Fall is the season for apples and when someone offers me apples from their tree I always say yes. That’s all it takes for apple recipes to start running through my head and I this recipe for Grilled Mustard Chicken with Apple Rings is one of them. It’s the perfect dinner for a warm, fall afternoon when you want to be outside cooking and eating. Grilled apples aren’t something I serve often so that makes this dish stand out.

A Seasonal Strategy

Using a seasonal strategy for cooking is the best way to build variety into your usual rotation of meals. Grocery stores offer produce from around the world and more choice than we could have dreamed of twenty years ago. So it requires a bit of attention to know what’s in season.

I used to make lists and try to remember what fruits and vegetables were in season, the best combinations and what recipes I wanted to make. Like many things I simply learned it over time.

If you think of things your mother or grandmother cooked, at a time when we bought food that grew closer to home, you might think of things in season. Of course noticing trees loaded with fruit in your neighbourhood or all the apples fallen to the ground is another way to know what’s in season. My mother made crab apple jelly every fall for decades because that’s when the crab apples were ready.

So if someone offers you apples take them. If you’re at the grocery store read the little stickers on the apples and see if you can find some grown close to home. In the fall those will be the best apples.

I don’t have a real list but at the bottom of this post I’ve the short list of recipes I will make using apples for the next two months.

Prep Once, Eat Twice

It’s always worth the effort to marinate chicken, even if it’s only for a short time. A trick I like to use with recipes like this is to make enough for two dinners. The chicken may not have marinated long the first time but the half that went in the freezer will marinates as it freezes and again when it thaws. As long as I’ve labeled the container for the freezer I’ve got a dinner idea waiting for me in there.

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Get The Tools

There are always a few kitchen tools that make certain jobs in the kitchen easier. We ended up my dad’s handy gadget that peels and cores a whole apple. If you’re going to make apple pie you’ll wish you had one. Here are a few helpful tools for eating apples and grilling.

• Reusable grilling sheets are perfect to prevent cross contamination.
• Coleman road trip, stand up barbecue might be ideal for families that attend gatherings and have a few people who need to ensure their food is safe. Just wheel in your own barbecue and join the cooking team.
• A fancy apple peeler and corer that will take up space in your cupboard but could provide some entertainment in the kitchen.
• A basic, inexpensive apple corer is handy when that’s the job you’re doing.
• The apple slicer, corer, divider won’t make rings like I did in this recipe but you can grill apple wedges too!

Let me know in the comments below if you made this recipe and where you got your apples from.

More Recipes – Apples and Grilling

• Apple Quinoa Salad with Feta
• Overnight Oats (AKA Muesli)
• Morning Glory Muffins
• Pan Fried Potato Latkes
• Baked Apples (only occasionally with Caramel Sauce)
• More grilled apples with Crab Apple Jelly Glazed Chicken
• 29 Great Gluten Free Grilling Recipes – All 29 recipe links are in the post

This post was originally posted September 2015, updated September 2020.