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Grilled Sesame Lime Chicken Breasts
Updated June 11, 2024
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- Total Time
- 30 minutes, plus at least 1 hour marinating
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- 4(6-ounce) boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 2tablespoons soy sauce
- 2teaspoons Asian-style fish sauce
- 1(2-inch) piece ginger, peeled and grated
- 3garlic cloves, grated
- 2limes, as needed
- 2tablespoons peanut oil, more for grill
- Sesame oil, as needed
- Coarsely chopped cilantro, for garnish
- Thinly sliced red or green chilies, seeded, for garnish (optional)
Preparation
- Step 1
Place chicken breasts between two sheets of parchment or plastic wrap. Using a mallet or rolling pin, pound each to an even thickness of ½ inch. Do not make them any thinner or they could dry out.
- Step 2
In a large bowl, whisk together soy sauce, fish sauce, ginger and garlic. Grate in zest of 1 lime and squeeze in its juice. Whisk in peanut oil. Place chicken breasts in bowl and turn breasts well to evenly coat with mixture. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 4 hours. Remove chicken from fridge while you heat the grill.
- Step 3
Light the grill, building a hot fire, or heat your gas grill to high. Once grill is fully heated, brush breasts lightly with peanut oil and place chicken on the grill. Cook until undersides are browned and chicken is about halfway cooked, 3 to 5 minutes. Flip breasts and grill until cooked through, 3 to 5 minutes more.
- Step 4
Transfer chicken to a platter. Drizzle with sesame oil; garnish with lime juice and cilantro, and chiles if desired.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
I love every ingredient separately, but basically it came down to a lot of liquid salt with a finish of lime juice -- way too salty for my taste. Next time I'm adding half a can of coconut milk to the marinade, or possibly more. Of course, I'm a fan of coconut milk any time you get near fish sauce and limes.
Excellent recipe, and easy. I did add some sesame oil to the marinade as well, since I often used a mix of soy and sesame oil as an ultra-quick marinade.
I think this chicken would go well in an Asian chicken salad of some sort.
Very good - instead of pounding the chicken, I sliced two enormous chicken breasts in half lengthwise. Pounding out the thicker parts might have been nice, but I was being lazy and I felt like the chicken turned out fine without it. Marinated the slices for an hour (used marinade recipe as written + sriracha) and then grilled them along with some zucchini and squash. Fast and tasty Tuesday night dinner.
Easy, super yummy recipe. I have all of the ingredients, and cooked the chicken in a frying pan, but it came out great: flavor-packed and juicy. And even two days later the chicken was still very tasty.
Really good paired with the cucumber salad. Will be making this again.
Outstanding marinade recipe. I used thighs and cooked them at 375 for about 40 minutes. So succulent and aromatic and delicious.
I peeled and sliced a butternut squash and coated the slices in the goodness left in the roasting pan. Stuck that back in the oven until knife-tender. Also beyond tasty.
This goes in the keeper file.
used both skinless boneless breasts and bone in skin on legs thighs and wings and cooked the bone in chicken in oven on a baking sheet with cooling rack at 350 for about 40minutes and boneless pieces in skillet then finished in oven for a few minutes Marinated for 4 hrs awesome flavor not dry at all,added jalapenos to marinade and also garnished with perfect spice served with spicy coleslaw and purple cauliflower puree.delicious
Great grill recipe - interesting and complex flavors, and so easy. We marinated for a little more than two hours. The umami of the fish sauce and soy, the ginger, the sesame, combined with the fresh cilantro, lime and chiles create an intense, but still bright combination. Will definitely make this again this summer. Perfect for an evening of grilling and dining outside after work. I think this preparation would work well at room temp for picnics and such too. Big hit with my guests.
Melissa, you've done it again! This is a great recipe. I have never liked chicken; I avoid it like the plague unless it's an emergency. I had one chicken breast and thought I had nothing to lose. I was right.
Cut the recipe in half, marinated it for an hour, grilled it, sliced it, and added it to grilled eggplant. Gotta tell you - it's great (even though it is chicken). You can't go wrong with adding sesame oil, lime and cilantro - the whole recipe is terrific. Thanks.
Made one time previously without fish sauce and found notes in the drawer: Yummy and easy. Didn't have fish sauce. Used pineapple juice. Eyeballing. Yum.
Just cook this. So easy, so tasty. I marinated for about 3 hours, and they were wonderful. I didn't have any fish sauce, so I used Worcestershire sauce which is pretty close. Had some leftover chicken and the next day I just cut it in pieces on the diagonal and placed over some salad for lunch. I did pair it with the cucumber salad just to easy not to. Keep this recipe in your back pocket good hot or cold for a picnic.
Chili oil or sriatcha sauce instead of jalapeños chopped scallion and coriander
Delicious and easy to make. I did it with chicken thighs - boneless and skinless and did not pound them thinner. Came out fine on a stove top grill with about 4 minutes on each side.
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!! The balance of flavors is right on. I will definitely be making this again. Served w Jasmine rice and roasted broccoli tossed in soy, fish sauce & sesame oil.
This is such a great recipe! Only had time to let it marinate an hour, but still had so much flavor.
I made this exactly as described by Melissa and it was delicious. Fresh flavours which I spiced up with a few Chilli flakes sprinkled over for serving. It was quick and easy and will definitely be a regular mid week dish in our house. Also nice enough to serve to guests.
Enjoyed this very much. The chicken was moist and flavorful. Served with this salad: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1025674-charred-corn-and-chickpea-salad-with-lime-crema
I used this marinade for grilled tofu, and it came out amazing. I marinated the tofu in the refrigerator for a few hours before grilling and grilled about 5 minutes per side. Super easy, super delicious. A++.
Very good flavor but chicken was tough after marinading 3-4hrs so next time would go for 1hr, 2hrs max.
Used bone-in with skin thighs, about 3 lbs and there was enough marinade. Would use dark soy rather than light soy to help minimize salt load. Brief searing with skin side down on direct heat of the grill (1-2 minutes max), and then finish rest of it on indirect heat, skin side up.
We wanted this recipe to be tasty and interesting. Unfortunately, it was neither. And, worse yet, it was complicated. Don’t bother making this recipe.
Love this dish!!<3
Great! Followed recipe as written- Flavors so good - served with jasmine rice topped with cilantro and drizzles of lime juice, roasted yellow grape tomatoes & asparagus topped with shaved Parmesan.
Made this exactly as stated in the recipe, without any modifications and it was sublime! Served to the family with a simple salad and they absolutely loved it. Will definitely be making this again.
I love the marinade, I used a grill attachment to the stove top. I worked well, but very smokey in the house. After working hard to silence the smoke detecter, sitting down to eating a delicious meal, left over marinade I used to sautee/steam cauliflower.
This was easy to make and very good! I made it as written and marinated the meat for about 90 minutes. The only thing I would change is to reduce the lime component, as its taste was more prominent than my husband enjoys, and I could live with less.
I added a splash of lime on top as well as sesame seeds for garnish . Excellent recipe :)
Truly easy and delicious but found it needed a bit more spark. Next time I’ll add more ginger and red pepper flakes. But clearly something to make for all kinds of occasions and guests.
This was delicious- served it at a family gathering and everyone loved the subtle flavors. It’s a keeper, especially since the marinade kept the grilled boneless & skinless chicken breasts moist.
Fabulous. Incredibly easy and delicious after only 2 hours of marinading. Pounding the chicken breasts is key.
Made exactly as written and it was excellent.
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