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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 1/4 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
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Crispy Cilantro Lime Chicken Thighs
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons olive oil divided
- 1/4 cup lime juice fresh squeezed, juice of 2 limes
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro chopped
- 1 teaspoon red chili flakes or pepper flakes
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 2 teaspoons brown sugar
- 3/4 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.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Delicious, especially when combined with the black beans and rice. At dinner tonight the comments just kept on coming. This one will defiantly be done again. The rice is so full of flavour and the lime chicken is melt in your mouth.
I love this recipe, I served it over deep fried corn tortilla chips delish
This has become one of my favorite chicken recipes!!! And believe me that is saying something. Fresh and clean and I love the lime and cilantro
Also….perfect to grill out simply because it doesn’t take long so there’s more time to visit with friends rather than get stuck at the grill (and its perfect with a margarita)
I did exactly what your instructions were. It turned out pretty good! Delicious and it was a hit! Wish I can add a picture.
Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Very good! Tried with chicken thighs, chicken breast, and super firm tofu cubes. Very easy to make and so good that I printed this recipe for my international pen pal. Good dinner recipes that are easy to make are a global need.
Thank you for sharing! I made this chicken along with some brown rice and it was perfection!! I’m saving this one.
Made this Cilantro Lime chicken tonight with chicken breasts that I cut into 3rds (2 large skinless boneless). It was so delicious I’m saving it on your website and am anxious to try another recipe! Thank you for sharing your time with us!! From Colorado!!
Hi, thank you so much for sharing your recipes!!! you are amazing, and your recipes are excellent!! my daughter, and I made your Dijon Chicken last week for my birthday, and Happy Birthday to me!! I was completely surprised that the recipe called for no changes on my end, it was seasoned so well, you recipes are perfection just by looking at the pictures alone, thank you for helping make my birthday so special, I felt like I was eating at a restaurant at home, God bless!
I HAD to leave a review because it was just that good!!! I followed the recipe exactly and it turned out perfectly, crisp and full of flavor. It almost tasted grilled, new favorite!
Amazing flavor!