Sesame Mustard Roasted Chicken

Breast, thigh, or whole chicken, this recipe is delish!

Sesame Mustard Roasted Chicken Breasts, photo by me, Anna Vocino

I’ve been obsessed with easy weeknight meals for quite some time now, in case you haven’t noticed.

I am too busy to make the fancy things that I love to make. I am too forgetful to thaw the meat or start the slow cooker in time to get dinner on the table. I am too tired to wrap my brain around something with too many steps.

The more time I spend making my own dinner, the less time I’m spending creating, filming, editing, and putting out content that will help you with your dinner.

So here’s an easy weeknight meal I created that now I’ve made a bajillion times. I think you’ll love it as much as I do.

This recipe starts with the base of the Sesame Mustard dressing from the Asian Fried Chicken Salad in Eat Happy Too. Side note—if you’re new here, the chicken in that recipe isn’t traditionally “fried,” but it’s made with a coating of almond flour or pork rinds and pan fried in olive oil to replicate a fried chicken salad.

Back to this recipe: I’ve made this with chicken breasts, chicken thighs (both bone-in and boneless), and a whole chicken. Adjust your cooking times accordingly. If cooking thighs, the cook time will be longer if bone-in, so make sure you use your meat thermometer to get to 180 degrees.

If you’re using a whole chicken, I would lay the onions on the roasting pan, place the whole chicken atop, and roast for 30 minutes before adding the green beans, then continue the directions as written. Again, use that meat thermometer. And for the BEST whole chicken roasting recipe, use the one in the first Eat Happy as your template for all roasted chickens moving forward.

Pro tip—if you double the sesame mustard dressing and separate the extra into it’s own bowl before spreading it on the chicken, it makes a fabulous dipping sauce.

Final note: please buy a nice quality sesame oil. And don’t freak out about the seed oil thing when using sesame oil. They are not the same thing. Sesame oil is pressed like olive oil, not processed and refined like seed oils, and you use a very tiny amount for a very strong flavor in recipes that call for sesame oil. I prefer toasted sesame oil (where they toast the seeds first, then press them), but you can also get virgin sesame oil, where the seeds are just cold pressed.

On to the easy weeknight meal that is Sesame Mustard Roasted Chicken Breast…as always, here’s the downloadable, printable PDF.

---

SESAME MUSTARD ROASTED CHICKEN BREASTS

SESAME MUSTARD SAUCE

(Yields a little over 1/4 cup)

• 1/4 cup mayonnaise

• 2 teaspoons rice vinegar (check the label for no sugar added)

• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

• 1/4 teaspoon sesame oil or toasted sesame oil

Whisk together all ingredients and use as a marinade for chicken below.

SESAME MUSTARD ROASTED CHICKEN BREASTS

(Serves 3-4)

• 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided

• 2-3 pounds thin cut chicken breasts (or pound regular chicken breasts to 1/2” thickness)

• Salt and pepper

• 1/2 pound green beans, ends trimmed

• 6 whole garlic cloves

• 1 onion, cut into wedges

• 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes

• Sesame Mustard Sauce (see recipe above)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease large baking sheet with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Place chicken breasts on baking sheet, season both sides well with salt and pepper.

In a large mixing bowl, combine green beans, onion wedges, garlic cloves, and remaining tablespoon of olive oil. Toss with salt and pepper. Pour veggies around chicken on baking sheet.

With a pastry brush, coat top of chicken breasts with Sesame Mustard Sauce. Cook in oven 15 minutes, remove baking sheet and add cherry tomatoes. Place back in oven and cook remaining 10-15 minutes, until chicken breasts are done through and veggies are roasted. Serve.