Mexican chicken marinade is a quick, easy, and beautiful dinner the whole family will love! Packed with flavor and melty cheese, it's a perfect meal.

Close-up of cooked mexican chicken in a pan.

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Marinades make dinner so much simpler. With allowing you to meal prep the day before and simply toss everything together on the day of, you can have a fast and easy dinner with little mess to clean up!

This Mexican chicken marinade is no different. Prepping the chicken in the marinade as early as 24 hours in advance can give you delicious and flavorful chicken with hardly any effort.

Perfect for those busy school nights or when you just don’t want to spend 2 hours making a meal your kids will only eat a bite of before deciding that they are full and want to go back to playing. Who could blame you?

Chicken in the mexican chicken marinade in a zipper top bag.

Table of Contents

How to make this skillet Mexican chicken

In a zipper topped bag (or in a large bowl with cover) combine the marinade ingredients and raw chicken breasts for up to 24 hours in advance.
When it comes time to cook dinner, pull them out and heat a large skillet with canola oil on medium-high heat. You want it to start smoking.
Then take your chicken and place it down on the hot oiled skillet until browned on both sides, flipping as needed.
Once the chicken is brown, turn the heat down to medium-low and then add in tomato sauce and water. Let the chicken simmer until it finished cooking (internal temperature of 160 degrees).
When the chicken is fully cooked, lay some cheese on top and cover the pan until the cheese is nice and melted.

Cooked mexican chicken in the skillet with shredded cheese on top.

What to serve with this Mexican skillet chicken

While you may have had the main dish ready and on the table in just a few minutes, there still begs the question- what can you serve with it? Honestly, there is a number of different things that would go well with this dish.

This spicy/not-too-spicy dish would pair well with my delicious canned corn and bell pepper recipe! Giving a simple and quick vegetable to your plates that not only tastes great but also adds a nice splash of color.

Mexican chicken being pulled out of a pan with melted cheese stretching off of it.

Other excellent ideas include:

Refried beans
A simple salad
Warm flour tortillas (just in case you want to eat it like a soft taco)
Mexican rice or cilantro lime rice

With so many great dishes that pair well with this Mexican skillet chicken and marinade, you can have a full plate of impossible-to-choose options at the end of your fork!

Sliced mexican chicken on a cutting board topped with green onions and cilantro.

Looking for more great chicken recipes??

Far-away view of skillet mexican chicken with melted cheese on top with sour cream and cilantro.

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