5-Minute Mexican Lime Chili Chicken Marinade
This flavorful Mexican Lime Chili Chicken Marinade takes 5 minutes to make and is the ticket to juicy, perfect chicken! Use it before grilling or baking your chicken, steak, or shrimp for a perfect main dish every time.
Want to know the secret to chicken that bursts with flavor at every bite? There’s no advanced technique or fancy equipment involved…it’s just a good marinade!
This 5-Minute Mexican Lime Chili Chicken Marinade is one of my favorites to bring all the spicy, tangy flavor to an otherwise ordinary weeknight meal. You can even make it ahead of time and toss it in the fridge until you’re ready to go…meal preppers rejoice!
You can use this marinade on chicken, steak, shrimp and fish but my favorite is to use it on my Mexican Lime Grilled Chicken. We make it all year long and never get sick of it.
Mexican Lime Chili Marinade Ingredients
I love marinades because they make an otherwise ordinary meal feel intentional and special. Just like a good salad dressing, it’s as easy as measuring everything out and giving it a good whisk or shake in a Mason jar. This one is made with all pantry ingredients and a couple fresh limes.
- Chili powder
- Garlic powder
- Paprika
- Cumin
- Oil – I use avocado oil, but olive would work great!
- Salt & pepper
- Lime juice – I think fresh tastes best!
How Long to Marinate Chicken
This is up to you! I say prep your meal at any point in the day when you have some extra time, which removes a lot of the stress around dinner time. Anywhere from 2 hours to overnight will add delicious flavor to your meal! Even 30 minutes will add really yummy flavor to chicken (or steak or shrimp!).
Food photography by Ashley Cuoco
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Mexican Lime Chili Chicken Marinade
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: Sauce
Description
This flavorful Mexican Lime Chili Marinade takes 5 minutes to make and is the ticket to juicy, perfect chicken! Use it before grilling or baking your chicken, steak, or shrimp for a perfect main dish every time.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- ½ cup avocado oil (or olive oil)
- ½ cup lime juice
Instructions
- Whisk together the chili powder, salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika and cumin. Add the oil and lime juice and whisk until well combined.
- Use to marinate chicken, red meat or shrimp! Store in a jar or Tupperware in the fridge until ready to use.
Wow! This marinade makes a very tasty and juicy chicken. I was very surprise. Made some chicken quesadillas with this and it was bomb!
Great idea to make quesadillas with this chicken!
Made the Mexican Lime chicken tonight in a burrito bowl with leftover rice, baby cos, black beans, fresh chargrilled corn, guacamole and dash of sour cream – delicious. Will be adding this to our rotation- easy, healthy and packed full of flavour, thank you!
Ummmm, that sounds amazing!!!
Lovely recipe. Used lemon juice for chix thighs becuz that all I had for citrus. Marinated for 30 minutes becuz I was afraid of the ceviche effect. Pan fried in cast iron skillet. Let rest for 10”. deglazed pan with butter and fresh garlic until aromatic. My husband finished before me . VERY RARE! Said it was FANTABULOUS! BTW, served along side your cumin carrots.And your chimchurri sauce. He scraped the the plate it was that good! THANK YOU!
Ahhhhh! This is awesome!!!