Honey-Mustard Baked Chicken Legs
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These honey-mustard baked chicken legs take no time to throw together and are incredibly delicious, a hit with adults and children alike! This has been a family favorite for decades!
During my recent trip home to CT, my mother taught me how to make her homemade hamburger helper, a favorite of mine and my siblings growing up, a meal we thought the toddlers in the house would enjoy as well.
While the children ate it without complaint, each favoring a different component — macaroni, hamburger, melted cheese — it was the adults who really went to town on it, in particular my brother and brother-in-law who polished off the leftovers after a late-night game of darts (and a few too many whiskeys).
I don’t know if it’s the need to feed the toddlers I suddenly find at my feet or the trip home or the winter weather, but recently I can’t get enough of these old family recipes. My mother learned this chicken recipe from her aunt Rene, who has been serving it at dinner parties since the 1960’s. It is truly a crowd pleaser.
Now, a note, likely an obvious one: For those of you who like savoring the flavor of chicken in its most unadulterated form, perhaps roasted with a few herbs and maybe a lemon wedge or two, this one is not for you. It’s all about the sauce, a mixture of honey and mustard, curry powder and mango chutney, that thickens and concentrates during the hour or so spent in the oven. It’s the kind of thing that is nearly impossible not to pick up off the plate with your hands, gnaw at the bone, lick your fingers when you’re finished. Sorry for the image.
All of that said, the chicken cooks perfectly — the tender, moist meat, which retains its heat so nicely, falls off the bone with every prod of the fork, making a more civilized approach to its ingestion certainly an option.
My Great Aunt Rene would be so proud — my children gobbled it up, and for the first time in a long time, not a word about ketchup was uttered.
Honey-Mustard Baked Chicken, Step by Step
First gather your ingredients: honey, mustard, butter, curry powder, and mango chutney.
Whisk them all together to combine.
Place your chicken in a baking dish and season on both sides with salt.
Pour the sauce over the chicken and toss to coat.
Roast at 375ºF for 1.25 hours or until the meat fall of the bone when gently prodded.
Honey-Mustard Baked Chicken Legs
- Total Time: 1 hours 20 minutes
- Yield: 6 to 8
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
These honey-mustard baked chicken legs take no time to throw together and are incredibly delicious, a hit with adults and children alike! This has been a family favorite for decades.
Source: My Great Aunt Rene
Notes:
Chicken: You can use all thighs, all drumsticks or whole legs intact. Recently I’ve been making it with all thighs (8 to 10), and my family can’t get enough of it.
Ingredients
- 3 pounds bone-in skin-on chicken legs, see notes above
- kosher salt, preferably Diamond Crystal
- 1/2 cup butter, melted (salted or unsalted is fine)
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/4 cup Dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoons mango chutney
- 1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375ºF.
- Place the chicken in 9×13-inch baking dish. Season the chicken on both sides with the salt.
- Whisk together the remaining ingredients in a medium bowl. Pour the sauce over the chicken then toss with a spatula (or your hands) so that the pieces are nicely coated. Arrange the chicken skin-side up.
- Transfer the pan to the oven and bake for 1.25 to 1.5 hours. I find 1.25 hours to be perfect. Keep an eye on it — the sauce chars quickly especially at the end.
- Let cool briefly before serving.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hours 15 minutes
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
61 Comments on “Honey-Mustard Baked Chicken Legs”
Do you think this could be made with boneless, skinless chicken thighs. I don’t think I could use breasts because of the long cooking time.
I don’t think boneless, skinless thighs will work well here unfortunately. I tried this recently with a different recipe, and the thighs tasted dry and overcooked. I really think you need the bones and the skin here.
Do you think this recipe could be made dairy-free by swapping the butter? If so what do you recommend in lieu of butter here? Margarine? Oil? Thank you!
Hi! I think either would be fine. I might be in favor of something more like margarine as opposed to oil, which might make it a little greasy. That said, olive oil would probably be delicious.
Yes please to the post on Hamburger Helper! Chicken legs this week -can’t wait. Note to self: stock up on napkins.
I need to update this post! Here it is: Homemade Hamburger Helper