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 recipe was outstanding. I used milk with a little cornstarch to make it creamy, also baked the chicken a little longer. My husband absolutely loved it!!
I’m not sure what I did wrong with the sauce. It had good flavor but it wasn’t creamy at all and way too thin to do anything to the chicken when poured over. It just ran onto plate. I can’t decide whether I will try it again to see if get better result or not.
This recipe was so delicious! I did sprinkle garlic powder along with the salt and pepper on the chicken and I also used extra cilantro. This will definitely be going in our dinner rotation. Thank you so much!
This was a wonderful recipe, I did add more cilantro, and after taking the chicken out of the pan I sautéed the onions first in some olive oil in the pan and then added everything else in. My husband LOVED it.
I am so excited to try this tonight! I am doubling the sauce recipe and trying it out in my crockpot since I don’t have a lot of time to make dinner tonight. I do plan on having us grill the chicken in a skillet while cooking the asparagus, though. It’ll just be pre-cooked and hopefully will have absorbed all of the yummy sauce flavor while cooking, too.
This is delicious! Made this last night, and we loved it! Definitely making this again!
Made this tonight! Pureed the finished sauce in the vitamix and poured onto the chicken! Was absolutely delicious. Thanks for the recipe!
Love this recipe. This is my 2nd time making it but for a family of 6. I moderately increased the proportions. I cant wait until its finished. This time im using chicken thighs with the bone. And with pasta. The 1st time i made it, i used the boneless chicken breast like it said and served it with cauliflower pureed and spinach.
Made this for the 3rd time for dinner tonight and it’s so stinking good!!!!
Made this tonight and served it over baby spinach, was delicious! Though I cut down on the red pepper cause I can’t handle spicy food, was still a bit too hot for me but the hubby loved it 😀
I made this tonight for my family, was devoured
Making this tonight, but quick question: do you cover the skillet when you place in the oven to bake?
I always bake it uncovered.
Dear Sally,
Thank you for sharing this awesome recipe. I made this today but I added fresh garlic as an extra ingredients and that gave your recipe more flavor. My family love it. Definitely I will made this again.
I have to say I have never wanted to write a review about something I’ve made before. But this one I just had too!!
It was absolutely amazing!!!
I did how ever read the review from others and def added more spice to it we like our food way spicey. Added way more of everything to it. So it was packed with flavor.
I also didn’t serve with veggies , I made jasmine rice and smothered it with the sauce which was also amazing!
I cannot wait to make this again!
Thanks for sharing!!
This was an amazing dinner!! The sauce is so delicious and ingredients so simple! Perfect amount of heat. This be part of my regular collection of dinners! Thank you!!!
I made this today for dinner. I used other seasoning besides salt and pepper on my chicken. It turned out good to my liking. Just wanted to try something different.
My daughters ask for this for dinner all the time! Thanks for the recipe!
I made this tonight and we loved it! It was so easy to make and we already had almost all of the ingredients in the fridge already. I’m definitely making this again.
I made this last week and we loved it.
I made this tonight and was somewhat disappointed. Despite the red pepper flakes and onions and cilantro, this chicken was pretty bland. Hubby and I both thought the chicken was moist but lacked depth of flavor. It did “grow on us” and we agreed it was good, but not good enough to make again. I say this only because I always read the reviews before making a blogger recipe and feel it’s only fair that others know this dish does not have a lot of flavor.
Just made this. I used boneless skinless chicken thighs instead and it turned out awesome!! I served mine with basmati rice and it was great. I’m glad I found this one. Will be using it a lot with different sides! Thanks 🙂
Chicken is not my favorite to cook but this dish is THE BEST. I’ve cooked it once a week since finding this recipe. The sauce is divine. And it’s soooo easy!! Thank you thank you for this recipe!!!!
I made his tonight-yum!! Had to do a few substitutions because I didn’t have heavy cream-whole milk & some cream cheese, & salsa, and served with roasted baby new potatoes. The potatoes were even better in the sauce! The whole family loved this one!
I made this for dinner last night. I did add a clove of garlic minced to the onions and cilantro mix, and doubles the sauce as others suggested. I used heavy cream, but the sauce never really got thick, so I made a slurry with equal parts cornstarch and chicken stock and added it until desired consistency. My husband and step sons enjoyed it, everyone had seconds. I’ll make this again.
Made this for dinner tonight and was pretty disappointed especially after all the amazing reviews. I opted to use whole milk to help cut some of the useless calories but it never really made it the creamy consistency. I also added the cilantro when your recipe called for which made it dark and murky and based on your pictures it looks like you added it into the sauce fresh at the end. Might try it again with the heavy cream and only adding the fresh cilantro at the end.
Great flavor! My whole family had a second plate full!
This is soooo good even my picky eaters love it. I paired with thin spaghetti and tossed all together. It was a huge hit! Thanks again
Man, oh man. Let me tell you: this recipe is sooooo good that after my girls ate (8 & 4) they went straight to sleep. They were so happy and full, I actually got to catch up on my DVR shows in peace!! It was amazing! I made it with baked potatoes, veggies and honey butter biscuits. I will definitely be making this again 🙂 Thank you!!
I made this dinner the other night. Absolutely fantastic!
I just found your website while looking for Christmas cookie recipes. I made MANY of your cookie recipes, and all were a huge hit with my family, especially snickerdoodles and Nutella chocolate chip cookies. Sally, you are now my go-to site for recipes! Thanks for sharing such wonderful recipes with us.
I made this tonight for my boyfriend and I. Followed the recipe exactly using my Dutch oven, although I added about half an onion. Made garlic mashed potatoes and Brussel sprouts as my sides, with the cilantro cream sauce drizzled over top. So good!!!! My boyfriend was addicted to the sauce…he kept asking my what the secret ingredient was. This dish was easy, came together in 30 minutes, and didn’t disappoint. Thank you so much for this recipe, it’s a keeper!