Out of all the condiments available, one of my personal favorites would have to be honey mustard. The first time I tried it was back in college, when my friends and I went to buy chicken fingers at a nearby restaurant. I wasn’t a very adventurous person back then, so while my friends got spicy sauce, blue cheese, and honey mustard, I just got the plain gravy. My friends convinced me to try their dips, and while all of them tasted good, I immediately fell in love with the way honey mustard complemented the flavor of chicken.
Since then, I’ve always added honey mustard whenever I wanted to add sweet flavor with a sort of kick to it. Recently, however, I noticed how unhealthy store-bought honey mustard can be. All store-bought items with long shelf life often have plenty of preservatives, and that takes out the health benefits of mustard and honey.
One serving of honey mustard is actually full of sodium, calories, cholesterol, and bad fat. So, you might be cutting down on calories with that salad, but one serving of honey mustard dressing is way more than the calories you’d get eating a big mac. So, that’s why I’ve started practicing making my own honey mustard whenever I want to add it to my meal. Not only do I get to control the flavour, but I also get to reduce the amount of preservatives and sodium in one serving.
Ingredients for Honey Mustard
This recipe is for a honey mustard sauce. To make a salad dressing, you’ll need to add a dash or two of olive oil and mix it to the consistency you want. This recipe is fairly easy as all the ingredients you’ll need are in your local supermarket:
- 1 ½ tablespoons mustard powder
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon honey
- Salt, to taste
Notes on the Ingredients
Now, I came up with these measurements according to my taste. When I first looked for homemade honey mustard recipes online, a lot of recipes were telling me to use yellow mustard. But since the point was to avoid store-bought mustard with preservatives, using Heinz or French’s yellow mustard just cancelled out the point.
I later found that these liquid mustard products were just “wet mustard,” the finished product consisting of mustard powder and other ingredients added by the company that made it. “Dry mustard,” on the other hand, is powdered mustard seeds that can be used on its own as a spice or, as it’s most commonly used, mixed with vinegar and other spices to make liquid mustard.
You can find dry mustard in your spice section in the supermarket. Sometimes it’s sold as “dry mustard,” “powdered mustard,” or “English mustard,” though the last one is a powder often mixed with turmeric already to give it an extra spice.
For the rest of the ingredients, feel free to experiment on your own. If you prefer regular vinegar, white vinegar, or any vinegar you have in your area, you may also use it as a substitute. There are also different types of honey in the market, so use whatever you have available in your area.
Once you’ve gotten a hand at balancing out the flavors, you can tweak the measurements to get the desired flavor. I like my honey mustard a bit more spicy than sweet, so for every tablespoon of honey I use, I add one and a half tablespoons of dry mustard.
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, combine the vinegar and dry mustard. I recommend using a whisk to mix the powder evenly and to get rid of any mustard powder clumps, but a fork is fine, too.
- Keep mixing it until gets really thick. If you find that your honey mustard is a little runny even after mixing for a long time, add a little bit of mustard powder. Be careful not to add too much extra powder or it will change the overall flavor.
- Once it’s at the right consistency, let it sit for ten minutes. This will give the mustard time to absorb all the flavor.
- Mix in the honey and salt. This recipe makes enough honey mustard as a sauce for one or two dishes.
What to Serve with Honey Mustard Sauce
The flavor of honey mustard is very unique and goes well with a lot of things. It tastes really good as a sauce or dip for meats served as finger food (chicken fingers, fish sticks, chicken nuggets, sausage rolls, barbeque sliders, etc.), but it’s also possible to use it for meals. Serving savory ham on Christmas or any holiday can taste better with the flavor of honey mustard. I do something similar with my honey mustard sauce in this recipe for honey mustard pork chops, except I grill my pork chops and brush the sauce before and during the grilling.
For vegetarian recipes, I’ve yet to try this recipe on AllRecipes.com, but the honey mustard tofu recipe looks good and fairly easy to make. The water and white wine is going to thin out the honey mustard sauce, but I think our honey mustard recipe is a healthier substitution than adding prepared mustard. It’s not vegan because of the honey and butter, and I’m not sure if vegan honey and butter substitutes can work for this recipe.
If you’re looking for a good base to start making your own honey mustard sauce, this recipe is it. If you’ve made any changes or have any recommendations on how to make this recipe better, let me know in the comments below!
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