When I decided to finally learn how to cook, I didn’t pick the easiest things to try first.

Homemade crescent rolls? Tasty, yeah, but rolls do not make a full dinner.

Starting with the classics – the basics – that you love is really the best idea, even if I don’t take my own advice.

I’m working a little bit backwards, but I’m getting there!

Step 1 to learning to cook: Make a list of the things you cannot live without and learn how to make those first.

Step 2: Add on the things you love and eat all the time and practice, practice, practice.

Step 3: Anything goes! All those crazy things you thought you would never ever be able to make at home, like bread or orange rolls?

Take a deep breath, get a recipe that looks good, and go for it.

The best thing about these lists is they’re yours and only yours.

If your cannot-live-without-it list is pancakes, pot roast, chocolate chip cookies, and margaritas? Awesome.

Or maybe it’s homemade granola, chocolate mousse, perfect hamburgers, homemade milkshakes, and pound cake. All good things.

One thing I knew I wanted to make early on was a perfect, golden brown roasted chicken.

I love those stupid rotisserie chickens, and they’re so easy to just grab while I’m passing the deli, but if you make it at home? You get that roasty smell filling your whole house. You get to pick what flavors you really want. You sometimes get a standing ovation for dinner – even if it’s just in your head, like it is in mine.

Make your lists. Get in the kitchen. Roast a chicken. Pat yourself on the back.

Maple Mustard Roasted Chicken and Vegetables

Makes: 6-8 servings

Ingredients:

  • 1 whole chicken, 6-7 pounds
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp pepper
  • 2 Tbsp maple syrup
  • 1 Tbsp dijon mustard
  • 1 Tbsp whole grain mustard
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp pepper
  • 1 pound yukon gold potatoes, diced
  • 3 carrots, sliced
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil
  • 2-3 cups broccoli, chopped

Directions:

  1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
  2. Pat the chicken with paper towels or a dish towel and sprinkle with the salt and pepper.
  3. Roast in the oven at 375 degrees for 30-40 minutes until the skin is beginning to turn a light golden color.
  4. In a small bowl, mix the maple syrup, mustards, salt, and pepper. Brush this mixture over the entire chicken, leaving 1-2 Tbsp of the mustard mix for the vegetables.
  5. Put the coated chicken back in the oven and roast for another 30-40 minutes or until the juices run clear if you pierce the thighs.
  6. Take the chicken out of the oven and let it rest while you cook the vegetables.
  7. Toss the diced potatoes and carrots together with the olive oil and roast at 375 in a baking dish for 20-30 minutes.
  8. Once the vegetables have begun to soften, add the chopped broccoli and stir all the veggies together with the last few spoonfuls of the mustard mixture. Roast for another 15 minutes.
  9. Cut the chicken into pieces and place on top of the vegetable mixture.
  10. Put back into the oven for 10-15 minutes until the veggies are tender and the chicken is hot.

11 comments

  1. This sounds fabulous! I’ve never roasted a chicken before but this makes me think maybe I could do it :) Definitely going on the to-make list!

  2. I love the idea of roasting the chicken with maple and mustard. I normally go towards the garlic/lemon route myself so it will be really nice to try something different!

  3. Roasting an entire chicken is something I have never done but just sounds so domestic. I’m bound to do it at one point in my life. :)

  4. This sounds so goooood! Maple mustard chicken is the best!

  5. Roasted chicken is my LIIIIIIIFE.

  6. haha, it took me SO LONG to roast a chicken, it’s a little rediculous :) I need to do it again soon b/c it came out so good!! this looks fantastic!

  7. Love these flavors for roasted chicken, Brandi. I can’t wait to try this!

  8. Yum! I have made chicken breasts cooked with a honey mustard sauce over them, but never an entire chicken!

  9. This looks absolutely delicious!! I’ve never made roast chicken before, but definitely have one of the store-bought ones sitting in my fridge. Maybe it’s time I try my hand at one!

  10. YUMMY!!!

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