For the entire month of September, I’ll be participating in the SNAP Challenge and attempting to eat on $4.50 per day. Read more here.
Whew. I meant to post this days ago, but this week has been out of control! More about that when I do my SNAP Challenge week one summary on Monday.
I loved the Soy Dijon Pork Tenderloin that I made ages ago and have wanted to use the same marinade for chicken for quite some time. Chicken thighs are cheap, so I figured that it might be a good cornerstone meal for the first week of my SNAP Challenge. The sweet-salty marinade was just as delicious as I remembered!
To add a little extra flavor, nutrients, and bulk, I cubed a sweet potato and layered that in the roasting dish before adding the chicken and the marinade. The sweet potato added a nice sweetness to the dish and definitely helped keep me full. That was a good decision. I also doubled the marinade to provide plenty of sauce to cook the potatoes in, plus drizzle over the rice and vegetables that I served on the side.
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Soy Dijon Chicken Thighs with Sweet Potatoes
Servings 7 to 8 servingsIngredients
- 1/4 cup Dijon mustard ($0.48)
- 1/4 cup soy sauce ($0.40)
- 2 Tbsp vegetable oil ($0.10)
- 2 Tbsp brown sugar ($0.04)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced ($0.16)
- Freshly cracked pepper ($0.05)
- 2 lbs chicken thighs- 8 pieces ($5.65)
- 1 medium sweet potato (1 lb.) ($1.43)
Instructions
- In a bowl, stir together the Dijon, soy sauce, vegetable oil, brown sugar, minced garlic, and some freshly cracked pepper. Add the chicken thighs to a large zip top bag or shallow dish, and then pour the prepared marinade over top. Refrigerate the marinating chicken for at least 30 minutes (can be prepared in the morning and refrigerated all day).
- When you’re ready to cook, begin to preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Peel and cube the sweet potato into 3/4 inch pieces. Lay the cubed sweet potato in the bottom of a casserole dish. Lay the chicken thighs over the sweet potatoes and pour all of the marinade over top.
- Cover the dish with foil and roast in the preheated oven for 45 minutes, removing the foil after the first 30 minutes. After baking, spoon some of the liquid from the bottom of the dish over the chicken and serve. Use the extra juices from the bottom of the dish to spoon over rice and vegetables.
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Nutrition
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Step by Step Photos
Prepare the marinade by stirring together 1/4 cup Dijon mustard, 1/4 cup soy sauce, 2 Tbsp vegetable oil, 2 Tbsp brown sugar, 2 cloves minced garlic, and some freshly cracked pepper.
I used about 2 lbs. of chicken thighs, which was eight pieces. Two of the pieces were pretty small, so I counted those as one serving, for a total of 7 servings for this dish. Depending on the size of the thighs, you might get about 8 servings.
Add the chicken thighs and prepared marinade to a zip top bag or a shallow dish. Refrigerate the chicken thighs as they marinate for at least 30 minutes. If preferred, you can mix up the marinade before work and let them marinate all day so it will be ready to cook when you get home.
When you’re ready to start dinner, begin to preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Peel and cube one sweet potato (about 1 lb.) and lay the cubes in the bottom of a casserole dish. Cut the cubes into no larger than 3/4 inch pieces so that they cook through completely while in the oven.
Lay the marinated chicken thighs over the sweet potatoes and pour ALL of the marinade over top. Cover the dish with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Remove the foil after the first 30 minutes to let the top brown.
After it bakes, spoon some of the yummy juices over top of the chicken.
Don’t let that delicious juice go to waste! I used mine to moisten and season the rice and vegetables that I served with the chicken. It’s SO good.
Stay tuned to see how I worked this into my SNAP Challenge meal plan!
Have you ever used spicy brown mustard instead of dijon?
I haven’t, no, but if you do please let us know how it works out. :)
I did! It wasn’t spicy but gives it a great flavor pairing with the sweet marinade and sweet potatoes.
I tried this today, because I was out of Dijon. It was a fine substitution really. I made the recipe with only 1 tbsp of oil, double the garlic and add a good dash of red pepper flakes. Served with jasmine rice cooked with chicken stock and onions, and steamed broccoli.
I prefer it to the first time I made the recipe exactly, but that’s because I love garlic and a little heat, the recipe was excellent as it is written as well.
Could you half cook this, freeze, then finish in the oven? And if so, would you cook it frozen or thaw overnight. What temp and how long.
Hmm, I’ve never tried to half cook something before freezing, so honestly I’m not sure how that would work.
Delicious chicken but add me to the ‘sweet potato was still hard’ column! Baking alone for another 20 mins sorted it. Gas oven so no fan.
I definitely could have cut it much smaller, but would have needed to be 1/2 in dices to be cooked in 45 mins. Maybe we have a different type of sweet potato here in the UK.
Tasty, but too salty. I’ll try it again with more sugar or a little bit of honey!
Can sauce be made in advance and mixed before using? I like to prep meals as much as possible Sunday.
Yes, it should be fine to mix the marinade early, then just add it to the dish before baking.
This was crazy good. I was worried because I made the sauce/marinade and tasted it before I added the chicken and I hated it. However, I followed through. I put it all in a crockpot with extra potatoes and sauce on low and it was done sooner than expected. It was so, so good. I added other seasonings to make it my own and it was even better. Served over quinoa because I had no other vegs that I would have preferred and if I have to add more carbs, I pick quinoa for its nutrition. I follow quite a few blogs over the last two years and yours is the only one I have used more than just a couple recipes, followed by email, used as meal plans quite a lot lately, and even commented on. Awesome job Beth.
Urgh.. I went and bought a sweet potato but I think you meant yams right?
Labeling for sweet potatoes and yams is not very standardized in the U.S. The vegetable that I used was labeled sweet potato, so I don’t know if that will help. :P
No. In the pictures she used sweet potato. You can tell because they were orange, yams are white on the inside. That and she said to use 1 sweet potato(about 1 pound), sweet potatoes weigh about a pound, yams are way heavier than 1 pound, at least 5 usually for relatively small one.
I have to admit, I was a bit nervous mixing soy sauce and dijon mustard, but man did end up tasting amazing! I was very pleasantly surprised, and everyone loved it! I plan on making it again very soon!
I made this with bone in chicken legs it was pretty good and we will have it again. Thanks!
This recipe was super tasty and cheap. The chicken thighs were so tender and flavorful.
tried this recipe as well, and it was good. I made it with canned sweet potatoes, which I DO NOT recommend. I had them on hand, and was trying to find a way to use them. Stick with fresh sweet potatoes.
Also, I picked up a bottle of Stop & Shop brand dijon and it was horrendous (I plan to return it). I wound up dumping the whole marinade and redoing it, using brown mustard and it was fine.
I am quite literally obsessed with this recipe. I found your website just a couple of months ago and it has made our food budget plummet. Thank you! And I could eat this particular recipe constantly. I’m eating tastier food for less, and I can’t tell enough people about this site!
Hey can you explain to a noob how to make the rice better with the juice from the recipe? As in, what point in the rice cooking process do I incorporate the chicken juice?
Oh, I just meant that I spooned the juice over the cooked rice. :)
Made this for Friendsgiving last night. An easy hit and new weekly favorite. Thank you so much, Beth! Such a good recipe!
Not sure when you will see this, but I am using bone-in thighs with skin (the recipe didn’t state boneless and skinless, and I didn’t realize it from the photos), will that work just as well (I’m guessing it would, maybe longer cooking time, though)?
Yes, cooking time will be a little longer because of the bone, but otherwise I think it should still work great. :)