Cilantro Lemon Chicken in less than 15 minutes

Cilantro Lemon Chicken – Appetizer or Sides

This cilantro lemon chicken is a versatile dish that makes a great side dish, appetizer or main course if served with rice or noodles. Simple easy and ready in less than 15 minutes.

This has been an awfully busy week with cake orders and sick kids. It’s time for the kids to go back to school so… they are not in a good mood. We had a lot of fun this summer but of course it’s never enough.

Do you love cilantro? It’s a thing about cilantro you either love it or hate it.!! Right? There’s no middle. I love cilantro. In fact I’m not much of a parsley person so I will often substitute cilantro for any dish that calls for parsley.

Now this dish has lots of cilantro if you make it – you gotta make sure you offer it to people who love cilantro. The lemon garlic and ginger do help enhance the flavor but in general you must love cilantro to enjoy this dish.

So let’s talk ingredients and substitutes.

• Chicken – By now you know I love chicken thighs so that’s usually what I use. But you are free to use chicken breast.  Just know that chicken breast cooks much faster than chicken thighs.
• Cilantro – I’d love to say use parsley but I have never tired it. Cilantro works perfectly. The quantity can be reduced to make it less intense.
• Soy sauce – does add a nice color and diffuses the strong flavors. You can hardly taste it so don’t omit it.
• Lemon – it’s really mild with just 2 tbsp so don’t omit. You can add more but I suggest to taste first.  I do love lemon but I don’t like when it takes over the rest of the flavors.

The Versatile Cilantro Lemon Chicken

I will be honest and tell you that I have served this for lunch, dinner as an appetizer, a side dish and even made wraps with this!! Sooo good!

• As an appetizer I served them on small toast with a drop of ketchup,
• goes well as a side dish along side most other meals.
• I make a bowl of noodles and add the noodles to the chicken. The sauce just coats the noodles so beautifully you don’t need anything else.
• Wraps are the easiest. My kids love these so left over usually go in wraps with a mix of salad. Perfect for the kids lunch boxes.

Moral of the story?? MAKE EXTRAS!! When I am traveling for my cake classes I usually have a handful of recipes that my kids love to eat and that save well in the freezer. This is one of them. I cook just like this. Ziv has used them a few times so he know how versatile this dish is.

 

Recipe – Cilantro Lemon Chicken in less than 15 minutes

Ingredients

• Chicken Breast or thighs – 500 grams (1 lbs)  cut to bite size pieces
• Cooking Oil – 2 tbsp
• Garlic – 2 large clove
• Ginger – 1 inch piece
• Corn flour / starch – 2 tbsp
• Onion – 1 cup roughly chopped
• Soy Sauce – 2 tbsp
• Cilantro springs – 10 (1 cup chopped)
• Lemon Juice – 2 tbsp
• Salt and Pepper to taste.

Method:

Prepare Chicken

• Clean and cut chicken into bite size pieces
• Season with salt and pepper
• Set aside.

Prepare Cilantro paste

• Clean and roughly chop the onion, ginger, garlic and cilantro
• Place all the ingredients in a blender and blend to a smooth paste.
• Add two tablespoons water if necessary to get started.

Cook Chicken

• Heat a large wok or wide pan with 2 tbsp cooking oil
• Add the cornflour / cornstarch to the chicken – toss well
• Add chicken to the hot oil. Stir and Saute for two minutes until seared on all sides
• Add the cilantro paste and soy sauce – mix well.
• Season with salt and pepper. (not to much as the soy sauce has salt)
• Continue to cook on medium heat until the chicken is cooked about 5 to 6 minutues.
• Lastly add the lemon juice.
• Taste and adjust seasoning
• Serve.

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Love cooking ? You must check out the other chicken recipes in my collection or click here for a full list of all recipes on this blog