Cilantro Lime Chicken Thighs
This is truly the most AMAZING zesty cilantro-lime marinade ever. And the chicken comes out perfectly juicy and tender.
Guys.
It was 25 degrees F this morning. I am seriously so over it.
I mean, we’re about to head into April! And it was 60 degrees just a few days ago. Where’s the Spring weather, Chicago? I’m ready for grilling season!
But I guess for now, I’ll have to settle for the grill pan.
Because these cilantro lime chicken thighs cannot wait for this Chicago warm weather everyone has been promising this LA native.
Nope. This marinade is too epic to be waiting. The marinade made with fresh cilantro, olive oil, lime zest, chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper.
It’s simple, it’s quick, and it yields the most flavorful, zesty chicken thighs one can ask for.
Simply throw these bad boys on a grill pan or a hot grill (for those of you with actual Spring weather!) and serve with rice or use for tacos, bowls, or salads.
Cilantro Lime Chicken Thighs
This is truly the most AMAZING zesty cilantro-lime marinade ever. And the chicken comes out perfectly juicy and tender.
Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
- 1 tablespoon lime zest
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
Directions:
- In a medium bowl, combine cilantro, 2 tablespoons olive oil, lime juice, lime zest, chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper.
- In a gallon size Ziploc bag or large bowl, combine chicken and cilantro mixture; marinate for at least 2 hours to overnight, turning the bag occasionally. Drain the chicken from the marinade.
- Heat remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil in a cast iron grill pan over medium-high heat.* Working in batches, add chicken to the grill pan in a single layer and cook until golden brown and cooked through, reaching an internal temperature of 165 degrees F, about 4-5 minutes per side.
- Serve immediately.
Notes:
*If you do not have a cast iron grill pan, you can also use a large cast iron skillet.
Did you Make This Recipe?
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I made this once already. So, so delicious. We’ll be having this again tonight. Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Made exactly as stated with ingredients, and I marinated for 4 hours. I did however change the cooking method as I couldn’t grill and I don’t have a grill pan. So I just browned them on one side in my cast iron pan with the olive oil, flipped over, and finished in a 375 oven for about 20-25 min. Delish! My husband said this might be his favorite chicken. Served over brown rice with roasted garlic broccoli. Yum! Thanks!
So so GOOD and So so EASY. I marinated for only 2.5 hours. I bet it will be even better longer. I browned on stove top first then 30 mins in the 400 degree oven as suggested in the comments. “good seasoning”, says daughter. “I want another one” says husband.
Definitely a keeper. Thanks for another great recipe.
Very easy, very tasty. I used red pepper instead of black pepper for an extra kick.
The best cilantro lime chicken recipe I tried!!!
We have made this twice now and it is great! Both my kids love it too!
This is amazing! Trying to get my elderly father into eating healthier.. (he was adamant that chicken have skin in order to he grilled and taste good!) Marinated boneless skinless chicken thighs in this overnight and grilled them for lunch today. He was so impressed! I give this 4 thumbs up… 2 from me and 2 from my father!!
This marinade is to DIE FOR. I’m not a huge fan of chicken thighs so I used chicken breasts instead. I meant to only marinate for 1 day but things got busy so I think it ended up being 2-3 days in the fridge. I don’t have a cast iron skillet so I used the air frier and they were amazing! This marinade is sooooo flavorful, I’m obsessed. Next time Im going to use it to make a chicken bowl for meal prep. I can’t recommend enough!
You’ve never let me down but this is a new favorite. It was so good that I made it twice in one week! The second time I added garlic and cooked the chicken a bit longer to get a nice char.
Damn delicious, indeed!
This is a tasty recipe just as it is. Since making it twice, I have used it as the base for several improvisations. Thanks for recipe
I’ve made this on the stove and on the grill. SO GOOD.
Omg this is absolutely my go to recipe fo marinating chicken !!
OMG this is so……..wonderful. I could not cook out because of the weather THUNDERSTORMS so I had to do this inside. I followed your recipe to a T, but cooked them in a frying pan to brown the chicken, the put them on a rack in a baking pan and baked them at 400 for 30 minutes. I used breasts because that is what I had. My sons went crazy over this recipe. I was told by them this was definitely a keeper. Thank you so much for this recipe and all the recipes that you post. Waving at you from Charlotte NC
Substituted cilantro with parsley. It was an amazing dish. One of the best chicken dishes I’ve ever tasted. But wait until “real summer.” Needs to be grilled/charred!!! Served with rice with sautéed onions mixed in. It was ridiculous!!!
Hi, Chungha
Made this for dinner tonite for Mom and me. It was really nice — chicken thighs were very tender. I marinated 3 chicken thighs for about 3 hours and massaged the ziploc bag about every 45 min. I used parsley since Mom doesn’t care for cilantro. Next time, I’ll increase the lime juice and zest. Thank you for sharing your recipe. Will check out your other creations soon. Lisa in Indianapolis
That looks and sounds delicious! I will have to try that.
I’m marinating the chicken now. Has anyone used the air fryer to cook this? If so, what temperature and cook for how long? I’m using bone-in chicken thighs.
Excellent! I’ve made it again tonight to cook tomorrow after a long day. Everything is so tender and flavorful. And they cook so quickly! This has quickly become a household favorite.
Made this for my wife and stepdaughter yesterday and they absolutely loved it! And they are tough customers! Sorry I don’t have pictures but I don’t really think of doing it at the time! I sliced up the meat and made them into chicken tacos. We made rice and Mexican street corn too. Delicioso! ☺️
Absolutely fantastic, this is now one of my go to recipes.
So GOOD!!!! But was thinking about doing in the air fryer. thoughts on that?
I love this recipe! I have made it at least 10 times now. It so easy to make the night before and grill the next day. It never looks as good as it does in your photos but it tastes delicious and the chicken thighs are full of flavor! My entire family loves it.
Excellent!! We grilled them and they were so tender and so flavorful! Definitely a recipe to be on repeat.
Chicken, Lime and Cilantro…. What a delicious combination. Must try sort of dish. the picture looks super yummmyyy
I added a twist by adding a glaze. The glaze was 1/4 cup honey, 1/4 lime juice,1/4 tequila, 1 teaspoon chilli power, 1/4 crushed red pepper. Brought it to a boil and the low to keep worm as the grill heated up.
Grilled it over med low heat on a gas grill 15 min on one side. Turned the chicken then put the glaze on and cooked 10 more min. Surved with Spanish rice, black beens with cheese on the side. Fantasic!
So basically you changed the recipe?
So you made a completely different recipe? Rendering your comment or review completely useless.
Nan – Love it! always open to peoples input, and looking for methods/twists to change things up a bit… I gonna try “as written,” and what you suggest (and apply it elsewhere as a new tool in by bag of tricks. 🙂 Thank you!!!
I’ve made this once before and it was great. But if there are only two of us, but enough chicken for four, would it be okay to save half the sauce and then prepare the remaining chicken for dinner next day with reserved sauce or cut sauce in half and make it fresh next day?
After seeing this on your IG a few times, I finally bought the ingredients. I doubled the recipe because you have never disappointed me before. This was a HOME RUN! I made it exactly as you’ve specified, letting it marinate for 5 hours. My family of 6 — that includes 4 teenagers — couldn’t not get enough. Thank you for another ahhhhh-mazing dinner to add to my rotation.
Saw in IG your hubby was grilling this over the weekend. Made it for the first time and it was awesome! Husband and teenage son went to town 🙂 (note: I came up a little short on the lime zest but otherwise followed to a T)
Made the orher day. It. came out AMAZING. going to make again very soon.
This is sooooooo good! Hubby loves it!
Delicious! I added some crushed garlic to the marinade which we like!
This recipe was AMAZING!!! I’ve tried making cilantro lime chicken before and it was a ton of ingredients and annoying. But this was so good and easy. I used chicken breasts instead of thighs and made lettuce wraps. DELICIOUS!!!
No Joke! I made this marinade, minus the lime and cilantro. I used the juice of 1 lemon in place of the lime and no zest was used.
I was looking for a Fajita marinade and this was very close to what I had used decades ago, so I made the change I stated above but also added 1 tablespoon of light brown sugar to make fajita chicken.
How did it come out? It was fantastic. There are a couple additional tweaks I need to make. 1 is to add a chopped Jalapeno and the other is to cut the cumin to 1/2 tsp. I think that will be perfect for my next go around.
As for actually making Cilantro-Lime, I think I would also cut the cumin to 1/2 tsp and make sure to add the 1 tablespoon of sugar.
Loved this! My boyfriend told me to triple the recipe for next time!
Outstanding! I wouldn’t change a thing.
This recipe was excellent, works with chicken breast too(I would recommend slicing them in half). The only thing I would add is a little bit of sugar of some kind because the marinade can get a little on the salty side, and I added a little cayenne for some more heat.
This marinade was amazing!! So happy I stumbled across your page. I let mine marinate for a full 24 hours and pan cooked them making them nice and crispy. Tasted great paired up with some cilantro lime rice. Next time I think I will use this chicken for tacos, ahh so many possibilities I will have to make it again next week!
Delicious, juicy, tasty and soooo satisfying! I’ll make it again and again for my family.
Love these chicken thighs so much! Love them by themselves or in burrito bowls, tacos, etc.
Perfect seasoning mixture. The longer you marinate, the better. I also like to sear them on the frying pan with oil and then bake to finish cooking them so that they are extra crispy on the outside.
Marinaded over night.
I actually added some fresh garlic to my marinade along with a couple splashes of soy sauce instead of the salt and added a little bit of my fresh honey too. Im going to be searing these in a hot frying pan but I’m sure the grill would be the best. But I think they’ll still be very tasty and I’m also going to prepare some saffron yellow rice on side and sliced tomato and avqcado.
I’ll let you know how it is.
Oh my goodness they were very tasty!!
Sounds delicious. I have been cooking your Instant Pot Lemon Chicken with great success. Damn delicious! I’m assuming I can follow those directions with the IP with this recipe?
Absolutely! Let us know how it turns out! 🙂
Big winner last night! Thank you for the great recipe.
I stumbled across this recipe in June and have easily made this 7 or 8 times. I use chicken breasts and pounded them out to be even and they are delicious!! I’ve been serving it with rice and broiled parmesan asparagus.
What a great way to serve it, Courtney!
Hey Jana, or any one really lol. This may sound stupid, but what is the Lime Zest? Is that something I would make myself? I know I could google it, but I want to make sure I have the exact thing used in this recipe 🙂
Lime zest is the outer green layer of peel, and the easiest tool for creating fine lime zest for cooking is a microplane.
DELICIOUS. My husband said it was restaurant quality. I even used chicken breasts, marinated for just over 1 hour, and they were still moist and flavorful. I will be making this again!
So glad I seen a comment about using chicken breasts! That’s what I plan on using. I wanted to see if anyone else did, and if it turned out well. 🙂
This is easy and so delicious. Love this recipe.
I made this tonight and it came out excellent. It will go into our rotation.. thank you for sharing
I made these for my sons graduation party and they were amazing!! People thought I had them catered. I will be making these again for sure!
These look amazing, any advice for adapting this for bone-in skin-on thighs?
Thanks
Bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs take a bit longer to cook through so I recommend finishing these guys in the oven. Hope that helps, Amy!
Thanks for the tips! I decided to skip the pan and go straight for the roast; 425 for 40 minutes. The meat came out so tender, but the bottom skin was a little soggy, shouldn’t have skipped the pan sear. I absolutely love the flavor though, perfect for the crazy hot day today here in Chicago. Thanks for the recipe! This is going into the summer rotation 🙂
These were so good! Fast and easy. I added 1 tsp honey and loved it.
Great addition, Whitney! Thanks so much for sharing!
Awesome! Awesome! Awesome! We are foodies and this dish was a definite keeper.
What kind of sides would taste great with this? Looking for some ideas to make a meal.
Our grilled corn with cilantro lime butter or the mini hasselback potatoes would be great with this! But please feel free to check out our side dish section here for more options. 🙂
I never leave reviews but had to because this was outstanding. The only tweak was I added 3 cloves of sliced garlic to the marinade. Also served the chicken with a dollop of plain greek yogurt. Thank you. Will be making this again!
Great additions, Karen! Thanks for sharing!
This is a new family favorite, for sure! We added garlic, as many others suggested, and sliced the grilled chicken to use it in tacos. My eleven-year-old son declared it his favorite out of all of the taco fillings in our rotation. Works well on a broiler, in a grill pan, on on the outdoor grill.
Excellent chicken! We added garlic (what’s not made better with garlic??) and ended up baking it for 20 minutes at 425 F after pan frying because we had the wrong heat setting on the stove. Still delicious and juicy!
Everything is better with garlic, right? Thanks for sharing! 🙂
So good! I’ve been making it with cilantro lime rice. Any suggestions on sauce for bowls or dressing for salad?
Thanks!
There are a variety of dressings in our salad recipes if you’d like to give them a try! 🙂
https://damndelicious.net/category/salad/
So delicious that I’m compelled to leave a review. Moist and bursting with flavor. Will make weekly now. Do you have any other recipes that are equally good?
This is another favorite of mine, similar to this recipe! 🙂
https://damndelicious.net/2019/05/24/lemon-garlic-chicken-thighs/
Wow, just wow. I wish i could gave this 6 stars. This is the recipe that made star in yesterday’s party. The guests liked this dish so much that made feel real proud. In my opinion you are the real star changah.
Mexican St Tacos. *****
,Slow Cooker Butter Chicken *****,Quick Ramen Noodle Stir Fry*****,Instant Pot Chicken Stock*****,
I have made them all with total success!!!! I have transformed into a joyful person in the kitchen again thanks to your wonderful recipes. Thank you sooooo much. I look forward to continuing to enjoy my kitchen relationship. Signing up for your recipes came just at the right time….after 70 I needed a refresher.
Blanche, we absolutely love that! Thank you so much for sharing with us. We hope that you’ll continue to enjoy our recipes! 🙂
I love so many of your recipes and can’t wait to try this one soon. After step 2 could I freeze the marinated chicken to defrost and cook later?
What a great idea! But unfortunately, without having tried this myself, I cannot answer with certainty. But if you get a chance to try it, please let me know how it turns out! 🙂
Such a nice flavor! We are new to cilantro, but have a lot in the garden so we like finding recipes that need it. Everybody loved this one. We did it on a sheet pan.
Hi. Love your recipes & they always turn out amazing! Can I make the cilantro lime chicken thigh recipe on a sheet pan? Thank you.
Absolutely!
Thanks for this recipe, it was really yummy.
I never comment on your recipes but I’ve been coming here for years and you never disappoint! I know I can count on your recipes to deliver! My kids favorite recipes were found here and on my daughters birthday she asked for the lemon butter chicken instead of eating out! Thanks for all you do!
Turned out really yummy. Very flavourful.
Made this for dinner tonight on the bbq. I really liked it! Only marinated for 6 hours. I would do the full 24 hours next time and maybe add a little garlic.
The flavors are even better when marinated for longer! 🙂
Made this for dinner tonight. It was a big hit! Very tender and flavorful. This recipe is definitely a keeper.
First time ever writing a review. I have made this 3 times, it is so good! Going for a 4th time today. I will bake in the oven this time. Too much work cleaning my grill pan after cooking on the stove top. Outdoor grill would be great, if only I had one. I love all your recipes !
We love hearing that! Thanks, Donna!
Very tasty and easy to make. I did leave in the refrigerator for 2 days which only improved the flavor. Highly recommend this recipe.
Awesome! Thank you for sharing, Elizabeth!
Excellent! Cannot wait to have this again.
So damn good!! We added garlic… because let’s be real you can never have enough garlic! I can’t wait to make this on our charcoal grill.
I totally agree!!! 🙂
This was a HUGE hit at our family dinner tonight! Between 4 adults and 4 picky children, everyone loved it. Made 4lbs of chicken thighs and only had 2 pieces left. Thanks for the yummy addition the my recipe repertoire.
That’s awesome, Sashear!
It was Damn Delicious!!! I paired it with Jasmine rice and sautéed green beans. Definitely will be making this recipe in the future.
Sounds amazing, Desiree!
Amazing!
I’m planning on making this tomorrow night What sides do you recommend?
This would pair beautifully with Mexican rice! 🙂
Can I give this 10 stars???? I made as described other than I baked in the oven until thighs were cooked. I served with some cilantro lime white rice and asparagus and it was a HIT. My husband and kids were fighting over who got to take the leftovers the next day. This is certainly being added into our regular meal planning rotation. Thanks!!!
Yes, please! We will take the 10. THANK YOU! 🙂
I made this last night (even bought a relatively inexpensive grill pan last week, because the recipe looked so good). It was SOOOO delicious. Will be great for summer when I don’t want to use the oven. Thanks for sharing!
It’s a great summer recipe for sure!
The picture of the marinaded chicken looks MUCH different from the one made with this recipe. The one in the picture looks like it has minced garlic in it and no chili powder. The marinade that is made with this recipe is dark red, because of the chili powder. I feel like I’m making a different recipe than what is shown.
Hi Cecile, our picture is mid mixing in the marinade. We don’t usually do step by step images, so don’t get too distracted by how something is looking mid way. As long as you’re following the written instructions you should end up with some very tasty chicken! We hope you enjoyed making this!
Ahhh, I see. I made the marinade first, then put it on the chicken. They were very good! Thanks for the recipe!
Great!
Very easy to make and the taste was out of this world. Did put in oven after browning just to be sure they were cooked.
That’s great!
10 out of 10 will make again!! Husband says it’s one of his new favorites in the chicken line up. Can’t wait to try it on the BBQ this summer with a side of Mexican Street corn!
So easy to make and such bright flavours!
That’s great! Thanks for sharing.
I have a question about using a Lodge cast iron pan. I thought cooking chicken in these pans are not recommended since soap is not used to correctly clean these pans so they cure correctly. Am I wrong about this? Thanks
Jeannie, I personally love cooking chicken (and almost everything else!) in my Lodge cast iron but as always, it is best to do what you are most comfortable with. Hope that helps!
Jeannie,
It is a big myth that you can’t clean your pan with soap – YOU CAN!! Just rinse well and dry even better! Then rub your pan with a thin layer of oil and heat in oven (like a normal seasoning.) … you can find these directions on the web. (On several websites)
I hope this helps!
I luv luv lime but HATE cilantro. Do you recommend a substitute? TY
Hi Nancy! The cilantro is a very prominent ingredient in this recipe so I do not recommend a substitute. Sorry!
I made this tonight but grilled them instead. They were amazing and so tasty! Love your recipes!
Having tonight ,am sure it will be fantastic
Just wondering if I can bake the chicken thighs ?
Thanks Joannr
Sure!
What temp do you recommend and how long? thanks!!!
These can be baked in the oven at 375 degrees F until no longer pink and the juices run clear, reaching an internal temperature of 165 degrees F, about 20-30 minutes.
this looks amazing and have not made it yet because im wondering if this will do well on the grill?
Absolutely!
This was amazing. We BBQ’d indirectly. This will go along with a honey, lemon, cumin marinade as a keeper. You’re my go to for chicken thigh recipes.
Thanks, Linda!
Hi, this is not a review, as your recipes look amazing but I have yet to make any. My question for you is–do you list the calorie/nutritional info anywhere on the site? If not, that’s fine, just wondered if you do and I’m not seeing it.
Thank you!
Yvonne
Hi Yvonne! We only provide nutritional information for select and some new recipes at this time and it would show at the bottom of the recipe. However, if it is not available for a specific recipe, we recommend using free online resources at your discretion (you can Google “nutritional calculator”) to obtain such information. Hope that helps!
Looks absolutely incredible to me! YUM!
Woow. It looks really great. I want to try it now.
Super flavorable
Marinated over night 24 hrs
New family favorite! Thank you so much for sharing. One note – on the printable version it doesn’t include the lime juice! It’s only on the website. 🙂 We’ll be making this for years to come!
Looks amazing! Going to try this week! Is there a grill pan you recommend?
I personally love Lodge.
I second Lodge. I got it from Amazon and am very happy with it
Had the chicken marinate over night and made a rice bowl with this chicken on top for my husbands lunch. Said he couldn’t wait to eat it ☺️ As always thank you For your recipes. You have saved me so many times. Hugs to Butters ❤️
That’s awesome! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
DAMN THIS IS DELICIOUS, AND I AM GOING TO DO THIS BECAUSE I LOVE CHICKEN THIGHS!!!! (BUT WITH THE BONE IN THAT IS WHERE THE FLAVOR IS, THE BONE!! (Not shouting) when something is right I get excited…My SERVICE DOGGIE, DEE DEE will love these too. I cook for my babies I don’t feed that crap dog food, all it is, is “SCRAPS”, I don’t eat scrap and my babies don’t neither. Damn Delicious, i love your recipes, and I still say you are cute.
I love that your dog’s name is Dee Dee. She must be very special.
Love, Dee Dee Adams
Hello! How long did you cook it bone-in?
This looks really good. My sons love lime flavor. Just to let you know I’m opposite you born in Chicago and now out in Menifee, Ca (near to L.A.) It was 86 degrees today Sunday. I’m here because I can’t take the cold anymore. Keep warm!
I bet that chicken was tender AF!!!!
Speaking as a Chicago native, just be grateful we don’t have any snow on the ground right now! 😉 A couple inches of snow in April is not unheard of around here! It really wouldn’t feel like spring in Chicago without 60’s one day and snow the next. You’ll fall in love with summer in the city though — there’s nothing better!
This looks so tasty, is it possible to use the oven instead?
Of course!
I have not tried this yet, but want to know if you can do this with chicken breast instead of thighs?
Yes, absolutely!
No actual lime juice in the marinade?
The recipe calls for 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice. 🙂
So it does! I was so anxious to go make this I overlooked it!
Dale:
I missed it too. I went back to the recipe and checked again. It does not print from the web page.
Going to have to pick up some cilantro and lime tonight to try with my chicken thigh! Thanks for the recipe. We serve a lot of chicken in Nashville!