Honey Mustard Marinade

Sorry, I forgot to take a pic of the marinade before pouring it over the chicken, so you get this lame photo.

It's a perfect day for grilling, so I think I will post both a marinade and a side dish, yet to be determined, today! I had made up an extra batch of the dressing for my Honey Mustard Chicken Pasta Salad I needed to use up, so I tweaked it a little and came up with this marinade. I am using it on a pound of chicken breasts. We don't eat pork anymore, but plain old Dijon mustard on pork used to be one of my favorite things to grill, so this would be great for a pork loin/roast or pork chops too.

I didn't add any extra acidity (vinegar/lemon juice) since mustard has quite a bit of vinegar in it, and the little added mustard over what I used in the pasta salad dressing gives it plenty of tang. I added just a bit of oil to create an emulsification that will stick to the meat a little better, and I threw in some garlic because, well, I like garlic, and I think it pretty much enhances the flavor of almost anything. If you don't like it, leave it out. As mentioned in my pasta salad post, I used a coarse grain mustard, but a whole grain, brown or Dijon would work well too. I would steer clear of the yellow stuff for this recipe.

At only $1.25 (and that's with organic mustard), this is cheaper than any of the bottled stuff I have seen, and it's much cheaper than buying those pre-marinated meats. And you know exactly what is/isn't in it!


Honey Mustard Marinade

1/2 cup homemade vegetable stock (or any vegetable or chicken stock)
1/3 cup whole/coarse grain, brown or Dijon mustard
2 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Directions: Whisk all ingredients in a small mixing bowl and pour over meat, letting sit in fridge for 1 to 12 hours.

Cost:


Mustard (organic): $3.00 /9 oz jar, used 1/3 = $1.00

Honey (farmers market): $4/16 oz bottle, used 1/16 = $.25

Vegetable Stock: Homemade Freebie

Total Cost: $1.25