Lime – Recipe Coast

Perfect Cilantro Lime Rice Recipe

admin — Tue, 18 Aug 2026 16:29:27 +0000

This cilantro lime rice recipe is super easy, fresh, and tastes better than your favorite restaurants!

If you love Chipotle’s cilantro lime rice, you will love this easy copycat recipe. I say copycat, but it tastes even better than what you get at Chipotle. High praise, I know, but trust me.

Serve this with beans, burritos, and your favorite Mexican dishes, or make a rice bowl! For more rice recipes like this one, see our Mexican rice (aka Spanish rice) and this yellow saffron rice!

Key Ingredients

Rice: I use long-grain white rice for this recipe. You can also use long-grain Jasmine or Basmati rice, which are more fragrant (in the best way). Brown rice works with our recipe, but the method for cooking your rice will differ. I have included tips below the recipe to help you out.
Onion and garlic: I cook chopped onion and garlic with a bit of oil and the rice, adding lots of extra flavor.
Water or broth: I use water in the recipe video, but for more flavor, use a light broth (veggie broth or chicken broth are both excellent).
Lime: Fresh lime is best for this recipe. After it’s cooked, stir fresh lime juice into the rice.
Cilantro: I love cilantro and add quite a bit to my rice. For this recipe, I chop the leaves and tender stems (leaving the hardier stems for stock). If you don’t love cilantro as much as me, leave it out and make plain lime rice (it’s still delightful). By the way, if you have extra cilantro be sure to try our creamy cilantro lime dressing.

Find the full recipe with measurements below.

How to Make the Best Cilantro Lime Rice

Tip 1: Rinse your rice. Rinsing the rice removes extra starch, making our cooked rice super light and fluffy! You want to rinse your rice for this recipe (my best tip for cooking perfect rice). I toss my rice into a fine-mesh strainer and place it under cool running water, moving the rice around with my fingers until the water runs clear.

Tip 2: Toast your rice. After rinsing, add the rice and chopped onion to a pot with some oil or butter and cook, moving them around so they toast evenly (this adds so much flavor). Add minced garlic, and then pour in your cooking liquid, which can be water or broth.

Tip 3: Keep your rice covered to make it extra fluffy! I cook the rice with a lid over low heat for about 15 minutes. Then, I remove the pan from the heat and leave it covered for another 10 minutes. This resting time gives the rice a chance to steam, which makes it perfectly cooked and fluffy. (This is the same method we use when cooking Mexican rice and coconut rice.)

Tip 4: Add cilantro and lime last. When it’s ready, uncover the rice and use a fork to fluff it (be gentle). Stir in fresh lime juice and lots of chopped cilantro. Then enjoy!

Serving Suggestions

I love this easy rice recipe and eat it with just about everything. Our family loves this with homemade refried beans or these incredible black beans. It’s always on the table when we make fajitas, enchiladas, and carnitas.

I add cilantro lime rice to my burritos, especially love these spicy cauliflower burritos. It’s also excellent for rice bowls, and I love it with our cilantro lime garlic butter shrimp! And remember the guacamole and salsas! I love this fresh pico de gallo, corn and black bean salsa, and this roasted tomatillo salsa.

Perfect Cilantro Lime Rice

PREP
10 mins
COOK
25 mins
TOTAL
35 mins

How to make the best cilantro lime rice that tastes even better than your favorite restaurants! Substituting stock or broth for the water adds additional flavor. We love using chicken or vegetable broth. If you use stock, add salt to taste since the stock may already have some salt added.

Makes 5 cups rice

Watch Us Make the Recipe

You Will Need

1 ½ cups (280g) long-grain white rice

1 tablespoon olive oil or butter, plus more for serving

½ cup (70g) finely chopped onion (1 small)

2 teaspoons minced garlic (2 cloves)

2 ¼ cups (530ml) water, vegetable broth, or chicken broth

¼ teaspoon fine sea salt, see notes

3 tablespoons fresh lime juice

1 cup (30g) roughly chopped fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems

Directions

1Place rice into a fine mesh strainer and rinse with cold water, moving the rice around with your fingers until the water runs clear. Drain well and set aside. This removes excess starch and helps the rice cook up fluffy and light.

2Heat a medium saucepan with a tight-fitting lid over medium heat. Add the oil or butter. When hot, add the rinsed rice and onion. Cook, stirring often, until the rice turns from translucent to a brighter white and the onion is soft, about 3 to 4 minutes.

3Add the garlic and cook, stirring it around the pan until fragrant but not browned, about 30 seconds.

4Pour in the warm water or stock and stir, knocking any grains of rice stuck to the pan’s sides. Season with salt, bring to a boil, and then reduce the heat to the lowest setting and cover with a lid. Cook, covered, for 15 minutes.

5Remove the pan from the heat and leave alone (still covered) for 10 minutes.

6Uncover and test a grain of rice. If the rice is still a little hard, put the lid back on and cook over low heat for another 5 minutes. If the rice looks too dry, scatter a tablespoon or two of extra water over it before placing it back on the heat.

7When the rice is done, scatter the lime juice and cilantro on top. Use a fork to gently fluff the rice and incorporate the lime juice and cilantro. Serve.

Adam and Joanne’s Tips

Storing: Leftover cilantro lime rice lasts in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months (thaw overnight in the refrigerator).
Reheating: Reheat in the microwave or over low heat in a pan with water or broth, stirring until warm. For fresh flavor, stir in extra lime juice and chopped cilantro just before serving.
Brown rice: Forget the package directions and cook brown rice like you would pasta. Fill a large pot with lightly salted water, add the brown rice, and then let it cook, uncovered, at a simmer for 30 minutes. Drain and add it back to the pot off the heat with a lid covering it so it steams for an additional 10 minutes (this method is from Saveur, making perfect brown rice.) From there, stir in sautéed onion, garlic, fresh lime juice, and cilantro.
Salt: If you plan to use stock, you may not need to add salt. Taste the stock before adding to the rice to determine if you need to add a pinch or two of additional salt.
Cilantro substitute: If you are not a fan of cilantro, substitute it with chopped fresh parsley or leave it out.
The nutrition facts provided below are estimates.

Nutrition Per Serving
Serving Size
About ½ cup
/
Calories
119
/
Total Fat
1.6g
/
Saturated Fat
0.3g
/
Cholesterol
0mg
/
Sodium
60.8mg
/
Carbohydrate
23.6mg
/
Dietary Fiber
0.6g
/
Total Sugars
0.5g
/
Protein
2.2g

AUTHOR:

Joanne Gallagher

We are Adam and Joanne Gallagher, the creators of Inspired Taste. Established in 2009, Inspired Taste grew from a childhood dream into one of the internet’s most trusted recipe sites with hundreds of reliable recipes, step-by-step videos, and expert tips.More About Us

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Chicken and Avocado Salad with Lime and Cilantro

admin — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 08:08:50 +0000

I love this Chicken and Avocado Salad with Lime and Cilantro, and it’s a great year-round salad with the perfect combination of flavors. And if you’re not a cilantro fan, see my suggestion for making this without cilantro!

PIN the Chicken and Avocado Salad to try it later!

Chicken and Avocado Salad with Lime and Cilantro was inspired by a recipe my sister Pam discovered on Pinterest! And my version of this tasty salad is a recipe I’ve made over and over since Pam first told me about it. She sent me an e-mail that had just a list of ingredients. So I worked on the salad and made up my own amounts and directions!

My version of this favorite salad has chunks of chicken and avocado, and I mix the lime and mayonnaise to make a dressing. And my family has some cilantro avoiders, so I often make an equally-delicious version without cilantro. Through the years I’ve made this chicken and avocado salad for so many parties. And if you like these ingredients, I bet this salad is going to be a keeper for you too!

The salad became so popular on the site that a few years ago I decided I should improve the photos. I also realized now I usually make a slightly larger amount than the original recipe. So this recipe is the new-and-improved version of this chicken and avocado salad, with slightly more chicken, avocado, and cilantro than the original version. Feel free to adjust ingredients and amounts any way that suits your fancy! And I think this combination will be good no matter how you switch it up!

What ingredients do you need for this recipe?

(This is only a list of ingredients; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe with ingredient amounts.)

cooked chicken
avocados
fresh squeezed lime juice; I used my fresh-frozen lime juice
salt, to taste
green onion
chopped fresh cilantro (optional, see notes)
mayo

How to make this chicken and avocado salad without Cilantro:

If you’re one of those people with the anti-cilantro tastebuds, simply triple the amount of green onion and skip the cilantro. This salad will still be amazing without cilantro, I promise!

Can you make this salad with rotisserie chicken?

Yes, I highly recommend using rotisserie chicken for this salad if you don’t want to take time to poach some chicken breasts. I’ve made this with rotisserie chicken I cut up myself and also with the pre-cut rotisserie chicken that comes in a big pack at Costco!

How long will Chicken and Avocado Salad keep in the fridge?

I’ve enjoyed this salad for lunch when it had been in the fridge overnight. But the avocado is a fragile ingredient and I don’t think it would last in the fridge for more than a day or two, and this salad is always best freshly made.

How low in carbs is the Chicken and Avocado Salad?

This amazing salad is not only extra flavorful but the salad only has 2 net carbs per serving and 18 grams of protein!

How to make Chicken and Avocado Salad with Lime and Cilantro:

(This is only a summary of the steps for the recipe; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)

I used three cups of diced chicken rotisserie chicken from Costco, and we cut it into chunks of chicken that weren’t too small.
Dice up 2 medium avocados, and toss them with fresh-squeezed lime juice.
Slice the green onion. (Use about 3/4 cup sliced green onion if you’re skipping the cilantro.
Chop up fresh cilantro. (We chopped the cilantro very fine so the cilantro flavor would be all through the salad.)
I mixed mayo and fresh squeezed lime juice to make the dressing; use more or less dressing to taste. (Remember there is already some lime juice on the avocado, so if you’re not that crazy about lime you could use a bit less.)
Put chicken in a bowl large enough to hold all the ingredients, add sliced green onions and dressing and mix well, so all the chicken is coated with dressing.
Add avocado with the lime juice that’s in the bottom of the bowl and mix gently to combine.
Then add finely chopped cilantro and gently mix again, just until it’s barely combined. Season with salt to taste.
Serve the salad right away or chill for a few hours before serving.
This salad will keep in the fridge for a day, although the avocado is best when it’s freshly made.

Make it a Low-Carb Meal:

Chicken and Avocado Salad with Lime and Cilantro could be a nice side dish for a pot-luck. But if you wanted to use it as a main dish salad I’d serve with something like Olive Bread, Savory Almond Flour Bread, or Low-Carb High-Fiber Savory Muffins on the side.

More Salads with Chicken or Avocado:

Ingredients

3 cups cooked chicken, cut into large pieces
2 medium avocados, diced
3 T fresh squeezed lime juice, divided
salt, to taste
1/4 cup thinly sliced green onion
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro (see notes)
3 T mayo (see notes)

Instructions

Cut up enough chicken to make 3 cups of chopped chicken. I like it cut into fairly large chunks.
Dice the avocados into medium-sized pieces, put in small bowl, mix with 1 T of the lime juice, and season avocado with salt to taste.
Thinly slice the green onion and finely chop the cilantro (if using).
Mix 3 T mayo and 2 T lime juice to make the dressing. (If you’re not a huge lime fan like I am, you might want to start with less lime and taste, adding more until it seems sour enough for you.
Put the chicken into a bowl large enough to hold all the salad ingredients.
Add the sliced green onions and dressing and toss until all the chicken is coated with dressing.
Add the avocado and any lime juice in the bottom of the bowl and gently combine with the chicken.
Then add the chopped cilantro and gently mix into the salad, just until it is barely combined. Season with salt to taste.
Serve right away or chill for a while before serving. This could be served inside pita bread or sandwich bread, or inside crisp lettuce cups, but we just ate it as a salad.
Chicken and Avocado Salad will keep in the fridge overnight, but the avocado is best when it’s freshly made. When I make it I rarely have leftovers, but if you’re only making for one or two people you might want to cut the recipe in half.

Notes

If you’re not a cilantro fan just triple the green onion and skip the cilantro completely.

If you like a lot of dressing on your salads, you might want to slightly increase the dressing amounts.

Recipe was adapted from Avocado Chicken Salad from Becoming Betty, which my sister Pam’s friend found on Pinterest.

Nutrition Information

Yield

Serving Size

Amount Per Serving

Calories 306Total Fat 24gSaturated Fat 5gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 17gCholesterol 66mgSodium 195mgCarbohydrates 7gFiber 5gSugar 1gProtein 18g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated by the Recipe Plug-In I am using. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee 100% accuracy, since many variables affect those calculations.

Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
Chicken and Avocado Salad with Lime and Cilantro would be perfect for low-carb eating plans, including Keto. The salad would be approved for any phase of the original South Beach Diet, but remember that avocados and mayonnaise are both a limited food for South Beach.

Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use Salad Recipes to find more recipes like this one. Use the Diet Type Index to find more recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You might also like to follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest, on Facebook, on Instagram, on TikTok, or on YouTube to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.

Historical Notes for this Recipe:
This mega-popular recipe for chicken and avocado salad was first posted in 2012, and I have made it so many times since then. It was updated with new photos and more information in 2021 and was last updated with more information in 2026.

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