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SOOO GOOD!!! We used breasts, thin sliced and scored so the marinade soaked in – and sub’d rice for roasted sweet potato’s – whole family loved it!! The leftovers were just as delish- we threw them in some corn taco shells and added slaw to the mix chicken and mash and WOWEE!
Georgia Beglin
Why Is Chunky Sauce So Fun?
I make a lot of blended, smooth green sauces – but this lady is a whole new vibe. Spoonable, chunky, and fun. She is the exact thing I didn’t realize my smoky grilled chicken was needing.
The combination of avocado, pistachio, chives, and lemon is like a mashup of guacamole, gremolata, and springtime brightness and it is SO good.
I know some of you are going to look at the sauce ingredients and think you want a lime in there, but give the lemon a chance. The lemon with the chives and the roasty pistachios… it’s so fresh and unique. I want this for you.
What I like this with:
- my go-to easy rice method which is absolutely hands off
- the simple green salad my kids love
- multiple types of roasted veggies – but this broccoli especially
If you’re worried about things getting spicy, use smoked paprika instead of chipotle! It’ll give you the smokiness without the spicy. Delish.
I hope you love this!
And if you’re doing some meal planning, don’t miss this list of all my favorite easy dinners!
Watch How To Make This Recipe
Chipotle Chicken with Chunky Pistachio Sauce
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Description
Smoky chipotle chicken grilled to perfection, with a chunky fun sauce featuring pistachios, avocado, lemon, and chives! This is so good!
Ingredients
Chipotle Chicken:
- 1 lb. boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 2 1/2 – 3 tablespoons taco seasoning (I use Siete Mild Taco Seasoning, a little more than half the packet)
- 1/8 teaspoon chipotle powder (spicy! sub 1/4 tsp smoked paprika if you don’t want it spicy)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
Sauce:
- 1 large avocado, diced (more firm)
- 1/2 cup roasted, salted pistachios
- 1/2 cup packed cilantro
- a small bundle of chives (.5 oz, a full package)
- juice and zest of one lemon
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (more to taste)
Instructions
- Prep the Chicken: Trim the fat from the chicken thighs, if you want. Then toss the chicken with the spices and olive oil. You want them to be nicely coated with the spices.
- Cook Chicken: Heat the olive oil in a skillet or grill pan (affiliate link) over medium high heat. Grill or saute the chicken, flipping once, until nice and browned on both sides with an internal temperature of 165 degrees. (See notes for alternate cooking methods.)
- Make the Sauce: While the chicken is cooking, use a mini-chopper (affiliate link) or food processor to pulse the pistachios, cilantro, and chives until finely chopped.
- Finish Sauce: Add to a bowl with the avocado chunks, lemon juice and zest, olive oil, and salt. Stir it up – it’ll be thick, chunky, and a little bit irresistible.
- Serve: Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces (makes it easier to build a bowl and eat)! Season with salt. Top with spoonfuls of the chunky pistachio sauce. I love this with rice and a salad. The flavors!! So good.
Notes
Boneless skinless chicken breasts will also work in this recipe!
If you don’t have chipotle powder, mince or smash a single chipotle pepper from a can and throw it in with the chicken and taco seasoning instead! Or, 2-3 teaspoons of the adobo sauce from the can is also great!
This is the grill pan I use! (affiliate link) You can also grill the chicken, or air fry it for 10-12 minutes at 375 degrees.
The salt level for the chicken will be dependent on your taco seasoning, since they all have a different level of saltiness. I would suggest waiting until after cooking the chicken to season with salt! However, if your taco seasoning doesn’t have any salt, you could add 1/2 teaspoon to 1 teaspoon in step 1 along with the dry spices.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Mexican-Inspired
Keywords: chipotle chicken, chicken bowls, avocado, pistachio, burrito bowl
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! Works just fine.
Yes, I think this would be great with salmon or even shrimp! For shrimp, probably use less spices overall (less surface area) – just enough to coat.
I feel like toasted pine nuts would be good. Even finely crushed almonds could be a good sub!
You can grill the chicken on an actual grill, sear/sauté it in a hot pan, or air fry it for 10-12 minutes at 375 degrees. If you do want to get a grill pan, this is the one I use! (affiliate link)
You can basically take any veggie and just throw it into the grill pan for a minute after the chicken! Or make air fryer broccoli, or simple green salad, or a bagged salad.
This was fine. I wouldn’t make it again.
WOW-E! 15/10! Easy easy easy! Yummy yummy yummy! Great dairy free meal with no pans required if you grill. No marinade to allot time for, pantry seasonings only. Served with a fresh, bright chunky goodness filled with fiber from avocados and nuts. Could not stop eating it!
Yet another 5 star recipe! I also love the protein direction you’re going in. This was so good and so quick.
the sauce is soo good. I made mine creamy and am looking forward to eating the leftover sauce tomorrow on something- was missing chives and doubled it.
seasoning on the chicken was amazing and works well with the sauce. served over ramen noodles. thanks for another outstanding recipe.
This was so good! It was super flavorful and took no time to make.
I’d say less than 15 minutes meal
Prepping it. So so good! Will be on repeat for us!
I also just baked the chicken and it was great!
You are my go to recipe gal and you have NEVER missed!!!! This was so good, I made the bang bang salmon last night too. Thank you for all your work to make dinner less boring!
Hello your chipotle chicken with chunky pistacihio sauce looks amazing!
Do you pan fry the pistachios or if in oven for how long and what temp please.
Do you chop the cilantro?
Thank you!!
Hi! We just toast them in the oven at 350 degrees F until their are just starting to release their smell, about 5 minutes. The cilantro gets chopped in the food processor.
This was so easy and delicious! Immediately Pinned for future meals.
I needed a quick & balanced lunch. I had red chile tacos chicken leftover so I used that bit this chunky sauce sounds SO incredibly strange but it works!! And so good!
Wow! This was so flavorful for being so easy!! The avocado and pistachio sauce really took it to another level! This was my first POY recipe and I can’t wait to try more!!
This Chipotle Chicken with Chunky Pistachio Sauce looks incredible! I’ve cooked spicy chicken dishes before, and adding a pistachio sauce is such a clever way to balance heat with creaminess and texture. A little tip — to really bring out the flavors, toast the pistachios lightly before blending.
This looks great! How does the sauce keep for leftovers?
Since it has avocado, it will last about another day after it’s made.
The sauce. So good.
I’ve made this at least three times since you published it, including for a large group of kids and adults, and everyone loves it. I’ve been serving with roast new potatoes. My daughter who doesn’t normally like grilled chicken says it’s her favorite chicken ever!
Glad it’s been a hit!
Oh. My. Goodness. This was so delicious and so fast! That sauce is a revelation.
Everything about this was so good. I had never used the Siete seasoning before, and it’s worth the higher price point for a taco mix. So good. But the real stand out was the pistachio avocado salsa. I never would have thought to use pistachios in something like this, and my partner and I both agreed it was amazing. This was a quick, easy, and super tasty recipe – definitely will be making it again soon!
The sauce was definitely the highlight of the dish! Loved it
We loved this!
This recipe was absolutely delicious, my whole family loved it!
This was delicious, the perfect easy summer meal. I sous vided chicken breasts and mixed the sauce with that and rice and it was delightful!! I will be remaking this constantly.
Sous vide, very nice!
I made this last night. It was delicious! Definately a keeper 🙂
Thanks for making the recipe, Lisa!
I don’t own a grill pan and I used breasts instead of thighs because I had them on hand. I really didn’t know what to make of the green sauce but it was sooo good! Everyone liked the meal and it was easy to adapt for my picky eater. Will definitely make this again.
This was delicious!!! I didn’t have chives so I used green onions. And we didn’t have a taco seasoning packet so we through together our own. So we went a tiny bit rogue but WOW. Super easy, and sooooo so so good. Will have this over and over again
Love that you used what you had!
Amazingly delicious!
What nuts would you suggest to substitute ? Pine ?
Toasted pine nuts or toasted cashews would work!