6-8 mins or until it thickens slightly. Whisk in mustard sauce. Return chicken and onion and cook through. Really saucy so it is good over rice or noodles.

Posted by: hj on September 18, 2006 3:19 PM

Thanks,

This was great, surprisingly moist and scrumptious. I was without Apple Cider, so substituted 1/2 cup of Apple juice with two tsps of apple cider vinegar (don't ask why!). I would probably double up on the dijon next time, but all in all it was a wonderful dish - served along side your brussel sprouts with fried onion and toasted almonds, my guests were suitably impressed!

Posted by: Geoff on January 16, 2007 5:38 AM

I was unsure of whether I was supposed to add the sauce to the chicken broth (after I took the chicken and apples out of it) or if I was supposed to discard the chicken broth and cook the sauce by itself. I did the former option and I was disappointed by the dinner. The chicken was very plain, although tender and moist. It needed a lot of the sauce to taste good at all. The apples were INCREDIBLY squishy...it was not good and they tasted funny after simmering in the chicken broth. All in all, it was way too much work with not a good enough result.

Posted by: Becca on April 7, 2007 10:25 PM

Hello Becca - You didn't by any chance use red delicious apples did you? If so, that might be the problem. They aren't the best cooking apples. Your comment has prompted me to add a note about cooking apples to the recipe.

Posted by: Elise on April 7, 2007 10:40 PM

I made this last night and thought it came out great. The taste really came together at the end. Definitely will become one that I make again, great during the week dinner. Simple and quick.

Posted by: Lisa on April 28, 2007 4:28 AM

I just made this, and had to comment, because it was really delicious. I served it with mashed sweet potatoes and sugarsnap peas.

I used large Bramley cooking apples (readily available here in the UK, but not listed on your chart so I don't know if you guys get them over there..... these are really apple-y apples, way too tart to eat raw, and fairly large too). I added a spoonful of creme fraiche to the sauce once it had thickened up... it went very well with the other flavours.

Thanks for another great recipe Elise!

Posted by: Jane on October 26, 2007 1:29 PM

Just wanted to pop by and say this was an absolute hit with my boyfriend and his roommate. Also in the UK and used Bramleys with success. I served it with white rice (sticky not Basmati) and it was so good I licked the sauce off the plate!

Posted by: mimsie on December 10, 2007 1:42 AM

I made this last night, and initially I found the sauce too sweet. However, I added about 1/4 c of Guinness and a few drops of basalmic, and it gave it just the right amount of bitterness to counter the sweetness. I made skillet potatoes (if you have a farmers market look for german butterballs, they are my new favorite variety) and green beans for sides, it was great! The recipe was very easy to split in half.

Posted by: Michelle on April 14, 2008 9:07 AM

Amazing recipe! My husband said that it was his favorite chicken dish that I have ever made! The sweetness of the honey and apples along with the mustard were wonderful! I didn't change a thing about the recipe and it turned out wonderful! I will definitely be passing this along to friends and family to try!

Posted by: Darci on August 14, 2008 6:46 PM

This was delicious! I used Granny Smith apples, which added just the right tartness to balance the sauce.

Loved it so much I blogged about it here.

Posted by: Little Judy on January 2, 2009 8:47 PM

I liked it, but I didn't love it. It was moist, but the flavor was very mild, I wish it had a bit more pop to it. Perhaps it's because I didn't use seasoned breadcrumbs. I just added salt and pepper to the crumbs. Perhaps it's because I expected the granny smiths to have more texture. They were just apple mush after only simmering for 10 min.

When it's all said and done, I don't know that I'd make this again.

Posted by: sasha on April 26, 2009 7:05 PM

This was just lovely. So simple too!

Regards from the UK. Keep up the good work!

Posted by: Matthew on July 23, 2009 11:46 AM

We just made this for dinner tonight and will definitely be making it again! The only thing I'll do differently next time is leave out the breadcrumbs. For me it didn't add anything, and in fact left mushy lumps in the sauce.
I think this would also work beautifully with boneless butterflied pork chops!

Posted by: Kacy on October 18, 2009 3:24 PM

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Chicken and Apples in Honey Mustard Sauce

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Chicken and Apples in Honey Mustard Sauce Recipe