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!

These honey-baked chicken legs are all about the sauce, a mixture of honey and mustard, curry powder and mango chutney, which 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. // alexandracooks.com

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.

sauceingredients

Whisk them all together to combine.

sauce

Place your chicken in a baking dish and season on both sides with salt.

chickenlegs

Pour the sauce over the chicken and toss to coat.

chickenlegswithsauce

Roast at 375ºF for 1.25 hours or until the meat fall of the bone when gently prodded.

These honey-baked chicken legs are all about the sauce, a mixture of honey and mustard, curry powder and mango chutney, which 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. // alexandracooks.com
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Honey-Mustard Baked Chicken Legs

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4 from 1 review

  • Author: Alexandra Stafford
  • Total Time: 1 hours 20 minutes
  • Yield: 6 to 8
  • Diet: Gluten Free
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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

  1. Preheat the oven to 375ºF.
  2. Place the chicken in 9×13-inch baking dish. Season the chicken on both sides with the salt. 
  3. 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. 
  4. 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.
  5. Let cool briefly before serving. 
  • Prep Time: 5 minutes
  • Cook Time: 1 hours 15 minutes