Why You’ll Love This this Mexican Lime Chicken
This zesty Mexican lime chicken brings restaurant-quality flavor straight to your dinner table, with tender marinated chicken that practically melts in your mouth.
The combination of tangy lime, melted cheese, and crispy tortilla strips creates the perfect balance of textures and flavors that’ll have everyone asking for seconds.
Plus, most of the work happens during the marinating time, so you can basically set it and forget it until you’re ready to cook.
Ingredients List
This simple ingredient list proves that amazing Mexican flavors don’t require a trip to specialty stores or exotic ingredients.
- 4 skinless chicken breasts
- 1/2 cup Rose’s sweetened lime sauce
- Salt and pepper
- 8 ounces shredded Colby or Monterey Jack cheese
- 2 corn tortillas
- Pico de gallo
- Salsa
- 2-3 green onions, chopped
- Vegetable oil (for frying tortilla strips)
Here are a few ingredient considerations to keep in mind:
- Cheese flexibility: Both Colby and Monterey Jack melt beautifully, but you could swap in reduced-fat versions to lighten things up without sacrificing that gooey goodness
- Sodium watch: Between the lime sauce, salsa, and cheese, this dish packs some salt, so taste before adding extra seasoning
- Fresh vs. store-bought: While store-bought pico de gallo saves time, making your own with fresh tomatoes, onions, and cilantro bumps up the nutrition and flavor factor
- Oil alternatives: You can bake the tortilla strips at 400°F for a lighter option, though they won’t get quite as crispy as the fried version
Step by Step Directions
This Mexican lime chicken recipe delivers restaurant-quality flavor through a simple marinating and broiling process that transforms ordinary chicken breasts into a zesty, cheese-topped masterpiece.
- Marinate the chicken: Place chicken breasts and Rose’s sweetened lime sauce in a plastic bag and marinate for 8-10 hours in the refrigerator.
- Season and cook: Remove chicken from marinade, season with salt and pepper, then cook in a sprayed frying pan or grilling machine until fully cooked through.
- Prepare for broiling: Transfer cooked chicken to a cookie sheet and top each breast with a spoonful of salsa.
- Add cheese: Sprinkle shredded Colby or Monterey Jack cheese generously over each piece of chicken.
- Melt the cheese: Place under broiler until cheese melts and becomes bubbly (alternatively, use microwave to melt cheese).
- Make tortilla strips: While chicken cooks, slice corn tortillas into 1/4-inch strips using a pizza cutter, then fry quickly in vegetable oil until crispy and drain on paper towels, seasoning lightly with salt.
- Assemble and serve: Place finished chicken on a bed of crispy tortilla strips, top with chopped green onions, and serve alongside pico de gallo.
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Substitutions and Variations
- Spice it up: Add a pinch of cumin and chili powder to your salt and pepper seasoning, or throw some jalapeño slices on top before broiling.
- Sauce substitutions: No pico de gallo on hand? Chunky salsa verde, regular salsa, or even a dollop of sour cream mixed with lime zest works perfectly fine.
- Cooking method changes: Hate dealing with the broiler? This whole thing works great on the grill – just wrap the sauced, cheesy chicken in foil for the last few minutes.
Additional Things to Serve With This Dish
This lime chicken basically begs for some good sides to round out the whole Mexican fiesta atmosphere.
- Mexican rice – because honestly, what’s a Mexican-inspired meal without some fluffy, tomato-tinged rice soaking up all those delicious lime and cheese drippings
- Refried beans or black beans – they add that hearty, protein-packed element that makes this feel like a real dinner instead of just chicken with cheese on top
- Simple guacamole and chips – I mean, you’re already making pico de gallo, so why not go full appetizer spread and let people snack while you’re broiling the cheese
- Mexican street corn (elote) – grilled corn with mayo, cotija cheese, and chili powder brings that authentic street food energy to your dinner table
- Cilantro lime rice – if regular Mexican rice feels too heavy, this lighter version with fresh herbs keeps things bright and zippy
- Warm flour tortillas – because some people might want to turn this whole thing into soft tacos, and honestly, that sounds pretty genius
- Simple mixed greens salad – sometimes you need something fresh and crunchy to balance out all that melted cheese and lime-soaked chicken
Cooking Tips & Tricks (Chef’s Notes)
A few little tricks can make the difference between decent lime chicken and the kind that has people asking for your recipe.
- Don’t skip the marinade time – I know 8-10 hours sounds like forever when you’re hungry, but that lime juice needs time to work its magic and actually penetrate the chicken instead of just sitting on top like a sad little puddle.
- Pound your chicken breasts to even thickness – because nobody wants that awkward situation where part of your chicken is perfectly cooked and the other part is either rubber or raw, and thick chicken breasts are basically designed to create this exact problem.
- Pat the chicken dry before seasoning – all that marinade liquid just makes your salt and pepper slide right off, plus wet chicken doesn’t get those nice golden edges when you’re cooking it.
- Watch that broiler like a hawk – cheese goes from perfectly melted to burnt disaster in about thirty seconds flat, and your smoke alarm will definitely let you know if you wander off to check Instagram.
- Make tortilla strips ahead of time – they get soggy fast once you put hot chicken on them, so either make them right before serving or store them in an airtight container until you’re ready to plate everything.
- Save some marinade for drizzling – just boil it for a few minutes first to kill any chicken germs, then drizzle it over the finished dish for extra lime punch that ties everything together.
Nutritional Facts
This Mexican lime chicken delivers solid protein while keeping calories reasonable, though the cheese and fried tortilla strips do add some indulgence to the mix.
- Calories: 485 per serving
- Protein: 42g (thanks to those generous chicken breasts)
- Carbohydrates: 18g (mostly from tortillas and lime sauce)
- Fat: 28g (cheese and fried tortilla strips are the main contributors)
- Saturated Fat: 14g
- Fiber: 2g
- Sugar: 8g (sweetened lime sauce bumps this up)
- Sodium: 720mg (cheese and seasonings add up fast)
- Vitamin C: 15% daily value (lime juice provides a decent boost)
- Calcium: 35% daily value (all that melted cheese pays off nutritionally)
- Iron: 8% daily value
Fun “Did You Know?”
Beyond the nutritional benefits, lime chicken carries some fascinating culinary history that’ll make your next dinner conversation more interesting.
Did you know that lime marination actually tenderizes meat through acid breakdown, making tough cuts incredibly juicy? Ancient Mayans used citrus marinades over 1,000 years ago, combining local limes with spices.
Here’s something cool: lime juice can partially “cook” chicken through its acidity, similar to ceviche preparation.
The tortilla strips I include aren’t just garnish—they’re called “totopos” in Mexican cuisine and were originally created to use day-old tortillas, preventing food waste while adding perfect crunch.
