Creamy Dijon Chicken

Creamy Dijon Chicken ~ Quick skillet cooked chicken with a delicious creamy dijon and tarragon pan sauce for a hearty and satisfying meal. {This post has been updated with new photography from its original 2/5/2104 publication}

30 Minute Meal

I’m a saucy gal.

In every sense of the word. But particularly when it comes to food. Until very recently (VERY recently) pasta was about the sauce, not the noodle. Luckily, that changed when I discovered a good noodle, but that’s another post entirely.

When I make any dish, I like to have a lot of sauce, it’s just how I am, so if you are not a saucy person, you can cut this in half. If you’re saucy like me, leave it as is!

This meal was one of those open the refrigerator, say hmm, open the pantry, sigh.

No inspiration.

Then the realization that I had no onions hit.

It was almost a panicky moment. I even took to Facebook lamenting my lack of onions, therefore I could not make dinner. I knew there were things I cooked without onions, but at this very moment, nothing came to mind. I resumed looking through the fridge, saw a few random things. I knew my reputation among my family and friends to whip up dinner out of nothing would be in jeopardy if I could not survive the lack of onions.

Then I noticed an open bottle of white wine, heavy cream, and Dijon mustard. Light bulb went on and I had dinner in my mind.

Creamy Dijon Sauce

I was hoping the dish would turn out more yellow-ish and not so brown, but when I deglazed the pan from cooking the chicken, those stuck on bits turned the sauce brown in no time. The amount of yellow in the dijon mustard was just not yellow enough to yield my desired results.

Alas, I will just learn to embrace ‘brown’ food. I mean if chocolate can be ‘brown,’ then brown can’t be all that bad. And Creamy Dijon Chicken is one delicious ‘brown’ food the whole family will love.

Creamy Dijon Chicken

Course: Dinner

Cuisine: American

Author: Michelle De La Cerda

Creamy Dijon Chicken ~ Quick skillet cooked chicken with a delicious creamy dijon and tarragon pan sauce for a hearty and satisfying meal. 

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Ingredients

• 4 chicken breasts
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/4 tsp paprika

Creamy Dijon Sauce

• 22 ounces low-sodium chicken broth (1½ cans)
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1/2 tbsp dried tarragon
• 1/2 tbsp dried marjoram
• 2 cloves garlic; grated or minced
• 1/4+ tsp salt
• 1/4+ tsp pepper
• 1/8+ tsp paprika (not smoked)
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1-1/2 cups dairy; heavy cream, ½ & ½, or milk

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350º.

2. In a large cast iron skillet or similar, add olive oil and butter.

3. Once heated, brown chicken on all sides that has been seasoned with salt, pepper, and paprika.

4. Turn off heat, and set pan aside. 

5. Bake chicken for about 20 minutes covered.

Creamy Dijon Sauce

1. Meanwhile, once the chicken is in the oven, use the same pan that the chicken was browned in to make the sauce.

2. Turn heat back onto medium-high, once warm, add chicken broth.

3. Take care not to burn the stuck on pieces in the pan.  

4. Deglaze the pan, pulling up all the stuck on bits.  

5. Add the wine, herbs, seasonings, and garlic; mix well.  

6. Add the mustard; bring to a small boil allowing the sauce to reduce by half; The flavors will be very strong at this point.  

7.  Add the butter.

8. Once reduced to the desired thickness, slowly add dairy.

9. Once the chicken is done, pour the escaped chicken juices into the sauce and add the chicken. Serve as desired.

Original Photo published 2/5/2014