Do this before assembling the salad.
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 tablespoons lime juice
- 1 pound boneless chicken breasts pounded to an even thickness
- cilantro lime marinade
- 1 cup loosely packed cilantro include stems and leaves
- 4 garlic cloves peeled
- 1 teaspoon each, chili powder, ground cumin, onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon each, smoked paprika, salt, pepper, sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper optional
- Carbohydrate 2.15745250040961 g
- Cholesterol 65.77089365 mg
- Fat 3.15680572272708 g
- Fiber 0.250974996785534 g
- Protein 26.5207745582704 g
- Saturated Fat 0.615028705350314 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (134g)
- Sodium 76.3531351251118 mg
- Sugar 1.90647750362407 g
- Trans Fat 0.438849017771105 g
- Calories 148 calories
Step-by-step
- Add all marinade ingredients to your food processor. Pulse until finely chopped, scraping down the sides several times. Remove and reserve 2 tablespoons for basting. (If making salad, you will use 1 tablespoon for basting and 1 tablespoon for dressing.)
- Add the remaining marinade to a large freezer bag or a shallow dish. Add the chicken and turn to coat. Marinate in the refrigerator 2-10 hours.
- When ready to cook, remove chicken from the refrigerator and let it come to room temperature for 20-30 minutes.
- Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large no-stick skillet over medium high heat. Once very hot, drain chicken from marinade, pat off excess, and add to skillet.
- Cook undisturbed for 3-4 minutes, or until nicely browned on one side.
- Turn chicken over, cover, and turn heat to medium. Cook for approximately 4-6 more minutes, depending on thickness of chicken, or until thoroughly cooked.
- Place chicken on cutting board and baste with the reserved 1 tablespoon (or 2 tablespoons if not making salad) of the marinade. Garnish with additional lime juice if desired. Let it rest for 5 minutes before slicing.
- Grease and preheat grill to medium heat, 375 to 450 degrees.
- Remove chicken from marinade, pat off excess, and add to grill. Grill chicken undisturbed for 5-7 minutes per side, or until chicken is cooked through. Inserted Meat thermometer to should read 165 degrees.
- Place chicken on cutting board and baste with the reserved 1 tablespoon (or 2 tablespoons if not making salad) of the marinade. Garnish with additional lime juice if desired. Let it rest for 5 minutes before slicing.
Pulling chicken straight from a multi-hour bath in acid and salt requires strict adherence to resting windows if moisture retention is the goal. Leaving the meat in the refrigerator for the full ten hours will tenderize the outer layers aggressively, meaning the transition from cold storage to room temperature must occupy exactly twenty to thirty minutes to prevent uneven cooking across the thickness of the breast. When multiplying this formulation for larger crowds, cooks frequently miscalculate the acid ratio, scaling the lime juice linearly without accounting for how quickly citric acid breaks down delicate protein structures during prolonged contact.
Adjusting Batches Without Ruining the Marinade
Doubling the recipe demands more than simply multiplying every spice measurement by two, because food processors struggle to purée small volumes of garlic and cilantro evenly when quantities are merely doubled without adjusting vessel size. A single pound of poultry utilizes one cup of loosely packed cilantro and four garlic cloves, but scaling up to three pounds does not require three times the garlic unless an overpowering allium profile is specifically desired. Retaining the reserved two tablespoons of marinade for post-cooking basting must be done prior to raw chicken contact to prevent cross-contamination, a critical food safety step that cannot be improvised mid-cooking.
- Pat the surface of the meat completely dry after removing it from the liquid to ensure proper searing rather than steaming in the skillet.
- Verify that the internal meat thermometer reads precisely 165 degrees Fahrenheit at the thickest part of the breast before removing it from the heat source.
- Allow the cooked poultry to rest undisturbed on the cutting board for a full five minutes so the muscle fibers can reabsorb escaping moisture.
