Fiesta Lime Chicken (Applebee’s Copycat)
Published Date: February 8, 2023
This Fiesta Lime Chicken is a delicious copycat recipe to everyone’s favorite dish at Applebee’s that takes just 10 minutes of hands-on prep time! An awesome weeknight meal that’s packed full of flavor!
I love making and serving copycat meals from our favorite restaurants right at home! If you do, too, then you’ll also want to check out this UNO copycat for Rattlesnake Pasta that’s as delicious as this fiesta lime chicken!
Skip the restaurant and head right to your kitchen to make Applebee’s Fiesta Lime Chicken! It delivers all the same flavors at a fraction of the cost in the comfort of your own home!
Serve this chicken up on a bed of tortilla strips or regular tortilla chips. Or with a side of your choice of rice!
All About This Applebee’s Copycat Recipe For Fiesta Lime Chicken
Taste: Fiesta Lime Chicken is filled with bright, fresh flavors with a kick of spice that instantly makes your mouth water! Ingredients such as cilantro, lime juice, and homemade Pico de Gallo allow this recipe to resemble your favorite order from Applebee’s!
Texture: Since the chicken breasts are marinated and then pounded with a meat mallet, you can count on perfectly tender, juicy meat! Each breast is topped with creamy fiesta ranch, melty slices of cheese, and fresh Pico de Gallo!
Finding All The Delicious Flavor In This Recipe!
This recipe for fiesta lime chicken is filled with flavor on top of flavor! From the marinade to the fiesta ranch and homemade Pico de Gallo, this dish will exceed all of your flavor expectations.
The marinade that’s made with just five ingredients not only begins the flavor explosion but also tenderizes the meat even more. Ensuring that the chicken breasts come out deliciously tasty and tender!
Mid-way through baking, the chicken is topped with fiesta ranch. This easy-to-make dressing combines ranch and sour cream with hot sauce, lime juice, and fresh cilantro.
Finishing off the flavor in this fiesta lime chicken is the homemade Pico de Gallo. Though if you’d rather, you can definitely grab a container of storebought Pico for convenience!
Tips For How To Make Fiesta Lime Chicken
- Tenderize – Pounding the meat with a kitchen mallet evens the texture of the chicken breast out. This allows for the chicken to cook more evenly while also delivering juicier, tender chicken! If you don’t have a kitchen mallet, you can use a rolling pin instead.
- Sizing – Try to grab a package of chicken with breasts that are relatively similar in size. If needed, you can cut them to size. Cooking chicken breasts that are alike in size will allow them to finish cooking at similar times. That way, none of them will overcook while others finish cooking!
- Internal Temperature – Be sure to use a kitchen thermometer to check the internal temperature of the chicken breast before consuming it. Once the fiesta lime chicken has an internal temp of 165 degrees F, it is safe to eat.
- Control The Heat – The spice in this fiesta lime chicken dish comes from the hot sauce in the ranch as well as the jalapeno in the Pico de Gallo. For more heat, use a spicier hot sauce or more jalapenos! For less heat, skip the jalapenos and choose a tamer hot sauce.
Fiesta Lime Chicken is a delicious way to use up that chicken breast that’s sitting in your fridge or freezer! For more quick and crowd-pleasing chicken recipes, try my Ritz Cracker Chicken or this trendy TikTok Chicken Cobbler!
Storage Instructions
Once leftover fiesta lime chicken has cooled, you can transfer them into an airtight container. Afterward, store the leftovers in the refrigerator to eat within 3 to 4 days.
Is This A Recipe That I Can Make Ahead Of Time To Make Dinner Time Quicker?
This fiesta lime chicken recipe can definitely be prepped ahead of time! To marinate the chicken while you’re at work or overnight, reduce the lime juice in the marinade from 3 tablespoons down to 2 tablespoons.
The reduction in the lime juice will protect the texture of the chicken as it marinates for longer than 4 hours. You can also make and store the fiesta ranch and Pico de Gallo ahead of time.
That way, when you’re ready to make dinner, all the recipe components are ready!
Can I Grill This Fiesta Lime Chicken Instead Of Baking It In The Oven?
Yes, you can cook this chicken on the grill instead! To do so, first heat up the grill. Then cook the chicken for 5 to 7 minutes on each side.
Afterward, check to make sure the internal temperature is at least 165 degrees F. If it isn’t, then continue cooking chicken until it reaches it.
Once the chicken is of temperature, top each breast with a dollop of fiesta ranch. Then cover it with a slice of cheese, close the grill cover, and continue to grill the fiesta lime chicken until the cheese has melted.
What Other Types Of Cheese Can I Use On The Chicken Breasts?
If you’re not a fan of Colby jack cheese, you can swap it out for cheddar, Monterey jack, or whatever your favorite cheese is. I find that sliced cheese works best, but you can also use shredded if you’d like.
Copycat Applebee’s Fiesta Lime Chicken
INGREDIENTS
Marinade
- ½ cup chicken broth
- 3 tablespoons lime juice
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 2 teaspoon cumin
Chicken
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breast
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon cracked black pepper
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried cilantro
- 4 Colby Jack Cheese slices
Fiesta Ranch
- ¼ cup ranch dressing
- ¼ cup sour cream
- 1 tablespoon hot sauce
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro chopped
Pico de Gallo
- 3 Roma tomato chopped
- ½ red onion finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon cracked black pepper
- 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
- 1 jalapeno seeded and chopped
INSTRUCTIONS
- Add the chicken broth, lime juice, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, and cumin to a large ziploc bag. Close and mix together.½ cup chicken broth, 3 tablespoons lime juice, 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce, 1 tablespoon minced garlic, 2 teaspoon cumin
- Add the chicken to the marinade and marinate for 4 hours.4 boneless skinless chicken breast
- While the chicken marinates, prepare the ranch dressing by whisking together the ranch, sour cream, hot sauce, lime juice, and cilantro in a bowl. Chill until ready to use.¼ cup ranch dressing, ¼ cup sour cream, 1 tablespoon hot sauce, 1 tablespoon lime juice, 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro chopped
- Then prepare the pico de gallo by finely dicing the tomatoes and red onion and tossing with lime juice, salt, black pepper, and minced cilantro and jalapeno. Cover and set aside.3 Roma tomato, ½ red onion, 1 tablespoon lime juice, 1 teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon cracked black pepper, 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro, 1 jalapeno
- Remove the chicken from the marinade and pat dry. Use a meat mallet to pound chicken to an even thickness. Season with salt, pepper, cumin, and oregano.½ teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon cracked black pepper, 1 teaspoon cumin, 1 teaspoon dried cilantro
- Preheat the oven to 375°F.
- Heat an oven safe pan over high heat and drizzle with olive oil. Add the chicken to the pan and cook for about 5 minutes per side.
- Add a dollop of ranch atop each chicken breast. Place a slice of Colby Jack cheese over the chicken and remove pan from the stovetop and transfer to the oven on the center rack. Bake for 10 minutes.4 Colby Jack Cheese slices
- Top with pico before serving.
NOTES
- Storage Instructions: Once leftover fiesta lime chicken has cooled, you can transfer them into an airtight container. Afterward, store the leftovers in the refrigerator to eat within 3 to 4 days.
- Is This A Recipe That I Can Make Ahead Of Time To Make Dinner Time Quicker? This fiesta lime chicken recipe can definitely be prepped ahead of time! To marinate the chicken while you’re at work or overnight, reduce the lime juice in the marinade from 3 tablespoons down to 2 tablespoons. The reduction in the lime juice will protect the texture of the chicken as it marinates for longer than 4 hours. You can also make and store the fiesta ranch and Pico de Gallo ahead of time. That way, when you’re ready to make dinner, all the recipe components are ready!
- Can I Grill This Fiesta Lime Chicken Instead Of Baking It In The Oven? Yes, you can cook this chicken on the grill instead! To do so, first heat up the grill. Then cook the chicken for 5 to 7 minutes on each side. Afterward, check to make sure the internal temperature is at least 165 degrees F. If it isn’t, then continue cooking chicken until it reaches it. Once the chicken is of temperature, top each breast with a dollop of fiesta ranch. Then cover it with a slice of cheese, close the grill cover, and continue to grill the fiesta lime chicken until the cheese has melted.
- What Other Types Of Cheese Can I Use On The Chicken Breasts? If you’re not a fan of Colby jack cheese, you can swap it out for cheddar, Monterey jack, or whatever your favorite cheese is. I find that sliced cheese works best, but you can also use shredded if you’d like.
This is a must-make! The recipe is simple and easy to make on any busy week-night. We are going to add this to our routine dinner rotation! It has great flavor and is very versatile, have on its own or use the left overs to make a delicious salad the next day.
Author
I’m so glad your family enjoyed it, Shauna! Thanks for leaving a review!
Our favorite go to recipe – and we look forward to leftovers the next day!
Author
So glad you enjoyed it!
Overall a good recipe but the sauce needs a lot added to it. I tried it how it says but it didn’t have much flavor and didn’t taste like the one from apple bees so I added smoked paprika, chili powder, garlic, onion powder and a little cayenne pepper and it tasted very close