Healthy Chili Lime Chicken
This post contains affiliate links. Read our disclosure policy.
An easy Chili Lime Chicken recipe that can be made in under an hour! This chili lime marinade is perfect for grilling, baking or pan searing! This post is sponsored by our friends at ButcherBox.
When you’re tired of boring grilled chicken – try this grilled chili lime chicken recipe! It’s easy to make with basic pantry staples and full of flavor.
This simple marinade recipe comes together in just a few minutes and works with chicken, shrimp, or veggies. You can marinate your chicken for a few minutes, or prep it the day before for the ultimate flavor packed dinner. Grill it, pan sear, or bake it in the oven!
This chili lime chicken is a weekly staple for us and is perfect for meal prep! We love it with cilantro lime rice and pickled veggies or on a salad.
tyler’s tips for chili lime chicken
- Tenderize Chicken: A meat mallet is helpful for super tender chicken.
- Marinate your chicken for at least 30 minutes, but the longer the better. I usually let it marinate overnight for the most flavorful chicken.
Ingredients
Substitutions
Chicken Breasts: You can substitute with boneless chicken thighs or chicken tenders. Bone in chicken thighs will also work, but will need more time to cook; check out this Honey Chipotle Chicken recipe for timing! We also love chili lime steak.
Olive Oil: You can substitute avocado oil for olive oil in this recipe.
Lime Juice: We strongly recommend using fresh lime juice. The pre-juiced kind in the bottle is not as tasty! You could also use lemon juice.
ButcherBox chicken is our favorite chicken to cook with! It’s organic and free range chicken that is absolutely delicious.
ButcherBox gets shipped right to your door completely frozen. It’s super convenient! We’ve found that the prices are significantly cheaper than organic meat at the grocery store, and we prefer the quality.
There are no icky pieces, it doesn’t have a lot of fat on it, and it’s super tender when you cook it!
Right now, you can get free meat when you try ButcherBox today!
How to Make Lime Chili Chicken
- Whisk together olive oil, lime juice, and spices.
- Add your chicken to a large dish, pour the marinade over it, and toss to evenly coat. Marinate your chicken in the marinade for at least 30 minutes but ideally overnight.
- To Grill (baking and stovetop directions below): Preheat your grill to medium high heat for 10 minutes, add a little olive oil, and place your chicken on the grill. Let the chicken cook for 6 minutes, then flip. Cook for an additional 6 minutes or until your chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165°.
what to serve with this recipe:
This chili lime chicken can be served with many side dishes. Here are some of our favorites:
- Cilantro Lime Rice and Pickled Veggies (pictured below)
- Parmesan Brussel Sprouts and Garlic Roasted Red Potatoes
- Honey Roasted Carrots and Crispy Potatoes
- With tortillas and Corn Salsa
- On a Chicken Cobb Salad or Avocado Ranch Salad
Storage/Freezing
Storing: This will last in the refrigerator for up to 4 days in an airtight container.
Freezing: We don’t recommend freezing grilled chicken. It can get a funny texture when thawed and reheated.
Reheating: We don’t recommend reheating chicken in the microwave. If you’re going to reheat chicken, it’s best reheated in a pan on the stove or in the toaster oven. You can also enjoy this chicken cold – it’s great on a salad with one of these healthy salad dressing recipes!
Chili Lime Chicken
Ingredients
Ingredients:
- 3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Marinade:
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ¼ cup lime juice about 3 limes juiced
- ¼ teaspoon dried oregano
- ⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ¼ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ¼ teaspoon cumin
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Recommended: Remove excess fat off chicken breasts and tenderize with a meat mallet in.
- In a measuring cup, whisk together olive oil, lime juice and spices.
- Add your chicken to a large ziploc bag or dish. Pour the marinade over the chicken and toss to evenly coat in the marinade.
- Marinate your chicken in the marinade for at least 30 minutes but the longer the better. (I usually let it marinate overnight to really let the chicken absorb the flavor)
- We prefer to grill this chicken but you can also bake or pan sear depending on what appliances you have available.
Grilling:
- Preheat your grill at medium high heat for 10 minutes, season your grill with a little bit of olive oil to prevent sticking and place your chicken on the grill.
- Let the chicken cook for 6 minutes, then flip. The chicken should have golden brown grill marks.
- Cook for an additional 6 minutes or until your chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165.
- Let the chicken rest for 5 minutes before slicing.
Baking:
- Preheat your oven to 425 degrees and prepare a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Bake on a parchment lined baking sheet at 425 degrees for 15 minutes or until it reaches an internal temp of 165.
- You can check to make sure your chicken is cooked thoroughly by using an internal thermometer.
- Let the chicken rest for 5 minutes before slicing.
Stovetop:
- Preheat a cast iron skillet or grill pan.
- Spray the pan with olive oil.
- Sear the chicken for 6 minutes on one side, then flip and cook for an additional 6 minutes until the chicken is golden brown and has reached an internal temperature of 165 degrees.
- Let the chicken rest for 5 minutes before slicing.
Maybe I’m misunderstanding, but you’re not supposed to clean chicken
Cleaning chicken refers to removing the excess fat off of it, as we describe in the recipe. Hope this helps!
Easy and flavorful marinade. Used boneless skinless thighs.