Taste: Crispy Chicken with Mustard-Mushroom Sauce

I've been trying to figure out a good chicken dish for the longest time that you can still keep somewhat healthy. I'm all for skinless chicken breast, but sometimes, I just want some skin on my chicken! I saw a different take on this dish from my boy Jacques Pepin where he did a whole roasted chicken with a mustard crust, which I am determined to make one of these days (I need to buy some good kitchen shears, first). However, I decided to do chicken thighs with the skin on and a mustard-mushroom sauce on top. Pairing it with T&J's mashed potatoes from our good friend Tyler Florence was perfection. The nice thing about using the chicken thighs with the skin on is that you don't need any oil and it's probably one of the most simple chicken dishes you can possibly make. And I'm all about trying to keep it simple...


Crispy Chicken with Mustard-Mushroom Sauce

Prep Time: 5 mins.
Cook Time: 25 mins.
Serves: 2


4 chicken thighs with skin
1/2 lb. baby bella mushrooms
1/2 cup white onion, diced
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1 tbsp chopped chives
1 cup dry white wine
salt and pepper


Preheat the oven to 170 degrees and heat a non-stick skillet over med-high heat. While heating, wash the chicken thighs and trim of any excess fat. Also, take a sharp knife and cut into the chicken along both sides of the bone. What this will do is eliminate that look of dark red, uncooked chicken meat near the bone. Pat dry and season generously with salt and pepper on both sides. Start cooking the chicken skin side down and cover. The great thing about this dish is that you will cook the chicken the entire time skin side down, but you need to have a cover for the skillet. Cook for approximately 15 minutes or until the skin has a nice golden crust.

In the meantime, clean the baby bella mushrooms and then quarter them and also dice up the onion. Once the chicken is done, remove from the skillet and place the chicken in a oven-safe bowl and place in the oven to keep warm. Keeping about 1/3 of the oil from the chicken in the pan, saute the onions and mushrooms. Pour in the white wine to deglaze and whisk in the dijon mustard. Let the sauce reduce and thicken slightly. Remove the chicken from the oven and plate. Pour in any excess juices from the chicken on the plate back into the mustard-mushroom sauce. Pour the mustard-mushroom sauce over the chicken and top with chopped chives.