Don't Toss It Out: That Leftover Mustard In Your Fridge Makes An Incredible Marinade

There's no reason to throw out that jar of leftover mustard in the back of your fridge — and there's also no reason to simply slather it on a sandwich for tomorrow's lunch. Mustard has a slew of uses beyond your go-to options like sandwiches and flavorful salad dressings. One of them is to use a small amount of leftover mustard to add a powerful boost to your next marinade.

Marinades rely on acidic ingredients, like vinegar, lemon or lime juice, or even yogurt, to tenderize meats like steak. Mustard, however, is also acidic and can have the same effect on your chicken, steak, or whatever is on the dinner menu. The condiment also emulsifies the other ingredients in the same way it does in a vinaigrette and adds tanginess to the marinade. 

Any type of mustard, including the yellow variety typically reserved for hot dogs, can work in a marinade. Whole grain mustard really packs a punch, which lends itself to rich cuts of meat. Dijon mustard gets its acidity from wine instead of vinegar but still works well to emulsify the marinade and give flavor to proteins like steak. Really, whatever type of mustard you have should work for a marinade, whether on meats or vegetables.

When you're ready to make a mustard marinade, you can also use another acidic ingredient, like vinegar, to pull it all together if you need to make a cut of meat really tender. There are various recipes out there that hinge on different measurements of vinegar, but you can start off with two tablespoons of vinegar for every two servings, depending on what else goes in the vinegar. However, in most cases, you can keep it simple with a two-ingredient mustard marinade sans vinegar for meats like steak.

Regardless of the recipe, the best technique is to whisk the mustard with the other ingredients, such as vinegar or oil, to emulsify everything. To make it easier, some recipes might suggest simply putting everything in a plastic bag, but if you do so, be sure to massage the bag to combine the ingredients before you add the meat.

Tasting Table has you covered with some marinade recipes that you can use leftover mustard in. Our roasted lemon chicken recipe doesn't include mustard, but Dijon would be a nice contrast with the lemon in the marinade. You also can't go wrong with a bit of mustard in our tenderizing steak marinade recipe if you have some of the condiment that you want to use up.