Rosemary Mustard Grilled Chicken
Rosemary Mustard Grilled Chicken is one of my favorite grilled chicken recipes, and everyone in my family makes this lemon rosemary chicken. And this popular grilled chicken recipe has so many good memories for me!
PIN Rosemary Mustard Grilled Chicken to try it later.
Rosemary Mustard Grilled Chicken is a recipe that makes me want to hold on to summer! And even though Very Greek Grilled Chicken is probably the most pinned and viewed grilled chicken recipe on the blog, if you asked me about the grilled chicken I’ve personally made most often, this Rosemary Mustard Chicken would win, hands down.
I’ve made this tasty chicken that’s marinated in lemon, olive oil, mustard, garlic, and chopped fresh rosemary for family parties, wedding showers, baby showers, dinners with friends, and even just for dinners for myself. No doubt about it, this is my signature grilled chicken recipe, and lots of the cooks in my huge extended family make it regularly as well.
What ingredients do you need for this recipe?
(This is only a list of ingredients; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)
- boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- Dijon Mustard (affiliate link), or mustard of your choice
- fresh-squeezed lemon juice, I used my fresh-frozen lemon juice
- extra virgin Olive Oil (affiliate link)
- Garlic Powder (affiliate link) or Minced Garlic (affiliate link)
- Ground Rosemary (affiliate link), crumbled dried rosemary, or minced fresh rosemary
- coarse ground black pepper
- Spike Seasoning (affiliate link), or use any all-purpose seasoning if you don’t have spike)
- Celery Seed (affiliate link), probably optional but good in this
What are the dominant flavors in this grilled chicken recipe?
Even though the title of this recipe is Rosemary Mustard Chicken, I think the mustard is a mild flavor note here, and I probably should have called it Lemon Rosemary Chicken because those are the strongest flavors in this combination. Of course you can use more or less of any ingredient to give it the flavors you prefer!
Can you vary the lemon rosemary chicken recipe?
This recipe can be adjusted to your taste and what you have on hand, and it will always turn out well. Sometimes I increase the lemon juice for a more lemony tasting chicken. I’ve used dried rosemary or fresh rosemary and both are good, although if you don’t have fresh rosemary I love this recipe with Ground Rosemary (affiliate link) which mixes into the marinade well. If you don’t have Spike Seasoning or celery seed, no worries; use some other kind of all-purpose spice mixture or just skip it. If your family is lukewarm on Dijon, you could use regular mustard. No matter how you make this recipe, I bet you’re going to love it!
What else can you make with this lemon rosemary chicken marinade?
The same marinade used in this recipe is also amazing on Grilled Zucchini! Check out my tips for How to Grill Zucchini if you’re not experienced at doing that.
Can you make this lemon rosemary chicken without an outdoor grill?
I’d cook grilled chicken like this all winter long on a stove-top grill pan with ridges (affiliate link) or on a George Foreman Grill (affiliate link) if it wasn’t grilling season, so try that if you don’t have an outdoor grill.
Tips for Juicy Grilled Chicken Breasts:
If you’re not that experienced at making chicken breasts on the grill, check out my post on How to Make Juicy Grilled Chicken Breasts!
How to make Rosemary Mustard Grilled Chicken:
(This is only a summary of the steps for the recipe; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)
- If you’re using fresh rosemary, chop it very finely. If you use dried rosemary, I would grind it in a Mortar and Pestle (affiliate link) if you have one, or use a slightly smaller amount of Ground Rosemary (affiliate link) if you have that.
- Whisk together marinade ingredients.
- Make slits going across the chicken breasts.
- Then put the chicken in in a plastic bag or plastic container with a snap-tight lid, add the marinade, and let it marinate in the fridge for 6 hours or more.
- When it’s time to grill, spray or brush the grill with oil, then preheat the grill over medium-high heat.
- Lay chicken on the diagonal across the grill grates and cook 3-4 minutes (until you see grill marks); then rotate and cook 3-4 minutes more to get marks going the other way.
- Turn chicken over and cook until it feels firm (but not hard) to the touch, or use an instant read meat thermometer (affiliate link) to test chicken until it reaches 165F/75C.
- Serve hot, and wait for compliments.
- Leftover Rosemary Mustard Grilled Chicken is great over a leafy green salad, or make it into a Low-Carb Chicken Salad.
Make it a Low-Carb Meal:
Rosemary Mustard Grilled Chicken would be amazing with Air Fryer Artichoke Hearts, Grilled Zucchini, Grilled Zucchini Greek Salad, Easy Grilled Vegetables, or Cucumber Salad with Balsamic Dressing.
More Ideas for Low-Carb Chicken Dinners:
Weekend Food Prep:
This grilled chicken recipe has been added to a category called Weekend Food Prep where you’ll find recipes you can prep or cook on the weekend and eat during the week!
Rosemary Mustard Grilled Chicken
This Rosemary Mustard Grilled Chicken is one of my long-time favorite grilled chicken recipes! And this tasty marinade is great on zucchini if you like the sound of that.
Ingredients
- 8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1/2 cup Dijon mustard (or mustard of your choice)
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
- 2/3 cup good quality extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tsp. garlic powder or minced fresh garlic
- 2 T crumbled dried rosemary (see below) or 3 – 4 T minced fresh rosemary
- 1 tsp. coarse ground black pepper
- 1 T Spike Seasoning (optional, but recommended, or use any good all-purpose seasoning if you don’t have spike)
- 1 tsp. celery seed (optional)
Instructions
For Chicken:
- If you have Ground Rosemary, use a slightly smaller amount of that for this recipe,. To crumble dried rosemary, put the desired amount into a small ziploc bag and crush with your meat mallet or anything heavy until it is broken up and partially powdered. If you're using fresh rosemary, make sure it's very finely minced.
- Mix all the marinade ingredients.
- Trim all fat undesirable parts from chicken breasts, then make small slits going crosswise down the length of each piece of chicken. This is to help the chicken cook more evenly. Be careful not to cut too far into the chicken.
- Put chicken and marinade into large ziploc bag and let marinate in the refrigerator at least 6 hours or all day.
- When you’re ready to cook, take chicken out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature.
- Make sure your grill is clean and spray or brush with oil or grilling spray, then preheat grill to medium-high heat. (Sometimes I use a paper towel dipped in olive oil to rub oil on the grill again immediately before I put the chicken on. Try that if you have a problem with meat sticking on the grill.)
- Lay chicken on the preheated grill at an angle to grill grates and cook 3-4 minutes (or until you see grill marks when you lift up the edge of the chicken.) Rotate chicken going the opposite angle to the grill grates and cook 3-4 minutes more (or until you see criss-cross marks when you lift up the edge of the chicken.)
- Turn chicken over and cook until chicken is firm (but not hard) to the touch. Actual cooking time will depend on how thick the chicken breasts are and how hot your grill is. For the most accurate way to tell when chicken reaches the safe temperature of 165F, use an instant read meat thermometer (affiliate link)to test chicken.
Notes
You might get flare-ups if the marinade drips down when you put the chicken on the grill. I spray water on them, even though some experts say not to do that.
Don’t baste chicken with the reserved marinade because it contains bacteria from the raw chicken.
This recipe adapted years ago from a cookbook and I no longer remember where I saw it!
Nutrition Information
Yield
8Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 378Total Fat 23gSaturated Fat 4gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 18gCholesterol 102mgSodium 1066mgCarbohydrates 3gFiber 1gSugar 0gProtein 38g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated by the Recipe Plug-In I am using. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee 100% accuracy, since many variables affect those calculations.
Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
This lemon rosemary chicken recipe would be approved for low-carb, Keto, and low-glycemic diet plans and it’s a perfect main dish for any phase of the original South Beach Diet.
Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use the Grilling Recipes to find more recipes like this one. Use the Diet Type Index to find recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You might also like to follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest, on Facebook, on Instagram, on TikTok, or on YouTube to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.
Historical Notes for this Recipe:
Rosemary Mustard Grilled Chicken was first posted in 2005, and I’ve made it over and over for family gatherings since then! The recipe was last updated with more information in 2024.
62 Comments on “Rosemary Mustard Grilled Chicken”
A tremendous recipe was found ever. Need more recipes for chicken lovers.
Just enter “chicken” or “grilled chicken” into the search bar on my site and you’ll find hundreds of good recipes.
My mom and I LOVE this recipe! So good on chicken and squash! Going to cook for my partner today and try it with salmon! 🙂
So glad to hear you are enjoying it. I bet it will be great on salmon too.
A real classic!!!!
It definitely is, thanks Sally!
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My family loves this chicken recipe! Thank you!!!!
So glad you have enjoyed it, thanks Marcy!
Kalyn, sorry, I should have mentioned that we only use part of the marinade on the chicken and reserve the other half for basting! We usually make a double batch so we’ll have enough!
Oh good! Glad to hear that. I never want to assume that people know things, but sounds like you definitely know what you’re doing!
I have a very similar recipe that is also my signature chicken dish and has been in our family for at least 60 years (no kidding!). We use a few different ingredients…we use lemon pepper in place of the Spike Seasoning and use thyme instead of rosemary, omitting the celery seed. We also use the marinade to baste the chicken as it grills so it developes a nice coating on the chicken. We also find that using plain ole yellow mustard works best, as the taste of Dijon is almost too subtle and gets lost in the grilling. Anyone not trying your recipe because they don’t like mustard is really missing out! I am definitely going to try your version and I KNOW it will be fabulous!
Hi Judy,
Fun to hear about a similar recipe that you’ve enjoyed. I think mustard + chicken + herbs is such a great combination. I hope you are reserving some marinade that hasn’t had raw chicken in for the basting, although obviously it hasn’t hurt you. But I have always heard not to baste with marinades that have been used on meat because there may be bacteria in the marinade that doesn’t get cooked long enough if it’s basted on towards the end of the cooking time.
And now you have inspired me to try this with regular yellow mustard because I love that flavor!
Has anyone tried this recipe stove top? I don’t have a grill.
If you have a stovetop grill pan with ridges (or something like a George Foreman Grill) you could definitely cook it that way. I’m not sure about just cooking in a frying pan, but it may work.
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I was nervous to try this recipe because I’m not a mustard fan, but I am so glad I did – my husband and I were blown away by how delicious it is! This is my favorite recipe from this blog which is saying A LOT.
Highly recommend it to everyone looking for a flavorful chicken marinade, regardless of if you like mustard or not!
Oh wow, thank you! So glad you enjoyed it. Definitely one of my personal favorites to make for guests.
This has become one of my favorite recipes! I made it for Father's Day last month and it was once again a hit. Our daughter's fiance told her it was the best chicken he ever had in his life! He gets to have it again tonight. I'm making it for my husband's birthday dinner. Thanks so much for such a great recipe. I love that it's super easy for entertaining.
So glad you are enjoying the recipe Kath. I have made this over and over for events for my own family.
Barb, so glad you liked it! And good to know that it can be marinated that long.
Just came across this recipe. Due to circumstances beyond my control ( thunder storms at supper time) this was not marinated for 6 hrs but 3 DAYS!! It was still awesome! My mate does not like chicken much but I got a 'pretty good' from him. Will definitely try this on him again!! Maybe. Next year
Kellie, I've never done it that way and I would probably keep them separate. It might be fine, but I just don't know enough to say for sure.
Can you marinate the zucchini and the chicken in the same marinade or should they be done separate? I figure that both will be cooked so that the bacteria is killed off. Is this true?
Thanks Teresa. My family also loves this!
There have been two keys to our success with the South Beach Diet….a grill and your blog of recipes. Here both are combined to make a fabulous meal that has my husband begging for more. We barely had enough left over for his lunch tomorrow! SUPER recipe!
Teresa in Texas
Paul, love hearing how you adapted the recipe, thanks for sharing!
I followed your recipe for the marinade but cooked it in a heavy iron skillet instead of the grill. I poured in all of the extra marinade as well and cooked it through. I added a tad of water and deglazed while the chicken was still in the pan. I also added a handful of chopped onions and some fresh chopped basil. I think this was the best chicken I have ever cooked………. Thanks!!!
Daria, thanks. This is a huge favorite in my family too.
I tried out this recipe and it was fantastic! Thanks so much for sharing 🙂
Anonymous, thanks for the nice thoughts about the blog. I can't think of any blogs that have that capability, and right now I don't know any way to make it happen.
I'm using a bookmarking site called del.icio.us to save links of recipes I want to remember. It's easy to use, and you can make categories. Check it out and see if that might work for you.
Your site has everything I need for finding new, good-for-me recipes. I'm so pleased with the new easy system for printing the recipes. If I could only save the recipes to a personal "cookbook" like I do on Allrecipes.com and other sites, I wouldn't need those other sites! Any chance of that possibility?
Rache, so glad to hear this worked for you. I’ve been curious about that Penzey’s Old World Seasoning.
Thank you! This is one of the best chicken recipes I’ve ever made, and your technique produced the best results I’ve had with boneless skinless breasts. I was out of dijon, so I used 1/2 stone ground mustard and 1/2 Plochman’s Beer Mustard. Instead of Spike, I added some Penzey’s Old World Seasoning. We also used the marinade for grilled shrimp. They disappeared instantly!
I think I found what to make for dinner tonight!
Thanks for all the great recipes, Kalyn!
This sounds wonderful Kalyn amd I’m always in the market for quick and easy things to do with chicken 🙂
Karina, I never thought of that, but what a brilliant idea. If I try it, I’ll credit you for the idea!
Sounds delicious! I bet this marinade would be fabulous on grilled salmon.
That grilled chicken looks really good!
Anonymous, you’re right.
T = tablespoon
tsp. = teaspoon.
Im a kitchen dummy… what does T stands for? Is it tablespoon?
Maria, I know you don’t eat chicken, but try this with zucchini, it’s great!
I just got a rosemary tree at one of my bridal showers! I can’t wait to try some of your recipes!! I love fresh rosemary!
Tanna and Ronell, I think you will really like it.
Cassandra, Spike is a really complex blend of a lot of ingredients. You can read the ingredients in Spike Seasoning in that post and use a blend of whatever you have. I also think this would taste fine without the Spike Seasoning (that was one of my changes to the recipe.)
How very funny! I was thinking I need a chicken marinade for tonight. I’ll have to be reporting back.
This looks lovely, thanks. Does anyone have an idea what we could use instead of spike seasoning (because I’m not sure it can be found in Europe)
Best wishes
C.
I will have to try this chicken with the mustard Kalyn…it sounds delicious!
Ronell
Kristen, you are so welcome. It was really fun!
This is by far the best chicken recipe ever! Thanks for the shower Kalyn!
Comments before this one were from 2006 when the recipe first appeared on the blog. (It’s fun seeing that some of those commenters are still blogging!)
I made this the other day and it was great. Thanks!
this looks fantastic, can’t wait to try it!!
Wow Kalyn!
This looks and sounds delicious! Thanks for the recipe. I will definitely be trying this one!
Mmmm, I love chicken and I love zucchini. I must definitely try this out.
My favorite combinations! I use this kind of marinade on veal chops as well.
Not a bad way to get through the first Phase of South Beach Diet.
Thanks for sharing.
Ooh, baby! I love this flavor combination – elegant, fresh, earthy – all at once.
that’s it, you’re cooking my chicken from now on. That looks so good! and what a cool event. i’ll have to check it out!
My mouth is watering, my stomach rumbling…. and my dh wont eat mustard …….. *SIGHS!* I guess I will have to fix it for me and not share a single morsel!
If you get you stevia plants — mix three parts mint with one part stevia and steep as you usually would.. (I made a HUGE kettle of tea tonite — mixed chocolate mint and peppermint along with some stevia I found hidden in a baggy) Sweet with out the aftertaste of regular sugar or artificial stuff (which btw I avoid at all costs) and it was delish. I have 3 quarts chilling in my fridge as we speak. (told ya I made a bunch).
Have a great week!
Yum yum yum! I love rosemary with chicken & yours looks divine.
I have a marinade that’s very similar to this, mine’s got less oil, more garlic and lemon, and easily 5 times that much fresh rosemary! It’s a great combination of flavors and aromas. I made some just the other night and found myself wishing for fresh ears of corn to smear it on. I’ll have to try zucchini next year. (You know it was mean linking to this just as it turns to fall for real!)
I have huge rosemary bushes so I often have woody branches to toss on the fire just before putting the chicken–rosemary smoked food. Yum.
Kalyn,
Wow!! this is the first time I’ve looked at your blog–there are some great recipes here…I’m going to look each day for my next dinner idea. Thanks for letting me know about your blog!
Sandee
I’m having fun reading recipes from your kitchen. I’m excited to try more of them.