Healthy Chili Lime Chicken
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Make this easy Chili Lime Chicken recipe for a healthy chicken breast dinner with vibrant flavor. Great for grilling, baking or pan searing! This post is sponsored by our friends at ButcherBox.
When you’re tired of plain grilled chicken, this chili lime chickenis what you need! The chili lime chicken marinade is easy to make with basic pantry staples and it’s a great meal prep option, too.
The healthy chicken marinade tastes great on chicken, shrimp, pork chops, and veggies, too!
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
- Use a glass or ceramic dish for marinating. Over time, the acidic lime juice can break down plastic, so be sure to use a non-reactive dish.
- For the best flavor, marinate the chicken for at least 30 minutes. I usually let it marinate overnight.
- After marinating the chicken, immediately throw away any leftover chili lime marinade. It should never be reused after it’s been in contact with raw meat.
- To prevent the meat from sticking, apply a little bit of oil to the grill grates first.
- Be sure to use a meat thermometer to ensure that the chicken is fully cooked to an internal temperature of 165°F.
Ingredients
Substitutions
Chicken Breasts: You can substitute with boneless skinless chicken thighs or chicken tenderloins. Bone in chicken thighs will also work, but they will need more time to cook. Take a look at our Honey Chipotle Chicken Thighs recipe for timing!
Olive Oil: You can substitute avocado oil for olive oil in this recipe.
Lime Juice: We strongly recommend using fresh lime juice. The concentrated juice in the bottle is not as tasty! If you’re out of limes, any citrus juice will work – lemons and oranges are both great choices.
If you want to use a different protein, try our chili lime steak recipe.
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
This is just a summary of the steps involved in making the recipe. Scroll down to the recipe card for the full instructions, or click on the Jump to Recipe button, below.
- Make the marinade by whisking together olive oil, lime juice, and spices.
- Add the chicken to a large dish, pour the marinade over it, cover the dish, then refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
- Preheat your grill to medium high heat for 10 minutes. Oil to the grates to prevent the meat from sticking, then let the chicken cook for 6 minutes per side, or until the internal temp reaches 165°F.
Other Cooking Methods
In the oven: In a 425 degree F oven, bake the marinated chicken breasts on a parchment lined baking sheet to an internal temp of 165°F. Depending on the thickness of the breasts, it should take about 15 minutes.
On the stove top: Cook in an oiled cast iron skillet or grill pan for 6 minutes per side, or to an internal temp of 165°F.
Serving Suggestions
This chili lime chicken is a healthy, high protein meal that tastes great with many different sides! Here are just a few 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 Air Fryer Tortilla Chips and Corn Salsa
storing Leftover Chicken
Refrigerator: In an airtight container, leftovers will keep in the fridge for up to 4 days.
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!
Other Healthy Chicken Recipes to Try
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.