I finally got around to cooking some of the chicken drumsticks that I bought last week and they are soooo good! I love southwest inspired flavors, so marinating the chicken in cilantro lime was a natural choice for me. This savory, garlicky marinade infuses the chicken and creates the most wonderful pan juices, which I then spooned over rice. It’s safe to say that I’ll be making these Cilantro Lime Chicken Drumsticks again in the future.
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Do I have to use drumsticks?
Don’t have drumsticks? No prob. This would work equally as well with bone-in or boneless chicken thighs. While you could use chicken breasts, I prefer the tender juicy dark meat for baking. If using breasts, I suggest pounding them out thin to increase the meat to marinade ratio and be sure not to over cook them because breasts dry out quickly.
Can I grill this Cilantro Lime Chicken?
This is also a great recipe for the grill. I don’t have one, so I popped mine in the oven, but the smoky flavor of the grill would be an amazing addition. Not to mention, cilantro lime is such a great summery flavor! I’m over here day dreaming about grilling poolside in the summer sun… Is winter over yet?!
Cilantro Lime Chicken Drumsticks
Servings 3 to 4 servingsIngredients
- 2 Tbsp olive oil ($0.24)
- 4 cloves garlic, minced ($0.24)
- 1/2 tsp cumin ($0.10)
- 1/2 tsp salt ($0.02)
- Freshly cracked pepper ($0.05)
- 2 limes ($0.66)
- 1/2 bunch cilantro ($0.40)
- 6 chicken drumsticks (about 1.75 lbs.) ($3.54)
Instructions
- Combine the olive oil, minced garlic, cumin, salt, and some freshly cracked pepper (about 10-15 cranks of a mill) in a bowl.
- Use a zester, microplane, or small-holed cheese grater to remove the zest from one of the limes. Add about 1 tsp zest and 3 Tbsp juice to the marinade.Pull the leaves from 1/4 bunch of cilantro and chop finely. Add the chopped cilantro to the marinade and stir to combine. The other 1/4 bunch of cilantro will be added after baking.
- Pour the marinade into a gallon sized zip top bag and add the chicken drumsticks. Close the bag tightly and massage to mix and coat the chicken pieces in the marinade. Refrigerate for 30 minutes, or longer if desired, turning the bag occasionally to redistribute the marinade.
- When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Add the chicken pieces to a casserole dish so they are all in one layer, trying not to overcrowd. Pour the rest of the marinade in the bag over the chicken.
- Bake the chicken for 40-45 minutes, basting once or twice throughout. For more browning, turn the broiler on at the end of the cooking time and broil for 2-4 minutes, or until the desired amount of browning is achieved. The total cooking time will ultimately depend on the size of your drumsticks and how closely they are packed together in the baking dish. Use a meat thermometer to make sure the meat has reached 160ºF to be sure.
- Garnish the chicken with fresh slices of lime and more chopped cilantro leaves.
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Nutrition
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How to Make Cilantro Lime Chicken – Step by Step Photos
Start the marinade by combining 2 Tbsp olive oil, 4 cloves of minced garlic, 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp salt, and some freshly cracked pepper (about 10-15 cranks of a pepper mill).
Zest the lime using a zester, microplane, or a small-holed cheese grater. Add about 1 tsp of the zest to the marinade and about 3 Tbsp of the juice (you may need to cut open the second lime to get 3 Tbsp of juice).
Finely chop about 1/4 bunch of cilantro (leaves only). The other 1/4 bunch will be added to the chicken after baking.
Add the lime zest, juice, and chopped cilantro to the marinade and stir to combine.
Add the marinade and 6 chicken drumsticks to a large zip top bag. Massage the bag to mix the marinade and coat the chicken pieces. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
When you’re ready to bake them, preheat the oven to 400ºF. Place the chicken pieces in a baking dish, making sure they’re in a single layer and not over crowded (the more space between the pieces, the faster they’ll cook).
Pour the rest of the marinade from the bag over the chicken. I made sure to scoop up the rest of the minced garlic and chopped cilantro from the bag and pile it on top of the chicken.
Bake the chicken for 40-45 minutes, or until the internal temp is 160ºF (you can use a meat thermometer to be sure). For extra browning, turn on the broiler and let the chicken brown under the broiler for 2-4 minutes, or until browned to your liking. I maybe left mine under the broiler just a tad too long, but it was still delicious.
Fresh cilantro has a much different flavor than cooked cilantro, so you’ll want to garnish the cooked chicken with the second half of the cilantro. Chop it fresh just before adding to the chicken. I also added thin slices from the second lime. Gorgeous!
The sauce in the bottom of the dish is TO-DIE-FOR, so don’t let it go to waste. Try not to let the lime slices sit in the hot liquid too long, though, the rind can add a bitter flavor.
I spooned some of that liquid from the bottom of the dish over the rice that I served with the chicken. I also served the chicken with roasted sweet potatoes. Don’t worry, that recipe is coming tomorrow! :)
I packed these bowls up for the refrigerator so we could just grab one and reheat when we’re hungry. I put two drumsticks in each container for the boyfriend, and one each for me, so we got four meals out of this dish.
This chicken was excellent! I just made it tonight, and it was very easy to prepare. I served it with some broccolini on the side. Would definitely make again!
I made this tonight with chicken thighs and it is wonderful. Mind you, I thought it seemed like a ton of cilantro and garlic… but hey, I love both. It was so yummy. Only wish I had more juice (for lack of a better word) in the pan…. maybe for gravy, maybe for drinking. Don’t judge.🤣😉💯 while it was baking I baked some sweet potatoes with it. Lunch is looking good tomorrow
I added a little chicken broth to the Ziploc bag I used to marinate the chicken…shook it good and added the liquid to the pan. That worked fine once the chicken started baking and releasing its own juices. Hope this helps.
This is one of my favorite recipes on this site! I did want to ask something about the nutrition though. It says one serving is 1261 calories? Is this the calories for the whole recipe? Because I’m pretty sure if you broke this into 3 servings, two drumsticks and whatever amount of marinade you got would not be equivalent to 1261 calories.
Let me check with our dietitian to see if those numbers are correct. :)
Alright, we got it figured out! This is a great example why calculated nutrition facts should be taken with a BIG grain of salt. There are a lot of databases out there with nutrition facts for ingredients and we use the FoodData Central database from the USDA. Even within that one database there are several entries for chicken drumsticks with skin and bone, and they all have different (in this case drastically different) nutritional data. We checked out several other databases and recalculated the nutrition for this recipe with data that was more inline with the average values for chicken drumsticks from multiple databases. It should look better now! :)
Hi Beth!
This looks so good! As all your stuff does :) I accidentally picked up bone-in things with the skin on. For this recipe, do you recommend leaving the skin on the thighs? Or should I take it off before marinating? And then should I double the amount of everything since the thighs are so much bigger? I am BRAND new to cooking (you’ve been teaching me!) and I just don’t know what would be best! Thank you thank you!!
You’ve got this Kari! I recommend keeping the skins on as they’ll give you great flavor. But if you don’t want to you can certainly remove them.
Easy and tasty. My lines were past their prime zest-wise, so I only used the juice but the sauce was still sooooo good. I skipped the baggie (let’s reduce plastic use, please!) and just rubbed the marinade on the drumsticks and let them marinate in the Pyrex container that I baked them in. Since I skipped the zest, I couldn’t resist sprinkling some Tajín over the drumsticks after rubing in the marinade, for a little color and to boost the lime flavor. So yeah, I realize I modified the recipe slightly to work with what I had in my pantry, but I’m sure it would have been just as delicious if I’d used the zest and skipped the Tajín too. Served with Jasmine rice, Mexican black beans, and Chile spiced roasted butternut. Will definitely make it again.
Oops! Limes not lines!
I’m excited to try this recipe! I checked the nutrition, below, if anyone else is interested:
Nutrition Facts
Servings: 3
Amount per serving
Calories 257
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 14.8g 19%
Saturated Fat 2.7g 14%
Cholesterol 81mg 27%
Sodium 465mg 20%
Total Carbohydrate 6.3g 2%
Dietary Fiber 1.5g 5%
Total Sugars 0.8g
Protein 26g
Vitamin D 0mcg 0%
Calcium 38mg 3%
Iron 2mg 11%
Potassium 268mg 6%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calorie a day is used for general nutrition advice.
Recipe analyzed by verywell
We only recently brought on a Registered Dietician to our team. She’s working hard behind the scenes to update the entire recipe database, over 1500+ recipes, with nutritional information. She’s working her way from the newest recipes back and it takes some time to update them all. Stay tuned!
Hi Kelly – Team Budget Bytes, I believe there is a typo above for the nutrition: Fat: 125.9g (??)
Excited to try this recipe! :)
The nutrition data we originally had for chicken drumsticks was for some reason out of line with the average calculated stats for that ingredient, but we’ve recalculated it using better data.
The flavors are delicious but I have two issues with the way this recipe is explained and the instructions given here. First of all, it’s really more of a pesto than a marinade. There is very little volume of final product if done according to the recipe. I doubled the amount of oil, lime juice, and cilantro and it was still barely enough to cover four bone-in chicken thighs with legs attached. Secondly, what is the point of the plastic bag? All the pesto just sticks to the bag! Why not just coat the chicken parts with the pesto and then put in a covered bowl to marinate in the refrigerator? I had to scrape the pesto back out of the bag when ready to bake the chicken which seemed like an unnecessary and messy extra step.
Made this for dinner tonight, WOW! Didn’t expect this kind of flavor. I added a packet of Sazon, chili powder and onion powder. Never been a fan of cilantro but this was delicious.
Loved the combo of lime with chicken and cilantro! Added one more tasty recipe to my favourite menu list! Btw would Searing the chicken make any difference from that of baking it in order to get that crispy texture for the chicken?
You could certainly try searing it and then baking for the remainder of the time until cooked through.
Delicious! I used thighs, marinated an hour or more, and they soaked up that lime-cumin-cilantro marinade.
Cooked this tonight 12/8/18. No disappointment here ! Don’t scrimp on the fresh Cilantro as it’s a match made in heaven! I did add extra (a dash more Cumin), also some cracked black pepper. Served it with Coconut Rice. Shame there wasn’t more liquid after cooking the chicken as it was soo yum !. Left overs for work tomorrow 😀. Give it a try ! So tasty.
I’m making this later today. I wanted to know if I can use lemons instead of limes
Yes…I don’t always have limes on hand.
So good! I added a tsp of jalapeno powder to the marinade :) I grilled these and was pressed for time, so I just grilled the drumsticks, liberally brushed with the marinade, and set them to the side of the grill. I used the extra marinade to grill some bell peppers–so good!
How long can the chicken stay in the marinade? Would 24 hrs be too much?
I’ve heard that marinating chicken for too long in an acidic marinade can cause the meat to become mushy, but I’ve never tried 24 hours in this marinade to know how noticeable it would be.
I think I got the macros figured out. It looks like:
Fat 4.6g
Carbs 1.6g
Protein 0.18g
Calories 46
This is per drumstick NOT per serving.
I’d love for you to please post the macros to the marinade! Thank you in advanced!
I doubled the recipe for our weekly meal prep and added two small jalapeños. We loved the extra kick! Thanks for another great recipe!
If I were to make a version of this dish with boneless chicken breasts, are there any modifications you would recommend? Also, do you think this dish could be made in the slow cooker? Thank you for your blog, you’ve kept me well-fed for years!
Baking time would probably differ because there is no bone and breasts are lean meat as opposed to dark meat, but I’d have to do some testing to find out what time and temperature would be appropriate. I think this one is better for the oven than the slow cooker because you want some evaporation to occur to get those concentrated flavors (and browning). :)
This is part of my meal planning this weekend
Has anyone tried this marinade on shrimp or tilapia? I’m kind of chickened out right now and want to change things up. Sorry if someone already mentioned this in an old comment, I didn’t feel like reading all of them… :)
Here I am carefulling reading the instructions and I see “I made sure to scoop up the rest of the minced garlic and chopped cilantro from the bag and pile it on top of the chicken.” So I’m scraping the bag dripping everywhere just to get out the garlic and be a reall budget chef. =P lol
This was my first recipe to try out from Budget Bytes and my boyfriend and I were SO pleased with the turnout! It was delicious!
Initially I didn’t think the marinade would be enough because I had big drumsticks but it was perfectly balanced!
WOW!!! The recipe for Cilantro Lime Chicken Drumsticks is out-of-this world DELICIOUS!!!!! I served the drumsticks with Easy Taco Rice and corn and black bean salsa. I’m going to use boneless, skinless chicken thighs next time. Thank you for this awesome recipe, Beth!!! :-)
I’m sure white meat would taste great too, right?
Yes, but you might not want to cook it quite as long. White meat can really dry out easily in the oven.
This was outstanding! Added more garlic…can never have enough, and deglazed at the end with chicken broth to get the yummies from the bottom of the pan to pour over the chicken. Will def make again!
I grilled these and they were a hit. Thank you Beth.
Sounds like a great recipe and I want try it with some chicken thighs I have. Is it OK to use the same marinade the chicken was in though? I read you should discard raw meat marinade or boil it to kill any bacteria from the meat. Maybe with the short marinade time and hot oven it will kill any bacteria so it’s not an issue? Another option would be to make extra marinade on the side, discard the meat marinade and use the fresh marinade to cook with the chicken. What do you think?
Yes, the marinade basically boils in the oven with the chicken. So the bacteria that is in the marinade is no different than the bacteria that is on the chicken. If the chicken has been cooked to where it is safe to eat, the marinade that is cooked with it is safe as well. You just don’t want to add “dirty” marinade after cooking. If it still worries you though, you can always do the double batch as you mentioned.
Thanks for the response Beth. Seemed logical and that’s what I figured as well. Anyway I made this dish and it turned out great! Chicken was perfectly cooked with a nice, tasty crisp on the outside, fork tender inside and a refreshing, flavorful sauce only not enough. I paired this my no-fail rice pilaf. Next time I’ll do what another reviewer suggested and make more sauce by deglazing with chicken broth.
This recipe was great!! I’m normally not a fan of citrus-flavored recipes, while my husband is a HUGE fan. I do love cilantro though– and this recipe was a huge hit! Yay for leftovers ;)
I love this recipe! I make it all the time! Any suggestions for other vegetable sides? As much as I love sweet potatoes the boyfriend doesn’t! (I make some for myself anyways lol)
Perhaps something like Cowboy Caviar or Warm Corn and Avocado Salad?
This is delicious! I would recommend making it in a disposable tin, though, if you like caramelized sauce. My Corningware dish is toast.
I made this today with boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Flavor was great! I think I’ll make it with some roasted jalapenos as another comment suggested. I like heat too. Thanks, Beth!
I made this for a potluck at work. Everyone loved it. It smells so good. Thank you :)
This is awesome!!! Husband made this tonight along with the cumin rice and we had hardly any leftovers. Will definitely make this again!
Another winner! I swear we eat your recipes everyday!
This is Great! Full of flavor and juicy. Did mine with thighs and leg combo. Roasted jalapeños added a bit of heat! Thank you for such wonderful ideas that are easy on the wallet!
The lime cilantro chicken recipe was good only problem I had was not having enough sauce. Next time I’ll try adding some broth
can i substitute the chicken legs with bone in chicken thighs or skinless boneless chicken breast?
Yes, although cooking time will change with the size of the pieces and whether the bone is included or removed.
Do you think it would be okay to leave the chicken marinating for a whole day? Or would that be too much? I only ask because I get home at like 730 every night, and it would be much easier for me to make the marinade the night before, and then stick the chicken in the oven when I get home the next day.
The only issue you might have is that sometimes if meat is left in an acidic marinade for too long it can begin to break down the meat fibers and make the meat mushy. I’ve never used this marinade for that long, so I can’t say for certain if that would be an issue.
I made this last night for company and got rave reviews !! My husband is not crazy about cilantro but loved this recipe. It will certainly be made again. Sooo Easy! I cut the cilantro with scissors instead of a knife. I find it to be not as messy.
This chicken is absolutely delicious. It has now become a once-every-week-or-two staple for my spouse and I.
Is that cumin or ground cumin?
ground cumin
We loved these! I should have doubled the recipe, because my husband was very disappointed that there were no leftovers for lunch the next day. And so easy to make, this will make a regular rotation on our dinner menu.
This was so great! I think the only change I would make would be to double the marinade so I had more to serve over the rice. Thanks for the recipe.
I made this last night with the chili roasted sweet potatoes and both were so flavourful! They will definitely be worked into the rotation of other budget bytes recipes I make :)
This was absolutely AH-mazing! I made this right before work and was so happy by how quick, easy AND this is. Will definitely be making this again and again. Thanks, Beth!!
I forgot the word delicious 😄
If I were to have about 5 poounds worth of drumsticks would I double up on the marinade?
Yep, or maybe even triple it just to be sure.
I’ve read your site for years, but never commented. This marinate is worth the comment. It was sooo delicious!
Hi Beth!
Do you think it will be ok to use lemon instead of lime? I have a huge lemon tree pouring lemons everywhere, I don’t know how to use them besides lemonade….
Thanks in advance!
Honestly, I think lime is better for this one, but if you need some ideas for your lemons, type “lemon” into the search field at the top of my site and it will pull up all the recipes that mention lemon… some of those use “lemon pepper seasoning”, but there are quite a few with fresh lemons as well. :)
Maybe not for this one in particular but a lemon basil or a lemon thyme marinade sounds like an interesting alternative as well. :)
I made this just the other day, and I have to tell you, I am absolutely, totally one hundred percent completely in love with this recipe. So simple, I wondered why I didn’t think of it. I love lime, and I love cilantro, so his was a no brainer. Even though this was the first time trying the recipe, I knew I’d love it, so I made double the marinade, because I can’t get enough of what gives food it’s flavor. I’m going to be adding this to my Budget Bytes meals rotation! Without fail, I make at least once a month Chicken Piccata, Garlic or Dragon Noodles, and try to make at least bi-monthly Teriyaki Meatball bowls, and/or Beef taco pasta. I also use your homemade taco seasoning on EVERYTHING. You are a goddess, I love you! :)
No zester/grater but I want to make this tonight, do you think omitting the lime zest will greatly change the recipe? Or any suggestion?
You can also slice the rind off (carefully, so you don’t get the white pith) and then mince it. I wouldn’t skip it because the zest adds a lot of flavor.
I made the whole meal today, and LOVED each and every bit of it. I’m with you Beth, the sauce was amazing, AH-MAZING! Like, you could use it to barter with it like gold good. And, it was my first, but not last, time making coconut rice. So sad I’ve gone so long without eating that deliciousness, but SO HAPPY to be eating it now, and in the future. The flavor of the sweet potatoes was the perfect counterpoint to the tangy cilantro lime sauce. Thanks for again bringing a healthy, delicious, inexpensive meal into my world Beth!
I made this last night and it was DELICIOUS! I used boneless skinless chicken thighs and trimmed a lot of the fat off, but still left some in there so they were nice and juicy. The marinade recipe didn’t make a lot, so I ended up adding more lime juice (from another half lime) and additional EVOO. I also lowered the baking time a bit so I didn’t overcook the chicken. This recipe was AWESOME – I loved the tender, juicy, flavorful chicken, as well as the freshness of the cilantro. My favorite part, though, was probably spooning the additional sauce over cooked white rice and the simple black beans I made for a side item. This recipe is a winner!
Enjoyed this one!
This was delicious! I am not a huge fan of cilantro, but I was looking to make something fresh and comforting. Chicken legs are very comforting! And the lime and cilantro worked very well to offset the fattiness of them. That sauce is incredible, too. I will make this over and over again. Thank you!
Can you do this with chicken breasts?
Yep, check the second paragraph up top for my suggestions.
I accidentally used curry instead of cumin (need new glasses). It was a fortunate mistake because my family RAVED about it (I’m a vegetarian so I rely on their reviews.
Beth! I made these with tonight with the roasted sweet potatoes. My husband said, “I feel like we’re eating at Rick Bayless’ house!”
Great recipe!
Ha! That’s a HUGE compliment! Thank him for me. :)
Made this for dinner tonight, it was fantastic, the ingredients lined up nicely with some local sales. My only complaint was that my drummies didn’t produce a lot of juice to spoon over my rice :(, but man the juice it did produce so yummy.
I deglazed the juices from the pan with some chicken broth.
THIS LOOKS YUMMY, IS IT FREEZABLE?
I find that cooked bone-in chicken doesn’t reheat very well once frozen.
Fantastic easy recipe! Love your step by step instructions! I often cook chicken with citrus but I have never tried it with lime, so interesting. Your presentation is lovely.
Last weekend I made a cilantro, lime, garlic rice (with added grilled tomatillos, chilies and green onion) so I have all these ingredients for later in the week. Can’t wait to try this recipe. My mouth is watering already!
Perfect timing! I bought drumsticks this week, but I’ve actually never made them before. I had all the things on hand to make your marinade from the balsamic glazed chicken thighs so I made that, but I plan to use the instructions here to cook the drumsticks–they are marinating now, so I’m excited to see how they turn out! Now to decide what to serve them with….:D
Chicken is the favorite meat. I think the taste will double with lime. Want to try this. Thank you for the recipe.
Mmmmmmmmmm!! My mouth is watering right now!! I can’t wait to make this recipe!!
this looks delicious! you could also chop off the stems of the cilantro, which are full of flavor, and blast the whole marinade in the food processor. that way you don’t end up with scorched leaves after the time in the oven
This sounds amazing!!! Do you think marinating all day or overnight is too long for boneless thighs?
I think that’d be okay. :)