Chicken in Honey Mustard Sauce

Heather Erickson on 1.22.2016

There is something off with this recipe’s cook time and temperature. I followed the directions to an absolute, undeniable T (up until the cooking temperature, just go with me here). The sauce and marinade flavors are perfection, no going wrong there. It was easy enough to throw together, and chicken drumsticks are cheap so I love that portion of it. But browning the chicken and following with JUST 25 minutes at 200 degrees? I was wary at that, so upped the degrees to 250. And I definitely took my time allowing the chicken to brown before sticking that pan in the oven. Sure enough, I sat my family of five down to eat…raw chicken inside. It looked gorgeous on the outside thanks to the browning! But RAW as raw can be not very far in at all. We microwaved the kid’s chicken (because bedtime is precious) but my husband put the rest of the chicken in (and we doubled the recipe, so there was a good amount) back into the oven, this time at 325 for another 30 minutes. Now, when we took THAT out, it was absolutely perfect. This recipe would be great if cooked correctly, and use a meat thermometer if you can’t take my word for it…but most any seasoned home cook will be able to tell you: chicken legs can NOT do with just 25 minutes at a mere 200 degrees. Please. I should’ve listened to my gut there. I mean…was this recipe a typo??? Because when you Google how long to bake chicken drumsticks for…this recipe is CLEARLY wrong. We’re talking 350-400 degrees for a good 30-40 minutes. At least.

Other than that, the prep was easy and the sauce was really, really good. But good gracious, 200 degrees for 25 minutes would barely cook a hot pocket…