Mexican-Inspired Chicken Marinade

This Mexican-Inspired Chicken Marinade is a great way to mix up your weeknight dinners. Packed with flavour, perfect for meal prep and super versatile. Make this for tacos, salads or whatever dish you’re craving!

I want to hold on to summer as long as possible so we’re doubling down on the marinated meats that are perfect for grilling season. With this marinade, you can take boring and bland chicken breasts or thighs to the next level!

It’s important to be clear on the name of this recipe, “Mexican-inspired”. This is my personal take on some of my favourite flavours and ingredients that are commonly used in Mexican cooking. However, it is not authentic Mexican cuisine and I do not intend it to be.

Ingredients for Mexican-Inspired Chicken Marinade

Here’s what you need to make this marinade:

• Olive oil
  • If you don’t have olive oil, you can also use avocado oil, which is mild in flavour and tolerable to higher heats.
• Lime juice
  • The juice of a fresh lime is the best but if it’s easier to use bottled lime juice, that works too!
• Chili powder
• Cumin
• Garlic powder
  • You may choose to use garlic salt and omit the added pinch of salt.
• Paprika
• Coriander
  • Did you know coriander is dried cilantro?? If you’re not a fan of the taste of cilantro, you can omit this herb.
• Salt
• Chicken breasts or chicken thighs
  • This recipe calls for 4 large or 6 medium-sized chicken breasts. If you’re using chicken thighs instead, you will need roughly 8-12 thighs.

How to Make a Chicken Marinade

In true All Nutrition spirit, the goal is to spend our time in the kitchen effectively. This is so that we have more time to spend doing the things we love and with the ones we care about. So, that being said, all you have to do to make this marinade is:

1. In a medium-sized bowl or large measuring glass, add the olive oil, lime juice and seasonings. Mix this together.
2. Pour this marinade over the chicken breasts or thighs in a large bowl or Ziploc bag. Make sure each piece of chicken is well coated.
3. Store in the fridge for minimum 1 hour, up to overnight, before you’re ready to cook.

Meal Options with Chicken

There are so many ways to enjoy this flavourful chicken! If you make a large enough batch, you can have some for leftovers to try all of these meal options. Or, make it multiple times! Here are some ideas:

• Add it to tacos with avocado, black beans, pico de gallo and fresh cilantro
• Toss it on a bed of greens to make a salad. You can use any leftover marinade as a dressing or simply drizzle olive oil, a spritz of lime juice and some salt and pepper on top
• Pair it with a side of rice and some fresh tomatoes with feta
• Slice it up and add it to a sandwich with garlic aioli, lettuce and cucumber
• Pair it with this Herb and Garlic Potato Salad or this Herbed Bean and Rice Salad

 

Whatever way you choose to serve this Mexican-Inspired Chicken, I’m sure it will add some excitement to your mealtime!

I hope this Mexican-Inspired Chicken Marinade brings some delicious variety to your weeknight dinners. If you’re looking for even more ideas, check out some of these summer dinner recipes:

• Yogurt and Dill Marinated Grilled Chicken
• Shrimp Orzo Salad with Honey Lemon Dressing
• Healthy Greek Turkey Meatballs
• Sweet Sesame Salmon Bites
• 20-Minute Balsamic Dill Chicken

 

If you make this Mexican-Inspired Chicken Marinade, I would love to see your comment and rating below. It also makes my day seeing your creations of my recipes on Instagram- don’t forget to tag @allnutrition.rd!