A Quick and Easy Chicken Recipe for Children’s Meals
Are your little ones fussy eaters? Here is an awesome chicken recipe for you. You can easily fill their tummy and make sure they are not losing out on essential nutrition with healthy chicken recipes. One of the chicken meals that kids absolutely drool over is the popular honey-mustard chicken bake.
The perfect balance of savoury and sweet makes this dish one of the best things to with chicken when it comes to your kids. Besides, unlike other lengthy chicken recipes, it gets ready within an hour. Further, this delectable preparation is packed with flavours and gets easily ready with the ingredients present at home. So, for many mummies and daddies, it is the simplest go-to chicken dinner.
- Nutritional Fact:
We consider honey-mustard chicken bake as one of the healthy chicken recipes for children as it comes with great nutritional values. Your children will consume essential proteins, carbohydrates, fat, sodium, and adequate calories of energy per standard serving. Besides, the veggie you are adding to the dish comes with vital nutrients and antioxidants.
- Ingredients:
To make this awesome chicken recipe, you will need skinless and boneless chicken thighs to make this simple and tasty chicken dish. You can even use chicken breasts if you don’t have chicken thighs at home. Just ensure to take some meaty portions so that the dish turns out to be succulent and flavourful, exactly the way your kids would love it. You will also require the following ingredients.
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- ¼ cup honey
- ¼ cup Dijon mustard
- 3 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves, divided
- 1 pound asparagus, trimmed and chopped
- 1½ cups cauliflower florets
- 1 medium red onion, chopped, layers separated
- 1 large red bell pepper, chopped
- 2 cloves of Garlic
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- Butter (Optional)
- 1 teaspoon paprika powder (avoid it if your little one is not comfortable with it)
- Some dried parsley for garnishing
- It’s Time to Make the Best Chicken for Children’s Meal
Step 1:
Making honey-mustard chicken bake is quite easy. Start the process by making the honey-mustard sauce with extra virgin olive oil, Dijon mustard, some kosher salt, paprika powder, lemon juice, and honey. You need to whisk all the ingredients in a bowl until those are perfectly combined. To make it extra yummy, you can always add some butter to this chicken for children’s meals.
Step 2:
Sprinkle some salt and pepper on the chicken pieces carefully for seasoning. Then, arrange the boneless chicken thighs, and veggies in a highly greased baking dish. The mustard and lemon juice will add acidity to the sauce, and that will keep the chicken moist and tender during the process of baking. So, make sure that you are covering all the pieces evenly with the sauce to seal all those crucial juices inside the chicken pieces. No one loves a dry chicken piece on the plate. Do we?
If you want some textures, you can definitely sear the thighs beforehand. Searing will give the chickens a golden-brown crust. This is an optional step. However, we feel that devoting that extra few minutes to searing the chicken is important as it makes this one of the best chicken dishes even more flavourful and delicious. Besides, your little ones will surely love the grilled marks on the chicken fishes as they will feel like having their favourite BBQ dish at any posh restaurant.
Step 3:
Afterward, pour half of the sauce on the chicken, brush the sauce properly to cover the chicken pieces, and bake it for 35-45minutes in an oven. And, I never forget to add a handful of white sesame seeds for that nutty crunch, but you can avoid it. Please, make a note that the cooking time may differ based on the thickness of the chicken pieces. Do not forget to preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
It will take lesser time to get prepared if you have already seared the chicken pieces as those would be partially cooked at the time of searing. In between (at around 25 minutes into the oven), turn the chicken pieces once and pour the remaining half of the honey mustard sauce and bake it for another 10-15 minutes. Broil the chicken pieces for the last 3-4 minutes to get a golden brown colour and caramelized edges.
Finally, your honey-mustard chicken bake is ready to serve once the baking is done to juicy perfection!
- How Can I be Sure if This Chicken for Children’s Meals is Perfectly Baked or Not?
All your endeavours will go in vain if the chickens are not baked properly. If you are trying your hands for the first time or not a regular cook, we recommend searing the chicken pieces to make the process of baking easier and faster for you. The expert ones will know from the brownish texture outside and a creamy white texture inside about how perfectly the pieces are baked.
However, you can never go wrong with a meat thermometer. Use that thermometer to check the temperature. Usually, the safe internal temperature for cooked chicken pieces is 165 degrees F. If your thermometer is registering the same temperature, you can stay assured that your dish is prepared.
The perfectly cooked chicken pieces will no longer be pink inside, and the juices will run clear.
- Garnishing Honey-Mustard Chicken Bake:
It’s time you carefully take the baked dish out of the oven and let it cool for at least 10 minutes. Then, garnish it with some dried parsley to make it look more tantalizing. If you don’t have parsley at home, you can go for some chives, green onions, dill, or thyme to give the dish a final touch.
You can even add some dill to the sauce for some more colour. Kids love vibrant dishes on their plates.
- Some Important Insights:
Well, you know the ingredients, and you have the recipe of probably one of the best things to do with chicken for your kids. But, you need to know a few more things to cook the dish like a pro. Keep reading on to avoid the common mistakes made while preparing honey-mustard chicken bake and learn the little things that make all the differences.
- Use Paprika Powder Carefully:
You should be extremely careful about the amount of paprika powder you are using. It has every potential for making the dish too spicy to eat. Besides, paprika can overpower honey and mustard. So, if you are unsure about the perfect measurement of paprika powder, it is always better to bunk it.
- Always Use Dijon Mustard:
Dijon mustard is always better for flavouring chickens than regular mustard. Besides, it comes with a creamier texture. You can even opt for honey Dijon dressing or mustard if you are in a jiffy but do not want to compromise the taste.
To make the cooking process faster, you can marinate the chicken in the honey mustard overnight. You can also marinate the chicken for three hours early in the morning so that it acquires more flavours and gets cooked easily. Please, do not forget to pierce the chicken pieces on both sides so that they absorb better flavour and taste. The piercing will further help the chickens to get perfectly cooked inside and outside. Every cook knows that if marinating is done right, half the battle is won.
- A Thing or Two About the Baking Stage:
If you want to cook the dish perfectly within a short span of time, use a small baking dish. Initially, cover the baking bowl with a foil until you turn the chickens and brush the sauce on the other side. Then, you can keep the bowl uncovered and let it bake.
- Use the Honey Carefully to Not Make it Too Sweet:
Do not be unreasonably liberal with the use of honey in this dish. Ultimately, it’s a savoury preparation with a dash of sweetness. It is always better to use honey that has a mild flavour and taste. Don’t forget to add some lemon juice to your dish, as mentioned in the ingredients, to get that added zing.
- You Can Also Serve the Dish as a Salad:
This is for the little ones who love to have salads. You can perfectly serve this honey-mustard chicken bake as a salad. You just need to follow some simple tricks and avoid using too much veggie with the chicken for this. Let the chicken cool, and then cut small strips of the chicken. Add some fresh lettuce, mushrooms, chunks of pineapples or any citrus fruits, grated cheddar cheese, and honey-Dijon salad dressing with thin and succulent strips of chicken. And there you go! Your little ones will surely drool over this healthy and tasty honey-mustard chicken bake salad on their plate.
- The Parting Words:
We hope that you have found all the necessary information about cooking honey-mustard chicken bake, the best chicken for children’s meals. So, it’s time to make the mealtime of your little ones more special with this healthy and tasty dish. Just keep the important tips/insights in your mind to get an impressive result, even if you are a first-timer.
https://www.thehappychickencoop.com/raising-chickens/
https://thestaticfoodbin.com/kfc-original-recipe-chicken-thigh/
