Drizzle this irresistible, seed oil free, clean ingredient chipotle lime sauce over your favorite dinner bowls, salads, sandwiches and more!
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A much needed family break…and a new foodie obsession!
We took our annual Spring Break family trip to a much warmer place than were we live a couple weeks ago. It was just what the doctor ordered for a quick, sunny break to fuel us to the school year finish line! I used some fun and yummy clean ingredient sauces that I found for quick grilled chicken or burger dinner bowls while we were there, and the girls became obsessed with one in particular that had a chipotle lime flavor profile. We just had to make it at home!
If you can buy a clean ingredient sauce, why make it?
Because with a family of 5, including 2 teenagers, that bottle of sauce was gone in a couple of dinners! And as wonderful as finding clean ingredient sauces is, they can become a real budget buster if you aren’t careful! The sauce seemed easy enough to make, too. Sometimes it isn’t worth the headache if it is a time consuming process, but this sauce is an easy 5 minute mix up in the bowl!
What if my kids don’t like spicy heat?
Well, that is the other beauty in making your own sauce! My youngest didn’t particularly love the heat level in the store bought sauce. So, in making our own, I scooped a bit out for her to have with less of the chipotle powder, and she loved it! In fact I have played around with the other ingredients enough to make it virtually heat-free if you have kids that will be more inclined to try it that way! Those notes are in the recipe card!
What do you mean by “clean ingredient”?
I’m talking real food ingredients and no seed oils. Many store-bought versions of these kind of sauces will have seed oils, loads of sugar, and other preservatives. The clean ingredient store bought version was, of course fantastic! But in looking for jars of chipotles in adobo sauce to make my own sauce, I kept running into the same problem – the peppers were packed in inflammatory seed oils! It is so frustrating! I did find a couple here and there, but they were pricey, and I ended up deciding to make it with chipotle powder instead. The result is just as delicious! And quite frankly, way more convenient and fast to make since there was no blending needed.
Fast & Filling Dinner Bowls with Chipotle Lime Sauce!
Because April and May at the end of the school year is all about just making it to the school year finish line, yes?! And dinner bowls are where it’s AT when it comes to fast and filling dinners that count. If you can have the rice already made up in double batches for your week, then all you need to do is grill the protein and roast whatever veggies you have in the bin and you’re set to build a bowl! The chipotle lime sauce can also be made ahead, and kept in a squeeze bottle for drizzling in the fridge. My crew has been loving taking this meal to school for lunch too!
The Method :: Making the Chipotle Lime Sauce
When I say a 5 minute sauce, I mean this sauce needs no fancy equipment or blending. It is just as fast as it gets. You can double and triple if you think you’ll need more too! Just mix the simple ingredients in a bowl. That’s it! Your sauce will last in the refrigerator as long as your yogurt date is good on the container, so just keep that in mind. I’m actually thinking this sauce could freeze in Souper Cubes well too if you have an abundance of yogurt. Be sure to catch the “Notes” section in the recipe card for my tips on heat levels and tailoring the sauce to kids that don’t like spicy heat!
So, let’s make the Chipotle Lime Sauce first, and then I’ll show you how to make the dinner bowls!
Clean Ingredient Chipotle Lime Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 cup full fat coconut yogurt, goat's milk yogurt, regular yogurt, Greek yogurt, or sour cream
- Zest and juice of 1 lime
- 1 tbsp raw honey
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 – 1/2 tsp chipotle chili powder depending on heat preference (see Notes for more on this!)
- 1/2 tsp smoked or sweet paprika
- 1/4 tsp cumin
Instructions
- Mix everything up in a bowl – that's it!
Notes
- If your kids are super turned off by spicier heat, you can leave out the chipotle, or just use a small pinch, and then bump up the cumin and smoked paprika. This will give the smokey flavor without the spicy heat that will leave their mouth feeling spicy. I still do this for my youngest! Just scoop out a little before you add the chipotle powder and make theirs with no chipotle! My husband, oldest, and I really enjoy the heat, and there is no reason to skip out on that if you don’t have to! Just split up the sauce so you can enjoy it too!
The Method :: The Marinade for the Chicken
If you want to try out how we have been using this incredible sauce, try my grilled chipotle lime chicken dinner bowls! Just whisk the chicken marinade ingredients into a container with a lid and let the chicken marinade for a good half hour. Alternatively, you can get the chicken into the marinade first thing in the morning before you head out for work and school and it will be ready to cook as soon as you get home.
Let’s talk about the veggies for the Chipotle Lime Sauce dinner bowls!
Dinner bowls or rice bowls make the best vehicle for getting veggies into kids. Hear me out! Salads are fine, and fermented veggies are a good thing to get kids into as well, but roasted veggies actually TASTE good! Roasting mixed veggies like this has been one of my tips for getting new veggies into my kids. When you mix veggies together, making sure there are 1-2 “sweet” veggies in the mix, that is where the magic happens. Sweet potatoes, squashes, carrots, and even cabbage & onions get super sweet and caramelly when you roast them the right way. And a spoon full of that with other veggies has the best flavor profile. I gave you a list of veggies we love with these bowls in the recipe card, but feel free to change it up to what you have on hand in the veggie bin that week!
The Method :: Making the Roasted Veggies for the Dinner Bowls
You could potentially chop those veggies on a prep day so they are easy to dump onto a sheet pan a roast when you are ready. Simply toss the veggies on the sheet pan with olive oil, salt, and pepper and roast.
The Method :: Grilling/Pan-Searing the Chicken for the Chipotle Lime Sauce Dinner Bowls
I like to use my cast iron grill pan to grill the chicken for these dinner bowls. Pan-searing in ghee or butter works just fine too! If it is summer, fire up the grill outside! The chicken can go from marinade directly to the hot pan or grill and cook until it’s done. I like to start cooking the chicken when the veggies have around 10 minutes left to roast since the chicken doesn’t take that long to grill.
Let’s talk about the rice!
I like to use meat stock or bone broth to cook the rice for most of our dinner bowls. I cook a whole chicken in the Instant Pot most weekends and have the meat stock left behind to cook in, so that works. It really boosts the nutrient profile for the rice, and is a great way to get this ancient food into kids if they don’t like soup much. If you don’t have broth or stock on hand, use a store bought bone broth, or just cook the rice in water, and season with salt, pepper, (and maybe a pat or 2 of butter!).
The Method :: Assembling the Grilled Chicken Bowls with the Chipotle Lime Sauce!
Once your veggies have roasted, and the chicken is grilled, it is time to assemble your dinner bowls! Pile high the cooked rice if you’re using the rice, then veggies, and a piece or 2 of the chicken. Drizzle your chipotle lime sauce and dig in!
Chipotle Lime Chicken Dinner Bowls
Ingredients
For the Chipotle Lime Chicken Marinade
- Zest & Juice of 1 lime
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp raw honey
- 1 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1/4 – 1/2 tsp chipotle chili powder depending on heat prefrence
- 1/2 tsp smoked or sweet paprika
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
For the Chipotle Lime Chicken Dinner Bowls
- 3-4 chicken breasts fileted lengthwise
- 1 recipe of marinade above
- 1 large onion halved, and sliced into strips
- 1 large sweet potato 1/2 inch cube (I don't peel mine but you can)
- 1/4 head of cabbage sliced thin
- 6 cups broccoli florets
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp sea salt to taste for the veggies
- 1/2 tsp pepper to taste for the veggies
- Servings of cooked rice for the bowls I like to cook long grain white rice in meat stock or bone broth for this part!
- 1 recipe of the Chipotle Lime Sauce from above optional for drizzling and/or dipping
Instructions
Marinade the Chicken for 30 minutes or up to 6 hours
- Whisk the chipotle lime chicken marinade ingredients in a container that has a lid, or add to a freezer bag. Add the chicken to the marinade mixture, flipping the chicken around to ensure both sides get covered. Add the lid, or close the zip top bag, and marinade for 30 minutes or up to 6-8 hours. This could easily be done before you head to work so that it is ready to go when you get home!
Prepare and roast the veggies
- Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees. Alternatively, you could use the air fry setting on your oven if you have one, which is what I like to use!
- Add all of the onion, sweet potato, cabbage, and broccoli to a large sheet pan. Drizzle the olive oil, and sprinkle the salt and pepper. Stir everything around on the pan so the veggies are evenly coated.
- Roast the veggies in a 425 degree oven for 40-45 minutes, stirring halfway through, until the veggies are slightly caramelized and soft. If you are using the air fry setting on your stove, you will only need about 30 minutes.
Grill or pan sear the chicken
- The chicken will only need about 10 minutes or so to cook, so you can figure starting this when the veggies have about 10 minutes left to roast.
- Use some ghee, butter, tallow, or olive oil to coat your grill pan or skillet over medium high heat. Take the chicken directly out of the marinade to the grill pan or skillet, and cook the chicken until it is no longer pink in the middle. You want to take the chicken off the grill pan before it registers 165 degrees so that it doesn't dry out. It will continue to rise a good 5 degrees while it is resting!
Assemble the Chipotle Lime Dinner Bowls
- Pile the cooked rice, then the roasted veggies into the bowl. Place a piece or 2 of chicken on top, and then drizzle the chipotle lime cream sauce over.
Notes
- Let your kids figure out how they like to assemble their bowls. If the kids aren’t “food mixers” and like everything separate, that’s ok! They can still try the sauce in a dipping manner. And maybe take a bite from your bowl so they can at least try what it tastes like mixed up. One of my girls that has always been a kid that doesn’t like her food mixed or touching tried my bowl last week. I usually have her try mixed foods here and there – you just never know how flavors will taste when mixed is what I tell her! She actually decided this time that the mixing was pretty good and ended up mixing hers!
- These dinner bowls pack up for school SO nicely! You can warm everything up into a thermos and leave the sauce in a container on the side to add at lunchtime. Or, you can pack up the rice bowl cold, which is how my 2 teens actually like doing it often! For more tips on packing leftovers in thermoses for lunchboxes, see THIS post.
