Dijonnaise Grilled Chicken Breasts

This is the first part of an old recipe...slather the chicken breasts in the mayonnaise and mustard , then roll in seasoned breadcrumbs or Panko. Put them on a cookie rack or something similar and then put the rack on another sheet pan, and cook in the oven at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes or until golden brown. It's been a go-to recipe of mine for 40 years.

This is one of the best shortcut recipes ever! A perfect marinade. My husband won’t eat dark meat chicken (sigh) so I’m always on them prowl for this sort of thing. Works well with thin-cut chicken and a grill pan if it gets late and you don’t want to crash around in the darkness.

This is a superb and simple recipe. I just made it in an indoor grill pan because it was just me and my husband and I didn't feel like going downstairs and outside--and it worked fine. I've grilled boneless skinless chicken breasts for years with olive oil, lots of lemon, herbs, and garlic. This goes together twice as fast and I think it tastes and works better. Going into solid rotation.

I made this tonight and it was extremely delicious! Make sure you save some of the dijonaise to have on the side later. I had enough that I also coated some asparagus and squash and grilled it. Yummy. Served with some saffron rice. A wonderful, quick weeknight meal.

The same marinade of mayonnaise and Dijon mustard works great for grilling swordfish steaks. Use a fork to generously poke holes in the fish to allow the marinade to infuse the steak. Depending on your grill and the thickness of the steaks, it will take about seven minutes per side. You can rotate the steaks about 90° halfway through each side, in order to get crosshatched grill marks.

I make this often, but add the salt, pepper and lemon juice directly to the mix. 1 part mayo, 1 part Dijon, 1 part fresh lemon juice plus garlic salt and pepper to taste. It’s perfect as a dressing on Caesar salad, fish tacos, as a dressing for crab cakes… and now I’ll try it as a chicken marinade! Sounds delicious!

One of the things I've learned is that the better quality of chicken you start out with, the better (and more forgiving) the end product. While perhaps not accessible to everyone, using quality-soutlrced chicken from a respected butcher has elevated the dishes I've made from Times recipes and if available to you, suggest you give it a try. It also helps support rapidly disappearing specialty shops.

Easy, fast and delicious! Ran out of gas on the grill so used a non-stick skillet on medium heat. Just so good.

Don't tell him.

I use mayonnaise ( and often a tiny pinch of baking soda) in almost every poultry and seafood marinade I do. And I learned that trick right here on NYT Cooking. The other trick for grilling is to keep some of the marinade without mayo so you can brush it on while the poultry is on the grill. The “mayo trick” has upped my grill game so much.

I have made it a practice to always brine chicken at least 8-12 hours before I apply marinade. Ordinarily I won't grill breasts because they dry out so easily but this is a wonderful, quick recipe and the results were perfect.

Instead of combining store bought mayo and mixing it with Dijon mustard, you could make your own mayo with Dijon mustard. It takes under a minute with an immersion blender.

A similar recipe was used in Hellman’s ads in the early 90s. I’ve been using it ever since. I make the marinade with tarragon, lots of black pepper and a little honey. Reserve half and use to dress a simple salad of mixed greens with thin sliced radishes and red onions. If you like, some parboiled baby potatoes will cook on a grill pan in the same amount of time as the chicken. It makes an easy meal that’s nice enough for company.

Rather than marinate, I mainly use Montreal steak seasoning after having butterflied the breasts, so that they cook more evenly. About 6-7 minutes per side (depending on thickness) on medium heat, over a fully-preheated grill. Before they reach full cooked temp, I'll pull them and let them sit ~15 minutes, *covered by a bowl*, to finish ambient cooking. (Like a great steak.) There's always a small puddle of juice at the bottom, which proves you don't need marinade. Tender every time...

Keeping chicken breasts moist on the grill is quite simple, using any marinade/rub/etc.: simply slice the breasts in half so that they are half as thick as they normally are. Then cook on a very hot grill very quickly. They sear and brown nicely if the grill is hot enough and they cook through so quickly that they don't dry out. You don't need the "insulation" of mayo and mustard.