Cilantro-Lime Chicken with Avocado Salsa
I am back from a long and exciting weekend in our motor home touring the Oregon Coast. We had a fun-filled time exploring a Wildlife Safari in Winston followed by a dune buggy adventure, swimming and fishing, campfires, and s’mores in Florence, and a visit to the Hatfield Marine Science Center and a beautiful hike to the beach in Newport. It was a wonderful way to end our summer and a great way to spend some quality time together before the busy school year starts. On with the recipe…
I made this chicken for dinner and it was a huge success… we all loved it. I adapted the recipe from MyRecipes by marinating the chicken for 3 hours instead of 3 minutes but otherwise kept it pretty much the same. The chicken had great flavor and it was fantastic topped with the avocado salsa. I have a feeling chopping it all up (chicken included) and serving it in tortillas would be fantastic too! I served this chicken with a Southwestern Rice and a Mexican Zucchini (both recipes to come) for a delicious and healthy dinner.
How to Make Cilantro-Lime Chicken with Avocado Salsa
Combine the cilantro, lime juice & zest, olive oil, salt, and pepper together in a large zip lock bag and mix well. Add the chicken and seal; place into the refrigerator and marinate for 3 hours.
Remove the chicken from the refrigerator 15 minutes prior to cooking. Heat a grill pan that has been coated with cooking spray over medium heat. Season both sides of the chicken with sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste then place into the hot grill pan. Cook the chicken for 6 minutes on each side or until cooked through and the juices run clear. Let the meat rest for 5 minutes before serving.
While the chicken is cooking combine the avocado, tomato, red onion, cilantro, lime juice, sea salt, and freshly cracked pepper, to taste. Gently mix until well combined. Spoon the salsa over the chicken and serve. Enjoy.
Ingredients
Chicken Marinade:
- 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 2 tbsp fresh cilantro chopped
- 2 ½ tbsp fresh lime juice
- Zest from 1 lime
- 1 ½ tbsp olive oil
- Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper to taste
Avocado Salsa:
- 1-2 avocados diced
- 1 cup of chopped tomato
- 2 tbsp red onion diced
- 2 tbsp fresh cilantro chopped
- Juice of one lime
- Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper to taste
Instructions
- Combine the cilantro, lime juice & zest, olive oil, salt, and pepper together in a large zip lock bag and mix well. Add the chicken and seal; place into the refrigerator and marinate for 3 hours.
- Remove the chicken from the refrigerator 15 minutes prior to cooking. Heat a grill pan that has been coated with cooking spray over medium heat. Season both sides of the chicken with sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste then place into the hot grill pan.
- Cook the chicken for 6 minutes on each side or until cooked through and the juices run clear. Let the meat rest for 5 minutes before serving.
- While the chicken is cooking combine the avocado, tomato, red onion, cilantro, lime juice, sea salt, and freshly cracked pepper, to taste. Gently mix until well combined. Spoon the salsa over the chicken and serve. Enjoy.
Pam I love cilantro and avocados so I love this!!!
Looks like you guys had such an awesome weekend! As for this chicken dish, I am absolutely in love. It’s so great that you marinated the chicken for a bit longer, and that avocado salsa looks divine!
A healthy yummy dish!
AMazing combination of flavours and the result looks so yummy. I love to use cilantro in cooking.
Cheers and hope you had a fantastic weekend. Congratulations
Hi Pam,
Amazing looking dish and the combination of flavours is spectacular and so refreshing!
Cheers,
Lia.
This avocado salsa looks unbelievably delish!
simply delicious meal,I love that avocado salsa sound perfect with the cilantro lime chicken.
Oregon sounds like a great place to visit! The chicken looks yummy, and I love the addition of the avocado salsa. I can’t wait to see the recipes that you paired with this chicken!
Glad to hear you had such a great time! And of course, welcome back!!!
The chicken looks AMAZING! And the salsa looks even more scrumptious!!
I’m so glad to hear you had a fun trip! This dish sounds so delicious and fresh flavored! I’d be putting that salsa all over everything.
This sounds excellent! My family would love all of these flavors. Glad to hear that your weekend was so much fun!
this is 100% my kind of food. it looks divine!
I am glad you had a fun trip, I can’t believe summer is over already!
Marinating chicken for longer than specified always seems to help it. This looks like a good welcome home meal. Now comes the bummer of getting back into the school frame of mind; the summer really flew by!
This is a great dish that is healthy and looks yummy. I will be trying it soon.
Erin – ekcantcook.blogspot.com
This is another great chicken recipe.
The avocado salsa sounds wonderful with this chicken. Sounds like you had a great long weekend.
This has been one of our favorite meals for a while now, its really great! I bet marinating it for the longer time would make the chicken even better! Great job! 🙂
Pam,
I am not big on avocado, but this looks good. Will definitely try it soon.
Does the lime juice in the marinade ‘pre-cook’ the chicken as it marinades?
Just wondering.
Thanks again.
It didn’t precook my chicken breast but if you were using shrimp or small pieces of meat it would definitely start the cooking process.
cilantro, lime, and avocado are one of my holy trinities. i guess maybe i have a thing for green. 🙂
This is my kind of meal!
So glad that I just now saw this. Or it would have ruined the post that I did on the 29th two days later with a similar recipe and similar pose with the steak I did. Great minds think alike! (Or I had esp and picked your brains lol)
I tried this during the weekend and my boyfriend loves it! thank you for the simple and delicious recipe
I don’t have a grill pan- Do you think this would work in the oven??
Chelsea,
A regular skillet/pan would work just fine or I am sure baking it in the oven would be good as well.
Cheers,
Pam