Many different Mexican meals can employ this sweet and sour shredded chicken. It tastes great on crisp tostadas. For a quick dinner option during the week, this recipe freezes well and may be prepared in advance. The brand of salsa you use will determine how spicy it is. You can use chipotle chiles directly out of the can, but be prepared for intense heat! It’s okay if you can’t blend the mixture; just chop everything very finely; cooking will cause it to break down even more. Serve with chips or tortillas. Add lettuce, tomato, onion, sour cream, or guacamole as garnishes.
| Prep Time: | 40 mins |
| Cook Time: | 50 mins |
| Additional Time: | 4 hrs |
| Total Time: | 5 hrs 30 mins |
| Servings: | 4 |
| Yield: | 4 servings |
Ingredients
- ½ cup yellow mustard
- ¼ cup honey
- ¼ cup seasoned rice wine vinegar
- 2 teaspoons Sriracha
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 3 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more as needed
- 1 (4.5 pound) whole chicken
- ¼ cup chicken stock, or as needed
- 2 tablespoons chopped green onions, or to taste
Instructions
- Mix mustard, honey, vinegar, Sriracha, paprika, pepper, and salt in a very large bowl until combined.
- Place chicken, breast-side down, on a work surface. Starting at the tailbone, cut along either side of the backbone with scissors or a knife, cutting as close to the bone as possible. Discard the backbone and trim any excess fat or skin from the chicken.
- Find the cartilage where the wishbone comes together and forms a “v” and make 1 shallow cut with a knife through the cartilage. Press down on either side to flatten the chicken and expose the breastbone, making another cut in the cartilage if necessary. Run your fingers along the breastbone until the rest of the cartilage pulls away. Make a few shallow cuts into the legs, thighs, and wings to ensure even cooking.
- Transfer chicken into the bowl of marinade and toss until well coated. Marinate, breast-side down, in the refrigerator, 4 to 12 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil.
- Transfer chicken, skin-side up, to the prepared baking sheet. Season with salt. Reserve marinade for basting.
- Cook in the center of the preheated oven until chicken starts to darken in spots, 35 to 40 minutes.
- While the chicken is roasting, transfer excess marinade into a small saucepan. Add chicken stock to thin the sauce a bit and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat.
- Baste chicken with sauce and continue to roast, basting again if desired, until no longer pink at the bone and the juices run clear, about 15 minutes more. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh, near the bone, should read 165 degrees F (74 degrees C).
- Remove chicken from the oven and brush any rendered fat and accumulated juices from the pan onto the chicken.
- Transfer chicken to a serving platter and garnish with green onions. Slice and serve, spooning any remaining sauce over top.
- Use whatever mustard you have on hand, you can even mix different types like yellow mustard and Dijon. You can use any honey, any vinegar, and any hot sauce you prefer.
- Substitute 1 1/2 teaspoon fine salt for 3 teaspoons kosher salt, if desired.
- After spatchcocking the chicken, you can remove the flat part of each wing right at the joints, if you’d like for a better appearance. You can use those wing parts and the backbone to make stock.
- Feel free to double the marinade ingredients if you want to have a little more sauce on hand.
- Nutrition data for this recipe includes the full amount of marinade/sauce ingredients. The actual amount of marinade/sauce consumed will vary.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 637 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 20 g |
| Cholesterol | 256 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Protein | 85 g |
| Saturated Fat | 6 g |
| Sodium | 2200 mg |
| Sugars | 18 g |
| Fat | 23 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I hardly ever leave recipe reviews, but this one is a banger. Spatchcocking is already my preferred way to roast chickens so this is perfect! This recipe has become a semi-regular staple and it always turns out good. I never thought of simmering marinade to make it safe to use as a sauce before. Only alterations are that I usually use store/generic brand dijon instead of yellow mustard, and sometimes sub apple cider vinegar if I don’t have rice vinegar.
For years, a friend of ours has been taking us to lunch every Thurdays. We wanted to have him over to feed him for once (if we go out, he steals the check). We made this and the fondant potatoes with sauteed leeks and it was a great success. Very tasty and a “special” dinner
Really easy. Very delicious.
This is absolutely the most flavorful chicken recipe I have ever made. I followed the instructions to the letter. Awesome.
This is a fantastic roasted chicken. My bird got pretty brown, so I placed foil on the hot spots. I also made a mistake in the marinade, using 1/4 C mustard vs 1/2 C so I didn’t have extra sauce, however the chicken was very flavorful. 5 stars!
This was awesomely delicious. The leftovers are delicious too
This chicken was absolutely divine… The sauce was a perfect blend of sweet, tangy, and savory with a hint of heat. I had two issues, however… 1. My chicken took so long to cook! It took over an hour to get it to temp. I ended up finishing it by broiling the top. Absolutely amazing! Broiling it seemed to have made it super juicy. I thought it was raw at first, but I temped it. It was perfect. The meat was so tender. 2. I put too much chicken broth in the sauce. So I reduced it until it was a nice consistency and it was perfect. I served with roasted potatoes and freshly steamed green beans. Out of this world. Best chicken I have had in a long time. 10/10 would make again.
So much flavor! I followed recipe ingredients exactly, upping the marinade amt. for a 5 lb chicken. Marinated 5 hours. After 50 min. I turned down oven temp to 350 to finish, a total 70 min. The drippings were delicious stirred in the boiled marinade, made for a lovely sauce. Super moist breasts, caramelized skin. The juices were blackening so much which is why I turned temp down, and the chicken released more as it rested. Gotta have it for the sauce. I didn’t add any salt at all and it was fine. It’s great when you can make a delicious dish from easy ingredients from your pantry. Add a fresh chicken and you have a scrumptious sweet and spicy dinner. Smiles all around. Thanks CJ .
Chicken sat in the marinade for almost 24 hours and still has almost no flavor. I don’t get what everyone is raving about.
This was amazing. I will definitely make it again. Don’t be scared of spatchcocking the chicken. It was pretty easy and made a huge difference in marinating and cooking the chicken.
Made with thighs, absolutely deliscious
Super easy to follow as usual! Very tasty and above all, very juicy! Ps, I can literally listen to chef John talk all day!! Awesome stuff!
I’m obsessed with this sauce. It’s really versatile, too. I didn’t marinate my chicken; I just used leg quarters and brushed the sauce on at a few stages during roasting. I also had some leeks and a couple of red potatoes in the same pan which got cooked in all the chicken and sauce drippings. Since I didn’t use the sauce as a marinade I was able to dip my potato wedges in it without any extra cooking which I think is THE move to make this more of a one-pan situation.
Due to food limitations, substituted 4.5 lbs of chix legs and due to carb concerns, substituted sugar free maple syrup and I too forgot the slashes, but soaked over night. Basted twice while baking. Delish….425 for 45 mins! Thank you chef John
First time doing chicken this way and it was awesome !
You can teach an old dog new tricks. This was hands down the best roasted chicken I’ve ever had, much less made. Served with rice pilaf and asparagus.
Excellent chicken with roasted potatoes and veggies!
Make a double batch of sauce. You won’t be sorry.
Delicious! We made this with thighs and it was great!
Made this tonight for dinner. It was so good! I used honey mustard instead of yellow since that’s what I had. I’m not a huge fan of mustard so I didn’t like pan sauce but the actual chicken was fantastic. I turned the broiler on at the end to crisp up the skin. My boyfriend likes mustard much more than me and said it was the best chicken I’ve made
Absolutely terrific. The kitchen smelled so good. The chicken was so moist, especially the breast meat. My wife wouldn’t let me keep the marinade (even simmered) so I made a second batch for the sauce. So worth it! I now have to think what to do with the leftover sauce.