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.
Cilantro Lime Pan Fried Chicken Thighs and Rice
Ingredients
Jalapeño Marinade
- 1 lb Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs
- 1/2 C 120g Pickled Jalapeño Juice
- 1/4 C 60g Lime Juice, about 2 small limes
- 1 Tbsp 16g Olive Oil
- 2 Tbsp 10g Chopped Cilantro
- 3 cloves 10g Garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
- 1/2 tsp Black Pepper
For Frying
- 1/2 Tbsp 8g Olive Oil
- 8 oz packet Uncle Ben's Jasmine Ready Rice, or 2 cups of any cooked rice
Instructions
For the Marinade
- Mix all the marinade ingredients together in a resealable container before placing the chicken thighs in and covering. Refrigerate overnight, if possible.
For the Pan Fried Chicken Thighs and Rice
- Microwave or cook the rice. Set aside.
- Remove the chicken thighs from the marinade and place on a paper towel to dry the surface before frying. Reserve the remaining marinade (or make fresh batch).
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat with the 1/2 tablespoon of oil.
- Place the chicken thighs dry-side down in the skillet. Cook for 4-6 minutes or until the bottoms are golden brown before flipping. Slowly pour the remaining marinade in the gaps around the chicken, being careful to not pour over the top of the chicken.
- Continue cooking to reduce the marinade to a thick sauce, 4-5 minutes tops, before transferring the chicken to a plate once it reaches an internal temp of 165F.**
- Add the cooked rice to the skillet and pan fry for another 4-6 minutes, stirring to incorporate any crispy bits from the skillet into the rice.
- Plate the rice with the pan fried chicken thighs, top with fresh cilantro, and enjoy!
Notes
- Each serving (1/4th the entire recipe with rice) has 7 Smart Points.
- Nutrition facts for the chicken on its own (no rice): 735 calories, 88g of protein, 9g of carbs, 38g of fat, and 15 Smart Points.
How did you get the recipe to be 7 SP? When I enter it into the app it says it’s 9 points.
I just made this recipe and my husband and I loved it!! I wasn’t sure about the jalopeno juice because I don’t like jalopenos or spicy food, but I decided to just follow the recipe and see what happens. I was shocked at how good it was, will definitely make again!
I just made this recipe and my husband and I loved it!! I wasn’t sure about the jalopeno juice because I don’t like jalopenos or spicy food, but I decided to just follow the recipe and see what happens. I was shocked at how good it was, will definitely make again!
This was SO good!! Even my 9 and 12 year olds loved it and they are hard to please. Don’t be afraid of the jalapeño juice! I think I used about half as much cilantro because the kids aren’t huge fans of it. 12/10 recommend this recipe.
This recipe was sooo good!
We did 1/4 to 1/2 the amount of jalapeño juice to make it family friendly (and because I am a wuss with spicy food). We also left out the rice and served it on the side. My kids are obsessed with rice and soy sauce – so they had their food separate, while my husband and I mixed it all together.
Definitely recommend this!
This recipe was sooo good!
We did 1/4 to 1/2 the amount of jalapeño juice to make it family friendly (and because I am a wuss with spicy food). We also left out the rice and served it on the side. My kids are obsessed with rice and soy sauce – so they had their food separate, while my husband and I mixed it all together.
Definitely recommend this! Try it!
All I can say is, I wish I made more! My husband who isnt a huge chicken and rice person loved these!
This recipe is bursting with flavors! I couldn’t find pickled jalapeno juice so I used the juice from a jar of peppercinis. I also used cauliflower rice. Will definitely be a recipe I use again and again.
The amount of flavor in this chicken recipe is unbelievable! I added a little extra cilantro, just because I absolutely love the flavoring it gives to my food. The jalapeno juice was a new ingredient for me, but one I will be using more often. Gives just enough flavor, but not too much heat. The rice is my absolute favorite rice recipe, I’m sure it will be making appearances in other dishes I serve.
Favorite hearty recipe! I added extra cup of rice to the recipe because rice! And two cups of rice is not enough for four servings (or I may just eat too much )
PLUS ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5 more stars. I thought hard about which recipe of masons is my MOST favorite and feel this is my fav! It was the first time we bought chicken thighs and was life changing. I didn’t realize how sick I was of dry chicken breasts. Sure, they’re not as macro friendly but I would rather sacrifice something else in my day than not use chicken thighs.
(One night we did use chicken breasts bc we ran out of thighs and it honestly wasn’t the same. The recipe was still delicious, but the meat was dryer than my SILs personality).
We make this chicken at least once a week. You cannot get sick of it!
We usually keep our rice and chicken separate though and just make plain basamati rice and add some of the cilantro, 1 tbsp lemon juice and 1 tbsp lime juice to our rice. I have to watch my macros better and have less self control when it’s all one happy dish.