Key Lime Chicken Tacos

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Key lime chicken tacos topped with an easy key lime ginger slaw are summer on a plate. 

Who doesn’t love tacos? Tacos are probably one of the most perfect foods ever. A little bit of whatever makes you happy on a tortilla. There’s a reason we devote one day of the week to tacos… that would be taco Tuesday for those of you new to the internet. 😉 Ever since moving back East, the Godfather and I have had serious taco withdrawal. It’s not that we can’t find tacos, they’re just not quite the same. The good thing about this is, we’ve started making more tacos at home, which means I get to share the recipes here. Everyone wins, because we all get tacos. 

These key lime chicken tacos came about after I purchased key limes for baking that I don’t believe actually happened. So then we ended up with a bunch of key limes we needed to use and tacos just felt right. The limes made a delicious marinade with a bit of local honey, paprika, cumin, and garlic, and we topped the tacos off with an easy slaw.

The slaw was the perfect way to balance the lime flavor in the chicken with something creamy. We learned to eat tacos without cheese while in California, because most of the tacos are served with either a slaw (like fish tacos) or a bit of cilantro and onion. You might get a little bit of queso fresco depending on the taqueria, but not always. A slaw just felt right here, and then the tacos have vegetables and sort of become a mobile salad. Kidding… sort of.

We used corn tortillas for the tacos, feel free to use flour too, of of course. If you do use corn tortillas, the trick is to heat the tortillas on a skillet over medium heat for about 5 seconds per side until they’re very soft and malleable. That way they won’t break and they’ll hold your taco filling properly.

I hope you enjoy this recipe for key lime tacos, make some this weekend, or bookmark for later. Cinco de Mayo is right around the corner after all! Speaking of, if you’d like to get some super fun ideas, scroll past the recipe and check out some posts from some of my blogger friends!

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Key Lime Chicken Tacos

Yield: 6 servings

Prep Time: 2 hours 15 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutes

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Ingredients

For the chicken:

• 2 lbs chicken breast, feel free to substitute thighs or whatever you have, cut into cubes
• 1/4 cup key lime juice
• 1/4 cup oil, avocado, canola, any neutral flavored oil
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 4 cloves minced garlic

Slaw:

• 4 cups julienned cabbage
• 1/2 cup shredded carrots
• 2 tsp key lime juice
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
• 1 tsp fresh grated ginger

Other ingredients:

• tortillas
• extra cilantro for garnish
• fresh lime wedges, optional

Instructions

1. Place the chopped chicken and marinade ingredients in a glass container or zip top plastic bag. Place in the refrigerator and marinate at least 2 hours, up to overnight.
2. While you are waiting, make the slaw. Mix together the carrots and cabbage in a bowl. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the lime juice, mayo, and fresh grated ginger. Pour over the cabbage and carrots, add the cilantro, and mix until combined. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
3. To cook the chicken, heat a skillet over medium high heat, add a tsp or so of oil.
4. Remove the chicken from the marinade and cook until no longer pink in the center.
5. Warm the tortillas.
6. Assemble your tacos by placing a bit of chicken on a warm tortilla and topping with the slaw and additional cilantro and fresh lime wedges if desired. Serve immediately.

Notes

This recipe requires a bit of time to marinate, plan ahead! 🙂

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Here are more awesome Cinco de Mayo ideas!

Cinco de Mayo Date Night Ideas, Little Blog on the Homestead

Key Lime Chicken Tacos, Goodie Godmother

Cinco de Mayo Cactuses, No Bohn’s About It

A Cinco de Mayo Wedding, An Aiming High Wife

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