These cilantro lime chicken tacos are super flavorful, healthy, and delicious! The bite-sized chicken pieces are perfectly seasoned, seared, and covered in a tasty cilantro-lime marinade. Served with your favorite toppings, these tacos make for an incredibly delicious dinner!
This cilantro lime chicken taco recipe is perfect for anyone who loves quick, simple, and healthy dinner recipes! Just like my shredded chicken tacos, they are super simple to prepare which makes them perfect for dinner on busy days.
The seasonings and cilantro-lime marinade give the chicken the best flavor while using chicken thighs ensures that the meat stays super juicy and tender. Toppings like guacamole, lettuce, and cilantro garlic sauce perfectly complement the cilantro lime chicken and make these tacos taste extra delicious!
Ingredients
To make these cilantro lime chicken tacos, you’ll need the following ingredients:
- Chicken thighs: For this recipe, I recommend using boneless and skinless chicken thighs as they stay super juicy and tender when being seared in a pan over high heat.
- Garlic: Another ingredient that’s key for the flavor of this recipe is garlic. So make sure to not skip it!
- Seasonings: Chili powder, ground cumin, cayenne pepper (optional), salt, and pepper are used to add some extra flavor to the chicken without taking away from the delicious taste of cilantro and lime.
- Cilantro: Cilantro is one of the key ingredients in this recipe. So make sure to get plenty of fresh cilantro.
- Lime: In this recipe, lime juice and lime zest are used to add some acidity and lime aroma to the final dish. For this purpose, I recommend using organic limes.
- Honey: Honey perfectly balances the acidity of lime juice and is a great addition to this recipe.
- Tortillas: You can use your favorite type of tortilla to make these chicken tacos. I like to use wheat tortillas, but (gluten-free) almond flour tortillas, cassava flour tortillas, or corn flour tortillas work just as great!
- Toppings: There is a variety of toppings that you can serve with these tacos. I love guacamole, lettuce, and sour cream or cilantro garlic sauce.
How to make cilantro lime chicken tacos
Preparing cilantro lime chicken tacos is super effortless! Just follow these steps:
- Season the chicken: First, add the chicken thigh pieces, garlic, oil, and seasonings to a bowl. Toss until everything is combined.
- Prepare the cilantro lime marinade: In a small bowl, whisk together the lime juice, lime zest, honey, and cilantro.
- Sear the chicken: Now preheat some oil in a pan over medium-high heat. Sear the chicken until it is browned and cooked through. Turn off the stove, add the cilantro lime sauce, and toss until combined.
- Serve: Warm up some tortillas and serve the cilantro lime chicken with your favorite toppings. Enjoy!
Tips & Notes
Read through the following notes before making these cilantro lime chicken tacos and keep them in mind when trying this recipe.
- Add cayenne pepper to make the chicken tacos spicy. There isn’t a lot of heat involved in this recipe, so if you prefer spicy foods make sure to add some cayenne pepper. It’s not necessary, but certainly a delicious addition!
- Don’t toss the chicken pieces continuously so they have a chance to brown. Just let them rest in the pan and give them an occasional toss to make sure that nothing burns.
- Don’t burn the cilantro. I recommend turning off the stove before adding the cilantro lime marinade. Then quickly toss everything and serve. If you keep the stove on and sauté everything for too long, the cilantro might burn.
Toppings
The toppings you add to these cilantro lime chicken tacos totally depend on your personal preferences! When I took the pictures, I used guacamole (under the lettuce), lettuce, sour cream with lime juice, and extra cilantro.
But there are so many different combinations that taste great. So feel free to pick your favorite toppings. Here is some inspiration for you:
- Cabbage: Shredded cabbage tastes super delicious on tacos! Both green and red cabbage work well with tacos.
- Lettuce: Lettuce is another delicious addition to these cilantro lime chicken tacos. Just pick your favorite type, shred it, and use it as a base for the tacos.
- Guacamole: Guacamole is probably one of the toppings I always use when making tacos. It’s super creamy, healthy, and delicious.
- Pico de gallo: Another favorite is pico de gallo. I just love the combination of tomatoes, red onion, garlic, cilantro, and lime juice.
- Cilantro: If you feel like adding some extra cilantro, please do so! It tastes really great.
- Sour cream: I always like to add some type of sauce that brings together all of the different components. Sour cream really works great for this purpose. Another favorite is a combination of greek yogurt, mayo, and garlic.
- Cilantro garlic sauce: If you don’t mind adding some extra cilantro, feel free to whip up this delicious cilantro garlic sauce! It is super creamy, flavorful, and tasty.
- Cojito cheese: If you love cheese, you might want to add some Cojito cheese to these cilantro lime chicken tacos. It tastes really great and goes well with the chicken.
- Mango: If you are a pineapple-on-pizza kind of person, you might love mango or mango salsa on these tacos! It adds some sweetness and tastes great.
Frequently Asked Questions
In many of my recipes, chicken breasts and chicken thighs are interchangeable, but here I’d recommend sticking to chicken thighs. Chicken breasts become dry very easily and the chicken needs to be seared for a few minutes. So it is going to end up dry. That’s why I suggest using chicken thighs. They stay juicy and tender.
Yes, just make sure that the tortillas you use are gluten-free.
You can store leftovers in an airtight container in your refrigerator for 3-4 days. You can reheat the chicken in a pan or in your microwave.
More simple and delicious dinner recipes
Here are a few more tasty dinner recipes that you might love.
Cilantro Lime Chicken Tacos
Ingredients
- 3 chicken thighs boneless, skinless (about 1.25 pounds of meat), cut into small pieces
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil or avocado oil
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon chili powder
- cayenne pepper (optional) to taste
- salt & pepper to taste
- 1 lime juiced & zested
- ½ tablespoon honey
- 3 tablespoons chopped cilantro
- toppings e.g. guacamole, lettuce, sour cream, pico de gallo, onion
- 8 tortillas can be gluten-free
Instructions
- Add the chicken thigh pieces, half of the oil, garlic, ground cumin, chili powder, cayenne pepper (optional), salt, and pepper to a bowl. Toss until combined.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the lime juice, lime zest, honey, and cilantro. Then set aside.
- Now preheat the remaining oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Sear the chicken pieces until they are browned and cooked through. Turn off the stove, add the lime-cilantro marinade, and toss.
- Serve the cilantro lime chicken with your favorite toppings and warmed tortillas. Enjoy!
Leave a Reply