Best Chicken Marinade | Coconut Lime Chicken
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This recipe is the best chicken marinade for grilled Coconut Lime Chicken Marinade! Everyone I make it for asks for the recipe! So simple and easy, with just a few ingredients. Whole30, Dairy Free, Paleo, Keto and Gluten Free, this dish will please anyone!
Ahh, Mother’s Day…breakfast in bed, kids behaving and dressed perfectly, fresh flowers lovingly arranged in a vase…wait what?? Reality check! Instead there is tension as someone takes too long in the shower, I snap at my sweet husband who is just trying to help, we hastily grab a “bar” for breakfast as we run out the door for church, and I regretfully leave in my wake my “perfect” family wondering why in the world they bought me that “Greatest Mom” Mother’s Day card?! Just me…sigh!
So it’s not perfect, it’s not the Hallmark movie; but it’s your crazy wonderful family and you wouldn’t have it any other way. Perhaps you’ll go out to brunch, or heat up leftovers, or get invited to someone’s home, or just maybe, you will be the one making dinner.
Mother’s Day Menu Suggestion
- Coconut Lime Chicken
- Cilantro Lime Rice
- Sweet Maple Apple Pecan Salad
- Tropical Mango Berry Salad
- Chocoholic Dream Torte
Anyhoo, Happy Mother’s Day to all of the imperfect, wonderful, well meaning, on-their-knees praying, flawed, beautiful, sacrificing, nursing, taxi driving, amazing and loving mom’s far and wide! Happy Mother’s day Momma! I love you!!! My teacher, inspiration, biggest cheerleader and fan! Isn’t she beautiful!?
HOW TO MAKE THE BEST GRILLED CHICKEN MARINADE
You mix de lime with de co-co-nut! This is seriously some of the best and moistest chicken you’ll ever try. Don’t like coconut? Try it anyway, you don’t really taste the coconut!
Double the batch and throw 3-4 ready-to-go packs in the freezer, you can thank me later!
Pour coconut milk into a mixing bowl, it might be super thick or just like milk, don’t worry either way, you’ll whisk is all together until smooth.
LIME Chicken Marinade
TIP | Often there is a solid cap of coconut at the top of the can, simply poke a hole in it with a spoon and pour the liquid into your mixing bowl, then scoop the solid out of the can and mix in with the rest.
Zest half of a lime (or a whole lime, if you are doubling the recipe). If you don’t have a microplane, just use a grater on its finest side. But seriously, this will be the best $10 you will spend! You can zest citrus, grate nuts, fresh ginger, finely grate a small piece of hard cheese, even chocolate! They are the best! Dump zest into coconut milk.
Squeeze in your lime juice. Again, this citrus squeezer is seriously another one of the best ever! No fuss, no muss, no seeds, no pulp, easy-peasy-squeezy! Thank you to my sweet sister-in-law for sending it to me!
See how it just squeezes them inside out! Getting out every last drop of juice! I personally like the chicken to have a stronger lime zing, so I will typically use 4 limes, but flavor it to your taste. Next pour in olive oil…
Chop your garlic or use a garlic press and place in coconut milk mixture.
Grate or chop your ginger (or use ¼ teaspoon ground ginger) and place in coconut mixture.
Sprinkle in seasoned salt
Last, but most certainly not least, and while the parsley is optional, don’t forgo this step if you can, it really adds beautiful color and flavor! Parsley or cilantro are scrumptious!! We’ve recently switched to cilantro, loving the flavors!
Now, whisk it all together to mix well. I used my immersion blender for just a few pulses to blend it together since I was splitting it up between multiple freezer bags.
EASY FREEZER STORAGE SOLUTIONS
Evenly distribute between two gallon sized baggies (since I doubled I needed four), I like to make the marinade in a measuring bowl so I can tell total volume and do a bit of math when I need to divide between the baggies. This kind of math I can do, beyond 4th grade math, not so much!
I bought this nifty little baggie holder years ago, when I was making a lot of freezer meals!
Place desired amount of chicken into the bags (I generally put in 4-6 large pieces, 1 per person), thighs taste yummy too, so don’t feel compelled to just use breasts alone, sometimes I combine the two. Call me crazy, I like to live on the wild side!
Smush the air out from the bag and seal well. Don’t forget to mark your baggies so a couple months from now you don’t wonder what the mystery meat is!
Lay flat in freezer, until solid, then you can easily store.
When ready to grill, remove chicken from freezer and defrost overnight in fridge and grill as directed.
If you are making one right away, allow to marinate for at least 30 minutes or longer before grilling. Grill on medium-low heat for 6-8 minutes per side, closer to the 6 minute mark. Once done, allow to rest on a plate for 5-10 minutes, cover with foil.
Pair it with a simple Cilantro Lime Rice and a nice crisp salad…or a lovely Tropical Mango Berry Salad. However you slice this moist chicken, you will love it. Use on salads, sandwiches or just for dinner!
Give these other family favorites a try:
- Back-to-School Freezer Meals
- Chicken Shawarma Bowls
- Easy Barbacoa Street Tacos
- Copycat Chipotle Chicken
Like this recipe?
Don’t forget to give it a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ star rating and comment below the recipe!
Coconut Lime Chicken
Ingredients
- 3-4 limes, 1 zested and the rest juiced
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 can coconut milk, light or regular
- 3-4 cloves garlic, chopped or pressed
- 1 – 2 teaspoons ginger, fresh, chopped or ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- 2 teaspoons seasoned salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ cup Italian flat leaf parsley, fresh, chopped (or try chopped cilantro)
- 2-3 lbs chicken breasts, boneless breasts, thighs or combo
Instructions
- Pour coconut milk into a large measuring bowl. Zest one lime (use half or whole depending on how much citrus flavor you want). Squeeze your limes, fresh is really best, but if you must you’ll need about ⅓ of a cup. More limes for a jazzier flavor. (I use 4 or 5)
- Add olive oil, minced garlic, minced ginger, seasoned salt, and pepper. Chop parsley/cilantro and whisk in well. If available, use an immersion blender to mix well, pulse a few times or whisk well and divide evenly between 2 freezer ziplock baggies. If freezing bags, be sure to label before pouring into baggies.
- Marinate chicken at least 30 minutes, preferably 60 minutes or longer before grilling. Squeeze air out of ziplock, lay flat in freezer. If frozen, thaw in refrigerator before grilling. Remove from marinade, reserve.
- Grill 6-8 minutes per side over medium-low heat, a minute or two longer if need be for darker meat (thighs). Baste with marinade while grilling (optional), leaves a lovely glaze on top.
- Remove from grill, place on plate and cover with foil allowing to rest for 5-10 minutes before serving. Easily doubled for multiple freezer meals!
✱ Kathleen’s Tips
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer
The Fresh Cooky is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is only an estimate. We recommend running the ingredients through an online nutritional calculator if you need to verify any information.
About Kathleen Pope
Recipe Innovator | Food Photographer | Food Writer
Hi, I’m Kathleen Pope. Here at The Fresh Cooky you will find easy, mostly from-scratch, trusted recipes for all occasions. From speedy dinners to tasty desserts, with easy step-by-step instructions. I am here to help teach you how to make mouthwatering recipes without spending hours in the kitchen. Read more about Kathleen here.
This feels like a waste of a bunch of expensive ingredients! I made this and instead cooked it in the crockpot. Added some honey to cut the acid from all the lime juice. Are it over rice and it was delicious! I could never waste all that coconut milk etc.
You may actually heat the leftover marinade in a small saucepan until it reduces slight and comes to a simmer for a few minutes. But thanks for your tips on how to make it in the crockpot.
I always make a double batch and keep 1 in the freezer for a quick, delicious meal. My kids ask for this chicken more than any other chicken recipe!
First of all, your momma is lovely! And she clearly did a great job mom-ing…she raised a wonderful daughter.
And this chicken sounds soooo good. Another one of your recipes going on my meal plan! Thanks friend.
Hugs,
Lynn
Thank you Lynn, I love my momma for sure!
Love all of the flavors in this recipe, so bright and fresh! p.s. your mama is beautiful, so glad you shared a bit!!
We tried this yesterday and put it in rice bowls with cilantro rice (used cilantro in the chicken, too) and they were a fast family hit! Thanks so much!
This marinade is amazing! I love the addition of fresh ginger to the coconut and lime flavors. And our chicken came out so moist and flavorful!
Love hearing this Amy, thank you so much, glad you enjoyed it! It’s a family favorite of ours too!
Made this the other night…really love the flavor!
This chicken is so much better than takeout and it’s easy to put together!
I used the marinade on tofu and served it over cilantro lime rice. Delicious.
Made this last night, it was delicious!
Always so great to hear!! Thanks Kimberly!
This lime coconut chicken has become one of my family’s favorite recipes! The chicken is so tender and flavorful! Thank you Kathleen!
YAY!! So glad you love it Becky!
This lime coconut chicken has become one of my family’s favorite recipes! The chicken is so tender and flavorful! Thank you Kathleen!
Thanks for a MENU! So excited to try! On another note, that CAKE in the photo with your sweet Momma: is that an upside down Bundt cake? Recipe please.
It is Kathy! It’s just a chocolate cake mix made bundt style (using butter instead of oil) with a chocolate ganache frosting (you can use the recipe for ganache that is in the Chocoholic Dream Torte) for the frosting. Super simple!