This golden Cilantro Orange Chicken is so flavorful, crisped to golden brown perfection, and just very finger-licking good! Served with rice, beans, and a quick homemade pineapple salsa.
Cilantro Orange Chicken with Rice and Beans
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Five stars from all four of us, including the 2- and 4-year-old. We made them on the grill and used extra marinade as dressing for our black bean salad. Will make again!
Caitlin
This is a brand new recipe that’s part of our Spring 2023 SOS Series – in other words, EASY recipes! View our full collection of SOS recipes here.
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In This Post: Everything You Need For Cilantro Orange Chicken
- Watch how to make this
- Skewers aren’t necessary, but definitely fun
- Don’t like cilantro? You have options
- No marinating necessary here!
- Grill it up to level up
- Yes, you can make this vegetarian!
- More delicious chicken and rice recipes
JUICINESS alert! This golden Cilantro Orange Chicken is so flavorful, crisped to golden brown perfection, and just very finger-licking good. You’re going to need some napkins.
When I’m being normal, I usually serve it with rice, beans, and quick homemade pineapple salsa – which all just works together so well, you know? It has a Cuban feel to it: a mojo-like sauce with rice and beans and some tropical fruit on the plate for good measure. Yum. Yum yum yum.
But the beautiful thing is that if you don’t have time or patience for the extras, or you’re your most hungry and desperate self, the chicken can very much stand on its own.
It’s rare for me to really love a “plain chicken” recipe, but this chicken is eat-directly-off-the-pan delicious. Just brush that burnished chicken with some extra sauce straight out of the oven, pass me a couple skewers, and I am done. It’s all I need! Just a snack-turned-dinner standing over the stove.
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Source Notes: I got the idea for this recipe from this Milkstreet cookbook. I played around with it a lot with things I thought I wanted: added limes, added spices, etc. but ended up just loving the original version plus vinegar for more punch! It’s delicious.
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Cilantro Orange Chicken with Rice and Beans
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 2–3 servings 1x
Description
This golden Cilantro Orange Chicken is so flavorful, crisped to golden brown perfection, and just very finger-licking good! Served with rice, beans, and a quick homemade pineapple salsa.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
Cilantro Orange Sauce:
- 1/4 – 1/2 cup cilantro, finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, grated
- juice of 2 oranges (about 4–5 tablespoons juice) + a bit of zest
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons avocado oil
- 2 tablespoons white vinegar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
Chicken:
- 1.25 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite sized pieces
- wood or metal skewers (optional)
Optional / For Serving:
- one 8.8-ounce pouch pre-made yellow rice (or make your own!)
- one 14-ounce can refried or regular black beans
- 1–2 cups diced pineapple, mango, and/or avocado (optional)
Instructions
- If you’re using wood skewers, start soaking them!
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Turn on the broiler, and make sure one of the oven racks is way up at the top, about 6 inches from the heating element.
- Place chicken in a large mixing bowl.
- Combine the sauce ingredients in a small bowl.
- Pour only half of the sauce over the chicken and toss to coat; reserve the other half of the sauce for later. Thread the chicken pieces onto skewers, or you can just let the excess sauce drip off and add the chicken directly to your sheet pan! If you want (I do!) season the chicken with a little pinch of extra salt.
- Broil for 12 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through and has a burnished and golden exterior.
- Optional – mix a little bit of the reserved sauce with the diced pineapple/mango/avocado to make a little “salsa.”
- Brush the golden brown chicken with reserved sauce. Serve chicken with rice, beans, and your fruit salsa! Fresh, juicy and savory, so good.
Notes
My oven has high / low broil settings – I use the high broil for this recipe.
If you’re using wood skewers, make sure you soak them in water for 20-30 minutes before threading the chicken on and baking.
When using parchment paper, mine usually gets a bit brittle around the edges but stays intact throughout the middle of the pan due to the moisture from the sauce and the chicken. This article says you can use parchment for a broil, and it has always worked for me! But if you’re feeling unsure about it you can use aluminum foil.
The sauce has a lot of salt, and that is on purpose – you’re only putting half of the sauce on the chicken, and even then, not all of it will actually bake into the chicken. If you’re worried about it, you can start with 1 teaspoon in the sauce and just add extra salt to taste the chicken itself during or after baking.
I like this yellow rice, and this precooked yellow rice. This would also be delicious with this amazing homemade green rice! For beans, I like these refried beans, or these ready-to-serve black beans.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: Cuban-Inspired
Keywords: cilantro chicken, garlic chicken, cilantro garlic chicken, rice bowl, chicken skewers
Do I Have To Use Skewers?
Nope. You can place the chicken directly onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and position the pan 4-6 inches below the broiler. You’ll get the same juicy-delicious burnishing on the outside of the chicken without the work of the skewers! (But… if you have time, the skewers are definitely fun.) You can use these simple wood skewers* or metal skewers* to use over and over again!
What If I Don’t Like Cilantro?
I would recommend another herb like parsley, basil, or maybe some oregano. Green onion could be good, too.
Do I Need To Marinate The Chicken?
I didn’t marinate the chicken – it was still great, especially because the sauce has a lot of flavor and you’re going to brush that over the chicken again before eating it. This is an SOS recipe (aka easy recipe) so we’re trying to keep the whole process simple and streamlined!
But if you had time and you wanted to marinate the chicken, I think that would be delicious! Just be sure to save some of your sauce in a separate container so you can use it for brushing after it’s done.
What About Grilling?
Yes! This would be so great on the grill. Here in Minnesota, we are not in grill season quite yet, so at the moment I prefer to just pop them in the oven. But if you’ve got your grill up and running, by all means!
What About Air Frying?
This isn’t originally made for the air fryer, but it’s definitely possible! In this case I’d probably just opt for these chicken skewers – they’re similar and fun and so delicious!
What’s a Good Vegetarian Substitution?
I think you could do something similar with roasted cauliflower, sweet potatoes, or mushrooms! For a protein option, I’d try coating crispy baked tofu in this sauce and then roasting it for a few extra minutes to get it caramelized.
More Delicious Chicken and Rice Recipes
- Ginger Peanut Chicken with Coconut Rice (that coconut rice… gahhhh!)
- Cashew Chicken (like takeout at home!)
- Crispy Chicken Tikka Bowls with Mint Sauce (the ultimate weeknight bowl with frozen chicken tenders!)
- Lemongrass Chicken with Rice and Zucchini (creamy, simple, and so delicious)
- Coconut Lime Grilled Chicken with Rice (tangy and zippy and oh so fresh!)
- Honey Chipotle Chicken Skewers (with this amazing green rice! YUM!)
Filed Under: All Recipes Bowls Dairy-Free Dinner Gluten-Free Healthy Main Dishes Meat and Chicken Quick and Easy Recipes Rice Sheet Pan SOS Series Spring Summer
April 10, 2023
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I’m Lindsay and I ♡ FOOD. I used to be a teacher, and now making food and writing about it online is my full-time job. I love talking with people about food, and I'm so glad you're here.
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I’m obsessed with this sauce! I made it in the blender to make it even faster and it was delicious.
Just wanted to say this has become a family favorite and I have recommended it to so many friends! I love the mix of homemade and storebought shortcuts, and that everyone can mix and match components to their heart’s content. I add in either roasted cubes of sweet potato or roasted plantains (Trader Joes sells them frozen) and a drizzle of avocado verde sauce (again, lots of storebought options).
Hi!
Can you substitute the fresh orange juice and use store bought orange juice instead?
Thanks
Yes!
Ehh, needs a lot more flavor than what is written. I would add some bell pepper, jalapeno and red onion to the fruit to make a salsa. Then add some black pepper, and I’m not sure what else is needed in the marinade…soy in place of the salt? Sesame oil? Rice wine vinegar? Great potential, but won’t be making this again.
Could I possibly use rotisserie chicken-broiling just a few minutes?
Yes!
Made this tonight and while it was good, I wanted the sauce to stick a little better. I did marinate the chicken for about 30 minutes and broiled on a foil lined pan for 9 minutes. I poured the rest of the sauce into a black bean, corn, mango salsa and it was delicious but should have saved some to pour over the chicken and rice. Will probably make again with more sauce. Due to a heart healthy diet, I reduced the salt to 1t for 1.5 pounds of chicken and added an extra clove of garlic.
This recipe really missed the mark. The chicken was super bland, didn’t pair well with yellow rice and refried beans and the “salsa” was super oily. The pineapple made the dish have some flavor but was otherwise extremely bland. Also cook time and method (parchment paper caught fire under broiler) were way off.
Loved this easy, flavorful combo! I cubed up chicken breast and tossed them in the cilantro orange marinade and broiled it. Served over cilantro lime rice and made a pineapple, mango, corn, onion, cilantro, lime salsa to top it off. Full of fresh flavor!
Very disappointed. Looked nothing like pictured, and essentially flavorless, with a watery sauce. There is mention of its being rather salty, but I am missing that in the recipe. Was there an ingredient that might not have been included in the recipe?
Made this tonight as written. The only difference is that I marinated the chicken thighs, in half the sauce, for 2 hours before cooking. I also just cooked it in a wok as I couldn’t be bothered to thread skewers.
My husband and daughter (8) both loved it and asked me to add it to their “make again” list.
I served with snap peas and egg fried rice.
That cilantro orange dressing is AMAZING. I had mandarins that I needed to use up, so I subbed them in for oranges, and because they are sweeter, I cut the brown sugar down to 2 T (good call IMO). My kids devoured the chicken. I’m vegetarian, so I devoured the mango-avocado salsa with the rice and beans. This is a definite repeat.
Made this last weekend with your crispy baked tofu and amazing green cilantro rice and subbed Trader Joe’s frozen plantains for the pineapple and mango and it was SO DELICIOUS! and vegan! Five stars all the way. Thanks!
Delish! My 4 and 3 year olds absolutely loved it. I served the chicken with homemade refried black beans, homemade yellow rice using basmati rice with turmeric and cumin for the yellow coloring and the spice. I added some seasoned air fried frozen broccoli to our bowls, my kids gobbled it all up. This will be on rotation for sure.
Delicious and fairly easy to make. Will make again!
This has been added to our rotation and is always delicious and satisfying!!
Welp. I tried this with parchment paper and it lasted about 9 minutes. My husband said he thought it smelled like marshmallows, but that’s because my parchment paper was burning.
So, I put my chicken in the air fryer and I hope it turns out just as good.
I love so many Pinch of Yum recipes, but this one was no…I followed the recipe and the chicken was terrible in terms of texture.
Hello! I will be making this tonight. If I’m
not using the skewers, should I still cut up the chicken or leave it whole?
I would still probably cut it!
Loved the fresh flavors. I made a pan of chicken and tofu. Everyone raved about it.
I absolutely loved this recipe. I marinated the chicken in the sauce for a few hours and used mangoes for the topping and it was incredible. Can’t wait to make again!
This was fantastic. I did flip the screwers half way through.
This was another outrageous chicken recipe and once again my chicken hating children LOVED her version of chicken.
Very very flavorful and the whole house smelled amazing
This was SO good! Great recipe – thank you!
This did not work for me at all. It was very wet from all of the orange juice. I used chicken breast so maybe that contributed?
Um….we LOVE this. We have served 2X and there are never any leftovers! The first time I did with the rice and beans; second time with pesto potatoes – both were enormous hits!