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Tender and juicy seasoned and pan seared chicken thighs slow cook with a flavorful and light cilantro lime sauce. This meal is packed with flavor and absolutely delicious! 
Happy New year! Can you believe how fast 2015 came and went? Have you set some New Year’s Resolutions? I always love a new year and a fresh clean start to make goals for the upcoming year. This year a huge goal of mine is to be better organized and stick to a schedule. Sometimes balancing family life and working on the blog can be tricky. I know that if I can better organize the blog and behind the scenes it will make my family life a whole lot easier. Especially because I love spending all of my free time with my family!
Of course I want to continue with my healthy eating goals and weight loss journey. And I don’t know about you guys but I am totally ready for some SAVORY recipes! I have had just about enough treats from the holidays and I am so excited to get back on track with my better eating habits. So what better way to start than with this easy and full of flavor savory recipe today!
This Creamy Cilantro Lime Chicken is the bomb dot com. It requires just minimal ingredients but is light and packed with flavor. I decided to use boneless and skinless chicken thighs this time around. They were so juicy and tender by the time that they were finished cooking.
Pan searing the chicken with the spices is just one extra step and so worth it. It takes only a few minutes. It seals in the flavor and creates a crisp edge while the inside of the chicken is tender and juicy. You throw it in the slow cooker with just a few ingredients and let is slow cook to perfection!
I served the chicken over rice with the creamy cilantro lime sauce drizzled on top. You guys. The flavor is seriously incredible! It became an instant favorite with the first bite. Especially because I love cilantro! The chicken was amazing and everything about this simple and light dish was incredible!
I know you guys are going to love this one too!
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Slow Cooker Creamy Cilantro Lime Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs*
- 1 Tablespoon Chili Powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 1/4 cup lime juice
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 2 Tablespoons cilantro chopped
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch mixed with 1 tablespoon cold water
Instructions
- Heat a skillet to medium high heat and add olive oil. In a shallow bowl combine chili powder, cumin, paprika, and pepper. Rub the seasoning into the chicken on each side. Pan sear in the hot oil until each side is brown. Transfer chicken to slow cooker.
- Add the chicken broth and lime juice and cook on low for 5-6 hours or high 3-4 hours. Right before the chicken is done, carefully remove the chicken and add heavy cream, cilantro, and cornstarch and water and mix well. Add the chicken back to the slow cooker and continue to cook until sauce starts to thicken about 15-20 minutes.
- Serve over rice, or quinoa and garnish with additional fresh cilantro.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
My boyfriend and I love this recipe!! I serve it with herbed basmati rice and grilled butter tortillas with a dash of hot sauce!! Thank you ???
Have made this 3 times and it’s a keeper in our house. Before I made it the 1st time, I scanned the comments from those who had already made it. Here’s what I walked away with & what I do to improve the dish.
First I add kosher salt to the chicken rub. I do the recommended broth & lime juice amounts. I also add about a 1/3 of diced red onion, 2 – 3 garlic cloves, minced and a jalapeño chopped. I’ve removed the ribs & seeds and found there was zero heat so the next time I included some and heat was still missing so don’t be afraid to add a jalapeño. As far as the broth, it is runny prior to adding the recommend cornstarch. So don’t skimp on all of the recommended fluids – it’s all worth it when you make the consistency to your liking with the cornstarch. I like having the extra sauce as we pour it over the chicken served with rice. The leftovers are amazing too and the thighs just fall apart.
Hi, I’m planning on using chicken breasts, but I’ll pound them a bit first. I WONDERED WHY THE CHICKEN HAS AN ASTERISK beside it (sorry for shouting. lol) Have you tried it with breast instead of thighs? Thanks, Nora
Chicken breasts will go great with this too! I am needing to delete the asterisk next to the chicken thighs. I am not sure why or how that was put there. Thanks so much for letting me know! XOXO
I love this. I have made it before as posted and it delicious. This time I got lazy.
After the chicken was done I added the rice to the juice.
No delicious sauce but the rice and chicken was good.
Hi! I’m prepping after daughter born and wondering this recipe can be prepped and frozen? It sounds delicious!
Can I keep the skin on the thief?
The total cook time says 6 hours but the cooking instructions say to cook the chicken for 3-4 hours with an additional 15-30 minutes after adding the final ingredients. Could you offer some clarification? Thank you!
After you add the cream, you are just basically letting all of the ingredients heat together and the flavor to blend for the additional time.
I used just over 1 cup of broth and 3/4 cup of lime juice and then substituted a full cup of coconut milk for the cream. For spice a full teaspoon of celery salt, and I added chipotle powder. mince your cilantro fine, and garnish with lime wedges and rough chopped cilantro.
I never comment on recipes, but I am making an exception. This recipe is amazing. I have made it several times and it is wonderful. Making it again today as I have been craving it. Just love this recipe!!!!
Definitely needs salt and I’m not a salt fiend. Use it when cooking chicken with other spices! Sauce was watery and lacked any lime flavor at all. chicken was tender and fell apart. Too bad the measurements are off on this recipe.
This was very tasty. I agree 2 cups of chicken broth is a lot, esp in a slow cooker which is the only cooking method that actually makes more liquid as it cooks. I did the full 2 cups cuz I was using 3.5 lbs of chicken instead of 2 but it was still too much. When I took out the chicken to add the rest of the ingredients, I removed about 1 cup of liquid. It was still watery. Taste was good but would have been nice to have a little bit of a sauce to coat the chicken. The chicken itself did fall apart with just a fork.
Also the suggestion regarding the broth was spot on. It was indeed a little watery, but I followed the cooks suggestion and increased the cornstarch and since I also doubled this recipe so I could have leftovers the next day, I also increased the cream to a cup (I used half and half) but only increased the broth by a 1/2 cup which worked out perfectly.Even with double the amount of chicken thighs I still had an ample amount of sauce at the end.
I made this dish and my family loved it. A couple of suggestions. Put the cilantro at the end as directed, but I would use dried cilantro next time and save the fresh for the table which brightens the dish as did serving quartered lime wedges. A squeeze of the lime and snipped cilantro on top does wonders to bring out the herbs in the dish. Also, you will also need a pinch of salt as well. I served this dish with rice seasoned with the leftover chicken broth and a grilled zucchini medley and a homemade watermelon/limeade punch.
Can this be made in a heavy skillet? Making it tonight
Have you tried this with bone-in thighs? Just wondering if that impacts the sauce at all.
You can definitely use bone in thighs.
Anything wrong with leaving it on low for 8 hours as I plan on going to work for the day? I would then add the heavy cream and other ingredients when I get home.
Thoughts?
Chicken is a lot different than pork or a roast because it can dry out quicker if on low that long. Does your slow cooker automatically turn to warm after a certain amount of time?
After an extra 40 minutes on high I stopped waiting for the sauce to thicken and just had it watery. Guessing maybe the listed cornstarch instructions were off? Could have used more lime juice as well.