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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
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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!