Baked Honey Mustard Chicken Thighs (3 Main Ingredients)

Name: Baked Honey Mustard Chicken Thighs ('No Recipe'!)
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 50 min
Ingredients: 8 skinless boneless chicken thighs ((around 2 to 3 pounds)); salt and pepper; 8 garlic cloves (skin still on (optional)); ¼ cup Dijon mustard; ¼ cup wholegrain mustard; ½ cup honey ((liquid, not set)); 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar ((or white vinegar, or lemon juice)); a few sprigs of fresh rosemary (or another fresh herb such as thyme, oregano (or 1 teaspoon dried herbs))

By Helen Schofield

on Mar 11, 2026

26 Comments

Jump to Recipe Rate Recipe

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

You barely need a recipe for these extremely easy baked honey mustard chicken thighs. The dish is made with only 3 main ingredients, plus a handful of optional extras.

With just 10 minutes’ prep and around 40 minutes in the oven, you’ll have juicy, golden chicken drenched in a delicious sweet and fragrant sauce. This is the perfect mix of simple and fancy, great as a quick midweek meal, but also elegant enough to serve to guests.

A closeup of honey mustard chicken thighs just baked in a red baking dish, with fresh rosemary and garlic visible on top.

‘No recipe’ chicken thigh recipe
📌Recipe snapshot
About the ingredients
How to make baked honey mustard chicken
Helen’s Top Tips
Serving ideas
More easy chicken thigh recipes
Baked Honey Mustard Chicken Thighs (‘No Recipe’!) Recipe

‘No recipe’ chicken thigh recipe

This honey mustard chicken thigh recipe is one of those dishes that’s hardly even a recipe. After making it for the second time, I had the ingredients and amounts memorized – and of course you will too. It easily made it onto my list of week night fail safes because it’s just so easy. And yet something that my whole family enjoys.

If you’d like to see if this can become a family favorite for you too, the best news is that you’ll need just 3 main ingredients – chicken thighs (which I love cooking with!), honey, and mustard. However, the reason I don’t call it a 3-ingredient recipe is that I highly recommend adding just a few more – namely whole garlic cloves (no need to peel them!), a tiny bit of either vinegar or lemon juice, salt and pepper, and some fresh herbs (I like rosemary, but several other fresh or dried herbs will work just as well).

I also think this recipe works in any season. On warmer or in-between-seasons kinds of days, you can simply serve it with green salad and toast for mopping up the delicious tangy and sweet ‘gravy’. If it’s a colder day, you can go with creamy mashed potatoes and vegetables of your choice.

📌Recipe snapshot

Prep: 10 minutes
Cook time: 30 to 50 minutes (depending on the size of the chicken thighs)
Serves: 4
Key ingredients: skinless boneless chicken thighs, honey, wholegrain mustard, Dijon mustard, apple cider vinegar (or lemon juice), 8 unpeeled garlic cloves, fresh herbs such as rosemary, salt and pepper
Why you’ll love this: extremely easy recipe with very little prep, ingredients and amounts don’t need to be exact, works in any season, big flavor despite the short ingredients list

About the ingredients

You’ll find a full list of ingredients with amounts in the recipe card below. But here’s a summary of what you need to know.

An overhead view of all the ingredients needed for the recipe, labelled, including skinless boneless chicken thighs, honey, salt and pepper, Dijon mustard, wholegrain mustard, salt and pepper, garlic, apple cider vinegar, and fresh rosemary.

Once you’ve bought some skinless boneless chicken thighs, you’re very likely to have most if not all of the other ingredients for this dish already. If you don’t have rosemary (my favorite fresh herb to add to the dish), you can easily add either another fresh herb, or use dried herbs instead.

Here’s what you need to know about each of the easy ingredients:

Skinless boneless chicken thighs: I love cooking with these since they’re always available, they keep a dish lighter and tidier (no skin and bones!) and they don’t dry out easily, even if you cook them for a few minutes too long. It would be possible to make the honey mustard chicken with chicken breasts instead, but you would need to reduce the cooking time a bit. See the recipe card below for exact instructions if you’d like to make this swap!
Garlic cloves: I love adding lots of unpeeled garlic cloves for extra punchy flavor. Why unpeeled? Well, there just isn’t any need to peel them! You’ll find that you can easily squeeze the garlic out of their skins and into the juices when it’s on your plate.
Wholegrain mustard: You might be surprised that there are two kinds of mustard in this dish. Strictly speaking, you could just use one of them, but I really like the mixture of the stronger flavor and smoother texture of the Dijon mustard, and the chunky texture and milder flavor of the wholegrain mustard.
Dijon mustard: As explained above, Dijon mustard adds a clean, strong mustard kick to the dish. However, the flavor is still mild enough for children to enjoy, especially with the sweetness of the added honey. Yellow or brown mustards are good substitutes for Dijon mustard if that’s what you have.
Honey: You’ll mix a whole half a cup of liquid honey with the mustards which balances it out perfectly!
Apple cider vinegar: This is just to balance out the sweetness of the honey a bit. You could use another kind of vinegar or even lemon juice instead.
Fresh rosemary: Earthy fresh rosemary is perfect in this dish, but you can use any fresh herbs that you have – thyme, oregano, basil, or a mixture of herbs. You can even use a teaspoon of dried herbs if you don’t have fresh.
Salt and pepper: I usually grind plenty of both of these over the chicken in the dish, before pouring over the honey mustard mixture. You can always taste the dish after it’s cooked and add more if needed.

How to make baked honey mustard chicken

I love to cook with skinless boneless chicken thighs, but this has to be one of the easiest recipes using them that I know (perhaps along with this air fryer chicken thigh recipe!).

This is all you have to do:

Firstly, preheat the oven to 355F/180C. Then whisk together the simple honey mustard sauce ingredients (the mustards, honey and vinegar).

An overhead image of a glass jug of wholegrain mustard, Dijon mustard, honey and vinegar.

Arrange the chicken in a medium sized to large baking dish. Tuck the eight garlic cloves around the chicken.

Then pour the sauce over the chicken, and sprinkle over the rosemary (or other herbs).

Ingredients for baked honey mustard chicken in a red baking dish before going in the oven. — This is what your dish will look like before you throw it into the oven

Then pop the dish into the oven for 30 to 50 minutes or until the meat is cooked through and the top of the chicken has started to go golden and sticky. I find that the cook time is nearer to 30 minutes for smaller thighs, and nearer to 50 minutes for larger ones.

Part of a white bowl with two whole skinless chicken thighs with honey mustard sauce, with mashed potatoes and broccoli.

Helen’s Top Tips

Adapting the recipe: This dish is very adaptable. The essential ingredients are the chicken, honey and mustard. I think the rest of the ingredients make it extra tasty, but you can skip any you don’t have, and use whichever herbs you have, fresh or dried. You also don’t need to be exact with the amounts. Got a little less Dijon mustard? No problem – just replace with more of the wholegrain, and so on.
How to know when it’s cooked: A meat thermometer is very helpful here. Insert it into the deepest part of one of the thighs, and check that the temperature has reached at least 165F/74C. The top of the chicken should also be golden and slightly sticky.
Prepping ahead: Make dinner even easier by assembling the whole dish ahead and popping it into the fridge (covered, of course) until dinner time. You can do this up to a day ahead.
Freezing leftovers: The cooked honey mustard chicken is perfect for freezing. Simply freeze in an airtight container for up to 2 months. Defrost in the fridge overnight, then heat through thoroughly to serve (either in a microwave or gently in a saucepan on the stovetop is best).
Making it in a slow cooker instead: If you prefer, you can cook this in your slow cooker. Cook on low for 4 to 5 hours, or high for 2 to 3 hours. I also suggest reducing the amount of honey to just one third of a cup. The chicken will still be very delicious, but it will be more tender and less golden and sticky. If you want to thicken the sauce, simply remove the chicken and bubble it in a small saucepan for a few minutes until reduced.

Serving ideas

Here’s how I usually serve this tasty chicken and honey mustard sauce:

In the winter: This meal is delicious served with creamy mashed potatoes and vegetables.

Any time: If you want to keep dinner super easy (most days at our house!), you can serve it by itself with toast or crusty bread to mop up the tasty juices. A simple green salad is nice, too.

Rice would work well too, as would your favorite pasta!

More easy chicken thigh recipes

Air fryer grilled chicken thighs make another tasty quick and easy dinner with a couple of side dishes of your choice.
This is the simplest stove top chicken and rice recipe, and ready in just 30 minutes.
This chicken and chorizo with cherry tomatoes recipe has been one of our family favorites for years.
All you need with this Greek chicken and potatoes is a simple Greek salad and tzatziki.
Try these Thai style peanut butter chicken thighs for something a little different, but incredibly delicious.

An air fried chicken thigh with golden seasoning on top and sliced on a wooden board.

A round white baking dish of spicy peanut butter chicken from above with a stripy red and green tea towel and ingredients around the dish

4.75 from 4 votes

Baked Honey Mustard Chicken Thighs (‘No Recipe’!)

By: Helen Schofield

A 10-minute-prep recipe for baked chicken thighs in a honey mustard sauce that's so easy that you won't even need a recipe after you've made it a couple of times! This is a perfect weeknight meal served with creamy mashed potatoes and vegetables, or just green salad and crusty bread that the whole family will love.

Prep: 10

Cook: 40

Total: 50

Servings:

Save Recipe Pin Recipe Rate Recipe Print Recipe Start Cooking

Equipment

digital meat thermometer

Ingredients

▢ 8 skinless boneless chicken thighs, (around 2 to 3 pounds)
▢ salt and pepper
▢ 8 garlic cloves, skin still on (optional)
▢ ¼ cup Dijon mustard
▢ ¼ cup wholegrain mustard
▢ ½ cup honey, (liquid, not set)
▢ 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar, (or white vinegar, or lemon juice)
▢ a few sprigs of fresh rosemary, or another fresh herb such as thyme, oregano (or 1 teaspoon dried herbs)

Instructions

Pre-heat the oven to 355℉/180℃. Arrange the chicken thighs in a medium to large baking dish and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Tuck the garlic cloves in between the chicken thighs.
8 skinless boneless chicken thighs, salt and pepper, 8 garlic cloves
Whisk the mustards, honey and vinegar together in a jug or bowl, then pour all over the chicken. Scatter the fresh herbs all over the dish.
¼ cup Dijon mustard, ¼ cup wholegrain mustard, ½ cup honey, 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar, a few sprigs of fresh rosemary
Bake for 35 to 50 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and slightly golden and sticky on top. The cooking time will depend on the size of the chicken thighs. It's best to test the inside with a meat thermometer. Check that the chicken has reached at least 165℉/74℃ in the deepest part of the meat.
Serve two thighs and plenty of the garlic and sauce per person with mashed potatoes, rice, pasta or bread, and a vegetable or green salad of your choice.

Notes

Ingredient amounts: This recipe is quite flexible in that you don’t have to bother with some of the ingredients if you don’t want to. Skip the garlic and vinegar if you like! Use any herbs you happen to have. The essential components of this are the chicken, honey and mustard.

Chicken: If you’d like to use chicken breasts instead of thighs, go ahead! Cooking time will depend on the thickness of the breasts, but check after about 30 minutes (20-25 for smaller breasts). You might also like to spoon some of the sauce over the chicken about half way through cooking to stop it drying out.

Prepping ahead: You can fully assemble this dish, cover it with plastic wrap or foil and keep it in the fridge until ready to cook for up to 24 hours.

Freezing: You can freeze any leftovers in an airtight container for up to 2 months. Defrost overnight in the fridge, then heat gently on the stove or in the microwave.

Nutrition

Calories: 426kcal, Carbohydrates: 39g, Protein: 45g, Fat: 10g, Saturated Fat: 2g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g, Monounsaturated Fat: 4g, Trans Fat: 0.05g, Cholesterol: 215mg, Sodium: 546mg, Potassium: 649mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 35g, Vitamin A: 77IU, Vitamin C: 2mg, Calcium: 54mg, Iron: 3mg

Like this recipe? Rate and comment below!