Cilantro Lime Pan Fried Chicken Thighs

This simple pan fried chicken thighs recipe marinates boneless skinless chicken thighs in a blend of jalapeño and lime juice, cilantro, and sliced garlic to create unbelievably tender, flavorful chicken.

And to make things even better, you cook the marinade right in the same pan and fry rice in it at the end. I can almost guarantee this will be a new favorite!

How to Make the Jalapeño Cilantro Lime Marinade

These pan fried chicken thighs are seriously flavor bombs, and that’s due to the marinade. It’s a simple blend of ingredients:

• pickled jalapeño juice
• lime juice
• cilantro
• garlic
• black pepper (you can add other spices like crushed chipotle for more heat)
• olive oil

Marinating the chicken thighs a day in advance will produce the most flavorful end product. But if you’re in a hurry, even 30-60 minutes will do wonders. If you go the speedy route, you might want to throw everything in a food processor to break down the cilantro and garlic and unlock those flavors faster.

If you wanted a marinade-free recipe, check out my buffalo chicken thighs recipe. You could pan fry them the same way as these cilantro lime chicken thighs!

If you wanted to skip the oil to reduce the fat content, that should be fine. My Cuban style baked pork tenderloin uses a similar marinade without oil. I wouldn’t, however, skip the oil in the skillet during cooking.

Speaking of cooking.

How to Cook Chicken Thighs in a Skillet

Like I mentioned in my chicken fajita pasta recipe, starting with dry chicken is one of the keys to getting a crispy exterior on chicken. So after marinating the chicken thighs, the recipe calls for letting them rest on a paper towel for a few minutes before cooking.

This also gives the chicken thighs a mini tempering window (going from chilled to room temp) which helps with even cooking. 

Once you have your chicken thighs out of the marinade, you’ll need to heat a skillet with a tiny bit of oil. Cast iron or stainless steel is ideal, but nonstick will do the trick, too.

Pan fry the chicken thighs for 4-6 minutes (DON’T TOUCH THEM) until they develop a golden brown crust.

Then it’s time to flip the chicken thighs and add the remaining marinade to the skillet.

Using the Leftover Marinade

Food safety note: Be sure and fully cook leftover marinades. For these pan fried chicken thighs, you’ll be reducing the cilantro lime marinade all the way to a sauce and then frying the rice in it, ensuring any bacteria from the chicken is long gone. If you’re concerned about food safety, still, make a fresh batch of the marinade to reduce.

An important note for this step is to avoid pouring the marinade directly on top of the chicken. Doing so could negate your efforts to get the extra crispy exterior! Instead, slowly pour it into the gaps between the chicken thighs.

Reducing the leftover marinade shouldn’t take more than a few minutes unless you’re using a small skillet with less surface area, so overcooking the chicken shouldn’t be a huge risk.

If you have a food thermometer handy you can check the temperature as you go and transfer the pan fried chicken to a plate once the chicken reaches an internal temp of 165F.

You can find the instant read food thermometer and skillet I use, along with my other recommended kitchen gadgets, on my Amazon list.

Super Easy Fried Rice

The recipe calls for Uncle Ben’s Ready Rice (the microwavable pouches) for convenience. Any cooked rice will work fine. And you could certainly use something like cauliflower rice (or a mixture of the two to bulk the recipe up) to keep the carbs under control.

Rice that’s been cooked and chilled before frying creates the best fried rice. The recipe calls for cooking the rice before pan frying the chicken thighs, but you could cook it in advance and refrigerate.

Aside from rice selection, the actual process is simple. Add the rice to the reduced sauce, stir, and similar to the chicken, leave it alone for a few minutes. Then stir well, scrape up any crispy bits, and serve!

Follow up food safety note: Don’t get too overzealous and add the rice to the sauce before it’s fully reduced or cooked enough.

Final Pan Fried Chicken Thighs Recipe Notes

I thought I’d mention you can cook the chicken without the leftover (or new) marinade altogether. If you go that route, flip the chicken and simply cook for a few minutes longer until juices run clear and it reaches an internal temp of 165F.

If you’ve ever tried my pan fried chicken tenderloins, you could use a similar method of covering near the end of cooking and removing from the heat to finish cooking. This does a great job at sealing in all the juices for ultra tender chicken. You can also find some more marinade ideas from that recipe!

And if you like a little crunch like me, be sure to check out my buttermilk pan fried chicken breast and crispy chicken sandwiches with chicken thighs.

And I think that’s all ya need to know. If you have a question I missed, drop a comment below or join my Facebook group with 10,000 other healthy home cooks that can help you out.

More Healthy Chicken Recipes You Might Like

• Homemade Chicken Breakfast Sausage Patties
• Spicy Pressure Cooker Chicken Thighs
• Carolina BBQ Crockpot Chicken
• Air Fryer Spicy Popcorn Chicken