This skillet mustard chicken recipe comes together in 40 minutes! Full fat coconut milk acts as a dairy-free substitute for heavy cream and milk, and coats the chicken thighs, bacon, mushrooms and kale in a comforting and healthy mustard cream sauce.
If you enjoy this recipe, be sure to try our dairy free creamy tuscan chicken recipe and our dairy free chicken breast recipe with mushroom sauce.
How to Make a Mustard Cream Sauce for Chicken
Since we’ve been doing dairy-free recipes for years, we’ve perfected an easy coconut milk cream sauce for chicken.
We use full fat coconut milk to make the sauce super creamy, but don’t worry. You won’t be able to taste coconut at all.
The mustard, seasonings and other flavors mask the coconut flavor, but leave behind the creamy goodness. We also added bone broth to the sauce to make it earthy and rich, too.
If you like this recipe, we use a similar sauce in this Creamy dairy-free mushroom chicken and this Creamy dairy-free garlic chicken!
Looking for more? Check out this roundup of healthy chicken recipes!
Serving Ideas for this Creamy Mustard Chicken
With the optional kale, this really is a one pot meal packed with protein and veggies. If you want to serve it over something to soak up all that mustard cream sauce, here are some options.
- Serve over white rice or cauliflower rice
- Over some spiralized zucchini noodles or sweet potato noodles
- On top of gluten free pasta
However you serve it, I know you’re going to love the savory chicken thighs in mustard cream sauce!
Looking for more creamy recipes? Check out this roundup of 20+ Warm and Cozy Comfort Food Recipes!
Common Questions About this Mustard Chicken Recipe
Can I use chicken breasts instead of thighs? Yes! You can absolutely used chicken breasts. They will need to cook a little longer in the skillet to get them fully cooked. Adjust the cooking time in step #4 of the recipe to 6-7 minutes on each side (or longer for bigger breasts).
Can I use dijon instead of yellow mustard? Yes! Use whatever mustard you like. Regular yellow mustard is great and dijon works well with this recipe too.
Do I have to use kale? The kale it entirely optional. It can be left out of the recipe entirely if you prefer. Or you can substitute other greens like spinach, swiss chard or arugula.
Can I use regular milk or another nut milk instead of coconut milk? You can substitute another milk if desired. If using dairy, try and use whole milk or heavy cream to help keep the creamy texture. Other nut milks like almond milk or cashew can be used but will not be as creamy as full fat coconut milk.
Can I use ground chicken or turkey? Yes. Others have done this with success and said that it tastes great! Just cook the ground meat fully in step #4 of the recipe.
Your Turn to Try This Creamy Chicken Thighs Recipe
Looking to take your chicken game to the next level? Try this creamy mustard chicken! It’s the perfect weeknight chicken dinner packed full of flavor everyone will love.
If you try it, leave a comment below to let us know how it goes. Also, take a pic to share on Instagram, and tag us @realsimplegood. We love to see what you’re cooking!
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Skillet Chicken Thighs with Mustard Cream Sauce (No Dairy)
Ingredients
For the mustard sauce:
- 1/4 cup yellow mustard, (or mustard of choice)
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 1/2 cup coconut milk
- 2 tbsp coconut aminos
- 1 tbsp fresh thyme, diced, (or sub dried)
- 2 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
For the rest:
- 8 pieces bacon, diced
- 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 cups mushrooms, sliced
- 4 cups kale, roughly chopped, (optional, can omit or sub other greens)
- Chopped parsley, (optional garnish)
Instructions
- Dice bacon and heat a large skillet over medium heat. Place bacon in the skillet to cook, stirring occasionally, until it is just browned. Remove and place on a paper towel lined plate.
- While the bacon is cooking, make the mustard sauce by combining all of the mustard sauce ingredients in a bowl or large measuring cup. Whisk to mix.
- Chop, onion, mushrooms and kale. Measure out remaining ingredients.
- When the bacon is finished, reserve bacon fat in the pan and keep the skillet on medium heat. Place the chicken in the skillet to cook. Cook for 4-5 minutes, without disturbing. Flip it and cook for another 4-5 minutes. If the chicken is just slightly undercooked, that's ok. It will finish cooking with the sauce. Remove and place on a plate.
- Place onion in the skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, for 3-4 minutes, until the onion starts to soften.
- Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, for another 2-3 minutes.
- Give the mustard sauce a quick whisk to mix and pour it into the skillet. Scrape to deglaze with a wooden spoon. Bring the sauce to a quick simmer.
- Add the chicken and bacon back into the skillet. Cover, turn down heat and simmer for 4-5 minutes. The sauce should thicken a little. Ensure that the chicken is cooked through.
- Remove cover and add in the kale. Stir to mix for 2-3 minutes, until the kale is wilted.
- Serve chicken topped with chopped parsley if desired. Spoon some of the sauce over the chicken for serving.
Oh my, so delicious and packed full of flavor. This is the best new recipe I’ve tried in a long time! Easy enough for a week night and impressive enough for company. This will be on repeat for my family!
What an amazing review! Thanks for coming back to leave a rating and review, we appreciate it 🙂
Just made this tonight. Perfect fall recipe. Tasty and easy to make. I did add a few cloves of garlic with the mushrooms and a little S + P to the chicken, but otherwise made as is. Will definitely make again in the future.
So happy to hear you enjoyed it! Thanks for coming back to leave a review! 🙂
This was delicious and a definite “will make it again” for our family! I used canned coconut cream and didn’t have kale so subbed Spinach. Thanks for the great recipe!
You’re welcome, happy to hear you liked the recipe! Thanks for coming back to leave a review 🙂
Sounds delicious but would like to have nutritional values since I’m tracking calories as well.
It’s a tasty one! Hope you give it a try! We only display nutrition info on our Keto recipes as we know those folks need to track net carbs. In our own personal lives, we stopped feeling the need to count calories or track nutrition info when we started eating real food, and it has been very liberating and changed our relationship with food for the better. So, longer story short, that’s why we don’t share the nutrition info on all of our recipes. We hope to inspire people to eat real food intuitively, relying less on the nutrition facts. You can use an online tracker if you require the info.
Another hit! I made a double recipe of this last night and made a few edits to make things easier for myself, but this is yet ANOTHER recipe that is being added to my rotation!
Yahoo!! Another one! That’s so great! We can’t wait to hear what you guys try next! Thanks so much for your support. 🙂
LOVED this recipe. I am trying to be better about making my own “store-bought” sauces, and this recipe was better than anything I would have bought pre-made. Thank you for posting!
You’re very welcome, so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for coming back to leave a rating and review, we appreciate it 🙂
This is my new favorite chicken recipe! I used thighs and they came out so flavorful and amazing.
Super delicious!
Happy you enjoyed it! 🙂
!!
I made Skillet Chicken Thighs with Mustard Cream Sauce for dinner last night and it was delicious! Both my husband and myself loved it and was so glad to have leftovers for tonight. It was easy to make and so flavorful. Thank you!
You’re very welcome Amy! Thanks for coming back to leave a rating and review, we appreciate it 🙂
Made this last night with chicken breasts and wow that sauce is amazing! Whole family loved it and will be added to the rotation!
Thanks Lauren, great to hear the whole family loved it!
Loved this recipe! Delicious!!
This was delicious! Made it a few weeks ago, and making it again for dinner tonight! So flavourful! I swapped spinach for the kale, and used chicken breasts as that’s what I had on hand. Also did a mix of dijon and yellow mustard because we ran out of the yellow.
So glad you enjoy this one! It’s pretty forgiving and easy to use what you’ve got on hand. Thanks so much for coming back to share your experience and let us know how it went! 🙂
Great family meal! We all loved it, even though I didn’t have bacon to use in it.
Glad to hear that Jamie! Thanks for coming back to leave a rating and review :).
Really good! Love that I could make it all in one pan too.
Glad you enjoyed it, thanks so much for coming back to leave a rating and review 🙂
Super delicious and easy! I made this on a Whole30, but will certainly make it when I’m not.
So glad you enjoyed it! And thanks for sharing, and then coming back here to leave a review. Appreciate it! 🙂
Super easy and delish! I used Dijon mustard because that is what I had on hand…will use the yellow next time for a stronger flavor and YES!, there WILL be a next time!
Amazing! We’re so glad you enjoyed it, and we appreciate you taking the time to come back and leave a review! 🙂
Anyone tried this with regular milk instead of coconut? I know it’s then not whole30, not doing one but wanted to try this. Looks sooo good. I have everything but the coconut milk
Could certainly use regular milk, but would want to make sure it’s full-fat (ie. whole milk, not skim) to capture the creaminess.
This was delicious snd so flavorful. I used Dijon mustard (because I love Dijon) and the whole fam loved it. I served it with whole wheat rigatoni which was amazing with that sauce!!
We love hearing the whole family enjoyed it! Thanks so much for coming back to leave a rating and review! We appreciate your support. 🙂
So delicious and healthy! I used turkey bacon and had lots of beet greens so used some along with kale. Your recipes never disappoint or flop!
Thanks for sharing on IG and coming back to leave a rating and review! 🙂 We always appreciate your support!
Such wonderful flavors! We are very happy to have leftovers for another dinner! Thank you for sharing yet another delicious recipe with us.
You’re very welcome! We’re so glad you enjoyed this one, too! Thanks for trying our recipes out and also for coming back to let us know how it went! We love hearing from you. 🙂
Delicious recipe!
So glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
I’d eat it every night for dinner!!! We tried it with ground turkey because we had extra we needed to use and it was so good!
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for coming back to leave a rating and review, we appreciate it 🙂
Do you think this would be weird with ground turkey instead of chicken? We just have so much ground turkey that we need to use up!
I’m sure it would still taste great! 🙂
My very picky toddlers loved this! Bonus: my picky in-laws also loved this 😊
We love hearing that kids and picky eaters love this one, thanks for coming back to rate and review!
Loved this recipe! It is unique and delicious and comes together quickly!
We love trying to mix up the usual chicken recipes we make. Glad you enjoyed the uniqueness of this one! Thanks for coming back to share a review. 🙂
Deeeeelicious!!!! Flavors were such a good combo. My hubby and I loved it. And my hubby is difficult to please when it comes to “healthy” food. LOL
Glad your husband liked the recipe Melissa 🙂
This was a crowd-pleaser! Thank you! Very delicious and a keeper for our house.
This was delicious! Any thoughts on using shredded chicken that was previously cooked?
I think that would work just fine. You’d just skip step #4 in the recipe and add the shredded chicken in at the end with the sauce to warm it up. You’ll have to let us know how it goes if you try it.
Oh my goodness… AMAZING! Such a beautiful balance of flavours and just seriously delicious! One of those Whole30 recipes that will definitely stay on the rotation post-Whole30! Thank you so much.
You’re very welcome Kathryn! Thanks for the nice review :).
This dish is flavorful, hearty and excellent comfort food. It will be added into our regular rotation!
Made this multiple times, excellent recipe.
My husband and I make this recipe over and over! The creaminess of the sauce with the bacon is the most crave worthy combo! I love all Justin and Erica’s recipes including this one!
Thanks Charlotte!
This recipe is delicious! I’ve tried with yellow and dijon mustard. I like the Dijon best, but either way, it’s made it’s way into our rotation of recipes to make more often!
This dish was SO good! I made it yesterday for food prep for the week as I’m cooking for myself! I used 1.3lbs of chicken thighs, kept sauce measurements the same, and subbed spinach for kale. Had a portion today with roasted brussel sprouts and red onion and oh my goodness, I definitely won’t get tired of this dish for the week!
Enjoy those leftovers :).
Sooooo delicious, and easy to make! My family will be enjoying this for years to come. Thank you!!
You’re very welcome! It makes our day to hear that this will be a meal you all will enjoy in the future :).
WOW!! This sounds fantastic. I am always looking for new ways to prepare chicken, this looks like a winner. I am adding the ingredients to my grocery list.
Hope you enjoy the recipe :).
This was amazing! I made it tonight. Both of my kiddos loved it too, even the one who usually picks every veggie out ate it all. This will definitely be in the regular rotation!
Glad to hear that everyone liked the recipe!
Awesome recipe and super simple. The sauce is so good! Will definitely make this one again!
Thanks so much, Lauren! We’re thrilled you enjoyed it and appreciate you taking the time come back and share! 🙂
This recipe is amazing! I’ve recently had to give up dairy so I’ve been searching for a creamy sauce that didn’t actually taste like coconut milk and this recipe is it. It’s so good that even my 2 1/2 year old asks for seconds and thirds.
Perfect, glad the you found the recipe Rachel!
I enjoyed this it tasted very good and was easy to make.. I often have trouble getting every chopped and ready by the time it has to go in but there was plenty of time to do the chopping while the various things were cooking.
Made this last night in the instant pot. I sauteed the bacon first. Then the onions. Then cut my chicken into bite size pieces because I used chicken breasts. Put the sauce on top. Put it on manual for 20 minutes. Quick release and then put the Kale in until wilted. Turned out great. My kids liked it too.
Perfect, thanks for providing the IP cooking details!
Made this for my family and they absolutely loved it! My mom is already requesting me to make it again next weekend. I served it with some mashed potatoes (made with ghee and a splash of coconut milk) and it was sooo creamy and decadent. Great recipe!! You have to try it!
Serving with mashed potatoes sounds great, glad you liked the recipe :).
This was exceptionally good! My entire family enjoyed it and it has great flavor. My kids didn’t even gripe about the spinach (I subbed it for kale). Will definitely make again and thank you!
So great to hear this was a hit – even with the kids!
Hey Justin + Erica! What are your thoughts on putting this in the insta-pot?
Always looking for a quick fix at the ranch…..
Hey! Hmmm…we haven’t tried it but I bet it would work. Maybe just make the bacon separately and add it in at the end with the kale or you could cook it in the IP with the sauté function before adding everything else in. Try cooking on high pressure/manual for about 20 minutes with a quick release or 15 minutes with a natural release. Let us know how it goes. I bet other people would be interested! 🙂
Made this tonight. It was amazing and so easy. Will be making this again for sure.
Happy to hear you’ll be adding it to the rotation :).
In Step 4 there is mention of Reserving the marinade? Not sure what that is all about? The recipe looks amazing though. Can’t wait to try it.
Sorry about that, we went through a few versions of this recipe before settling on the final one we published. I’ve updated the recipe now to remove mention of the marinade.
This was delicious! My family loved it.
So glad you all loved it!
Hi! This looks delicious. How many servings does this recipe make?
Hi Alicia, it should serve about 4. Sorry about that, I’ve updated the recipe card to note this now.