Name: Honey Lime Chicken
Prep time: 23 h
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 23 h 15 min
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 1.33 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into thick strips; 1/4 cup cilantro, packed; 4 tbsp lime juice; 2 garlic cloves; 2 tsp honey; 1/2 tsp kosher salt; 1/2 tsp cumin; 1/2 tsp red pepper lakes; 2 tsp olive oil; 2 tbsp plain nonfat yogurt

By Kristen McCaffrey Updated on Dec 24, 2024

Easy Honey Grilled Chicken with the most amazing honey, cilantro, and lime marinade! This flavor packed chicken is light, healthy, and a great way to spice up chicken breast.

227 CAL 4g CARBS 4g FAT 32g PROTEIN

Key Ingredients To Make Honey Lime Marinade For Chicken

Besides the chicken, these are the ingredients you'll need to make the honey-lime marinade :

Cilantro: This herb really complements the rest of the flavors in this dish and adds a beautiful pop of green color too. However, if cilantro isn’t your thing, you can reduce the amount or leave it out of this recipe completely and still enjoy a delicious, flavorful dish.
Lime juice: This is the base for the citrus marinade and pairs extremely well with the honey to create a fresh sauce that’s not too sweet or too sour.
Garlic cloves: I always recommend using fresh garlic cloves over dried minced garlic or garlic powder because the flavor is much better. And, garlic tastes great in (nearly) everything!
Honey: Although lime is sweeter than lemon, it can still be overpowering without the sweet notes of honey to temper it to that perfect level and blend of sweet and sour.
Red pepper flakes: If you don’t like heat, you can totally leave them out, but the red pepper flakes add that perfect touch of heat that blends so well with the honey and lime flavors.
Plain nonfat yogurt: Adding a small amount of yogurt helps to tenderize the chicken and adds just a touch of creaminess to this recipe.

Note: For a complete list of ingredients and thorough instructions on how to make this honey lime chicken, check out the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post!

What To Serve This Honey Lime Chicken Recipe

This chicken recipe can stand alone in a meal, but it can also pair up with a large variety of other dishes and sides.

I highly recommend chopping up the chicken and adding it to your Mexican Chopped Salad with honey lime dressing. So delicious!

You can also try combining this chicken with healthy brown rice or garlic sugar snap peas to round out your meal. Or, to keep things simple by cooking some quinoa and adding some chopped honey lime chicken on top with your favorite veggies.

Love tacos? Instead of making fish tacos for dinner, make grilled honey lime chicken tacos by adding some of this chicken with lettuce, avocados, and some cilantro-lime yogurt dressing for a fun twist on tacos!

Recipe Tips And Ideas For Grilled Honey Lime Chicken

Here are a few tips and tricks to help your honey lime chicken turn out tender and juicy every time you make it!

Cut up the chicken. I recommend cutting your chicken before marinating it because it will create more surface area on the chicken to soak up more marinade (and more flavor).
Marinate for several hours. Leaving the chicken in the honey-lime marinade for several hours (ex: overnight or while you’re away at work) ensures that the chicken is both packed with flavor and very tender!
Preheat the grill before cooking. Make sure that your grill is fully preheated before putting your chicken on it. A hot grill will create that perfect sear that will trap the juices and flavor into the chicken.
Let the chicken rest before cutting. After your chicken has finished grilling, take it off the grill and let it rest on a plate for about 5 minutes to reabsorb the juices and prevent drying out.
Don't have a grill? If you aren’t able to grill this chicken (or just want to change things up a little), you can cook it in several other ways for an always amazing dish! Try baking it in the marinade in a 400-degree oven for about 25 minutes or cook it in a skillet for about 5-7 minutes on each side.

Grilled chicken with honey lime marinade on a plate with honey, red pepper flakes, cilantro, and brown rice on the side.

Frequently Asked Questions About Honey Lime Chicken

Here are some questions I frequently get asked about by some readers…

How long will this chicken last?

This chicken is so light and flavorful, that if you have any leftovers at all, you can store them in an airtight container in your refrigerator for up to 4 days.

If I don’t have chicken breasts, can I use chicken thighs instead?

Yes, you can!

This recipe is very versatile and will work well with chicken thighs. Using chicken thighs will yield a slightly different flavor (thanks to the darker meat) and you may need to vary how long you grill them based on their size to ensure that they reach that safe internal temperature of 165 degrees.

Honey lime chicken breast on a black plate with a knife and fork.