Utilize the carcass to make a fantastic turkey stock, then make delicious soups. My great-grandmother used this simple stock recipe, as did her mother before her. Once you have a basic stock, there are countless ways to use it, including cooking rice, adding leftovers, and making soup with dumplings. A delicious after-school warm-up is alphabet spaghetti with hot stock and a few vegetables. So that my husband can have soup as a snack rather than unhealthy food, I’ve made some.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 35 mins |
| Additional Time: | 1 hr 30 mins |
| Total Time: | 2 hrs 25 mins |
| Servings: | 2 |
Ingredients
- 5 cloves garlic, crushed
- 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard, divided
- 2 teaspoons fresh thyme
- 2 (8 ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
- 1 pinch cayenne pepper, or to taste
- kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1 ½ cups finely chopped walnuts
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ cup chicken broth
- 2 teaspoons honey
Instructions
- Mix garlic, 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard, and thyme together in a bowl.
- Season chicken breasts generously on both sides with cayenne, salt, and pepper. Spread Dijon mixture on both sides of chicken until fully coated.
- Firmly press walnuts onto both sides of chicken breasts. Keep covering with more walnuts and pressing until chicken is thoroughly coated. Refrigerate for 1 1/2 to 3 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
- Coat the bottom of an oven-proof skillet with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Place chicken breasts on top, reserving excess nuts if desired. Season with a pinch of salt and drizzle remaining olive oil over top.
- Bake in the center of the preheated oven until walnuts are lightly toasted and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of a breast reads 165 degrees F (74 degrees C), about 25 minutes. Be careful taking the pan out of the oven; keep the handle covered with a towel or mitt at all times.
- Quickly transfer chicken to a plate to rest.
- Transfer the skillet to the stovetop and stir in broth, remaining 1 tablespoon Dijon, and honey. Add any reserved nuts if desired, and bring to a boil over high heat; cook until reduced by about half, 3 to 4 minutes.
- Spoon pan sauce over and around chicken to serve.
- You can prep the chicken hours ahead if you prefer. Just cover and refrigerate after Step 2.
- Nutrition data for this recipe includes the full amount of walnut coating. The actual amount of coating consumed will vary.
Reviews
My husband and I loved how it came out. We’re not really mustard eaters so I decided to not add any mustard to this recipe. For the “nut glue” I used an egg white in place of the mustard. I also didn’t not refrigerate. It came out juicy and delicious. I added extra walnuts and stuffed the inside with rice & sautéed onions. I would make again.
Excellent! I hate cooking, but I needed to cook these two chicken breasts I defrosted. I followed his recipe to the letter and am thoroughly enjoying this great meal with a side of steamed broccoli! Thank you!
Made pretty much to the exact recipe. I thought it was very tasty! Definitely savory, salty, and fulfilling. It does seem rather fatty but who’s to say we can’t indulge every once in awhile?
Recipe is excellent as-is! Chicken is wet and flavorful if cooked correctly! Refrigeration time is essential for the walnuts and “nut glue”; I refrigerated mine for 3 hours and it worked perfectly
Too tangy for our taste, but nice idea
it was okay… not very crispy and not up to the “tastiness” of Chef John’s amazing recipes…
Made it without making any changes. Didn’t care for the bitterness of the dijon, wasn’t balanced enough by the sweetness of the honey. Chef John has come through on so many recipes for me, this one just wasn’t one of them.
Since we have been isolating I have had time to try some new recipes and AR is the place to go. This chicken as my son said was “different.” Different good is what he meant. I was delicious. It has a few steps to it but I did them during the day so when it came to time to cook dinner it was all prepared and I just had to pop it into the oven and cook the sides. I did cut each breast in half so it could cook evenly and not dry out the outside edges of the chicken before the center was cooked through. 25 minutes was perfect. It was juicy, great flavor and easy to make. I served it with broccolini and corn with crescent rolls. Another keeper.
I made this exactly as stated in the recipe and my husband (who eats almost anything) and I did not like this at all. I am trying to find more heart healthy recipes, but the dijon mustard was not a seasoning I usually use….. am not likely to use again. Sorry, but I consider myself a really good cook…. this just didn’t make the grade. I hope others have a different experience.
Didn’t come out too crispy, kinda wet and I don’t think I like the mustard taste to it! I did not have Dijon so I did a mayo/mustard mix.
Really good! I’ll make this one again!
This was amazing! In a fit of hunger,r and because I LOVE nuts, I doubled the nut glue/chopped nuts and coated both sides. My only hesitation is that the cooking time was a little off. I used chicken tenderloins and they didn’t reach the 150° temp as quickly. But a short shot in the microwave solved that problem and dinner was on the table. I served this dish with Parmesan Green Beans and carrots and it. was.elegant!
This recipe was recommended to me on YouTube and it’s the one that introduced me to Chef John. I’ve made it more than once and it’s really good. I also like the jokes and now I’m a big Chef John fan.
Did not refrigerate. Did pound the chicken because the breasts were so large. Chicken was super moist and tasty. My husband said it was a hit!
This chicken recipe was delicious and the sauce was great. I added some butter to the sauce with finely chopped, almost grated walnuts to add some thickness and flavor. I will defiantly be making again. *I didn’t refrigerate cause I didn’t have time*
Wowza! I was looking for a new recipe to try with some chicken breasts and used the ingredients search tool. I didn’t have to look far at all when I came across this recipe. Having a detailed video to watch is always a nice bonus . . . and your helpful tips are always appreciated! I loved that this recipe had few ingredients but maximum flavour, and a neat method to “glue” the nuts to the chicken! The family really enjoyed it!! The only thing I might try differently next time is to cut the chicken breasts in 2 or 3 pieces before coating (which will likely require double the coating ingredients). Looking forward to making this again!
Well done Chef John, well done