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You will love these tender and juicy chicken breasts when you make this creamy Cilantro Coconut Chicken recipe. Easy to make creamy chicken to have for a weeknight dinner and ready in just 30 minutes.
You may also love my chicken and broccoli skillet or my BBQ Baked Chicken breast.
Coconut lime garlic flavored chicken recipe to serve your family with any side dish, from pasta to rice, it’s just roasted veggies. You can’t go wrong with this creamy garlic chicken dish for a quick family dinner. It’s easy to make, tender, juicy, and ready in 30 minutes from prepping to getting it to your dinner table.
The Chicken breasts are cooked in a skillet on your stove top with a creamy garlic lime sauce. This creamy chicken breast made with a cilantro lime sauce is low in carbs and will be a weekly dinner staple you will be serving your family for some time.
Recipe summary
- Easy: it’s so easy to make this creamy chicken recipe. It takes just about 30 minutes of your time and you only need one pan.
- Lighter: skip the unhealthy heavy cream and use coconut milk instead. This recipe is low carbs.
- Delicious: you will love how creamy and tasty this chicken recipe is. Everyone will love it!
Ingredients needed
Below is a list of ingredients you will need and can be improvised. Full measurements are listed further down below in the recipe card.
- 2 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts about 4 total large chicken breasts, or 6 medium-sized thinner breast
- Seasonings: garlic powder, coriander seed, salt, and pepper
- Coconut sugar: can be optional or swapped with honey
- Gluten-free flour: or any other flour
- Fresh cilantro
- Coconut oil, or any other oil
- Coconut milk: you may swap this with whole milk mixed in with a bit of flour or cornstarch.
- Lime: you may swap this with lemons
- Chicken or vegetable broth
- Green onions to garnish
How to make creamy cilantro lime chicken
Season the chicken with salt, pepper, garlic powder, ground coriander, and coconut sugar, and rub it on both sides.
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add chicken and cook for 4-5 minutes per side, or until slightly browned. Set aside.
In a small bowl whisk the coconut milk, lime juice, and flour until well combined. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper.
Add the chicken broth to the pan and stir through the bottom to get all those delicious brown bits unstuck. Then add the coconut mixture.
The sauce will start to thicken pretty quickly; return the chicken to the pan and continue to cook into the sauce for 6-8 minutes more, or until fully cooked through and hot.
Once the chicken is done, garnish with cilantro.
Sprinkle everything with salt, pepper, extra chopped cilantro, and chopped green onions, and enjoy!
Recipe notes and tips
- 2 lbs of chicken breast will be equal to 4 large chicken breasts or 6 medium-sized. If you slice, If any of the chicken breasts are too thick, you may slice them lengthwise for a thinner and smaller piece.
- Chicken breast used, you can use boneless chicken thighs or any other protein like salmon or shrimp.
- Coconut sugar balances out the taste, you can skip it or use cane sugar or honey.
- Chicken broth can be replaced with vegetable broth or simply use water
- Coconut milk can be in cans, but make sure you use the liquid kind, not the cream. Used coconut milk to make this dairy-free. But coconut milk has much higher calories than, say, 2% milk. For those counting macros, consider using any other milk.
- Store leftovers in a container in the fridge for 3-4 days
Frequently asked questions
If you are one of those that always end up with dried chicken, then you are cooking the chicken to fast over high heat. They key is to cook the chicken first over medium heat for a few minutes on each side, then lower it and let it cook slowly. You may also flatten your chicken breast to ensure even cooking.
Seasoning your chicken will come down to a personal preference on what flavor you are in the mood for. The most common seasonings used to season chicken are plain salt and pepper, onion and garlic powder, lemon pepper, cajun or paprika, thyme, oregano or Italian seasoning. Of course there are many other seasonings you can use,
Place leftovers in an container in the fridge for 3-4 days. Reheat in the microwave when ready to serve.
Yes. If you do not have coconut milk, swap it with any milk you have on hand or heavy cream. If using light milk that’s not creamy, you may need to add a bit of cornstarch to thicken the sauce.
You do not have to use chicken if you want to use another type of protein. You may swap it with salmon or shrimp.
More chicken recipes
- Creamy Chicken and Broccoli Skillet
- Easy Sweet and Sour Chicken
- Easy Buffalo Chicken Dip
- Tandoori Chicken
- Air Fryer Chicken Nuggets
- Baked BBQ Chicken Breast
Pin this now to find it later
Pin ItStoring and reheating
- To store, place leftovers in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 3 days. You may freeze for up to 3 months.
- To reheat, I recommend just using your microwave and reheat at 30-60 seconds intervals until heated through.
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Creamy Coconut Chicken Skillet
Ingredients
- 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, about 4 total chicken breasts
- Kosher salt and ground pepper, to taste
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander seed
- 1 tablespoon coconut sugar, cane sugar, brown sugar, or honey
- 2 tablespoons gluten-free flour, or any other flour
- 1/4 cup cilantro chopped, plus more for topping
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil, or any other oil
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 2 limes, or lemon
- 2/3 cup chicken broth
- 1-2 green onion chopped, for garnish
- Kosher salt and ground pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Season the 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts with Kosher salt and ground pepper, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon ground coriander seed, and 1 tablespoon coconut sugar, and rub it on both sides.
- Heat the 2 tablespoons coconut oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add chicken and cook for 4-5 minutes per side, or until lightly browned. Set aside.
- In a small bowl whisk the 1 cup coconut milk, lime juice from 2 limes, and 2 tablespoons gluten-free flour until well combined. Season with a pinch of Kosher salt and ground pepper.
- Add the 2/3 cup chicken broth to the pan and stir through the bottom to get all those delicious brown bits unstuck. Then add the coconut mixture.
- The sauce will start to thicken pretty quickly; return the chicken to the pan and continue to cook into the sauce for 6-8 minutes more, or until fully cooked through and hot.
- Once the chicken is done, garnish with 1/4 cup cilantro chopped (chopped).
- Sprinkle everything with salt, pepper, extra chopped cilantro, and 1-2 green onion chopped, and enjoy!
Notes
- 2 lbs of chicken breast will be equal to 4 large chicken breasts or 6 medium-sized. If you slice any of the chicken breasts, they are too thick, you may slice them lengthwise for a thinner and smaller piece.
- Chicken breast used, you can use boneless chicken thighs or any other protein like salmon or shrimp.
- Coconut sugar balances out the taste, you can skip it or use cane sugar or honey.
- Chicken broth can be replaced with vegetable broth or simply use water
- Coconut milk can be in cans, but make sure you use the liquid kind, not the cream. This ups the number of calories. To cut this down, you may use 2% milk but it won’t be as creamy.
- Store leftovers in a container in the fridge for 3-4 days
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Hello! From the UK so just checking do you mean coconut milk as in the type you can put in a coffee? Thanks!
Hi Kirsty. It is the coconut milk that is in cans. The one you drink with coffee will still work but it won’t be as thick.
My kids are fussy plain food, eaters. They loved this dish.
Perfect! So glad they loved it. Thanks James
Chicken was nice and tender, but way too much lime. I even tried to neutralize the sauce with baking soda, but still too acidic.
I enjoyed the taste even more when I added some garam masala. I also liked it with coconut creme. Good recipe, my family enjoyed it with soba noodles and asked for a repeat. Thank you