Made in one pan and ready in 30 minutes, this Honey Lime Garlic Chicken with Pistachios is the perfect easy chicken dinner! Packed with flavour, this Honey Lime Garlic Chicken is just delightful!
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One Pan Honey Lime Garlic Chicken with Pistachios
This Honey Lime Garlic Chicken with Pistachios is quickly becoming a go-to weeknight chicken dinner recipe! It takes around 30 minutes from start to finish to make this chicken dinner and I’m in love with the flavour combination.
I’m one of those people who almost always has chicken frozen in my freezer so I’m constantly working on easy chicken recipes. This honey lime garlic chicken recipe was pretty much created while I was doing a survey of what I had in my kitchen.
I’ve been working on a lot of marinades and recipes that used lemons, limes, and honeys recently so with a ton leftover, I got to work trying to make a delicious combination of flavours for dinner. The pan-searing makes the honey lime chicken crispy and seals in the juices and then finishing it off in the oven means half of this recipe is hands off!
What You’ll Need To Make This Honey Lime Garlic Chicken
- butter
- honey
- lime juice
- soy sauce
- garlic cloves
- chicken thighs
- pistachios (optional but recommended!)
- cilantro (optional)
- cast iron
Do I Need a Cast Iron Skillet?
Honestly, no. I just love using the cast iron for this honey lime chicken recipe because I’m able to sear the chicken, make the sauce, and then bake it all using pan.
Using the cast iron makes life a little easier and leaves me with less dirty dishes. If you don’t have a cast iron, you can use either an oven safe pan to bake the chicken in after it’s seared or you can transfer the contents into a oven dish.
Tips and Tricks to Make this Honey Lime Garlic Chicken Perfectly
- Do not over do it with the lime. The lime (and especially it’s rind) will make the sauce bitter – trust me, I learned this the hard way and it took me a couple attempts to get the amount correct.
- If you end up using too much lime, add more honey or butter to counteract the bitterness.
- This honey lime garlic chicken recipe is quite versatile so if you have chicken breasts or boneless skinless thighs, this recipe works as well. You just might have to adjust the cooking time for a couple of minutes.
- Want to add a little bit of a kick to this? Add some chili flakes into the sauce before popping the pan in the oven.
- I love adding pistachios to this chicken dinner. It adds a distinctive (both) sweet and savoury flavour to the dish. It’s also rich in nutrients and makes this meal more filling! This was added because I had a large bag lying around the kitchen and daaaaang was it a delicious addition to the recipe. I recently discovered Wonderful Pistachios has shelled pistachios and I had purchased a large pack at the grocery store! I love pistachios but hate dealing with the shell haha.
- I’m a huge fan of glass containers for packing my lunches in as they’re great for reheating in the microwave and they don’t hold onto smells over time. You can even get glass containers that have dividers
- If you are interested in a meat subscription so you’ll always have meat in your freezer like me, check out Butcherbox for hormone and antibiotic free meat delivered to your door! Use “AP10” for $10 off and free bacon in your first box! Shipping is free.
Want to make this Honey Lime Garlic Chicken into a Meal Prep?
This recipe is quite easy to turn it into a meal prep. What I did was while the chicken was finishing off in the oven, I made some couscous on the stove. You can also roast some vegetables at the same time on a separate rack if you want to add vegetables to the dish. When meal prepping this honey lime garlic chicken, I had raw bell peppers and carrots as my snack so I skipped adding additional vegetables to my container for lunch.
Honey Lime Garlic Chicken
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp butter divided into 2 tbsp and 1
- 2 tbsp lime juice (around 1 lime) divided into 2
- 2-3 tbsp honey
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 4-5 cloves garlic sliced or left whole
- 8 chicken thighs
- pistachios optional
Instructions
- Heat oven to 375 degrees
- In a large cast iron skillet over medium heat melt 2 tablespoons butter, add half the juice the lime, honey, soy sauce, and garlic. Stir and let the liquid come to boil (should be quick)
- Add chicken and cook for 2-3 minutes on each side until browned. If you can using skin-on chicken, place the chicken in the cast iron skin side down first. Transfer chicken to a plate after the chicken has been browned.
- Add the rest of the butter and lime juice to the cast iron skillet (chili flakes can be added here if you desire). Stir until mixed together. Give the sauce a taste here to make sure it is not bitter from the lime, if it is, add more butter or honey.
- Transfer the chicken back to the pan and top off with a handful of pistachios (optional) before placing it into the oven for 15-20 minutes.
- Add lime slices or wedges and chopped cilantro for garnish and serve with your side of choice. I served the chicken with couscous.
Notes
Nutrition
MORE EASY WEEKNIGHT CHICKEN RECIPES TO TRY
- Lemon Garlic Chicken
- Vietnamese Grill Chicken Meal Prep
- Chicken Pepperoni Pasta Salad
- Thai Peanut Chicken and Noodles
- Chicken and Vegetables Stir Fry with Peanut Sauce
Other places to connect with me
Instagram: @carmyshungry
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Vlogs/Recipe Videos: Youtube
Debra
Under 30 minutes and all in one pan?? I’m in. Seriously though, in addition to those factors, I love the short ingredient list with things I have in my pantry and love. My daughter loves chicken so I’m always looking for new and easy recipes. Thanks.
Gloria
You can never go wrong with a great chicken recipe. This sounds delicious. What a great recipe for “meal planning”. The whole family would enjoy this.
Kirsten
I make chicken at least 4 times each week, and it’s so easy to get into a rut by making the same recipes over and over again. I am really looking forward to trying the honey lime garlic flavors in your recipe!
Sarah
Oh this looks so yummy! And I love the tip about lime making it bitter, because that would totally happen to me- I always add more citrus than a recipe says for. (I’m obsessed!)
Lisa
Oh, Carmy – how do you make simple chicken thighs look so drool worthy? I don’t think I’d have to worry about having leftovers, because my family would eat this on the first go round. Wondering if there’s a natural sauce from the chicken and marinade that can be spooned over the chicken and/or noodles. By the way, your thoughts on glass storage containers is spot on — how many times do you have to throw out the plastic ones because they get stained with food from reheating in the microwave. That’s smart.
Tina
I love all of my cast iron. After awhile, they get really easy to clean. Just a quick scrub with steel wool, rinse, dry and oil. I can see why you like to use it here. I love one pan dinners because I like easy. This recipe looks delicious and easy which is always a winner in my book. Thanks for sharing this!
Farrah
This sounds like such an amazing combination! *-* I love that it’s done in less than 30 minutes too! Perfect for busy days! 😀
Traci
Beautiful recipe! It’s so simple and I love the use of everyday ingredients! I always have chicken in my freezer too, and I lovvvve those chicken thighs…best cut, in my opinion! This meal goes the distance…and perfect for meal prep. Thanks for another winner!
Meg
The glaze on the chicken looks amazing! Honey and lime are always so great together, especially for chicken marinades, and I love the addition of the pistachios! Meals under 30 minutes are my favorite, so this is definitely a winner.
Dana
I love the mix of honey and lime instead of honey and lemon for a change! And I’m so glad you mentioned having to be careful about the bitterness. I remember back in the day making chicken piccata for the first time and I’d gotten some of the lemon pith into the sauce and yeah. RUINED. Totally something worth mentioning that many home cooks don’t think about. I love that this works with various chicken cuts, too. I never seem to know which I have stocked up in my freezer, ha.
Sues
This has been pinned! I am easily bored by chicken, but this sounds and looks anything but boring! I love the honey lime flavor combo and am a huge fan of pistachios- so fun to serve them in a chicken dish!
Amanda
What gorgeous color on this chicken, and the flavors in the marinade sound fantastic! I especially love that you added pistachios – one of my favorite nuts! The pearled couscous looks like the perfect side for this dish, too. and I love how easy it is to pack it for lunch. I keep hearing good things about Butcherbox – I’ll have to try it out!
Courtney Lopez
Cilantro and lime are our favorite combos around here! I love that you added the pistachios for even more crunch! I’m excited to use the lefotvers in a salad. Excellent recipe! 🙂
Jordan
Tried this recipe a few days ago, and I loved it! The seasoning on the chicken is very simple but SO addictive. I added some ground chili paste into the wet ingredients and cooked that in to give the chicken some added spiciness. All in all the recipe was easy to do and definitely something I’ll come back to.
Carmy
The ground chili paste sounds like such a delicious addition! I’ll have to try that! Thanks