Quick Mexican Chicken Marinade
This quick and easy Mexican Chicken Marinade recipe is made with simple ingredients yet packed with zesty, herbaceous, and smoky flavors. However, this Mexican marinade makes any type of meat tender, juicy, and delicious. Perfect for meal prep! Create flavorful juicy chicken for tacos, taco salad, tostadas, burrito bowls, quesadillas, chicken fajitas, and more!
This is the best Mexican chicken marinade to flavor and tenderize before grilling, baking, pan-searing, and even air frying. This flavorful chicken marinade comes together in minutes with a short list of fresh and flavorful ingredients. You can’t go wrong with Mexican food and easy recipes!
Equal parts lime juice and extra virgin olive oil are combined with fresh garlic and fajita seasonings to make this delicious marinade. While I encourage you to make fajita seasoning from scratch (it’s simple!), you can also use your favorite brand of fajita seasoning as a shortcut.
Mexican marinade is perfect with chicken thighs but also excellent with skinless chicken breasts, chicken tenders, drumsticks, and wings.
The best part? If you’re not in the mood for chicken, you can use it for steak, pork, and even shrimp! It adds great flavor to your favorite meat or seafood!
Why You’ll Love This Great Recipe
- The ingredients are simple. You can use homemade Mexican seasonings or store-bought.
- It’s easy to scale up if you plan to marinate chicken for a crowd.
- It makes delicious chicken for your favorite Mexican-inspired meals like fajitas, chicken tacos, and chicken nachos!
- It’s gluten-free and dairy-free (& Whole30 with compliant seasonings).
Marinade Ingredients
- Lime juice – Freshly squeezed! Lime juice is the acidic element that helps tenderize your chicken or steak, making it super juicy and tasty. You can also use half orange juice and half lime juice for a citrus twist.
- Extra virgin olive oil (or avocado oil) – Helps balance the acidity from the lime and adds moisture to the meat.
- Garlic – Freshly minced garlic adds succulent, savory flavor.
- Fajita seasoning – I recommend making this gluten-free Mexican fajita seasoning. It’s simple and loaded with flavor, but feel free to use your favorite fajita seasoning. I love the Badia Fajita Seasoning as an alternative to homemade.
- Salt – Kosher or sea salt (if possible) to tie the dynamic blend of Mexican flavors together.
- Optional herbs– if you’re a cilantro fan, add in some chopped fresh cilantro or fresh Mexican oregano
How To Make A Mexican Marinade For Chicken
Step 1: Whisk ingredients. Whisk fresh lime juice, EVOO (or avocado oil), fresh garlic, fajita seasonings, and salt in a medium-size bowl until thoroughly combined.
Step 2: Coat chicken. Using tongs, transfer the chicken pieces to a zip-top bag. Then, pour in the marinade and use your tongs to gently toss the chicken, making sure all of the meat is coated.
Step 3: Marinade chicken. Squeeze all the air from the bag, seal, and set in the refrigerator for 2-4 hours (or overnight).
Step 4: Cool, rest, and serve. Remove the chicken from the fridge 15-30 minutes before you’re ready to begin cooking to bring it to room temperature. Then, grill, pan-sear, bake, or air fry the chicken until the internal temperature reaches 165F. Transfer to a cutting board, tent with foil, and let rest for 5 minutes. Serve hot.
Recipe Tips
- Let your chicken soak for at least 2 hours, but for the best results, let it sit in the fridge overnight.
- Please do not reuse the marinade to baste the chicken as it cooks. Instead, make extra specifically for brushing onto the chicken as it cooks.
- Add cayenne or red pepper flakes to turn up the heat and make a spicier version.
- You can cook your Mexican marinated chicken on the outdoor grill, stovetop (in a grill pan), oven, or air fryer. What’s most important is that the chicken is cooked to 165.
- To check for doneness, insert a meat thermometer in the thickest part of the chicken.
- Tent the chicken pieces and rest for 5 minutes before slicing, so the juices and flavors absorb back into the meat.
Variations & Serving
Steak marinade – In addition to grilled chicken, this Mexican marinade is excellent with cuts of beef like skirt and flank steak. Marinate less tender cuts of meat for at least 24 hours for the best results.
Shrimp marinade – Delicate shrimp only need about 30 minutes to absorb the delicious flavors.
Pork marinade – Pork tenderloin marinated in Mexican marinade can be kept in the fridge 3-5 days before cooking.
As for serving Mexican marinated chicken thighs or chicken breasts, the options are endless!
- Serve with Mexican rice, black beans, and tender-crisp veggies.
- Add to homemade burritos!
- Top tostadas with Mexican marinated chicken.
- As the base protein for tacos, nachos, taco salads, fajitas, enchiladas, and quesidillas.
Storing & Freezing
Storing: Once emulsified, this marinade is best kept refrigerated in a glass jar or bottle for up to a week. Before using, vigorously shake the container to recombine the ingredients.
Freezing: You can freeze fresh chicken directly in the marinade. To do so, combine fresh (never frozen) chicken thighs or breasts and the marinade in a freezer-safe resealable bag. Squeeze out as much air as possible, then freeze for up to 3 months. Let thaw in the fridge 24-36 hours before cooking.
Recipe FAQ
Yes. After 1-2 days, the acidity in the marinade will begin to deteriorate the protein fibers causing the meat to become mushy.
As a rule of thumb, marinades should have an acid, an oil, and a flavoring agent. This Mexican marinade recipe checks off all three elements.
No, for food safety purposes, you should never use a marinade that’s come in contact with raw chicken. Instead, make an extra batch of the marinade to avoid the risk of bacterial contamination.
More Marinades and Rubs You’ll Love
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Mexican Chicken Marinade
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp lime juice freshly squeezed. You can also do a blend of half fresh lime juice and half fresh orange juice for a citrus twist.
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil or avocado oil
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp fajita seasoning this homemade gluten-free Mexican seasoning recipe or your favorite premade brand. I love the Badia fajita seasoning as an alternative.
- Optional: fresh chopped cilantro or fresh Mexican oregano
Instructions
- Whisk all ingredients together in a medium-size bowl.
- Place chicken into a sealable bag and add the marinade.
- Squeeze all of the air out the bag and refrigerate for 2-4 hours.
Notes
- Let your chicken soak for at least 2 hours, but for the best results, let it sit in the fridge overnight.
- Please do not reuse the marinade to baste the chicken as it cooks. Instead, make extra specifically for brushing onto the chicken as it cooks.
- Add cayenne or red pepper flakes to turn up the heat and make a spicier version.
- You can cook your Mexican marinated chicken on the outdoor grill, stovetop (in a grill pan), oven, or air fryer. What’s most important is that the chicken is cooked to 165.
- To check for doneness, insert a meat thermometer in the thickest part of the chicken.
- Tent the chicken pieces and rest for 5 minutes before slicing, so the juices and flavors absorb back into the meat.
Nutrition
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