Delicious Pan-Fried Chicken with Mustard Cream Sauce
I was craving a quick, flavorful, gourmet meal. Pan-fried chicken with whole-grain mustard cream sauce is your answer.
This dish offers a delightful balance of crispy, golden-brown chicken and a rich, tangy mustard cream sauce that elevates the entire meal. The mustard’s slightly sharp, earthy flavor blends beautifully with the creamy sauce, creating a perfect pairing for the juicy, pan-fried chicken.
Simple to prepare but full of sophisticated flavor, this recipe is ideal for weeknight dinners or impressing guests without spending hours in the kitchen. The chicken is seared to perfection in a hot skillet, locking in moisture while creating a deliciously crispy exterior. Meanwhile, the sauce—made with whole grain mustard, heavy cream, and a few other pantry staples—comes together quickly and adds a velvety richness to the dish.
Serve this chicken alongside roasted vegetables, mashed potatoes, or a simple salad, and you have a comforting and elegant meal. Whether new to cooking or a seasoned home chef, this dish will impress with its ease and bold flavors!
Chicken with Whole Grain Mustard Cream Sauce
Ingredients
For the Marinade
- 4 chicken breasts about 8 ounces each
- 2 tablespoons ground coriander
- ½ tablespoon crushed red pepper more if you like it more spicy
- 3 tablespoons fresh picked thyme
- 2 teaspoons sea salt
- 3 cloves garlic
- olive oil extra virgin
To Finish
- 1 medium onion
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 - 3 tablespoons whole grain mustard to taste
- 1 cup white wine
Instructions
For the Marinade
- Combine the coriander, red pepper, thyme, and sea salt in a medium-sized mixing bowl.
- Grate the garlic into the bowl and add three tablespoons of olive oil. Mix altogether.
- Add the chicken and toss with your hands to cover with the marinate.
- Add one tablespoon of thyme leaves, toss, and transfer to a sealed container or zip-lock bag to marinate in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
To Finish
- Thirty minutes before cooking, remove the chicken from the fridge and finely dice the onion.
- Preheat your saute pan to medium-high. Add three tablespoons of olive oil to the hot pan. Make sure the pan surface is entirely coated by tilting the pan back and forth. It is ready when the pan starts to smoke just a little bit.
- Carefully add the chicken to the pan and lower the heat to medium. Because this is a cream sauce, you don't want to sear the meat too dark or caramelize the onions too brown. This prevents the drippings from giving the sauce too dark a color.
- Saute the chicken for 2 minutes per side until golden brown and transfer to a plate. Discard any excess oil in the pan, leaving just a little to cook the onions.
- Add the onions and one tablespoon of fresh thyme leaves and cook gently until golden brown, about 5 minutes.
- Add ½ cup of white wine, and scrape any drippings stuck to the pan using a wooden spoon or wooden spatula. (Deglazing) Reduce this liquid to a syrup and add another ½ cup of wine. Reduce the additional wine to an essence and add ½ the heavy cream. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer the cream and onions until reduced by half.
- Add the remaining ½ cup of cream and the whole-grain mustard. Using your wooden spoon, stir until the sauce is completely incorporated.
- Add your remaining fresh thyme leaves.
- Adjust the seasonings, add the chicken and any accumulated juices back to the pan, and cover.
- Simmer, turning once until thoroughly cooked.
Notes
Whole Grain Mustard
Whole grain mustard is a type of mustard made from mustard seeds left partially whole rather than fully ground. This gives it a coarse texture, unlike the smooth mustards you might be more familiar with. Usually brown or yellow, the mustard seeds are mixed with vinegar, water, and spices to create a tangy, slightly spicy condiment.
Whole mustard seeds add a bit of crunch and a burst of flavor when you bite into them, which makes them more interesting to use in cooking. They’re perfect for adding depth to sauces, marinades, and dressings or even as a spread for sandwiches. In dishes like pan-fried chicken with a whole grain mustard cream sauce, they bring a bit of sharpness and texture that contrasts beautifully with creamy or rich components.
11 Responses
I cant wait to try this recipe, Im going to give your page to my son and daughter both of whom love food and cooking, cant wait thank you for this blog
Thank You for this wonderful site and for this recipe, it sounds so good! One question though from someone who is always either over cooking or under cooking chicken — when you simmer the chicken in the sauce until completely cooked, how long is that exactly? 10, 20, 30 minutes?
I just made this recipe and I LOVE it! Even my coworkers are asking for the recipe.
I cut my chicken breasts in half (length wise, so they are thinner) and marinated them in juice from a meyer lemon (it’s a sweeter veriety). The lemon compliments the mustard flavor well. I put each piece in the butter for about 10 minutes on each side– basically just until they were white through and through and they had slightly borwned on each side.
Tricia, how long it takes depends on your pan, stove and the temperature you are cooking it at.
Because you already sauteed the chicken breasts, it should mot take that long in the sauces. I would say 5 to 10 minutes, but here is where you want to have and use an instant thermometer to bring it to the right internal temperature.
Our finicky teens keep asking me to do this one fairly frequently. The recipe is right on. Thanks
I love your blog. Have a question — I frequently make coq au vin and of course saute the chicken. sometimes I make the dish in advance and reheat it just before serving. I find that the chicken dries out. Same holds true with a tagine that I make. Why does that happen and how do I avoid it?
Not seeing your recipe and knowing your cooking technique, it’s hard to say but I’m guessing it has to do with the cut of chicken you are using. If you are cooking with boneless, skinless chicken breasts, they are more likely to dry out. I made a chicken dish in the crock pot the other night with legs and thighs, cooked it all day and the meat was tender but not dry.
I made this dish last night and it was fantastic. I emailed it to a few friends that love to cook and will make it again in a few weeks when i am having friends for dinner. The only thing i did different is leave out the red pepper flakes, I don’t like the taste of them. This was my first time on this site but i am eager to try some other recipes. Thank you
Tara
You are welcome and thank you for telling some of your friends about the site. – RG
Is there a healthier substitute for the cream that would work well?
Hi Murray, I think cream is a healthy ingredient in moderation but if I wanted to make it lighter, I guess you could try half and half or one of those cream substitutes but if you are trying to loose weight for health reasons, I would either skip this recipe or just eat a smaller portion. You could also experiment with using less cream and see how it come out too. – RG
We ended up adding mushrooms which was a great idea! But 3 tablespoons of whole grain mustard was WAY too much. It was extremely overpowering and we couldnt eat all of it. We do live in th Uk though so is there a chance the mustard whole grain mustard here is stronger? Either way we thought that the dish would be brilliant with only a small amount of mustard and less thyme.
Great idea adding mushrooms and I wonder if it could be your mustard is stronger but I’ll go back and adjust my recipe so people can add more or less based on their tastes. Thanks for sharing.