Name: Honey Lime Chicken Tacos
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: 1.5 lbs chicken tenderloins; 1/4 cup lime juice (approx 2 limes); 1/3 cup honey; 1/2 cup salsa verde (mild); 1/2 tsp garlic; 1 tsp chili powder; 1/4 tsp salt; 1/8 tsp pepper

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Honey Lime Chicken is a sweet and savory infused shredded chicken that works great nestled in a tortilla with rice, cheese and beans to make a delicious Honey Lime Chicken Taco.

Honey Lime Tacos

Honey lime chicken is the thing you didn’t know you needed in your life. With a soft, tender, savory, and slightly sweet/caramelized flavor of shredded chicken and salsa verde coming together to create a flavorful dish, you’ll want to put it on everything from rice to tortillas or nachos.

You can make these honey lime tacos inside of your Instant Pot or your slow cooker and they turn out great either way. It’s just a matter of how much time you want to save! Not only that but both methods are pretty easy to follow along with and require hardly any effort on your part. Who wouldn’t love an easy honey lime chicken recipe?

Honey lime chicken is also one of those great recipes that uses hardly any ingredients. The seasonings are probably in your kitchen pantry already, so there isn’t much to buy. This makes is a great recipe to use for both frugality and minimalism!

What’s In Honey Lime Chicken?

Chicken Tenderloins: The chicken tenderloins can be fresh or frozen, obviously the fresh tenderloins will cook a bit faster but that is truly the only difference here.
Lime Juice: I generally squeeze my lime juice fresh but you are welcome to use lime juice in the bottle if that is what you have on hand.
Honey
Salsa Verde: My family is a little bit whimpy when it comes to spice so we always opt for the mild salsa verde, if you like your food spicy, get that salsa verde hot!
Garlic: I use garlic powder and those are the measurements I will give. Feel free to substitute fresh garlic if you’d prefer!
Chili Powder
Salt
Pepper

How to Make Honey Lime Chicken

Shredded Honey Lime Chicken can be made easily in both your Instant Pot or crockpot (if you don’t have an Instant Pot, because let’s be honest, if you have an Instant Pot, you’ll be using your Instant Pot!) I will go through both methods below quickly.

For both methods we will whisk together the lime juice, honey and seasonings until it’s well combined.

Instant Pot Method

Cooking the chicken in the Instant Pot is as easy as placing the chicken tenderloins in the bottom of the Instant Pot, pouring the honey lime mixture on top and then adding in your salsa verde. Close the lid, turn the knob to sealing, and then pressure cook!

For fresh chicken tenderloins you’ll cook on high pressure for 3 minutes with a 6 minute natural pressure release. If cooking from frozen, cook for 6 minutes with a 6 minute natural pressure release. If you are unfamiliar with the Instant Pot and how it works, I have some great Instant Pot resources for beginners.

After the chicken has cooked, we will remove the chicken to shred. While the chicken is being shredded, turn the Instant Pot onto saute. Simmer to reduce the liquid into a thicker, more flavorful sauce.

Add the chicken back in to the thickened sauce and stir to coat.

Slow Cooker Method

To make the chicken in your slow cooker, simply add all of the ingredients to the slow cooker and cook on low for 4-6 hours or on high for 3-5 hours or until the chicken is cooked through, reads at least 165° on an instant read thermometer and shreds easily.

Remove the chicken from the slow cooker too shred. Transfer the leftover liquid to a sauce pan and simmer over medium high heat until the liquid reduces to a thicker sauce.

Add the chicken back into the thickened sauce and stir to coat.

How Do You Serve Honey Lime Chicken?

You can pour a good scoop of this verde chicken over the top of some freshly cooked white rice for a nice comfort meal. You can even place it in some warmed flour or corn tortillas depending on your preference. Serving with a side of rice and beans, cheese, pico de gallo, guacamole, sour cream, or any other topping you love!

Can I Freeze Leftover Honey Lime Chicken?

Yes! If you find yourself with leftover meat, just bag it up and place it in the freezer. To reheat all you have to do is thaw the bag for a few hours and place the mixture in a saucepot on med/low until it’s completely defrosted and warmed through. Serve as normal.

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Want more Instant Pot Chicken Recipes? Check out my Top 15 Instant Pot Chicken Recipes!