Our Crispy Cilantro Lime Chicken Recipe is full of incredible flavour! Juicy on the inside bone-in chicken thighs with a golden, crispy skin!
Mexican-inspired Crispy Cilantro Lime Chicken that marinates in no time thanks to a rich-in-flavour sauce. Garlic, cilantro and lime takes simple oven baked chicken thighs and turns them into a mouth-watering recipe thanks to all of those flavours mixing through the incredible pan drippings!
SUCCULENT CHICKEN THIGHS RECIPE!
No need to go anywhere or get take out when you can have juicy and crispy chicken on your table in no time with everyone feasting on some incredible chicken! The sauce is so good you’ll be licking your plates clean!
HOW TO MAKE CHICKEN
With simple ingredients you may already have on hand that create some explosive flavours in this chicken.:
- Fresh lime — use fresh lime juice for the best flavour. Don’t go for the bottled stuff.
- Cilantro — substitute with fresh parsley if you don’t like cilantro.
- Garlic — you could use green onions/scallions (about ¼ cup chopped) instead of garlic if you prefer
- Red chili flakes — if you don’t like a bit of heat, leave it out all together. Or for more heat, add more!
- Brown sugar — you can also use honey if you prefer. I love brown sugar in this. It balances out the acidity of the lime juice.
- Cumin
CHICKEN THIGHS OR BREASTS?
I used bone-in, skin on thighs in this recipe, but you can use skinless and boneless chicken breasts if you prefer. The cooking time will change slightly, depending on the size and thickness of your chicken breasts. Chicken always needs to be cooked to an internal temperature of 165 degrees F.
SIDES:
Even though there are many Cilantro Lime recipes out there, I KNOW you guys will love and appreciate this one. Because CRISPY SKIN wins food lovers over EVERY SINGLE TIME.
WATCH HOW WE MAKE Crispy Cilantro Lime Chicken
Crispy Cilantro Lime Chicken Thighs
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons olive oil divided
- ¼ cup lime juice fresh squeezed, juice of 2 limes
- ¼ cup fresh cilantro chopped
- 1 teaspoon red chili flakes or pepper flakes
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 2 teaspoons brown sugar
- ¾ teaspoon ground cumin
- 6 bone-in skin-on chicken thighs or bone-off
- 1 pinch salt to taste
- 1 pinch pepper to taste
- 1 pinch fresh cilantro leaves to serve
- 2 lime slices or wedges, to serve
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F (220°C).
- In a medium-sized shallow bowl, whisk together 2 tablespoons olive oil together with the lime juice, chopped cilantro, chili flakes, garlic, sugar and cumin. Add the chicken thighs to the marinade and toss to evenly coat. Cover and refrigerate thighs for 15 minutes.
- Heat the remaining one tablespoon of oil in a non stick pan or cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add in the thighs along with any marinade left over in the bowl, and sear chicken -- skin-side down -- for 4 minutes on each side until golden and crispy (chicken will not be fully cooked).
- Transfer to preheated oven and bake until the chicken is cooked through (about 15-20 minutes).
- Garnish with fresh cilantro leaves and lime slices or wedges.
- Serve over steamed rice or cauliflower rice, and drizzle with the pan juices.
Julia Kraft says
Love this recipe, but I used coconut sugar and didn’t realize until it was in the pan that that was a terrible idea! Coconut sugar, caramelizes, and burns really easily. So my sauce ended up being black.
Rachel Longenecker says
I always have sooo much cilantro from our garden and was looking for new recipes to use it up. This one is so easy and yummy! Some of my favorite sides with it is rice, homemade naan, an Asian cabbage salad, or a black bean corn salad! Definitely recommend for a great weeknight dish
Michael says
I use this at home topped with Mango salsa and served with black beans and cilantro lime rice. We also serve it up when we’re camping in the Dutch oven. My wife doesn’t like cumin, so substituted w/smoked paprika. Always a favorite and chicken thighs are perfect for this! Thanks!
Christina E says
Wow! I am so impressed with the flavor of this! I didn’t have cumin so I used a sazon packet and then I broiled for extra crispiness! I’m so excited that I found this lol! Soo good! Thank you for sharing!
lee says
I made carnitas last week and had leftover, tomatillo salsa, pickled red onions and chopped cilanto – so I was looking for a recipe to use those leftover elements in a meal and came across this recipe. I happened to also have a package of bone-in, skin-on thighs in the freezer and a box of Zatarain’s Cilantro Lime Rice. Wow! I made the marinade yesterday morning & let the thighs marinate about 4 hours. Last night we had two of the thighs cooked in the air fryer at 380 for 17 minutes with the rice side topped with salsa, pickled red onions and cilantro. Delicious! Can’t wait to have the remaining 2 thighs tonight. I am sometimes disappointed by marinades that don’t really seem to flavor the meat. This marinade did not disappoint. We had a restaurant quality dinner that started with pickled red onions I just had to use.
Val says
I made this delicious dish tonight and will keep it in the rotation. Thank you for sharing it!
Allison says
I always come back to this recipe and I pair it with the beans and rice.
So good simple and healthy
BarbaraB says
This was delicious! Perfect to make one evening for dinner. I can’t wait to try more of your recipes!
Wanda says
I have made this dish about 5 times and never fails everyone loves it, I made it for my wedding of 150 guest and no one complaint, my 14 yr old son when he visits his dad always calls me to get the recipe so that he can make it, I have it on our weekly menu of meals to make. I make it with Spanish rice.