Mustard Grilled Chicken

This is a crowd-feeding mustard grilled chicken that scales up to fifty servings for a party or scales down easily for dinner. The flavor spine is a Dijon mustard glaze spiked with red wine vinegar, shallots, garlic, thyme, and cumin. That glaze does two jobs at once, seasoning the chicken and gluing a breadcrumb crust in place that crisps under the broiler.

The sequencing is what makes this recipe work. Grill the buttered, oiled chicken first for five minutes a side to get heat into the meat and surface color on the skin. Brush the mustard mixture on liberally, then coat with breadcrumbs and drizzle a thin stream of the reserved butter-oil over the top. That fat is what lets the crumbs crisp up instead of sitting on the bird like wet sand.

Dijon mustard is not optional. Yellow ballpark mustard lacks the vinegar and horseradish bite this glaze needs, and the emulsifying power of Dijon is what lets it thicken when you slowly stream the butter-oil into it.

Chef Tips

• Use fresh breadcrumbs, not dried panko. Fresh crumbs absorb the glaze and butter into a shaggy, golden crust, while panko rolls off.
• Bring the chicken to room temperature before it hits the grill. Cold chicken from the fridge cooks unevenly and stays raw at the bone while the crust scorches.
• Test doneness at the thigh joint. Juices should run clear and a thermometer should read 165°F (74°C). Breast meat only is not a reliable test on a whole bird.
• If grilling over direct flames, move the chicken to indirect heat after adding the crumbs. Direct flame turns breadcrumbs to carbon in under a minute.

Variations

• Add a tablespoon of honey to the Dijon glaze for a honey-mustard version that caramelizes deeply.
• Stir chopped fresh tarragon into the breadcrumbs for a classic French flavor with the mustard.
• Swap the chicken for bone-in pork chops, same glaze, same crumb treatment, shorter cook time.