Recipe: Cilantro Lime Chicken

I've been in a cooking rut lately.  I'm happy with the meals I've been making, but they are certainly lacking in originality and variety.  Generally, I'll work with a protein, a starch, and a veggie or two.  While this usually leads to simple preparations and relatively healthy dinner choices, it's easy for me to get stuck in my routine - add some garlic, olive oil, and lemon juice and we've got a meal.  A few weeks ago I decided to branch out...into the world of cilantro and lime.  (Baby steps here.)   While I don't think cilantro and lime will be as heavily used as my beloved trio above, the new combination offered some much needed variety and was delicious.  Serve the chicken with cilantro and lime rice + sauteed corn and peppers.  Yum, yum, yum.

Cilantro Lime Chicken

Recipe from Sarah's Cucina Bella (Preparation adapted)

Ingredients:

• 1 lime, zested and juiced
• 1/4 C. olive oil
• 2/3 C. fresh cilantro, minced and divided
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 clove garlic, crushed (or pre-minced)
• 4 chicken breasts (or 8-10 tenders)
• 1 C. rice, prepared (I used a sticky white rice)
• Juice of 1 lime (optional)

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, whisk together lime juice, olive oil, 1/3 C. cilantro, salt, pepper, and garlic.  Add the chicken, cover and chill for 1 hour to marinate.  (You can also prepare ahead and leave to marinate all day.)
2. Once chicken is marinated, preheat oven to 450.  Place chicken in baking dish, and bake for 20 minutes, or until juices run clear.  Allow chicken to sit for 5-10 minutes before slicing and serving.
3. While the chicken is resting, mix the rice with the remaining cilantro and lime zest (I also included the juice of a lime in this mixture and loved it.  If you want to avoid acidity, you could omit.)  
4. Serve warm.

Enjoy!

xo,