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Fiesta Lime Chicken Recipe (Applebee’s Copycat) is marinated and grilled, then topped with cheese and fresh pico?! What’s not to like? I’m sure you and your mom have seen this recipe floating around on Pinterest and other places because it’s simple to make and it tastes really good. Serve this with a little Mexican Street Corn Recipe or Black Bean Dip Recipe and voila! Tasty dinner that feeds little mouths for days.
Fiesta Lime Chicken Recipe | With Fresh Pico De Gallo
One thing you’ll want to do ahead of time is marinate the chicken. Your chicken will absorb the flavors of the marinade after a couple hours, and be fine…but the longer you can let it marinate, the better!
Main Ingredients Needed
This Fiesta Lime Chicken Recipe starts out with a marinade bursting with flavor. It then gets perfectly grilled and topped with Pico de Gallo. Here’s everything you’ll need to make this tasty dinner:
- Water, Soy Sauce, Lime Juice, Sweet Chile Sauce, Worcestershire Sauce, Garlic, Pepper, and Cumin – a beautiful blend of flavors for the chicken marinade.
- Chicken – I opted for chicken cutlets but you could easily make this with chicken breasts.
- Cheddar Cheese – this tops the grilled chicken and gets melted on.
Pico de Gallo
Here’s what you’ll need for the Pico:
- Tomatoes – fresh is best, diced.
- Yellow Onion – if you hate raw onion, you can leave this out. The pico won’t be as good though.
- Cilantro – a fresh and traditional ingredient.
- Lime – to lighten things up and to add to the lime flavor in the chicken.
- Salt and Pepper – to taste.
- Tortilla Strips – a much-needed crunch!
How to Make Fiesta Lime Chicken | Directions
Step 1: Make Marinate.
In a large freezer bag, stir together water, lime juice, soy sauce, Chile-lime sauce, Worcestershire, garlic, pepper, cumin, and chicken. Seal the bag well and refrigerate for up to 24 hours to marinate.
Step 2: Cook Chicken
Preheat grill to medium heat. Grill chicken 2-3 minutes per side or until cooked completely. When you flip your chicken to cook on the second side, top with the shredded cheese to melt. Cover grill or cover chicken with foil to finish cooking. Remove.
Step 3: Make The Pico De Gallo
Stir all ingredients together in a small bowl. Top the chicken with the pico and tortilla strips and serve. Yum yum!
Side Dishes
Looking for some tasty and easy side dishes to serve alongside Fiesta Lime Chicken? Look no further!
- Cowboy Caviar Recipe
- Classic Guacamole Recipe
- Mexican Street Corn Guacamole
- Homemade Salsa Recipe
- Cilantro Lime Rice
Storing Leftovers
Store chicken and pico in airtight containers and keep in the fridge for up to 3-4 days. The pico will become more juicy, the longer it sits. You may want to drain a little bit of the juices off if its too soupy after the first day.
More Chicken Recipes to Try!
- Easy Chicken Fajitas (Oven & Stovetop recipes)
- Green Chile Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas
- Chicken Tortilla Soup in the Crockpot
- Crockpot Chicken Taco Meat Recipe
- Queso Chicken Skillet
The printable recipe below! Have a wonderful, well-rested day!
Fiesta Lime Chicken Recipe
Ingredients
For the chicken-
- 1 cup water
- 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1/4 cup sweet chili sauce
- 1/2 tablespoon Worcestershire
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- pepper to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 4 chicken cutlets
- 1/2 cup cheddar cheese grated
For the pico-
- 3 roma tomatoes diced
- 1/4 cup yellow onion finely diced
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
- 1 lime juiced
- salt & pepper to taste
- tortilla strips
Instructions
- In a large freezer bag, stir together water, lime juice, soy sauce, chile-lime sauce, Worcestershire, garlic, pepper, cumin, and chicken. Seal the bag well and refrigerate for up to 24 hours to marinate.
- To cook chicken, preheat grill to medium. Grill chicken 2-3 minutes per side or until cooked completely. When you flip your chicken to cook on the second side, top with the shredded cheese to melt. Cover grill or cover chicken with foil to finish cooking. Remove.
- For the pico de gallo, stir all ingredients together in a small bowl. Top the chicken with the pico and tortilla strips and serve. Yum yum!
I made your peach galette for a dinner guest. It was delicious and so easy. Thanks so much. I did substitute sugar for sweetener because we are diabetic.
Hello,
This looks good. Do you think it would work good with steak also? I tried Citrus Lime Sirloin at Applebee’s back in 2014 a couple of times & loved it. But then it disappeared from the menu. When I google it, I find some pictures of it, but no recipes. Thanks!
I’ve made this twice now, the second time I made it with corn on the side. So good! Thank you!
I was really excited to try this recipe especially because I love sweet chili sauce! It was phenomenal and my hubby said it’s definitely going to be part of our rotation! I cooked the remaining marinade down with a little water and cornstarch and served it on the side and it was so good! Thank you for this ❤️
What would you recommend as far as substitute for grilling? Anyone ever used kitchen oven for this recipe? Thank you
Love this! Easy but delicious 😋
This one is one of my favorites! ❤️
[…] Fiesta Lime Chicken […]
Lauren I’ve made this recipe several times and I absolutely love it!
Sorry I’ve never heard of “sweet chile lime sauce” Is there a name brand? I’d really like to try this recipe. thanks
Re: The Fiesta Lime Chicken
What are “chicken cutlets”?
I missed this recipe the first time around. my family would love this!
mm, think I will try this recipe day after tomorrow; maybe with a corn & bean salad as you suggest. Since I don’t have an indoor grill, maybe broil the chicken.
Hi I too am not really at a pointto ‘grill’ did you use kitchen oven and if so any recommended or thoughts ? Thanks
This looks like dinner one night this week!!
This looks delicious! Gonna try it when we all get tired of turkey and ham!????
I love Fiesta Lime Chicken. thanks for the recipe!
This dish is always a favorite in our house. I meal plan 2 weeks at a time and continuously use your blog for more inspiration!! Your recipes are simple for us busy moms but delicious!
This was yummy! And easy since I live in deep southeast Texas!!!
I am always looking for new marinade recipes. I like to marinade the chicken in a ziplock pop it in the freezer right away and then it marinades as it thaws another day and we grill it up!
This is one of my favorite things to order from Applebee’s Can’t wait to try this recipe.
I love Applebees I want to try yours looks just like it.
Easy summer time recipe! Love it!
This is a staple in our house!
Chile lime sauce?? On the shelf at the regular store? Any replacement? Thanks. I’d like to make it but don’t have that.
I made this last night. It was so delicious! My husband couldn’t get enough!! Thank you Lauren!
thank you – so it calls for sweet chili sauce — no lime???
This looks delicious! Do you have a particular brand of sweet chili lime sauce that you use or do you make your own? Thanks Lauren!
What is sweet chile lime sauce? Is this something you make or buy? Thanks!
You get it from the store. This is the kind I use: https://www.amazon.com/Mae-Ploy-Sweet-25-Ounce-Bottle/dp/B00016UX0K
I can’t ever have enough chicken recipes for weeknight dinners — this looks so yummy! And girl — I’m operating on about half of my brain 99% of the time. I don’t know if I’ll ever have it all back 🙂
This recipe is amazing! We make it at least once a month if not more often. Super quick,super simple, & very easy to prep ahead of time for busy/working moms like me.
Hang in there, Lauren! I’m sure that the hard work will pay off soon. The chicken looks so good. I might have to try it for dinner tonight 🙂
Do you buy or make the sweet chili lime sauce?
I buy it! This is the kind I have: https://www.amazon.com/Mae-Ploy-Sweet-25-Ounce-Bottle/dp/B00016UX0K