Roasted Chicken with Grapes and Dijon

This recipe literally takes 5 minutes to throw together. It’s the fastest way to get an amazing, home cooked dinner on the table that I’ve got up my sleeve right now, and man is it good. Roasted chicken is just about my favorite thing to both make and eat, so I tend to share iterations of the classic here a lot. This one was inspired by the flavors in a chicken salad – grapes, Dijon, scallions, mayo. Gang’s all here! But in this version, they’re bubbling and saucy and dripping with salty chicken fat and sweet roasting grape juices. Sorry cold, mushy chicken salad – you’ve been bested.

What You’ll Need to Make our Roasted Chicken with Grapes and Dijon

This easy roasted chicken recipe only needs 6 ingredients to make. We’re not counting salt and pepper, guys. That would be silly. This all said, I do think a shaving of fresh celery over top of the finished fish would be a very strong move. Seeing as how this is inspired by chicken salad and all.

INGREDIENTS

4 chicken leg quarters

Salt and freshly cracked pepper to taste

1/2 cup mayonnaise

3 teaspoons Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon garlic powder, divided

One bunch scallions, chopped, white and green parts separated

1 bunch red grapes (or a mix of types)

How to Make our Favorite Roast Chicken with Grapes

At what temperature should bone-in chicken be roasted?

This roasted chicken is best roasted at a pretty high temperature. We’ll cook this dish at 425 degrees, covered in foil, for about 20 minutes. This gives the chicken a nice head start, so it can really cook from the very insides out. Then, we’ll take the foil off and really let that skin do its thing. Golden brown chicken skin is a wonderfully delicious thing, yes? And this version is slathered with mayonnaise and Dijon mustard, so it’s well suited for browning and total flavor optimization.

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Adjust the rack to the middle position. Put the chicken legs in a large baking pan, skin side up, and season them generously with salt and pepper. 

Combine the mayo and mustard in a bowl and add ½ teaspoon of the garlic powder. Season with salt and pepper. Coat each leg with about 2 to 3 teaspoons of this mixture, ensuring the tops are thickly coated. Add a small drizzle of water to the remaining mayo/mustard mixture, until it’s a drizzling consistency – now you have your sauce. You can add to it if you don’t have quite enough left. Set aside for now. 

Scatter the scallion whites and the grapes all around the chicken in the pan. Cover with foil and roast for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and roast for another 25 to 30 minutes, until cooked through (165 if you’re measuring) and beautifully browned all over. 

Serve the chicken with the grapes and drippings from the pan, along with the creamy mayonnaise and the fresh scallion greens for topping (I also tend to keep some crunchy sea salt around, as roasted chicken is almost always in need of a little more). Enjoy!

What to Serve with this Roast Chicken with Grapes

I served this Roast Chicken with Grapes with some crispy roasted potatoes, since the oven was already cranked up and ready to roll. You could do those (English roast style) or make my crispy roasted potato wedges, or you could sidle these chicken legs up to a big fluffy pile of Cloud Potatoes. Or, for a totally different flavor spin, these Indian Chutney Smashed Potatoes are really great as well.

The drippings in the roasting pan will BEG YOU for some sort of sopping vehicle, and rolls or bread are your best bet. Since the recipe is so incredibly fast to make, you could probably swing making some Sweet Potato Dinner Rolls or these Giant Salted Maple Butter Parker House Rolls.

Let’s talk salads now. A perfect Fall Salad is honestly good any time of year, but I think I’d opt for the best Iceberg Salad. The cold crunch of the Iceberg is really great alongside a rich, decadent dish like this chicken.

What is the best wine to serve with roasted chicken?

A simple roast chicken pairs equally well with a full-flavored red, a medium-bodied rosé, or a dry white. Also, an oaked Chardonnay or a Pinot Noir will be great. If you have a dark, savory gravy, go for a medium-bodied red like a Côtes du Rhône.

Suggestions:

• Castalia Pinot Noir Rochioli Vyd Russian River Valley
• Chateau Fuissé Les Brûlés Pouilly-Fuissé
• Domaine la Bouïssiere Côtes du Rhône
• Furthermore Pinot Noir Russian River Valley
• Oro Bello Rosé Petaluma Gap Sonoma Coast
• Patria Chardonnay ‘Charlie Smith’ Moon Mountain Sonoma Valley

Wine Spectrum

How to Store this Chicken Salad Roasted Chicken

If you have any leftover, you can transfer the chicken, drippings, and grapes to a lidded, airtight storage container and keep it in the fridge for up to 3 days. That said, I often just put the same piece of foil I used at the beginning of roasting right back over the baking dish and, if I have room in my fridge, I just store it right in its own pan.

This is all in the name of saving myself from having to wash yet another dish. The best one-pan meals are the ones that go from oven to table to fridge – no other dishes need apply.

How to reheat this roasted chicken

To reheat the chicken, place it back in the baking dish – or a baking dish. Let it sit at room temp for a while, about 15 minutes, to knock the cold off while you preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Put the pan in the oven and warm it, uncovered, for about 10 to 15 minutes, it until hot all the way through.

Alternatively, you could do what I do and just microwave it.

If you like the looks of our Roast Chicken with Grapes, you might also enjoy:

6-Ingredient simplified Chicken Marbella

Harvest Roasted Chicken and Stuffing Skillet

Egyptian Chicken with Sweet Potatoes and Pomegranate

Crispy Skin Chicken Piccata with Giant Croutons

Spatchcock Roast Chicken with Potatoes, Lemons, and Dates

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