Easy and delicious Cilantro Lime Chicken Tacos topped with tangy coleslaw and homemade avocado crema make the perfect EASY summer recipe! Full of fresh flavors and healthy ingredients!
Let’s TACO bout grilling season! When I think of summer I immediately dream of cookouts, pool parties and firing up the grill and these cilantro lime chicken tacos make the perfect flavorful recipe to share with your friends and family this season. I mean with all these fresh flavors and vibrant colors, I promise your friends will thank you! Just make sure to throw in a margarita or two.
Why You’ll Love this Recipe
- Healthy and delicious flavor-packed meal that comes together in under 30 minutes!
- The cilantro lime marinade is FANTASTIC and adds so much flavor to these tacos.
- You’ll also love the creamy avocado crema and tangy coleslaw, but feel free to use whatever toppings you like best!
Ingredients You’ll Need
- chicken – you’ll need 1 1/2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts or boneless skinless chicken thighs for this recipe.
- olive oil – this is to coat your shrimp and veggies and I like to use a good olive oil that doesn’t have to be expensive, just make sure it’s cold-pressed and organic for the most flavor.
- limes – you’ll need fresh lime juice plus zest for this marinade. The lime adds such a bright, fresh taste to the tacos, just make sure to use fresh lime juice and not the bottled stuff.
- honey – adds a little sweetness and helps to balance out these tangy flavors, you could also use maple syrup or other natural sweetener.
- garlic – fresh garlic always tastes best, but feel free to use one teaspoon of garlic powder in place of fresh garlic if that’s all you have on hand.
- cilantro – adds such a flavorful fresh taste to the marinade
- tortillas – I used flour tortillas for these tacos, but feel free to use corn tortillas if gluten-free or your favorite style of tortilla.
- toppings – we are topping these delicious tacos with a creamy avocado crema and tangy coleslaw (recipes are below!), but you could also add fresh pico de gallo, guacamole, crumbled cotija cheese and even extra fresh cilantro.
The creamy avocado crema is one of my tried and true recipes seen in this salad here. It’s one of my favorite dressings and pairs perfectly on top of these tacos! I added just a little more hot sauce than I normally do because I really wanted these tacos to have a nice kick, but feel free to add as much or as little as you’d like.
How to Make Cilantro Lime Chicken Tacos
- Make the marinade. In a small bowl, whisk together the lime juice, lime zest, olive oil, garlic, honey, and cilantro until combined.
- Marinate the chicken. Place chicken in a large ziplock bag and pour marinade over top, making sure the chicken is completely coated. Cover and marinate chicken for about 4 hours to overnight.
- Make the coleslaw. While the chicken is marinating, combine cabbage, carrots, green onions and cilantro in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, whisk together lime juice, olive oil, honey and salt and toss together with the slaw mixture.
- Make the avocado crema. In the bowl of a food processor or high-powered blender, combine the avocado, garlic, cilantro, yogurt (or sour cream), lime juice, sriracha and salt/pepper and pulse until combined. With the motor running, slowly add the olive oil and water until smooth and you have your desired consistency.
- Grill the chicken. Pre-heat an outdoor grill or grill pan on medium heat and add marinated chicken breasts. Sprinkle with a little salt and cook chicken about 4 to 5 minutes on each side, until juices run clear. Transfer chicken to a cutting board and let rest for 5 minutes before cutting. This keeps them juicy!
- Assemble tacos. Slice up the chicken (or shred chicken with two forks) and serve with tortillas, coleslaw and avocado crema, along with your other favorite toppings.
Why You’ll Love this Coleslaw
Okay so let’s talk about this super easy-to-make coleslaw! It’s crunchy, flavorful and adds so much gorgeous color to the tacos that it is a MUST in this recipe. Now if you’re looking for a creamy coleslaw, this might not be your thing, but I kept this much healthier by simply tossing it with a little olive oil, lime juice and zest with a touch of honey and letting those flavors marinate just before serving. Simple, easy and delicious! This is also my go-to slaw to throw on top of burgers and sandwiches or even add to salads for a nice crunch.
How to Serve
These cilantro lime chicken tacos taste amazing all on their own, but here are some of my favorite sides (and cocktails) I like to serve along with, especially when hosting friends!
- Appetizers: chips and fresh pico de gallo, healthier version of 7 layer spicy taco dip, or this pineapple salsa with cinnamon pita chips
- Sides: try this black bean and corn salad, Mexican brown rice, cilantro lime cauliflower rice, or this sweet potato and black bean quinoa bake
- Drinks: you’ll love this spicy grapefruit paloma, these fresh watermelon margaritas or enjoy this citrus summer sangria!
How to Store Leftovers
Store any leftover chicken in a sealed, airtight container in the refrigerator for 4 to 5 days. Store any leftover toppings in separate containers in the fridge for up to 5 days. Reheat chicken in a skillet on the stove-top or microwave until warm.
More Taco Recipes
- Turkey Taco Lettuce Wraps
- Mango Sriracha Salmon Tacos
- Fish Tacos with Peach Mango Salsa
- Homemade Taco Seasoning
- 7 Layer Spicy Taco Dip
More Mexican Recipes
- Sheet Pan Chicken Fajitas
- Enchilada Stuffed Zucchini Boats
- Baked Chicken Fajita Roll-Ups
- Instant Pot Mexican Brown Rice
- Sweet Potato & Black Bean Quinoa Bake
- Mexican Stuffed Bell Peppers
Hope you all enjoy these Cilantro Lime Chicken Tacos! If you love this recipe as much as we do, please leave me ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ below and don’t forget to tag me on Instagram using the hashtag #eatyourselfskinny! I love seeing all your delicious recreations!
Cilantro Lime Chicken Tacos
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 8 to 10 6 inch flour or corn tortillas
For the marinade:
- Juice of 2 limes + zest of 1 lime
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 tsp honey
- 2 Tbsp cilantro, chopped
For the coleslaw:
- 2 cups shredded green cabbage
- 1 cup shredded red cabbage
- 1 cup shredded carrots
- 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
- 1/2 cup chopped green onions
- Juice of 2 limes
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp honey
- Pinch of salt
For the avocado crema:
- 1 avocado
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
- 1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
- 3 Tbsp lime juice
- 1 tsp Sriracha
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1/4 to 1/2 cup water, depending on consistency
Instructions
- Place chicken in a large ziplock bag or bowl.
- To make the marinade, whisk together lime juice, zest, olive oil, garlic, honey, and cilantro until combined and pour over top of chicken until completely coated. Cover and marinate chicken for about 4 hours to overnight.
- To make the coleslaw, combine cabbage, carrots, green onions and cilantro in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, whisk together lime juice, olive oil, honey and salt and toss together with slaw mixture.
- To make the avocado crema, combine the avocado, garlic, cilantro, yogurt, lime juice, sriracha and salt/pepper in a food processor and pulse until combined. With the motor running, slowly add the olive oil and water until smooth until you have your desired consistency.
- To cook the chicken, pre-heat outdoor grill or grill pan on medium-high heat and add marinated chicken breasts. Sprinkle with a little salt and cook chicken about 4 to 5 minutes on each side until juices run clear. Transfer chicken to a cutting board and let rest for 5 minutes before cutting. This keeps them juicy!
- To assemble the tacos, place chicken in a tortilla and top with slaw and a drizzle of the avocado crema. Serve with a fresh squeeze of lime and enjoy!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I pressed the print button under the photo, and my printer printed out everything. Why I don’t know. It did it with another recipe of yours too. So I ended up taking a photo of the recipes. Both recipes look yummy and I look forward to making them!
These were amazing! Just made them, tasted like resturaunt quality. The only thing I changed was adding salt to my marinade in order to get some brine action on, and I cut the chicken up and only marinated it for an hour. But an amazing recipe that I’m sharing with all my friends! Definetly give it a try!
I love cilantro. Sadly my husband does not : ( So I have adjusted the recipe by excluding the cilantro. Instead I chop up and serve fresh on the side for anyone to add as per their taste buds. Just scrumptious any which way you choose to serve it. Thank you for sharing this yummy recipe.
I just made these tacos as part of my meal prep for the week and they were really delicious! I loved the avocado crema which was super tasty with the tacos and for the whole week it didn’t even turn brown at all despite having the avocado in it, and it stayed the beautiful green color just as it looks in the picture. I’m thinking maybe the lemon or lime juice kept it from turning brown maybe but either way I was glad. For the avocado crema I stored mines in a sealed Tupperware container in the fridge. The coleslaw was super delicious too and paired perfectly with the whole taco. The chicken was really delicious. I made a variety of tacos using this recipe. I used the soft tortilla and cole slaw and avocado crema as the base of the taco and changed the meat for each taco. I used glazed salmon for one taco, the cilantro lime chicken from this recipe for the other taco, and some gardein plant based chick’n strips that I toasted up from the freezer for the last taco, and all of the tacos were super delicious. I definitely recommend this recip for anyone that is trying to decide what to cook! Thank you so much for the recipe Kelly!
So glad you enjoyed this Kelly! 🙂
Incredible, so tasty, fresh and satisfying.. A go to recipe in the future.
I have been incorporating honey in a lot of my marinating sauces this summer season! Cannot wait to try this recipe out, thanks for the share
Wow! This seems like a mouth-watering dish! I love the combo of colors and ingredients! Do you use fresh cilantro leaves?
Yes I do! 🙂
Sooooo goood but it’s a lot of prep work but it was worth. The more cilantro the better!!!! It was light, easy, and just wanted I needed