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5 Secrets to 20 Minute Dinners!
Tips, tricks, and recipes for dinner in a hurry!
Cilantro Lime Chicken Recipe
Zesty, moist, juicy baked chicken with mouthwatering marinade is a sure-fire way to tantalize your palate and appetite.
This is one my favorite Mexican recipes and I have the perfect baked cilantro lime chicken recipe for you.
This recipe couldn’t be any easier as simple ingredients are all you need. Aromatic cilantro, fresh lime juice, garlic, chili flakes bring out the explosive flavors of the chicken.
Serve the chicken with side dishes such as Cilantro Lime Rice, Tequila Lime Shrimp or make taco salad with the chicken.
You can also serve with a simple sauteed broccoli.
How to Make Cilantro Lime Chicken?
To make this easy recipe, first you marinate the chicken for 15 minutes.
Next, pan-fry the chicken in a skillet for a few minutes before baking it for 20 minutes. It’s that easy!
Cilantro Lime Chicken Marinade
The marinade is the soul of this dish. It calls for everyday ingredients that you already have in your pantry:
- Olive oil. This will keep the chicken moist and juicy.
- Garlic.
- Cilantro, stems and leaves.
- Lime juice.
- Red chili flakes.
- Salt.
Cooking Tips
To make sure that you have the best results, follow the tips below:
- Use chicken thighs, which are more tender, moist and juicy. Buy bone-in and skin-on chicken thighs and debone it. Click on this post to learn how to debone chicken thighs, with video guide.
- You can use skinless and boneless chicken breasts or chicken thighs, if you like.
- Use freshly squeezed lime juice if you can. You will love the fresh and citrusy aroma from the lime juice.
- Use lots of cilantro stems and some cilantro leaves as there is a lot of flavors in the stems.
- Pan-fry the chicken on a skillet first, to make sure that the skin is browned and crispy before baking the chicken in the oven. This extra step turns your cilantro lime chicken from good to exquisite.
- After baking, spoon the marinade over the chicken to make it extra flavorful and moist.
How Many Calories per Serving?
This recipe is only 404 calories per serving.
What Dishes to Serve with This Recipe?
Serve this dish as is or with rice and other side dishes. For a wholesome meal and easy weeknight dinner, I recommend the following recipes.
Cilantro Lime Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lbs. skin-on deboned chicken thighs
- lime wedges (for garnishing)
- chopped cilantro (for garnishing)
Marinade:
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 cloves garlic (minced)
- 4 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro stems and leaves
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 1 teaspoon red chili flakes or more to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon salt or more to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C).
- Whisk all the Marinade ingredients together in a big bowl, mix well. Add the chicken into the Marinade, stir to coat well. Marinate for 15 minutes, but best for 2 hours.
- Heat up a skillet and pan-fry the chicken with the skin-side down until slightly browned. Turn over and pan-fry the other side of the chicken until slightly browned.
- Spoon the leftover Marinade on top of the chicken before baking. Bake the chicken for 20 minutes.
- Transfer the chicken and the Marinade residual to a serving platter (discard the oil), squirt some fresh lime juice, garnish with cilantro and serve immediately.
This looks delicious and I’ve got it marinating right now. I have a question though… As I am having a hard time letting summer go, I’d like to grill these babies up instead of putting the oven on. Should they be pan fried before grilling or do you feel that step can be skipped and they can go right on a preheated grill? I’d love feedback if anyone has tried grilling them in the past. Thanks!!!!
Just grill them right away. I think they will be awesome! Or a better tip, if you have a cast-iron grill pan, put them on the grill plan and put the pan on the BBQ. Then when they are almost cooked, grill on direct fire. :)
I always grill them and it’s the best! I grill almost everything no matter the weather!
This is the best chicken recipe ever and so many possibilities..
Hi Christina, awwww, your comment just made my day. Yes grilling makes everything better. Thanks for trying my cilantro lime chicken recipe.
Idk what I did wrong but I was highly disappointed, I’ll try it with shrimp next time
Ahs, I am sorry to hear that, many people tried with great success. Shrimp might be good for you. :)
I made this chicken tonight and it was the BEST I have ever made! My husband doesn’t like too much hot so he used the lime juice liberally! Wow! He said its his new favorite! Thanks so much for the recipe! I plan to make it often and for family get togethers! Delish!
Hi Kathleen, thanks so much for your sweet comment and I am so happy that you and your husband enjoyed my cilantro lime chicken recipe. Do try out more chicken recipes from me, they are all very delicious and easy: https://rasamalaysia.com/tag/chicken/
Hi..
Had a great family lunch with the Cilantro lime chicken. Easy to get ingredients, easy marination, and fast cooking. Came out perfect. I topped my chicken breasts with mozzarella cheese and had a side of family fresh green salad. Yummy.
Thanks.
Yummy, mozzarella cheese sounds like a great idea!! Thanks for trying my cilantro lime chicken.
I love lime and cilantro together! I fixed this and made some a pico de Gallo salad with it! Everyone loved it! Thanks so much!
Thanks for trying my recipe.
Looks yummy! We like skinless + no bones, should I still pan fry the chickens before I bake? Thank u!
You can, but you don’t have to. Pan-frying will make it even better though.
This recipe looks so yummy I just had to make it. The chicken is in the fridge marinating as I type this. I can’t wait to try it! My husband is not a big fan of lime but as delicious as this looks, I bet he will be after eating this!
Let me know how it goes.
He loved it and asked that I make it again. Thank you for a great recipe!
Hello, can i subsstitue with bone in chicken thighs? How many chicken thighs did you use for this recepie, I would need to make about 18 chicken thighs with this recepie. Thank you!
Yes, you can use bone-in. I think 4 thighs.
Just made this recipe! It turned out very yummy! I was looking for a recipe that wasn’t too harsh on my cholesterol. Instead of pan frying it for a bit, I just threw it in the oven and turned out fine. Thank you for the recipe (:
Thanks for trying my cilantro lime chicken recipe.
Tried this for a quick and healthy dinner today! Delicious – I used boneless skinless chicken breasts. I did also season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper and rosemary prior to putting it in the marinade. I let it marinate for 1 hour then sautéed on the stove before popping in the oven for the 20 mins at 375 – it cooked perfectly. I also charred a jalapeño pepper and mixed that in after I took it out of the oven. Served over white rice and topped with avocado. Great recipe thank you for sharing it with us!