Coconut Lime Chicken
This Coconut Lime Chicken is a quick entree that earns rave reviews! The light and creamy sauce includes a bright burst of lime flavor you’re going to love.
A few weeks ago I bought a big bag of gorgeous limes and promptly forgot about them. Don’t you hate when that happens? They got stuck behind who knows what in the refrigerator and I never saw them. So the following week I bought another bag. It wasn’t small either. I ended up with a whole lot of limes just begging me to create something. Okay, limes, I hear you.
Luckily I’d had this recipe in mind for a while and, oh my goodness, it was amazing from the very first try. I made it a few times to get the sauce consistency just right. It is.
The sauce in this Skillet Creamy Lime Chicken is creamy, coconutty, and limey (I’m fairly sure that’s not an actual word.)
I know I use canned coconut milk in a lot of recipes and I often say “but it won’t taste like coconut”. Well that’s not the case for this recipe. It does taste like coconut (because we use a lot of the coconut milk) and it’s downright yummy.
To make this delectable recipe you’ll start with the chicken. I like to slice mine horizontally to create thin cutlets. They cook so much faster and more evenly than thick chicken breasts.
The key to any skillet chicken is to crank up the heat when you first add the chicken to the pan. That way you can get a really good browning on it. Beige chicken creeps me out, friends. Plus when you get some good coloring on your chicken that means you’ll get yummy crispy bits of chicken in the pan to scrape up as you make the sauce. It always makes the sauce richer.
Once your chicken is browned, remove it from the skillet and set aside. Add in the sauce ingredients. Stir to combine. Place the chicken back in the skillet and let everything simmer until flavors have married and everything is warmed through.
That’s it! Guess what? This recipe is Whole30 compliant, gluten free, and dairy free. That’s right. I said it. It’s all of those things and it’s still super yummy! It’s basically kitchen sorcery. My specialty.
Now go whip up some for dinner tonight. Be sure to serve this over simply prepared vegetables or diced potatoes so you can take full advantage of that sauce. Enjoy!
But don’t just take my word for it, here’s what people who’ve made this recipe have to say on Instagram:
Made this for dinner tonight but forgot to snap a pic. Served over brown basmati rice and sautéed broccolini. It was so yummy and super easy! Definitely going in the regular rotation!
Just a tip. Double that sauce!!! It’s that good.
It’s so good! My anti-healthy-eating dad had seconds when I made it for him.
How to serve this saucy chicken?
This sauce is outrageously good so be sure to serve this chicken over something that can sop it all up! I recommend Cilantro Lime Cauliflower Rice, Light & Creamy Mashed Potatoes, Easy Seasoned Roasted Potatoes, Easy Diced Air Fryer Potatoes, or Skillet Breakfast Potatoes. Steamed cauliflower rice or traditional rice work great too!
And now let’s talk sides! If you’re thinking of something green I recommend my Spicy Roasted Broccoli, Easy Roasted Broccoli, Garlic Green Beans, Simple Sautéed Cabbage, or Roasted Green Beans with Almonds.
Want to add more color to your plate? These Roasted Ranch Veggies will give you your vegetable fix and look so dang pretty. You’ll enjoy these Roasted Parsley Carrots and my Roasted Red Cabbage too.
More recipes like this:
Sun-Dried Tomato Lemon Chicken
Coconut Lime Chicken
Ingredients
- 4 chicken breasts
- 2 tbsp cooking fat of choice, (I use coconut oil.)
- 1/4 cup chicken stock
- 1/4 cup lime juice
- 1 1/2 cup canned coconut milk, unsweetened and full fat (should not say lite or low fat)
- 1 tbsp minced garlic
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1/8 cup fresh chopped cilantro
Additional salt & pepper to taste.
Instructions
- Add your cooking fat of choice to a large skillet and heat on medium high heat.
- Unless your chicken breasts are already fairly thin slice them horizontally. This will give you very thin cutlets so they'll cook faster and more evenly.
- Add your chicken breasts to the hot pan. Liberally salt and pepper the side facing up. Saute until each side has some browning and chicken is cooked through or mostly cooked through, about 3 to 4 minutes per side.
- Remove chicken from the skillet and set aside on a plate. Lower heat to medium.
- Add chicken stock, lime juice, coconut milk (stir it in the can so that you don't have any separation), minced garlic, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp pepper to the skillet. You'll have a bit of coconut milk remaining in your can. Set it aside because we'll drizzle some of that on top after everything is finished. Stir your sauce, scraping up any browned bits remaining in the pan from when you cooked your chicken.
- Add the chicken breasts back to the skillet with the sauce. Cover. Let simmer on medium to medium low for 5 minutes.
- Right before serving use a spoon to scrape up some of the remaining coconut milk from the can and drizzle it over your chicken. Sprinkle fresh chopped cilantro. You're done!
- Serve with vegetables or potatoes to take full advantage of the yummy coconut lime sauce!
Notes
Nutrition
75 Comments on “Coconut Lime Chicken”
I cannot tell you how excited I was to come across this recipe. We got a bunch of limes in our bountiful basket this week & I was wondering how I was going to use all of them. Can’t wait to give this a try!
Oooo that sounds perfect! I hope you love it!
Do you think I can substitute tofu or tempeh?
I’m sorry but I don’t know. I haven’t tried it with either.
I made this dish for dinner tonight. It gets a big thumbs up. Very tropical! I served it over mushroom basmati rice and fresh green beans.
I’m so happy to hear it! Thanks so much! <3
What a delicious looking dinner! I love the flavors – especially the limes there 🙂
Oh my word…this looks divine! I can’t even wait to make this one! Looks so easy and who doesn’t love all those flavors together? Thanks for sharing…pinning now!
That is some creamy goodness right there! Yum!
This chicken looks and sounds so delicious and refreshing! I love the combination of coconut and lime and will definitely try it soon for dinner!
I can substitute this chicken for fish and now I ‘m hungry.
This looks delicious. Do you know if boneless, skinless chicken thighs would work? Just wondering if it would turn out too greasy. Also thinking of using Almond milk instead of coconut for one of my picky eaters.
Thanks!
Chicken thighs would definitely do great but I wouldn’t do the almond milk sub. The coconut milk in this recipe is canned and not refrigerated so it’s thicker than refrigerated coconut milk or almond milk. If you decide to give it a go I’d love to know if it worked or not though!
I was out of limes and decide to swap for lemon. This may have changed the flavor slightly, but it was still phenomenal! Thanks for sharing another knock-it-out-of-the-park easy dinner that can be made on a weeknight! I felt like this was weekend quality (meaning more time and effort should’ve been required) meal!
Great dish! Used boneless chicken thighs and simmered for longer to allow for time to get Grandson to bed. Five star rating from family *****
Thanks so much for telling me! I’m so happy to hear that! <3
This was an amazing dish! SO EASY and so delicious. I served mine over plain white rice and my children loved it. I served mine over broccoli and Cauliflower. It was amazing. TWO GAZZILLION THUMBS UP!
Hahaha YAY!! I wish my blog allowed for two gazzillion thumbs up!! Thank you so much for taking the time to let me know here how much you enjoyed it. I really appreciate it!! <3
Hi! Do you think this recipe would work using a crockpot and shredding the chicken once it’s been cooking awhile? Thank you!
I haven’t tried it so I couldn’t say for sure but my concern would be that you might not have enough liquid and it could dry out that way.
I made this last night for my very picky and allergy filled family! It was such a big hit! Every single person loved this. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. It has officially made it into our dinner rotation menu (which is pretty darn hard to do) We enjoyed it with noodles and broccoli! Thank you again!
Fantastic!! I’m so happy to hear this! Thank you for taking the time to rate the recipe and let me know! <3
I’ve never rated or commented on a recipe before, but I had to tell you how AMAZING this recipe it!! I made it tonight and I am obsessed! Thank you so much! 🙂
Thank you so much for taking the time to comment and rate it! So happy to hear you loved it! <3
Wondering if this dish would be Keto approved?
Yes!
This sounds amazing. I’m always looking for things to cook for my girlfriend. She can be a bit picky, but I think she is going to love this. I picked up some coconut oil the other day and was looking for something to cook with it. I came across this recipe and thought it would be perfect. I plan on serving it with rice and either fresh green beans or squash. Something along those lines. I appreciate you putting this out there. I can’t wait.
I can’t wait to try this… I’m thinking about tonight. Maybe I’ll serve it over Jasmine Rice? Hmmm…
Thank you again!
What will happen if I use lite coconut milk? That’s what’s I have in my pantry at the moment.
I made this chicken a few nights ago and can’t wait to make it again. It was even better in my left overs for lunch the next day! Thanks for a great recipe.
I made this exactly according to your recipe and it was amazing! I served it with white rice because that makes my family happy. Thank you!
Can you use water in place of chicken stock?
Very tasty chicken, goes great over rice (to soak up the delicious sauce!) And I always serve with sautéed sweet peppers
I made this for make ahead dinners for the week and it was truly fabulous! I added broccoli and carrots right in with the garlic and it turned out beautifully and then served with rice or cauliflower rice or over a salad each night. Awesome! Seemed to thicken and get more flavorful with age.
I halved this recipe as I didn’t think my kids would eat although one of them did. It was very good. Thanks for sharing!
Hello! Made this last night and it was fantastic!! Definitely on our regular menu from now on! But it’s so good that I’m going to have to double the recipe. The cilantro is the PERFECT topping! (I found this recipe while looking for something to serve over leftover jasmine rice…looking forward to trying more of your recipes) Thank you!
Oh my goodness!! This recipe is seriously delicious!! 😋. I sprinkled fresh dill over the top because that’s what I had. Just give me a spoon and I could have ate the sauce by itself!!😀😂. Chicken game changer!!
Do you make this in a cast iron skillet?
The flavor is good but I was expecting the sauce to thicken a bit & it didn’t, it stayed very thin & like broth. If I make it again I’ll add a thickener. 😊 The coconut lime flavors were good with chicken, I’d never had that before!
Just tried this and love it! Flavors were great. Served it over cilantro lime rice and a side of green beans. So good! Thank you!
This dish is amazing. My family requested that I make it each week. It was on the table within 30 minutes. I served with basmati rice and steamed broccoli. I did add a slurry if corn starch and water to slightly thicken up the sauce. I also used lemon pepper on my chicken and grilled diced onions.
This is exactly the sort of thing I’m looking to make for a dinner party next week. However, I have one person who is allergic to cilantro and another who thinks it tastes like soap! Any thoughts on a good sub? I’ve never really used this flavor combo and don’t want to ruin it with the wrong thing!
So fast and easy to make. I consider it an introduction to Thai flavors for those who don’t want to go too exotic (think young kids). I thought it was a little tart but I loved it. Since it was too tart for the rest of the family I added 1 Tbls of brown sugar. It was delicious! Thank you for making my dinner so easy tonight!
So flavourful!!! I will be making this again 😁
This was so easy and delicious , will be making this again for sure.
Happy to hear that!
Just finished making this, served over jasmine rice.. should have done some veggies too. It was delicious, though I wish the sauce was a little thicker. Maybe next time I’ll serve with a sweet potato.
Delicious! I never cooked with coconut oil or coconut milk befire so I was very skeptical as to how easy this would be or if I’d even like it. It was easy and delic! Served it with rice and steamed broccoli.
So simple, yet delicious! I made this last night and my family loved it!
I’m so happy to hear that! Thanks for commenting!
So yummy! Love the taste of the lime against the richness of the coconut milk. And the cilantro adds a freshness that is great. Sometimes have to stop myself from getting more and more! I serve it with basmati rice with peas… Am going to try this over a potato soon!
I made this dish with my daughters…..what a success! Easy to make and easy to adapt should you want a bit of a kick. Thanks for sharing, we will be making this dish again for sure!
Incredibly delicious! I added some cumin and some frozen green beans. I will certainly make this recipe again. Thank you!
I just made this and my three-year-old had seconds and thirds.
Really enjoyed this recipe, made largely as written other than doubling the sauce to pour over rice and using flattened boneless skinless chicken thighs rather than breast. We will definitely be having this again; went great with white rice and sauteed sweet peppers to make a full meal.
So good!! I added some bell peppers and jalapeños that needed to get used from my garden rather than doing a veggie side. It worked out great because I only had 2 chicken breasts. Highly recommend this recipe!! The Whole Cook never disappoints. 💜💜💜
Mnimal prep necessary and really tasty! I like how the pepper and garlic spice it up but it’s not a spicy-hot dish. The cilantro adds a nice fresh/cooling element. Thanks!
This was an amazing dish! SO EASY and so delicious. I served mine over plain white rice and my children loved it. I served mine over broccoli and Cauliflower.
Thanks, Dear for sharing this awesome dish.
This was DELICIOUS!! I absolutely loved it, and even my husband who typically doesn’t care for coconut said it was good and that he’d like to eat it again. Another win!
So yummy! I served it with ginger basmati rice and sesame broccoli! Can’t wait to make it again! thank you!
Very tasty chicken, goes great over rice (to soak up the delicious sauce!) And I always serve with sautéed sweet peppers
LOVE LOVE LOVE
This recipe I will for sure be keeping!
Sauce was a bit on the thinner side, so I added a bit of corn starch to thicken it up. Other than that NAILED IT!
Thank you for sharing!!!
This is one of the easiest and tastiest recipes! I’ve made it so much I almost know it by heart!
Oh this is the best compliment! Thank you, Cheryl!
This is absolutely amazing I have made it twice in 10 days. one with chicken and one with tofu!
Delicious
This recipe is one of my favourites. When I had my wisdom teeth out, I threw the chicken in the slow cooker so I could still enjoy this classic!
Thank you, Eve! So happy you like it and I hope you recovered from the wisdom teeth surgery quickly!
Made this tonight and thought it was great! It has been a challenge to find recipes that accommodate my daughter’s dairy-free, gluten-free dietary requirements. This one is easy, delicious and my (not-at-all-diet-restricted) husband loved it as well! I served it over rice and steamed some veggies as a side. Will definitely make again. Thanks!
This recipe is full of flavor. I could not believe how delicious this recipe is. With such simple ingredients. Thank you for another great meal! I will have this recipe on repeat in my house. 🙂
Yummy 😋
Really great taste and a simple and fast recipe. My picky daughter liked it too. It was equally good over coconut jasmine rice as over cauliflower rice, and paired well with green beans. I found the sauce to be very thin, and there was a lot more than needed (and I usually have to double my sauces!). I think next time I’ll omit the chicken stock or use coconut cream vs full fat milk. Tasted so good I’ll definitely make it again though!
This was soooooo delicious!!! I used 1/4 cup less coconut milk because that’s what I had but it was still great. I also used more cilantro. Had it over quinoa.
Please please please put this over mashed sweet potatoes, it’s so fantastic that way! This was the second time I’ve made it and the first time we put it over rice or pasta but whatever it was I remember liking it enough to try it again but knowing it needed something more. The sauce is very thin so unless you thicken it, I think putting it over potatoes is a winner. I did make both mashed russets and sweet and it’s good with both but SO GOOD with the sweet potatoes!
So delicious! Love the limey coconut gravy with the cilantro scattered on top! I added some lime zest to the gravy as well. Thank you!