This delicious recipe for Cilantro Lime Chicken with vegetables is an easy sheet pan meal that is a satisfying low-carb meal for your whole family!
If you’re looking for a really tasty chicken low-carb keto dinner this Cilantro Lime Chicken sheet pan meal is a must make. Crispy chicken thighs and roasted low-carb veggies all nuzzled in a sugar-free and sweetener-free tasty cilantro sauce. This recipe is super easy to make and you can use any low carb veggies you like.
HOW TO MAKE KETO SHEET PAN CHICKEN THIGHS
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F and season your chicken thighs on both sides with salt and pepper.
Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in large skillet. Cook the thighs skin side down for about 4 - 5 minutes on a medium heat or until the skin is golden and crisp and the meat is nicely seared. Note: the thighs will not be cooked through at this stage.
Transfer the thighs to a non-stick baking tray, or use a parchment, skin side up and cook for 20 minutes.
Place all the ingredients for the cilantro lime sauce into a small food processor blender and process until smooth. Set aside.
Chop all the vegetables. Drizzle 1 tablespoon of olive oil over the veggies. Once the chicken has been in the oven for 20 minutes, add the cauliflower, peppers and fennel and roast for a further 5 minutes.
Add about half the sauce to the chicken, basting the top and bottom, tossing a little through all the veggies too. Then add the zucchini and tomatoes. Roast for another 25- 30 minutes. Add the artichokes for 5 more minutes or until the chicken is fully cooked through and the veggies are soft. Internal temperature should be 165 degrees F.
Brush with a little more sauce to serve and serve the rest of the sauce on the side.
Cooking times will vary slightly depending on how big your chicken thighs are. Option to cook for slightly less if your thighs are on the small side or shred the meat and crisp it up if you like your meat super well done and crispy.
Store any left overs in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
CAN I SKIP PAN SEARING THE CHICKEN THIGHS?
While pan searing the chicken does take an extra step, it is worth it if you want some crispy skin. Pan searing the chicken thighs gives you that nice, crisp skin and color and finishing the chicken off to bake in the oven allows the veggies to cook until tender.
CAN I SWAP CHICKEN BREAST FOR CHICKEN THIGHS?
You could swap chicken breast with chicken thigh, though won't have to cook this as long. Since the chicken thighs are bone-in, they will take much longer then breasts. I'd suggest cooking just 25-30 minutes if you have thick chicken breasts. If you pound them thinner, you may only need about 20 minutes. Just make sure the internal temperature of your chicken is 165 degrees F.
WHAT OTHER VEGGIES CAN I USE?
Any of the veggies used in this sheet pan chicken meal are easy enough to swap for your preferences. If you don't like cauliflower, I'd suggest broccoli. If fresh fennel isn't your favorite, you could try Brussels Sprouts. You could also just leave out any veggies you don't like.
LOW-CARB KETO MEAL PLAN MEMBERSHIP
You can choose from Three Meal Plan Options:
- Low Carb Meal Plan includes breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks with 40 net grams of carbs or less per day.
- Keto Meal Plan includes breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks with 20 net grams of carbs or less per day.
- Intermittent Fasting Keto Meal Plan includes 2 meals per day plus one protein/fat rich snack daily with no more than 20 TOTAL carbs per day.LEARN MORE HERE!
KETO SHEET PAN CHICKEN THIGHS
Keto Sheet Pan Cilantro Lime Chicken Thighs
Ingredients
- 8 chicken thighs 8 skin on, bone-in (or 770g)
- ¼ teaspoon salt (or to taste)
- ⅛ teaspoon pepper (or to taste)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil separated
- ½ cauliflower chopped into 2 inch florets (or 250g)
- ½ yellow pepper chopped into 2 inch cubes (or 4 sweet peppers) (or 90g)
- 1 small fennel bulb fresh, cut into 8 wedges (or 200g)
- 1 zucchini halved and cut into 2 cm think rounds on the diagonal (or 180g)
- 3.5 ounces cherry tomatoes (or 100g)
- 80 grams artichokes deli artichokes, chargrilled and quartered (or canned artichokes, drained and rinsed)
Cilantro Lime Sauce
- ½ cup cilantro (or 20g)
- ½ cup parsley fresh (or 20g)
- 1 anchovy fillet canned in oil
- 1 tablespoon capers canned, drained (or 8g)
- 1 clove garlic chopped
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- ½ lime (juice from ½ lime)
- 1 teaspoon lime zest
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ¼ teaspoon salt (or to taste)
- ⅛ teaspoon pepper (or to taste)
- ½ jalapeno optional: ½ - 1 jalapeno
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F / 200c / 180 fan.
- Season chicken thighs with salt and pepper.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in large non-stick frying pan. Cook the thighs skin side down for about 4 - 5 minutes on a medium heat or until the skin is golden and crisp and the meat is nicely seared. Note: the thighs will not be cooked through at this stage.
- Transfer the thighs to a non-stick baking tray, skin side up. Cook for 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, place all the ingredients for the cilantro lime sauce into a small food processer blender and blitz until smooth. Set aside.
- Chop all the vegetables. Drizzle in 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Once the chicken has been in the oven for 20 minutes, add the cauliflower, peppers and fennel and roast for a further 5 minutes.
- Add about half the sauce to the chicken, basting the top and bottom, tossing a little through all the veggies too. Add the zucchini and tomatoes. Roast 25- 30 minutes. Add the artichokes for 5 further minutes or until the chicken is fully cooked through and the veggies are soft.
- Brush with a little more sauce to serve and serve the rest on the side.
- RECIPE NOTE: Cooking times will vary slightly depending on how big your chicken thighs are. Option to cook for slightly less if your thighs are on the small side or shred the meat and crisp it up if you like your meat super well done and crispy.
- Storage: Tupperware for up to 3 days
Notes
Nutrition
About Brenda
Brenda Bennett is a certified Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, certified Sugar Detox Coach, certified Keto Coach and certified Life Coach. She has been Sugar Free & Refined carb free for 17 years and has written 2 cookbooks, Sugar-Free Mom, and Naturally Keto and her 3rd book The 30-Day Sugar Elimination Diet, is a four part program to help you detox from sugar, eliminate cravings, balance blood sugar and lose weight all while eating a delicious, nutrient dense whole foods. Meal plan offers two tracks to follow, low carb or keto. She is the founder of the Sugar Free Fresh Start course and Sugar Free Tribe weight loss membership. Learn more.
Buddy B
I bought your book "Naturally Keto" because I needed to lose a few pounds and not only did I lose the weight - YOU ACTUALLY TAUGHT ME HOW TO COOK. I've tried cooking using other recipes and it usually wound up in a failure...but your recipes are so thorough, they're almost failproof.
I had a couple of questions about the Cilantro Lime Sauce. The recipe calls for "½ lime juice of ½ lime" - is this supposed to be "juice from half a lime"? Also, the ingredients list says "¼ cup olive oil and
1 tablespoon olive oil" - is it 1/4 cup plus a 1 TB of oil or is this an error?
Thank you so much!
Buddy
Brenda
Wonderful to hear, thank you! I corrected the lime juice. Meant to say, squeeze juice from 1/2 of a lime.
Kirsten C
First of all, I use your recipes ALL the time! We love them! I am making this tonight. Just curious on the cook time and temp. 400* F for an hour total? My chicken thighs (pretty large) were up to 130* F by the first 20 minute bake. Also the sauce didn’t seem to go far enough for all the chicken and veggies. Not sure if I'm doing something wrong or if I just like things extra saucy.
Brenda
It depends on if you have an electric or gas oven, electric seems to heat and cook things must faster but I would say, just check with an internal thermometer to make sure they register 165 degrees.