Mustard-Crusted Roast Chicken with Brussels Sprouts

I make roasted chickens about twice a month.  Sam's sells roasting chickens in packs of two, so it just works out well that way.  I roast a chicken one night, then I get all the leftover meat off of the bone, and that is usually enough to save for a whole other meal that calls for cubed cooked chicken.  So I end up getting four meals out of those two chickens.

I don't usually do anything fancy with my roasted chicken, that's why I've never blogged about it before.  I coat it in olive oil and sprinkle it with a seasoning blend I created myself that consists of salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and paprika.

But yesterday when I went to put the chicken in the oven, I saw that I had some Brussels sprouts that need to be used up.  I thought about roasting them after the chicken was done, but then I remembered that I had saved a recipe I saw in a magazine that involved a roast chicken and Brussels sprouts.  I found it in my binder and decided to do that instead.  I hadn't yet really branched out into roasting vegetables alongside the chicken, so I thought it was a good time to try it.

Here's how I made it.  It's an adaptation of this one from Parents Magazine.


Mustard-Crusted Roast Chicken with Brussels Sprouts


Ingredients:
1  4 to 5 lb. whole chicken
¼ cup brown mustard
1 tbsp olive oil
1 lb. Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved
Salt 


Directions
Preheat oven to 400°. Pat the chicken dry inside and out with paper towels. Remove giblet package, if present. Place half a large onion in the cavity.


In a small bowl stir together mustard and oil. Spread all over chicken. Place chicken in a roasting pan or heatproof baking dish.  Roast, uncovered, for 40 minutes. 


Add Brussels sprouts to pan; sprinkle with salt and toss to coat. If chicken is browning too fast, cover loosely with foil. Roast another 40 minutes or until an instant-read thermometer registers 170° in the breast or 180° in the thigh and sprouts are tender, stirring sprouts once more during cooking.


Remove chicken from oven and let stand 10 minutes.


Makes 6 servings.

I changed a few things from the original.  It called for Dijon mustard, but we like brown better, so I used that instead.  It also called for only half a pound of Brussels sprouts, but I had a pound in the fridge and that's how much I usually make anyway.  

The weird thing is that in the magazine, it called for 1 tsp of olive oil, but when I looked it up online, it says 2 tbsp.  That's a big difference!  I used the 1 tsp yesterday, but I thought it could have used more, so next time I will compromise and try 1 tbsp.  

The original recipe said to add the Brussels sprouts after 35 minutes, but I thought they got a little bit on the soggy side, so next time I will wait another 5 minutes.  The larger ones were pretty good, but the little guys got a little bit overdone.  Overall, they turned out really well.  We absolutely love roasted Brussels sprouts, and these did not disappoint.  They had a different flavor than the ones I roast by themselves, but it was good.

The chicken was really good too.  Very juicy and tender.  I wouldn't say that the meat itself tasted like mustard; it just had a very nice flavor.

I would definitely make this again.