This cilantro lime chicken simmers in a creamy flavor-packed sauce and comes together in just one pan and in around 40 minutes from start to finish. This easy chicken dinner recipe is a favorite in my home—and many readers’ homes too—all year round!
I originally published this recipe in 2015 and have since added new photos and more helpful success tips. And based on reader feedback, increased the amount of creamy sauce! 😉
While I enjoy baking desserts the most, dinner is an everyday adventure. And if you’re like me, you’re constantly searching for quick and easy dinner recipes. Well, you’ve come to the right place! This is my one-pan creamy cilantro lime chicken, a consistent crowd favorite.
One reader, Marci, commented: “Thank you for this recipe. My family has been obsessed for months; we have it at least once a week and I recommend it to everyone. ★★★★★“
Another reader, Rose, commented: “Omg what a flavor bomb!!! This was absolutely delicious!! … Wish I made a double batch, but will be making again and again!! ★★★★★“
And another reader, Allison, commented: “STAPLE DINNER in our house and a GREAT thing to serve to guests! Everyone LOVES this ★★★★★“
Today I’m going to show you that one skillet is all it takes to transform chicken into something you and your family will love. The process is a lot like my skillet apple cider chicken and this creamy lemon thyme chicken. Pan-sear the chicken on the stove, make a flavorful cilantro lime pan sauce, then bake the chicken in the sauce to finish.
Here’s Why You’ll Love This Cilantro Lime Chicken
- Quick and easy 1-pan meal
- Extra tender, juicy chicken
- Creamy, buttery, zesty sauce tastes amazing on rice and vegetables, too!
- Undeniably crowd pleasing, so you’ll want to make it again and again
Grab These Ingredients
- Chicken: I use boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Pound them down to even thickness. You could use boneless, skinless chicken thighs instead if desired.
- Salt & Pepper
- Olive Oil
- Chicken Broth
- Fresh Lime Juice
- Onion: Yellow, white, or red—chef’s choice!
- Cilantro
- Red Pepper Flakes: Adds a bit of heat, but feel free to reduce or increase the amount to your liking.
- Heavy Cream: Just enough to make the sauce taste creamy and rich. See below for a dairy-free alternative.
- Butter: Adds so much delicious flavor!
Start the Chicken, Then Make the Pan Sauce
The process is the same as my lemon thyme chicken and creamy garlic chicken and vegetables, so if you’ve made either of those before you know how easy it is!
Cook the chicken in a large oven-proof skillet until both sides are browned—the chicken will cook again in the oven so if the centers aren’t cooked all the way through yet, that’s fine. Remove the chicken temporarily and set it aside.
If you’re in the market for a new skillet, I own and love this one.
Now, using the same skillet, make the pan sauce. The juices left behind by the chicken are key for flavor, so don’t clean the skillet before making the sauce!
Simmer the pan sauce until it has reduced and thickened.
Add the chicken back to the skillet:
Bake in the oven until the chicken is cooked through. Garnish the saucy chicken with extra cilantro (flavor! flavor!) and a squeeze of lime. Serve with rice and veggies, and smother them with the sauce, too!
Yes! Use full-fat canned coconut cream instead of heavy cream and coconut oil instead of butter for a dairy-free version with a delicious coconut-y twist.
No problem! After you cook the chicken and sauce on the stove, you can transfer both to a baking dish.
Yes, you can use chicken thighs instead if you prefer. No changes necessary!
Yes! The recipe below reflects an almost-doubled portion of the sauce. Before 2025, it made only about half as much, but now there’s plenty to generously coat the chicken and spoon over any sides you’re serving.
Yes, and this 10.25-inch cast iron skillet is a good size. This particular skillet is a workhorse and I use it for nearly everything from bruschetta chicken and walnut crusted chicken to honey skillet cornbread, too.
What to Serve With Cilantro Lime Chicken
We enjoy this chicken with a side of rice and a green vegetable like roasted broccoli (and the cilantro lime sauce poured over everything, of course!), but here are a few more suggestions for tasty pairings:
- Cornbread or cornbread muffins
- Soft dinner rolls or honey whole wheat dinner rolls
- Roasted or steamed asparagus, green beans, or Brussels sprouts
- Mashed or roasted potatoes
- Zucchini fritters or corn fritters
Creamy Cilantro Lime Chicken
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: serves 4
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Cooking
- Cuisine: American
Description
This cilantro lime chicken simmers in a creamy flavor-packed sauce and comes together in only 1 pan!
Ingredients
- 1.5 pounds (24 ounces/680g) boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 1 and 1/2 cups (360ml) chicken broth (I recommend reduced sodium)
- 3 Tablespoons (45ml) fresh lime juice
- 1/2 cup (60g) chopped red onion
- 2 Tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
- 1/2–1 teaspoon red pepper flakes*
- 1/3 cup (5 Tablespoons/80ml) heavy cream*
- 1/4 cup (4 Tablespoons/56g) unsalted butter
- optional: lime wedges and more cilantro for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C).
- If the chicken breasts are uneven in thickness, pound them down so they’re all even. This way all the breasts will cook through simultaneously. Sprinkle both sides with salt and pepper.
- In a large ovenproof skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook for 6–7 minutes, turning once. You want the chicken nice and browned on the outside. (It doesn’t have to be cooked all the way through yet.) Transfer chicken to a plate and cover with foil until step 5.
- Remove skillet from heat and add the broth, lime juice, onion, cilantro, and red pepper flakes. Return to heat. Cook and stir to scrape up the browned bits from the bottom of the skillet. Bring to a boil. Allow to boil, uncovered, for 10-12 minutes or until the liquid is reduced to 1/2 cup. Reduce heat to medium-low, then add the cream and butter. Stir until butter has melted, then remove from heat.
- Add the chicken back to the skillet, turning once to coat both sides in the sauce. Transfer the skillet to the preheated oven. Bake uncovered until the chicken is completely cooked through, about 5–10 minutes (internal temperature should be at least 165°F (74°C)).
- Serve chicken with sauce spooned on top, and garnish with lime wedges and cilantro, if desired.
- Leftovers keep well in the refrigerator for a few days. You can reheat on the stove over medium heat, in the microwave, or in the oven.
Notes
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Meat Tenderizer | Large Oven-Proof Skillet (I own and love this one) | Tongs | Citrus Juicer | Instant-Read Thermometer
- Red Pepper Flakes: Adjust the amount of red pepper flakes to your liking. This amount made the chicken mildly spicy. The cream in the sauce mellows out the spice.
- Heavy Cream: You can use whole milk or half-and-half instead, but for the thickest, richest sauce I highly recommend heavy cream. If using whole milk, make sure it is at room temperature to help prevent curdling.
- Dairy-Free: Use coconut cream instead of heavy cream and coconut oil instead of butter.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 chicken breast + 1/4 of the sauce
- Calories: 396
- Sugar: 1.5 g
- Sodium: 254.4 mg
- Fat: 23.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 4.3 g
- Protein: 40.8 g
- Cholesterol: 165.9 mg
Reader Comments and Reviews
This was sooooo good! Thank you!
Seriously the best chicken dish ever!!! Thank you for sharing!
I made this last night and it was absolutely amazing!!! I wasn’t sure it was going to have enough flavor at first but it did! I also doubled up on the sauce and added freshly chopped mushrooms and it made it even better. Next time I’m doubling up on the mushrooms and putting it over brown rice!
I made this last night, had all the ingredients on hand, I grilled the chicken and made the sauce on the side as it was grilling, I got to use that gravy boat one more time this season. I added a little jalapeno to it. It reminded me of Chili’s so much as we were eating it. Thanks for helping jazz up my Monday night chicken.
My husband is not a big chicken person, but he loved this, and so did I! The sauce was wonderful! Just the right touch of heat. I served it over orzo. Couldn’t be better! Thank you! I will be making this again.
This is a delicious recipe, but I haven’t been able to make the recipe without the cream curdling. It still tastes awesome, but I would like to get the sauce to look like yours does in the picture.
Thank you so much for this! My entire family loved it! Will be making this again! Fun and easy to make, with a delectable outcome!
This was super tasty!! My whole family loved it. Next time I’ll double the sauce. It was so good I could have guzzled it!
My daughter is a very picky eater and I wasn’t sure that she was going to like it, she LOVED it! It is the most requested dinner from her….I’ve made it 3 times lol. Thanks! Can’t wait to try your other recipes!
I’d love to make this tonight. Just not clear on one thing – do I bake the chicken in the sauce or just add it on top later? Thanks!
Hi Cassandra– the chicken is returned to the skillet (with the sauce) and baked.
Made tonight with 2% milk instead of cream…GREAT flavor. Can only imagine if you used cream how rich it would be. Delicious!! I also doubled the cilantro…what can I say, I love cilantro! Delish!
Made this for dinner tonight but subbed the heavy cream with Greek yogurt and it was delicious!!! Everyone loved this dish so much they wanted seconds. Thank you!
Hi is there a lighter substitute for cream ? 🙂
I used Greek yogurt and it still can out amazing.
I made this tonight for my husband and it was amazing! The only thing I did differently was rub the chicken with Mrs. Dash fiesta lime seasoning, along with the salt and pepper before cooking. I also added minced garlic to the pan while the oil was heating up. I doubled the sauce and I’m so glad I did. My husband won’t stop talking about how good it was and that he could eat it all week. I’ll definitely be keeping this recipe! Thanks for sharing!!
I made this the other night for dinner and it was easy and very tasty. My daughter loved it. I served it over some whole wheat egg noodles. Thanks for the delicious, unique and easy recipe to add to our regular meals.
My curdled as soon as I added the cream. So disappointing since it was smelling so good! I didn’t have time to re-do the sauce. What went wrong?
This is super yummy!!! My family loves cilantro so when I saw this recipe, I knew I had to try it! I actually boiled the chicken to use the water as broth (I just don’t like pre-packaged broth) and since my chicken was frozen, this worked out great! Once it was boiled, I browned the chicken on the pot just for a couple of minutes to get the enough flavor in the pot for the sauce. I didn’t bake it. Once the sauce was the consistency I wanted it, I added the chicken back to the skillet and let it cook on the stove for 5 more minutes and it was perfect! very juicy and quicker 🙂 Thanks for this great recipe!
Delicious!! I rarely make chicken at home as I don’t trust my “doneness” skills – but this was easy and excellent. Made both boneless thighs (for hubby) and breasts for me. Thank you – I did double the sauce recipe – I love sauce.
If I don’t have an oven proof skillet, can I transfer to a baking dish and pour sauce on top?
Yep, that works.
I made this tonight with mahi mahi and it was delicious! I didn’t cook it as long as chicken of course and I didn’t have cream so I used canned coconut milk instead….it worked great. I look forward to trying it with chicken next time. Thank you for a great recipe!
Sally, Sally, Sally…this recipe is so amazing that my husband begs for it every night! I even bought a (much needed) cast iron skillet so that I could cook it all in one pot! It’s so good, that we even fight over the leftovers, which are even more delicious since the chicken soaks up all of the sauce overnight.
This chicken is sooo good. I double the sauce! Thanks Sally! You can do no wrong!
I made this sauce for tofu the other night (subbing vegetable broth for the chicken broth) and it was amazing! My boyfriend and I both loved it and I’ll be making it again soon.
Also if anyone else wants to try this I cut the tofu into cubes then pan fried it. Then made the sauce in the pan while leaving the tofu in it to give it more flavor.
Hi Sally,
Just wanted to let you know that i made this chicken for dinner last night & it was SO delicious!! My husband & I really enjoyed it. I ended up using parsley instead of cilantro because I thought I had cilantro in my herb box but turns out the parsley took over….. Next time will most definitely make sure I have cilantro though….. 🙂
We tried this tonight and it was AMAZING! So easy and made with ingredients that I typically have on hand. My husband loved it as well, and we both agreed it would taste great on fish (like mahi mahi). We also agreed that the recipe is a keeper to be added to our regular dinner rotation AND we could make it to impress dinner guests!
This is the BEST THING I EVER ATE….seriously, I admit I am prone to exaggeration but believe me when I say this dish is fabulous. Thanks Sally!
Sally, I made this last night with 2 changes. As I don’t eat dairy, I used ghee instead of butter and substituted almond milk for the cream. I also used thighs instead of breasts. It was ABSOLUETLY delicious! With the leftovers today I am turning into a wonderful salad! Thanks so much!!
Hi Sally! I made this for my husband this evening and in spite of my one change (I forgot to get the Chicken broth and so used vegetable stock instead) It was delish and a big hit. I served it with a Spanish quinoa and brown rice pilaf and french green beans.
I have to tell you it was so easy to do that I prepared the entire meal with a phone cradled on my shoulder as I had a nice long chat with my sister-in-law. (even when I pounded the chicken she didn’t stop talking :D)
Thanks for a great recipe that will definitely be repeated.
DELISH! Everyone loved it and I saved the leftover sauce to add to a simple soup today for lunch! Thank you for great recipes!
I made this last night and – so easy and great flavor! I ended up blending the sauce to thicken it. Yum! Thanks for an easy week night recipe!