Grilled Cilantro Lime Chicken
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Packed with flavor, bursting with juices and flavor from the marinade. This Grilled Cilantro Lime Chicken is a quick and easy grilling recipe with chicken that’s perfectly seared on the outside and packed with flavor to impress your guests.
Make some flavorful burrito bowls and or deliciously juicy tacos with this grilled cilantro lie chicken recipe. Mix up a simple marinade with loads of cilantro and lime juice, then fire up the grill and cook the chicken to perfection. The citrus in the marinade helps make the chicken so tender, and the honey adds a subtle little sweet undertone. It’s the best combo!
Serve this yummy chicken dish with some grilled corn guacamole and chips or even just some grilled sweet potatoes. There’s so much to love about this quick meal. Whip it up for a backyard bbq or a quick and easy weeknight dinner that the whole family will love!
Why You’ll Love Grilled Cilantro Lime Chicken
- This is a great make-ahead recipe since you can marinate the chicken ahead of time or cook the chicken and then store in the fridge for later. It reheats really well!
- Cilantro lime chicken has bold flavor with minimal ingredients. You can maximize your dinner time with just a few basic ingredients.
- Grilled chicken is a low carb recipe and a very lean meat. So if you’re looking for some healthier options that are still packed with protein, this is a wonderful options.
Ingredients for Grilled Lime Cilantro Chicken
- Chicken breast – You can use both chicken breast or chicken thighs in this easy recipe.
- Honey – Make this savory sweet cilantro lime chicken marinade with a little bit of honey.
- Olive oil – If you don’t have extra virgin olive oil, avocado oil is a great substitute! Every good marinade needs an acid and an oil.
- Minced garlic – Freshly minced garlic adds so much flavor to this grilled honey lime cilantro chicken.
- Lime zest – Zest some limes to add the bright lime flavor to your marinade. Lime juice is great, but the zest makes it so much better!
- Lime juice – Fresh lime juice adds the most incredible zesty flavor to chicken. You can use the bottled stuff if you want, but since you already need to zest limes then you might as well just juice them!
- Cilantro – We like to use quite a bit of cilantro in this recipe to really make the flavor bold.
- Salt and black pepper – Bring everything together with a little bit of salt and pepper.
Helpful Tools
How to Make Grilled Cilantro Lime Chicken
- To make the marinade, combine oil, lime juice, lime zest, minced garlic, chopped cilantro, salt, pepper and honey in a bowl.
- Add the boneless skinless chicken breast to the marinade. Then cover the bowl and place in the fridge. Allow the chicken to marinate for at least 30 minutes or up to 2 hours.
- Preheat your grill to medium-high heat, about 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease the grates with a bit of olive oil on a paper towel or tongs.
- Remove the chicken from the marinade, allowing excess to drip off. Place the chicken onto the grill and cook for 6-8 minutes per side until they reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Serve this dish with a lime wedge to squeeze over the cooked chicken and then garnish with fresh cilantro and enjoy!
How to Store Grilled Cilantro Lime Chicken
Allow the chicken to cool completely and then transfer leftovers to an airtight container. Store in the fridge for up to 4 days, or freeze for up to 3 months.
How to Reheat Leftover Grilled Chicken
To reheat, place on the stove top or in the oven with a splash of water or chicken broth. You can microwave it too, but the texture could change.
What to serve with Grilled Cilantro Lime Chicken
Serve your lime chicken with delicious sides like grilled corn salad or Mexican street corn salad. You can also serve this chicken sliced up over rice, in a large burrito sized tortilla, or on a salad too!
This would actually be so tasty to slice up and cook into a Blackstone chicken quesadilla too. Our tasty smoked salsa recipe would be delicious with cilantro lime chicken,
Can you put lime juice on raw chicken?
Lime juice helps to tenderize chicken and adds so much flavor to it too. It is one of the best ways to infuse flavor into chicken and make it juicy and tender.
What meat goes best with lime?
Chicken is one of the best meats to use with a lime marinade. But pork also pair wonderfully with citrus juices! The bright flavors of citrus go so well with these two types of meat, but really you can use lime with anything you want.
Pro Tips for the Best Grilled Lime Cilantro Chicken
- Don’t marinate your grilled lime cilantro chicken too long or it can cause the chicken to begin to break down. Only marinate up to 24 hours!
- Make sure all pieces of the chicken are even thickness so that they finish cooking at the same time.
- Do not use any leftover marinade. Once the chicken is marinated and you’re ready to cook, then discard the leftover mariande.
This cilantro lime grilled chicken is a family favorite for sure! So full of flavor and so easy to make.
More Grilled Chicken Recipes You’ll Love!
- This Grilled Teriyaki Chicken is extremely easy to make and has the most delicious sticky sweet sauce!
- Make some BBQ Chicken Skewers when you need something fun for your backyard BBQs!
- Grilled Pineapple Chicken is the best Hawaiian inspired chicken dish to throw onto the grill.
- Italian Grilled Chicken Breasts are great for pasta and salad. Serve it with some yummy breadsticks or garlic bread.
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Grilled Cilantro Lime Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 pounds chicken breast or thighs (4 small/medium chicken breasts)
- 3 Tablespoons olive oil
- ¼ cup lime juice (freshly squeezed)
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 3 Tablespoons cilantro finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- Zest from 1 lime
- 1 Tablespoons honey
- 1 Tablespoons olive oil to oil the grill grates
- 1 lime cut into wedges for serving
Instructions
- In a bowl, combine oil, lime juice, lime zest, garlic, cilantro, salt, pepper, and honey for the marinade.
- Add the chicken to the mixture, cover and place in the refrigerator. Allow to marinate for 30 minutes or up to 2 hours.
- Preheat the grill to medium-high heat, about 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Put some olive oil on a piece of paper towel and using tongs oil the grill grates.
- Grill chicken 6-8 minutes per side, or until cooked through to an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Serve with a wedge of lime to squeeze over the cooked chicken and garnish with more cilantro if desired.
Jeff Wilson says
Great recipe
Brooke Kill says
Thank you, Jeff!