honey mustard chicken with sweet potatoes

I love, love, love this dish. Sweet potatoes are one of my favorite foods and honey mustard is my dipping sauce of choice whenever I break down and get McNuggets for dinner a snack. And this just so happens to combine the two. As if this cake needed any icing, the thyme combined with the sweetness of the potatoes and honey mustard is just incredible.  Blackbird Gastropub in Norman serves carrots with their pot roast that I am madly in love with, but I couldn't figure out what spice they used to make them taste so delicious. As I was making this dish tonight, I realized it's thyme. New favorite spice; I'll be looking for some more recipes that call for it!

My sous chef. 

Ingredients: chicken breasts, carrots, sweet potatoes, onion, honey, dijon mustard, and butter (not pictured).

Roughly chop your carrots.

And your onions - I quartered it and then halved the quarters.

Then roughly chop up your sweet potatoes. 

Throw your veggies in a big bowl.

And your chicken breasts on top.

Melt butter in the microwave and add in the dijon mustard and honey.

Whisk it all together so it looks like this!

Pour 1/2 of the honey mustard in the bowl, sprinkle in some thyme, and give it a good stir. 

Throw it all in your cast iron dutch oven. It doesn't have to be cast iron. But cast iron cookware is the coolest, in my humble opinion.

This picture serves no purpose other than to show how great a cast iron dutch oven looks. I have some of my great grandmother's cast iron cookware - a divided johnny bread skillet and a muffin pan. They get extra hot, and you never wash them so they impart great flavor in everything you put in them.

Roast in the oven for 30 minutes. 

Take it out and baste it with 1/2 the remaining sauce. Roast for another 15 minutes. Then take it out and baste it with the sauce you have left. Roast for a final 15 minutes.

The delicious final product.

Honey Mustard Chicken with Sweet Potatoes

Recipe adapted from Cookin in Sens

2 chicken boneless, skinless chicken breasts

5 large carrots, chopped

1 large onion, chopped

2 large sweet potatoes, chopped

1/4 cup butter, melted

1/4 cup dijon mustard

1/4 cup honey

1 tbsp. thyme

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place carrots, onion, sweet potatoes and chicken breasts in a large bowl.  Whisk together melted butter, honey, and dijon mustard. Pour half the honey mustard over the chicken and vegetables. Sprinkle in some thyme. (I didn't actually measure how much I put in, but I'd guess its about 1 tbsp.) Toss your chicken and vegetables so they're well coated.  Put everything in a large dutch oven, and put it in the oven for 30 minutes. Take it out and baste the chicken with 1/2 the remaining honey mustard, then put it in for another 15 minutes. Take it out again and baste the chicken with all the remaining sauce and bake for a final 15 minutes.  Enjoy!

The original recipe called for 6 bone-in chicken thighs. Chance doesn't like chicken thighs, so I subbed breasts in; they worked out just fine. The recipe also called for two onions. I replaced one of the onions with carrots instead. Next time I make this, I'd like to use parsnips. They're similar in texture to carrots, but they're a bit sweeter. I think they'd mesh a little better.  I'd also like to try this recipe out with agave instead of honey and coconut oil instead of butter.