Spicy, creamy, and smoky chicken dinner in less than thirty minutes? Heck yes! Even better, this recipe includes the secret to making lime-cilantro rice that’s so good, it puts Chipotle’s carb-laden version to shame! You can easily scale this recipe up to feed more people or, if cooking for two, save leftovers in the fridge for superfast future meals. Leftovers keep refrigerated for 3 days or frozen for 2 months.
Ingredients List
- 3/4 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut in 1-inch pieces
- 3/4 tsp sea salt, plus more as needed
- 1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper, plus more as needed
- 1 clove of garlic, crushed
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 1 chipotle pepper (from canned chipotles in adobo sauce)
- 1/2 Tbsp adobo sauce (add more or less depending on your preferred spiciness)
- 2 Tbsp avocado oil, divided
- 6 oz riced cauliflower (about 2 cups)
- 1 Tbsp chopped cilantro
- juice and zest from ½ lime
- 1½ cups (2 oz) packed fresh spinach leaves
Instructions
- In a bowl, combine the chicken, salt, and pepper. Toss to combine; set aside.
- Make the chipotle sauce: In a blender jar or blender, combine the garlic, cream, broth, chipotle pepper, and adobo sauce. Blend until smooth. Set aside
- In a medium skillet, heat half of the avocado oil over medium heat. Add the seasoned chicken, and pan-fry, turning occasionally, until golden brown in places and almost cooked through, about 5 minutes. Add the chipotle sauce. Gently simmer, stirring often, until the sauce thickens and reduces a bit, about 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, make the lime-cilantro rice: In another medium skillet over medium heat, add the remaining avocado oil. Add the cauliflower rice and toss to coat. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring frequently, until tender crisp and just beginning to brown, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add the chopped cilantro, lime juice, and zest. Season to taste; set aside.
- Add the spinach to the skillet with the chicken and simmer, stirring occasionally, until wilted, 1 to 2 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve with the cauliflower rice.
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Credits
RecipeEric Lundy
PhotographyErin Ng
Very, very tasty. My adjustments: I used bone-in, skin-on thighs, because really, who doesn’t love crunchy, keto-friendly skin? It’s the equivalent of potato chips without the carbs! I roasted the chicken thighs at 425 degrees until they were crunchy. I made the sauce separately. Then, to eat them up, I pan-fried the thighs to get the skins to crunch up again, and I laid them on top of a pool of warmed chipotle / adobo sauce. Finally, I didn’t feel like bothering with spinach for the fried rice, so I left it out. I felt like the spinach flavor would have potentially overwhelmed the flavors of cilantro and lime. I can’t comment on how much I would have liked the original recipe, obviously, but I was very happy with the results that I achieved with those modifications. The flavors of the chipotle/adobo sauce were divine, though I felt like the texture needed work. I made it thicker by adding some whipped cauliflower fauxtatoes I happened to have on hand. Next time, I might use coconut cream instead of dairy cream, to thicken up what was a pretty thin sauce. Alternatively, I’ll whip up some mashed cauliflower fauxtatoes: they did a good job of thickening the sauce.
Thanks for sharing, Lisa! We love when our community makes adjustments to our recipes that suit their taste and style.
This was simple and delicious!
The best of all combinations!
Easy and delicious. Even my non keto kids loved it!!
Easy to make and very delicious
Thanks. Hits the spot when you want something a little spicy.
Very tasty
Thanks for your feedback. We hope you try some other recipes.
great dish