Grilled Lime Coconut Chicken with Coconut Rice
A coconut lime curry marinade lends intense flavor for this grilled lime coconut chicken. Serve over rice for the perfect meal!
You know a recipe is a keeper when it has been a tried-and-true favorite for over a decade. This chicken is just that! It is one of the most delicious recipes on my website. Scroll down to see why!

Ultra-Flavorful Chicken Marinade
The marinade for this chicken packs a serious punch of flavor. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water.
- coconut milk
- fresh lime juice and lime zest
- curry powder
- ground cumin and coriander
- soy sauce
- pinch of cayenne pepper
The key is to reserve half of the marinade for later. It is going to make the most delicious, drizzling sauce you’ve ever tasted. 😍
The other half of the marinade goes over the chicken. Let it hang out in the fridge for at least two hours or up to 12 hours.
Of course I don’t need to say this out loud, but: the longer the chicken marinates, the better the flavor will be.
Grill the chicken on an outdoor grill or indoor grill pan. If you don’t have a grill, you can cook in a skillet or under the broiler in the oven.
The Most Wonderful Combo
While the chicken cooks, get the coconut rice going on the stovetop, and warm the reserved sauce.
Despite the various components, this meal comes together really quickly. It is basically a super elevated take on chicken and rice. Once that chicken marinades, it is easy and fast!
The combination of the juicy grilled chicken, creamy coconut rice, and intensely flavorful sauce is out of this world. To get the full effect of a rockstar-level meal, you have to experience every element! It is so, so, so good.
A Few Additional Notes
This is one of my favorite meals to serve to company. It has such a high WOW factor with very low effort.
Because the recipe relies heavily on the curry powder to flavor the marinade and sauce, be sure to use a curry powder that you like the flavor of. Almost all brands of curry powder vary in flavor and heat.
My all-time favorite curry powder is the sweet curry powder from Penzey’s spices. But there are many other delicious brands out there!
For a delicious serving idea, lots of people have made this recipe into rice bowls. Coconut rice + grilled chicken + sauce + roasted vegetables. Incredible. 😍
So Many 5-Star Reviews
Here are just a few of them! Scroll through the comments to see lots of other reviews and comments.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This has been a staple in our house since 2016/2017. It’s a super delicious and forgiving recipe. I think the coconut rice might be my husband’s favorite thing in the world (I also think it’s ridiculously good), make sure not to skip out on it! -Tish
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ We have made this a dozen times or more and keep coming back to it. Always a crowd favorite! -Jenna
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This recipe is INCREDIBLE! I have made it for years and it’s truly amazing! Easy to make and so full of flavor. I only make recipes that I feel I would want to order at a restaurant and this is definitely one of them!! -Lauren
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This is such a delicious recipe! The family goes crazy over this. It’s definitely better if it’s grilled, but some days I make it in the pan and it’s still great. And you MUST make coconut rice with this. If you don’t, you don’t get the whole effect. -Nicole
What to Serve With This
- Coconut rice (see the recipe below) or garlic rice
- Fresh fruit (pineapple would be delicious with this meal)
- Perfect Corn on the Cob or roasted vegetables
Grilled Lime Coconut Chicken with Coconut Rice
Ingredients
Chicken and Marinade/Sauce:
- 1 cup canned coconut milk, light or regular
- ¼ cup olive oil
- Zest and juice of 2 limes
- ¼ cup low-sodium soy sauce
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 4 teaspoons curry powder
- 1 tablespoon ground coriander
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- pinch cayenne pepper
- 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs
Coconut Rice:
- 1 ½ cups long grain white or jasmine rice
- 1 ½ cups canned coconut milk
- 1 ½ cups water
- 1 teaspoon salt
Garnish:
- ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
- Fresh limes, cut into wedges
Instructions
- For the marinade, in a large liquid measuring cup or medium bowl, whisk together the oil, lime zest, lime juice, cumin, coriander, soy sauce, salt, sugar, curry powder, coconut milk, and cayenne pepper.
- Pour half the marinade into a bowl or container. Cover and refrigerate for later.
- Place the chicken in a large ziploc bag or shallow dish, and pour the remaining marinade over the chicken. Seal the bag or cover the dish, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 12 hours.
- For the rice, bring the rice, coconut milk, water and salt to a simmer in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cover, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 16 minutes until the liquid is mostly evaporated (don't lift the lid!). Remove from the heat and let stand for 5 to 10 minutes. Fluff lightly before serving.
- For the chicken, preheat a grill to medium-high heat. I use a pellet grill and set the temperature to 375 degrees F.
- Grill the chicken for 6-7 minutes per side (actual time will depend on the thickness of the chicken) until an instant-read thermometer inserted at the thickest part registers 165 degrees F.
- While the chicken cooks, heat the reserved marinade on the stovetop or in the microwave until warm (don't cook at too high a temperature or it can separate).
- Drizzle warm sauce over the grilled chicken, serving extra sauce on the side. Sprinkle fresh cilantro over the chicken. Serve chicken and sauce over cooked rice with fresh lime wedges on the side.
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe (adapted from a recipe originally found on a website that is no longer in operation)
Recipe originally published June 2013; updated September 2024 with new photos, recipe notes, etc
Made this and it was so great! Did not grill, but baked at 350 for about 4o minutes. It was so delicious!! The rice was excellent too! I added fresh lime zest and fresh chopped cilantro to the rice also after it was cooked. So good.
Delish! Thanks for sharing!
This was terrific! My two year olds and my four year old ate it all up. Thanks for another tried and true recipe.
Hi Mel,
I realize this would be a huge project and I’m mostly suggesting this because I’m lazy but it would be awesome if one day you could somehow include the main ingredients (at least the semi-strange ones) like fruits, vegetables, coconut milk, that kind of thing. This is coming from when I have some random thing in my fridge that I would like to use up and I try searching for that ingredient with your search tool but things only come up if they are in the title. Just a suggestion and I will not be upset if you can’t do it. Thanks!
I made this tonight and it was a. ma. zing. So delicious! I made it with boneless, skinless chicken thighs, and I’m actually glad that we were short 2 people for dinner, because now I have lots of yummy leftovers. The rice was fabulous. I wish I had more left over; I’ll bet it would make fabulous rice pudding.
This was absolutely delicious! I loved the coconut-lime-curry combination. And you were right to add the coconut rice instead of plain rice. That was spot on! I am so glad I made extra…..I’m already looking forward to tomorrow’s dinner! Thank you, Mel, for sharing this recipe. I look forward to trying more of your recipes!
Do you think I could use this rice recipe for your baked brown rice?
Are you wondering if you can bake the coconut rice like the brown rice? Or, if brown rice can be used in the coconut rice recipe?
Mel, I have the same question and I am not seeing the reply! Sorry! Either way do you think the coconut rice would work with brown rice? Or could you bake the recipe for the coconut rice if you used brown rice for the 70 minutes? My husband will only eat brown rice and this sounds so good!!
Hi Sara – I think brown rice could work but you’ll have to kind of tweak the liquid amount and cooking time since brown rice requires more of both. Good luck experimenting!
So… I burned the sauce (I’m super talented that way) by letting it summer indefinitely while by newborn screamed for an hour, BUT it was still really great! And our of sheer laziness I put our fruit in the same bowl as the rice and chicken, and it was an awesome flavor combo (nectarines).
This recipe is amazing! I’ve made it several times now and each time I get rave reviews from my guests. The only change I have made is omitting the fresh cilantro because I rarely have it on-hand and I keep forgetting to buy it. The ratios of everything else are just perfect, though. Thank you for sharing your recipes!
Love the recipe but always have read you’re not supposed to use the marinate because of the raw chicken?
Hi Julia – some people may be uncomfortable with that, which I understand, but as long as the marinade is boiled for several minutes, it should be fine. An alternative would be to just make an extra batch of the marinade and keep it separate until serving.
This is a fantastic recipe!! I used coconut oil along with the milk but the coconut on the chicken was very subtle, as was the curry powder. The tip about cutting the chicken was great as the organic chicken breast we order from a local farm are HUGE!! Cutting the chicken allowed for a smaller portion and probably helped seal in the marinade. It was extremely flavorful, even though I only marinated the chicken for 2 hours. I did have a problem boiling off the excess marinade, however. Even after stirring it frequently, the sauce broke into spices and oil. The extra sauce wasn’t necessary anyway so no big deal. I added an extra pinch of salt and cayenne to bring some more heat to the dish. Also, I added some lime and the cilantro to the coconut rice as it was cooling to give it more flavor. Next time, I’ll make a coconut beurre blanc with serrano & tomato to accompany the chicken to really bring out the coconut flavor if I don’t feel like doing the rice!
This was dinner tonight. Oh wow!! Amazingly good!!! Kids and hubby gobbled it up and said it was delicious. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
I made this last night and it was all I could do to not to lick the pot clean! We don’t have a BBQ grill right now and I was contemplating how best to make the recipe. I ended up doubling the sauce since I had extra chicken. I cut the chicken into cubes (after halving the chicken breast) and after marinating it four hours, just boiling it in the sauce. We served it in a bowl with the rice and now I can’t imagine it any other way. (I guess we are gravy people!) The spices were right on; my husband also is not a big curry person, but it really was perfect. Thanks sharing!
I found this recipe when doing a general search for chicken marinade. I wasn’t looking for anything specific, just something I had all of the ingredients for so I could make that day. I love lime and coconut, so this caught my eye. I had just about everything to make this… All of thd important stuff anyway 🙂 I marinated the chicken for 2-3 hours. The hubs BBQ ‘d it. Ahmaaazing! It was tender and tasty… Just perfect in every way! 3 of my 4 children liked it, too and 4th kid doesn’t really count because she doesn’t even try anything that is brown unless it’s chocolate. Anyway, that was last ween and all week long I have been drooling just thinking about the chicken and rice… Ohmyword, that rice! So we are making it again today and you can bet I will be doubling the recipe just so I can eat this delicious dish every day this week. Thank you do much for sharing!
Since I cook almost exclusively from your site, I had to let you know this was amazing! Like licking the plate, hoard the leftovers good. For those who’ve asked, I made the rice in a cooker, just dumping it in & cooking. I think I need to double it though… Just cuz it was gone so fast! I made it with regular white rice I had, and I used silk coconut milk, and added coconut extract to up the flavor. Amazing!!
Tried this tonight and it was fantastic! The whole family (including 4 kids) gobbled it all up. We loved the chicken sliced up, with a little rice, some broccoli, a drizzle of the sauce, and a sprinkle of cilantro – perfect combination! It is very similar to Thai chicken satay, but saucier. Definitely going into the rotation! Thanks, Mel!
I’ll be honest. I wasn’t sure I was going to like this from the smell of the marinade. It wasn’t a bad smell but a weird smell. I blame McCormick’s yellow curry powder. (I’d rather have a homemade curry mix-but I used what I had). Surprisingly, it doesn’t taste like it smells. The lime really comes through. I didn’t use the sauce this time, as I was afraid it would be too much, but will probably try it next time. All in all, this was quite tasy and will be made again.
I know I have said this before, but I have to say it again- Mel, you rock, girlfriend! I was looking for an easy chicken recipe on your website in which I had all the ingredients for (including the Penzy’s Sweet Curry). I am due to give birth in 1 week so I am trying to conserve my energy. This was so easy to make. My hubby doesn’t like rice but loved this one and the chicken especially with the sauce. I grew up eating coconut rice so this was a blast to the past for me. I heated up the leftover rice with a wee bit of sugar and added milk just like a kid. Thank you once again for sharing your love of cooking with us. Your website is my one stop shop for anything yummy!
Just had to say that this is a very tasty dish. I did some of my own variations with it:
-Used 1 cup of coconut milk
-Made it into a traditional curry where I cooked the cut up chicken with veggies. Then poured the sauce over it.
-I used coconut milk/cartoon fridge one for the coconut rice so it was a bit sweeter.
Such a great recipe!!! Yum
This turned out great! I used Penzeys hot curry, as that is what I had on hand. (Thus Omittimg the cayenne). The rice was outstanding, I too cooked it up in my rice cooker.
Another winning recipe from Mel, thanks!
Made this last night. SO good, and so different from the typical chicken recipes I make. Adding this to the rotation!
This was so delicious! And such an easy meal to prepare. Loved the rice– perfect with the tasty lime coconut chicken. I, too, am thankful you told us about Pensky’s Spices. And not to use red curry. I had no idea there was a sweet, yellow curry.
Made this tonight and loved it!!
Wow, this recipe really did make me feel like a rcokstar in the kitchen! We loved it! Probably our family’s new favorite recipe. Thanks!!
I just made this today, but replaced chicken with fish (seabass fillet) instead and baked it in the oven, overall it was good but i think the flavours go better with chicken.. the sauce though was amazing – couldn’t believe how easy it was to make it!
Also I should add, i found your blog about a week ago on a google search and since then i have made your french rolls as well as the lion house rolls. So far everything has turned out perfect which says a lot about your recipes and instructions since im a first time baker! Thank you xx
Im cooking this right now!
Just tried this recipe tonight. OH, MY FREAKING GOSH! I love anything curry and andything coconut. It was amazing! My husband, my 1 1/2 year old, and I inhaled it! I will say this though: The rice wasn’t as sweet and coconutty as I would’ve liked, but it was still tasty and delicious. I added a tablespoon of sugar to the rice, but I would make it 2 Tbs. next time. I do wish you said in the recipe what heat to have the sauce on the stove, as mine burnt on the side of the pan and got so thick that it didn’t really “drizzle” well. Still tasted yummy though, and will definityley make again! Thanks!
This was absolutely amazing, I made the coconut rice for the family and made minor adjustments to the marinade to make it Paleo so I could enjoy the chicken too. Thank you for this wonderful recipe.
I am considering turning this into a crock pot meal. Do you think it would fare OK just dumping the chicken and marinade ingredients into a crock pot and cooking it that way? If so, would you still marinade the chicken beforehand? I know chicken tastes way better grilled, but I’m pregnant and the faster/easier my meals are, the more likely I am to make dinner 🙂
Katie – hmmm, I think it’s definitely worth at try. I’d probably still marinade the chicken first just to help with flavor but I’m sure it could be done either way. Let me know how it turns out!
Made this dish tonight, definitely ate far more than I needed too. Substituted the jasmine with brown jasmine and followed this recipe (http://thaifood.about.com/od/vegetarianthairecipes/r/browncoconutrice.htm). I will absolutely make this again, thanks for sharing!
Made this tonight and it was a HUGE hit. My family of picky eaters loved it! I also marinadeted some fresh shrimp, which I thought was even better than the chicken. So good.
Absolutely loved this! We will make it again and again. I used chicken tenderloin instead of breasts, because the breast I have seem too big. To equal 2 pounds I ended up using at least 12 tenderloins, and the marinade was more than sufficient with that many! They turned out fabulous. I also used my rice cooker for the rice, because lets be honest, I adore that thing, and it is mindless. It made it perfect fluffy rice! SO SO YUMMY!
We had this tonight and it was so good! I am going to try with fish next. My husband poured the marinade over the chicken on the grill, and I made extra for the side to go over the rice. My little ones ages 7,6,4,and 2 years old, asked me to add this to the rotation.
I made this last night, but substituted halibut for the chicken breast because I am chickened out right now:) It was delicious, I am still thinking about it! I marinated it for only an hour and only used 1 tsp of the curry. So so yummy!!! Thank you, thank you!
Thanks for another great recipe! This was a family favorite for sure! We love anything with curry and coconut in it. Because we loved it so much, I couldn’t resist sharing on my blog today (www.mimisfitfoods.com). I barely made any changes, but I did include the calorie and nutritional information. Thanks for the yummy eats I always find on your site!
I have made this twice now. The first time my husband was sad that he didn’t get any leftovers to take to work for lunch, so the next time I doubled the recipe. He is happily at work now with some of this great dish tucked away in his lunch bag. Thank you for sharing this recipe! My husband gave it 5 of 5 stars, and that’s very rare with him.
The first time I made it I did not have any coriander on hand so I made it without and it tasted great. I added the coriander this time, and while it was still awesome, we actually like it better without. I also diced the chicken before marinating it, and I cooked the sauce right with the chicken. We served it in bowls over the rice and ate it with chopsticks.
We loved this! I also made it for my freezer club and it is getting rave reviews! Coconut rice freezes great too!
Mel, Thanks for another great recipe! Even being a little congested this was a tasty dish!
ahem…we have a curry convert with this fabulous marinade, just sayin! Note, I did take it down to 1 tsp for a smooth transition into curry hood, and hubby still gave 2 thumbs up.
really want to try this recipe ,what vege would you suggest to accompany this dish.regards alice
Alice – anything from broccoli to asparagus to a green salad – the side dishes could be very versatile!
My family loved this! We felt like we were eating something from a fancy restaurant. I was a little leery of using so much cumin and curry, so I cut back on those a little ~ It was a great combination of flavors. I hadn’t ever used coriander before, & certainly enjoyed discovering its wonderful lemony aroma. The only down side to this meal was we wanted more! 😉 I will definitely double the whole recipe next time.
Mel you have officially put the fun back into cooking for me. Made this for dinner Sarurday night and It was fantastic. Thank you so much for the time you spend sharing your recipes with us. You make it so easy to come up with ideas for dinner and we don’t even have to do the legwork. I don’t know how you do it with your big family. You are simply amazing. i hope your family knows how lucky they are. Thank you again.
Wow! This was great. The neighbor kid who was here for dinner asked me to give the recipe for the chicken to her mom. My husband and I really loved the chicken and rice with the sauce, and the chicken and rice were tasty enough for my kids to eat them plain. Definitely a keeper!
This was delicious! We had this with fresh mangoes and grilled pineapple. My husband LOVED it, and so did I. Thanks!
Have made this twice now and wow, amazing flavour!! The only change I make is adding finely sliced spring onions (I think you guys call them scallions..?) to the rice just before serving. I doubled the recipe the second time, so there would be leftovers for lunch the next day! Thanks Mel for another sensational recipe.
Just made this. LOVED IT!! The flavor is fantastic. Mild coconut and lime flavor with all those spices just made the best bbq for a summer afternoon. The rice was a great compliment to the chicken too. Had some grilled asparagus on the side and fell in love.
Made this tonight for dinner. Family LOVED IT! Will definately make again, per family request. Will double the sauce next time. The coconut rice was delicious!!
This recipe was a big hit with my family! Definitely a keeper recipe. A perfect accompaniment is mango cucumber salad. Dice mango and seedless cucumber; drizzle with lime juice and sprinkle with cayenne pepper. Delicious!
About baking, which would you recommend – 375 for 25-30 min (depending on thickness) or 425 for 20 min?
Thanks
Jo – I’d probably go with the 375 temp and just keep an eye on it (or use a thermometer until the chicken registers 165 degrees).
This sounds amazing! I’ve tried coconut rice before, and I like the flavor, but mine always comes out mushy. Any pointers? I am supposed to shake the can right? Not just use the separated liquid, right? I don’t know what I’m doing wrong, but the few recipes I’ve followed have always come out mushy. I really want to try this though, mushy rice or not.
Hi Cicily – not sure on the mushy factor. Sounds like you might be adding too much liquid overall…that will usually result in mushy, soft rice.