Lime Garlic Chicken with Fresh Pico

Have you ever had those weekends where you find yourself in a serious food coma for about 72 hours? After one of those weekend, it can be a bit more difficult to think about food. And I love thinking about food.

Eventually, however, I will get hungry again and so will you. But I would advise that you treat the next few weeks as a re-coup period because what just happened is going to inevitably happen all over again. So let’s make something healthy and refreshing to start the week and month.

This lime garlic chicken recipe is lightly marinated in olive oil, lime juice, and spices and topped with a home-made pico de gallo. I served mine with a side of quinoa, but you could also do couscous or rice.

Lime Pepper Chicken

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4.75 from 4 votes

Author: Nick Evans

Servings: 4 Servings

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes minutes

This is a light and simple chicken dish that goes great with almost any side. Has great Tex-Mex flavors! Enjoy!

Equipment

• 1 cast iron skillet

Ingredients 

Lime Pepper Chicken:

• 2 pounds chicken breasts
• 2 limes, juice only
• 3 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1 Teaspoon lime zest
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1 Teaspoon dried thyme
• ½ Teaspoon ground pepper
• Pinch of salt

Pico de Gallo:

• 2 large tomatoes, chopped.
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 jalapenos or other mild chile
• 4 Tablespoons minced fresh cilantro
• 1 Tablespoon lime juice

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Instructions

• Combine lime juice, olive oil, lime zest, garlic, thyme, and salt and pepper. Marinade chicken in this mixture for at least 30 minutes, but many hours or overnight is better.
• You can grill these breasts or heat an oven-safe skillet over medium-high heat. Once hot, add a drizzle of oil and cook the breasts for about 4 minutes per side. Then transfer chicken to the oven to finish at 350 degrees F. for 15 minutes. Check doneness by carefully cutting into one of them or using a meat thermometer. You are shooting for 165 Degrees F in the thickest part of the chicken.
• For the pico, dice up everything very fine and stir together. Season with salt and pepper to your taste. If you can make this a few hours in advance it will be much better.
• Serve chicken with lots of fresh pico and rice. Or slice and make tacos?

Nutrition

Serving: 1plate | Calories: 389kcal | Carbohydrates: 10g | Protein: 49g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 9g | Trans Fat: 0.03g | Cholesterol: 145mg | Sodium: 269mg | Potassium: 1090mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 686IU | Vitamin C: 33mg | Calcium: 44mg | Iron: 2mg

Course: Main Dishes

Cuisine: American, Tex-Mex

Lime Garlic Chicken

Making the marinade couldn’t be easier. Just mix up your ingredients until they are combined!

Then throw your chicken breasts in with the marinade for at least 30 minutes. Obviously, you could do longer. I like to make it in the morning and then by the time I get home it is ready to rock.

Want a faster chicken option? Try these Easy Lemon Chicken Cutlets!

There are a few different ways you could cook these guys. The best way might be to grill them actually, but this time of year you may not have access to a grill.

So, started them off in my iron skillet for about 4 minutes a side on high heat and then transferred them to the oven to finish at 350 for 15 minutes.

If you are skeptical about whether they are done, it never hurts to slice into one to check. The last thing you want is to bite into a peppery, raw piece of chicken.

Oh. Right. The pico. Well, that’s simple enough. Just chop up all of those nice veggies and mix it up! The secret to good pico is that the longer you let it sit the better it will be (within reason).

If you make the pico first thing for this meal and let it sit while the chicken marinates it will be perfect.

As you can see, I like piling my pico so high you can barely even see the chicken, but trust me it is there and it goes perfectly with the fresh veggies. There is something about a dish like this that makes you wake up the next day with tons of energy.

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