Grab the charcoal, light the fire up and get ready to make these tender and juicy Grilled Chipotle Lime Chicken Thighs in under 15 minutes. A quick 30-60 minute marinade infuses chipotle flavor that results in a chicken you will want to eat alone, topped on a salad or sliced up inside a tortilla with all your favorite taco toppings.
🍽️ Why This Works
Simple | This recipe is very easy to make and the marinade does all the work for you. The biggest challenge will be finding them in the grocery store if you haven’t ever picked up the chipotles in adobe sauce. Hint: They are in the hispanic section at all grocery stores.
Fast | Since these grill up in under 15 minutes, you can make this on a weeknight or make a taco bar for friends this weekend.
Packed with Flavor | The chipotles in adobo sauce do a lot of the work for you and they are packed with flavor. This is a great recipe to have in your back pocket when you get tired of your normal chicken meals. High on flavor, low on effort. Since the ingredient list is so simple, you can be at the grocery store without the recipe and know you just need the chipotles, chicken and limes…you have everything else at home.
🌶️ Ingredients
Chipotles with Adobo Sauce | These are dried, smoked jalapeño peppers that are in a spicy/sweet sauce. They are in the hispanic section of the grocery store by the salsa, chopped peppers and cans of chopped chiles.
Chicken | We chose boneless, skinless chicken thighs this time but use whatever you have. If you choose bone in, adjust the time and make sure to use that meat thermometer so you know it reaches a full 165 degrees.
🔥 Instructions
Chipotle Marinade
Step One: Combine all the ingredients EXCEPT the chicken and stir.
Step Two: Add the chicken to gallon sized Ziploc bag and then add the marinade from above step. Rub to fully coat. Marinade in the refrigerator for 30-60 minutes.
Grilling Chicken
Step One: Heat the grill up to medium high (or about 400 degrees) and rub grill grate with olive oil.
Step Two: Place the chicken on the grate once it is nice and hot. Grill for four minutes each side. This exact time will depend on the thickness of the chicken and how hot your grill is. Always check to make sure the chicken reaches 165 degrees.
Step Three: Remove, let rest for ten minutes, and serve.
❗ Expert Tips
We love to use Wireless Thermometers so we don’t overcook food out on the grill. Sometimes the fire heats up on us while we walk away for a few minutes and bam! It’s overcooked. Do yourself a favor and get a wireless one where it will beep at you when it reaches the programmed temp.
Since these will go straight on the grill grate, take a minute to make sure it is clean of debris from the last grill and also rub some olive oil on the grate so the chicken won’t stick to it.
Recipe FAQ
No, it really isn’t. It has a super mild spice flavor to it, but really it’s not spicy. It tastes more like you went to a Mexican restaurant and they have secret ingredients you don’t have.
It’s best not to exceed three days in a sealed container. After that, it just starts to taste not as fresh.
There are so many ways and you will want to make this time and time again. So think of any Mexican dish like nachos, enchiladas, tostadas, taquitos or even a stuffed poblanos. Serve it as a simple dinner with Grilled Corn and Black Bean Salsa and chips. Make a batch of Cilantro Lime Rice, slice up the chicken over the top of it. Think of making a big batch of Kings Hawaiian Sliders from the chicken and add cheese and bake off or a big toasty roll, shred the chicken and layer with chicken, pico and guacamole.
Related Recipes
Grilled Chipotle Lime Chicken Thighs
Equipment
- Grill
Ingredients
- 2 lbs Chicken Thighs boneless, skinless
Chipotle Marinade
- ⅓ cup Lime Juice juiced
- 2 Chipotles from can of chipotles in Adobo, minced
- 2 tbsp Adobo Sauce from the can
- 1 tbsp Coriander
- 1 tsp Brown Sugar
- ¼ cup Olive Oil
Instructions
Chipotle Marinade
- Combine all the ingredients EXCEPT the chicken and stir.
- Add chicken to gallon Ziploc bag and then add the marinade from above step. Rub to combine.
- Marinade in the refrigerator for 30-60 minutes.
Grilling Chicken
- Heat the grill up to medium high (or about 400 degrees) and rub grill grate with olive oil.
- Place the chicken on the grate once it is nice and hot.
- Grill for four minutes each side. Remove when the chicken reaches 165 degrees.
- Let it rest for 10 minutes and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
