Honey Lime Chicken Tacos with Pineapple Salsa
Super easy and tasty dinner alert! After a long day at work, you can have these chicken tacos and pineapple salsa on the table fairly quickly. If you’ve got 10 minutes in the morning (or a few minutes the night before!), you can slice the chicken and whip up the marinade in a snap, leaving the chicken to soak up the flavors of lime, cumin and honey all day long. When you get home, quickly toss the salsa together, throw some rice on, warm the tortillas, and you’re all set.
I’ve been making these for quite a while now, and finally nailed down the marinade and got it just where we like it. We love the flavors of the honey, lime and cumin, paired with the refreshing pineapple, the citrusy cilantro, and the bite of the jalapeno. Billy always loves it when he sees these on the menu, and since they’re so simple to make, they show up quite often. I’ve also made them vegetarian, with Quorn chicken substitute.
These would be equally as delicious made on the grill. Marinate your chicken, grill it up-you can even heat the tortillas quickly on the hot grill. The pineapple salsa is super refreshing in the summertime, too! If you’re not feeling like tacos, the salsa is just as wonderful on corn chips with a cold beer or iced tea out on the deck.
A note on the cilantro: I know it’s one of those love it or hate it flavors. If you’re a hater, you can substitute flat/Italian parsley, and a dash of ground coriander. Coriander seeds come from the cilantro plant. It won’t have that same bite, but you’ll still have the lime juice in there, so add to taste.
Honey Lime Chicken Tacos with Pineapple Salsa
makes about 10 tacos
Chicken and marinade:
1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast, sliced thinly crosswise
1/2 cup oil (I use olive or canola-whatever I feel like at the time)
juice of 2 limes
1 1/2 tsp adobo (low sodium is great if you can get it)
2 tsp cumin
2 pinches cinnamon
1 tsp onion powder
3/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp pepper
3 tbsp honey
Pineapple Salsa:
2 cups fresh diced pineapple (about 1/2 inch dice)
1/4 cup fresh chopped cilantro
3 tbsp finely diced red onion
1 jalapeno, finely diced-ribs and seeds removed for less heat if you like
1 tbsp fresh lime juice
For assembling:
Corn Tortillas (about 8 inch diameter)
thinly sliced radishes
more chopped cilantro, if desired
Place the sliced chicken in a large zip top bag. In a small bowl, add the remaining marinade ingredients. Whisk together until blended, then pour over the chicken. Seal the bag, toss to coat all of the chicken, and marinate for at least an hour. (Make ahead tip: Prepare the marinade and chicken, and toss the zip top bag in the freezer. Later, as you thaw it out to prepare it, the chicken will soak up the nice flavors in the marinade-then all you have to prepare is the salsa!)
While the chicken marinates, prepare the salsa:
Combine all of the salsa ingredients, give it a good stir, then stash it in the fridge while you wait for the chicken. This can also be made a day ahead, but it gets juicier the next day. When adding it to the tacos, you may want to use a slotted spoon.
To cook the chicken, heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Spoon the chicken out of the marinade and into the pan. Discard remaining marinade. Sauté until the chicken is no longer pink, remove from pan and set aside.
Heat the tortillas:
Lightly brush both sides of the tortillas with a bit of oil. Heat a large skillet over medium high heat, and place 3-4 tortillas (or more if you can fit them) into the dry pan. Heat for 2-4 minutes on each side, being careful not to burn them. You really just want too heat them through and maybe get a bit of color on them. Set aside.
To assemble:
Place some radishes down the center of the tortillas, then top with some chicken and salsa, and extra cilantro, if using it. I like to serve ours with more pineapple chunks on the side, and perhaps some rice and beans.
Elle | Print Article | Share Article | Email Article | 26 Comments tagged chicken, cilantro, corn tortillas, cumin, honey, lime, new england, pineapple, radishes, salsa, tacos
Reader Comments (26)
Looks so awesome! You're going to laugh at me, but I especially love that you added the sliced radishes! Best garnish for Mexican food ever!
Y.U.M.M.Y!
I'll be making this lots in the summer!
Oh, a dish like that just makes me long for summer or maybe it'll make winter feel a little more like summer.
Love all of these flavors and that so much of it is "do-ahead". Definitely going on my list! And Stumbled! Mmm...
Oh Elle - I can't wait for the snow to get out if here so I can eat summery foods! This is the top of my list for that :)
I love this, this is just my kind of recipe. That pineapple salsa looks incredibly tasty...
Beautiful and delicious!
I love cilantro! Great idea for taco flavorings - honey and lime just seem to go together :)
I love the pineapple salsa! Beautiful!
They look so beautiful! I love pineapple salsa but have only ever had it on the side of seared fish, never inside a taco. What a great idea!
Looks fabulous!
these make me happy, happy, happy - a baja-like taco that is so full of flavor without all that over done red sauce stuff!! GREAT RECIPE Elle!
These look amazing! I am a huge fish/chicken taco fan and with lots of lime, cilantro, shalltos, and pineapple or mango and i am in heaven. Look fabulous.
This sounds divine! I am totally bookmarking! xxx
That looks deliiiicious. Just so you know, you came the closest at guessing my scrumptious dish over on my Name This Nasty Crap contest! If no one else gets it I may have to pronounce you the honorary winner snce it was so close lol. :)
how refreshing! there are so many things to love about this, but what tickles my fancy most of all is the cinnamon in the marinade! :)
They look absolutely wonderful!!!
Mmmm yum is all that needs to be said!
These are so fresh sounding. Bet they would be equally as delicious using shrimp! I'll I can say is a big fat YUM!
Oh my yumminess! I love fish tacos! These look fabulous and has all my favorite flavors. The pineapple salsa must be so good:)
Those look so fresh and fabulous Elle!
Hi Elle, just found you! My all time favorite food is fish taco's, so I just had to stop and stay awhile! Your site is beautiful and yummy, I'd love to add you to my site. I shall keep in touch. Jill
I've tried peach, nectarine, mangoes, watermelon, and honeydew in salsa, but I think I'm missing out on pineapple. Grilled, yes, but no salsa. I have to try this eve just on grilled meat. Plus, I need to ramp up on fish tacos period. Think I've made them once or twice period. Thanks for the great idea :)
oh my goodness!?! who hates cilantro!!? That doesn't even make any sense to me! I love the pineapple but would skip on the radishes--though they do look bright and crisp! have you said hello to spring!?!
*Drool* Great pics :)
I made the pineapple salsa as a snack/appy for a pulled pork dinner with friends. Everyone LOVED it. This will be a sure thing for cookouts this summer. Thanks for sharing!