Baked Breaded Honey Mustard Chicken with Brown Rice and Veggies
This is my quick and delicious version of honey mustard chicken that I paired with brown rice and steamed veggies. Enjoy!
This is my quick and delicious version of honey mustard chicken that I paired with brown rice and steamed veggies. Enjoy!
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 egg beaten
- 1 pinch garlic powder
- 1 cup brown rice
- 3/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 lemon
- extra virgin olive oil
- 2 boneless chicken breast halves
- 1 cup baby carrots chopped in 3s
- 1 bag microwave steamers peas
- 2 whole red bell peppers chopped
- 1/2 cup dijon mustard
- 1/8 cup honey
- 1 cup whole grain bread crumbs
- 1 pinch ground cayenne pepper
- 4 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
- Carbohydrate 174.890225983143 g
- Cholesterol 184.74312501544 mg
- Fat 31.5181921788328 g
- Fiber 18.7786884488373 g
- Protein 49.0516322231753 g
- Saturated Fat 12.4589519395605 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (709g)
- Sodium 1504.15202236867 mg
- Sugar 156.111537534306 g
- Trans Fat 5.42043466452629 g
- Calories 1202 calories
Step-by-step
- Preheat oven to 375
- I cook my chicken in a cast iron skillet that I treat with olive oil, but you can also use a glass baking pan. Preheat the pan in the oven for a few minutes to heat it up.
- Prep all your veggies.
- The type of brown rice I use is the frozen organic brown rice from trader joes that steam in the microwave for 3 min but you can use whatever type of brown rice & adjust your cooking & prep time accordingly.
- To bread the chicken set up your breading station. Take out 3 mixing bowls & set them up in a row. In the 1st place the flour, the second the egg which should be beaten with a fork & the 3rd the breadcrumbs. I like to use whole grain to keep it healthier but regular bread crumbs wil work too.
- In the bread crumbs add the Parmesan cheese, some salt and pepper and the cayenne. Mix thoroughly.
- Take your pan out of the oven.
- Season your chicken with salt & pepper, you can also S&P your flour too
- Dredge the chicken in the flour until evenly coated, then the egg & finally coat in the bread crumb mixture.
- Place the chicken in the oven & set the oven timer to 20 min.
- Now start the veggies!
- To steam my carrots I use a steamer pot & steam them about 15 min.
- You can use any kind of veggies you want to mix with the rice, sometimes I use corn or chop up fresh string beans or asparagus and steam them. The more fresh veggies you can use the healthier the meal is. You can also substitute with canned & frozen veggies too.
- To make my peppers, I heat in a small skillet on medium about 2 tablespoons of olive oil & 1 tablespoon of butter. Once up to temp drop in your chopped peppers, season with salt & pepper and garlic powder. Cook on medium covered about 3 min & then uncover, toss & leave to cook on low for another 10-15 min until peppers are soft & have a little char on the skin side.
- To make the sauce combine the mustard, honey, juice from half the lemon, salt & pepper in a mixing bowl & mix well. Taste your sauce, if it's too spicy for you add a little honey & if too sweet a little more mustard.
- When the chicken has 5 min left to cook pour 1/2 the sauce over the chicken & save the rest. If you don't think you have enough left over just whip up a little more.
- After all the veggies & rice are done in a large mixing bowl combine all of them together with salt & pepper to taste & 1 tablespoon of butter. Stir them all together until te butter has melted & everything is well combined. Place in the middle of a plate the rice/veggie mix. Take your chicken out & always check its temp! Perfectly cooked chicken is between 170 & 175 degrees. Place chicken on top of rice & pour the rest of the sauce evenly over the chicken.
- When you cut your chicken up the sauce will get all mixed into your rice & it'll taste delicious!!!
- Enjoy!!
Dijon mustard acts as the primary driver of structure and flavor here, containing both acid and mucilage compounds that emulsify when paired with honey and lemon juice. Because mustard seeds contain sulfur compounds, blending the condiment with raw acid before coating modifies the initial pungency, allowing volatile aromatics to mellow before the sauce contacts the hot poultry. Setting up a standard three-bowl dredge station utilizing flour, beaten egg, and a breadcrumb-parmesan mixture creates a desiccated thermal barrier that protects lean white meat from drying out inside a 375-degree oven. Preheating the cast-iron skillet or glass baking pan ensures bottom-side crispness begins instantly upon contact, avoiding the soggy undersides common to cold-pan baking.
Structuring this meal for advance preparation requires understanding how starches and proteins react during refrigeration and subsequent reheating. Cooked brown rice undergoes retrogradation, a process where gelatinized starch molecules recrystallize and harden when cooled below room temperature. Introducing a tablespoon of butter to the warm grain-and-vegetable mixture supplies emulsified fats that coat individual starch granules, reducing moisture loss during storage and yielding a softer texture once reheated. Retaining half of the uncooked honey mustard sauce until the final five minutes of baking prevents the sugars from scorching, while reserving the remaining half for service ensures a bright, unheated acidic contrast against the rich poultry.
Monitoring internal temperature remains the only foolproof method for determining poultry safety without cutting into the flesh prematurely. Inserting a digital probe into the thickest portion of the breast verifies when the meat reaches 170 to 175 degrees Fahrenheit, the specific thermal zone where collagen begins relaxing without sacrificing internal moisture. Visual cues such as clear juices running from the meat offer a secondary confirmation of doneness, though carryover cooking will continue to raise internal temperatures slightly after extraction from the heat source.
Managing component storage separately prevents texture degradation across disparate food groups. Storing the breaded chicken apart from the moist rice and bell pepper mixture keeps the exterior crust intact for up to three days in sealed refrigeration units. Reheating the poultry in a dry oven at moderate heat revitalizes the parmesan crust far more effectively than microwave radiation, which introduces excess steam and liquefies the crisp coating.
