Fiesta Lime Chicken at Applebee’s is my favorite dish to order there. A while back when I had gotten a bunch of limes from Bountiful Baskets, I decided I would look up how to make this dish online, and found this recipe. It really tastes very similar, and with a few tweaks to that recipe, it’s fairly easy to make. The original recipe uses tequila and liquid smoke, but I omit those 2 ingredients. Tequila isn’t something I have on hand, and I’m not going to get it just for this recipe. I grill the chicken, so the liquid smoke isn’t necessary. If you broil the chicken, you may want to add the liquid smoke to get more of a grilled flavor. Also, the original recipe makes the Mexi-Ranch sauce from scratch, but I cheat and just mix salsa and ranch dressing together to get the same result. The first time I made this, I used fresh salsa that I had made, but this time used a jar of salsa from the store. I did find the multi-colored tortilla strips at the grocery store, but I’m too cheap to buy a small bag of them for $2.99, so I just crumbled regular tortilla chips. Not as pretty as the restaurant version, but tastes just the same! Tonight, I served it with Spanish rice and black beans. Some day I’ll get around to making Spanish rice instead of from a package.
Copycat Fiesta Lime Chicken
Serves 4
What you need:
1 cup chicken broth
1/3 cup teriyaki sauce
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon tequila, optional
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup ranch dressing
1/2 cup salsa
1 cup shredded Mexican blend cheese
Crumbled tortilla chips
How to make it:
In a small bowl, combine chicken broth, teriyaki sauce, lime juice, garlic, salt, ginger, and tequila. Place chicken in a gallon size zipper bag or large baking dish and pour the marinade over chicken. Fully coat the chicken in the marinade, seal bag or cover the baking dish, and refrigerate for 2-3 hours.
Remove chicken from marinade, and discard any remaining marinade. Grill chicken until cooked through juices run clear. Place cooked chicken in a broiler-safe 9×13 baking dish.
Combine ranch dressing and salsa. Spoon the ranch/salsa mixture over each piece of chicken. Sprinkle 1/4 cup shredded cheese on each piece of chicken.
Broil on low heat setting for 2 to 3 minutes, or until cheese has melted.
To serve, spread crumbled tortilla chips on each plate, then place a chicken breast onto the chips.
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