I had glorious fun partnering with TVNZ1 & Masterchef Australia – I mean it’s the dream, to work with delicious  recipes created by some of the best chef’s in the world – in my tiny kitchen – yes please!!! And best of all I get to share them with you.

Posted November 2, 2016, Updated December 24, 2025

What I love about this series is that they are all home cooks with a passion for delicious food made to look glorious. Sure many of the recipes I could never recreate even if you gave me 48 hours to do it, but some of them you think you know what, I could do that!

Which is what I love about having Nigella Lawson on recently. She really has mastered the art of creating glorious food but making it simple and achievable for the average cook. So it was with some excitement I was secretly given the recipe for this glorious Tequila and Lime chicken which appears on the Masterclass in Episode 20!!

I was able to channel my inner chef and see if I can pull this off – and once I sourced all the ingredients I was in heaven. This recipe would be the perfect romantic meal or an excuse to invite your friends over, or just a random Saturday night! In the end the techniques were really easy, getting things ready, baking and serving…..and then savour the glorious flavours!

Sometimes you see a recipe, like this one and think it is a bit beyond you, but when you break it down its really just a matter of following the steps and realising its really quite simple, I hope you find that with this one too.

Also make the recipe your own – for us personally we would not normally choose the chilli ginger garlic sauce but then again it smells and tastes stunning so sometimes it pays to try things and see. Or if you really know you will not enjoy that substitute it for something else. We are not huge chilli fans so I limited this in my version but if you are then go for it!

Definitely the most ‘interesting’ part of sourcing the ingredients for this recipe was the Tequila, it is not something we have in the cupboard so off to the liquor store I went. I only needed a small amount and luckily enough for me the tiny bottle was also the one with the Tequila Worm!!!!! Oh imagine my joy dealing with that little fella, I managed to sieve out the worm and dispose of him entirely with my eyes closed, oh the things we do for the love of cooking.

I have also never used Coconut Yoghurt before so was excited to use this and I was delighted with the taste and texture, especially as it was combined with my favourite herb coriander, baked potatoes are so easy too!

The recipe has been wonderfully laid out step by step, be sure to marinate the chicken at least an hour before, if not overnight. It makes the most gloriously tender chicken so it is worth the extra time to prepare.

So here is the recipe for Nigella’s Tequila & Lime Chicken, feel free as always to ask any questions here or over on Facebook if you get stuck.

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Nigella's Tequila & Lime Chicken

Yield: 4

Prep Time: 45 minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes

Inactive Time: 40 minutes

Total Time: 2 hours 15 minutes

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Ingredients

Baked Potato

• 4 brush potatoes, washed (I used Agria)
• 200g coconut yoghurt, to serve
• ½ cup chopped coriander leaves
• salt, to season

Tequila and Lime Chicken

• 1 whole chicken de-jointed or 4 chicken thighs bone in, skin on and 4 chicken drumsticks with skin on
• 75ml tequila blanco
• zest and juice of 2 limes
• ¼ tsp chilli flakes, plus more for garnish
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tsp salt flakes

Chilli Ginger Garlic sauce

• 100g red chillies, roughly chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 10cm piece (50g) ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 tsp fine sea salt, or to taste
• 4 tsp sunflower oil
• 2 tsp sugar
• juice of 1 lime

Garnish

• 1 avocado, mashed
• leaves of 1 cos lettuce, torn
• finely chopped coriander leaves
• lime wedges

Instructions

1. For the Tequila and Lime Chicken, place chicken pieces into a large zip lock bag. Add remaining ingredients and seal bag, pushing out air first. Place onto a tray and into the fridge for 45 minutes. Note: If time permits, leave chicken bag in the fridge to marinate overnight to maximise flavour.
2. Preheat oven to 220C.
3. Place potatoes onto a baking tray lined with baking paper. Pierce several holes into each potato using a skewer. Season with salt and pepper and bake in the oven until soft, about 45 minutes.
4. Once chicken has marinated, remove chicken pieces from the bag, reserving marinating liquid in the bag. Place chicken pieces onto a shallow baking tray with sides and place into the oven for 25 minutes. Pour about half of the marinade over the chicken pieces.
5. Meanwhile, mix coconut yoghurt and chopped coriander together in a bowl until combined. Season with salt, to taste, cover with cling film and set aside in the fridge.
6. Remove chicken from oven and pour the remaining marinade over the chicken pieces. Continue to bake until golden brown, about 25-30 minutes.
7. Meanwhile, for the Chilli, Ginger and Garlic sauce, place all ingredients into a bowl and blitz to a puree with a stick blender. Set aside to rest for at least 15 minutes before serving.
8. Check that chicken is cooked through and remove from oven. Remove chicken pieces from the baking tray and set aside, keeping warm. Add some boiling water to the baking dish to loosen the pan juices and stir to create a slightly thick sauce. Set aside until required.
9. To serve, place some torn cos lettuce leaves and a dollop of mashed avocado on the plate. Place two Tequila and Lime Chicken pieces onto a plate and sprinkle with chilli flakes. Place a Baked Potato onto the plate, slice potato open and fill with some of the coriander coconut yoghurt dressing. Dollop some of the Chilli Ginger and Garlic sauce to the side. Drizzle some of the reserved pan juices over the chicken and sprinkle with chopped coriander. Serve with a wedge of lime.
10. Enjoy!

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 4 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 652Total Fat: 35gSaturated Fat: 16gUnsaturated Fat: 19gCholesterol: 29mgSodium: 1850mgCarbohydrates: 72gFiber: 12gSugar: 25gProtein: 13g

JustAMumNZ.com, occasionally offers nutritional information for recipes contained on this site. This information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators. Although justamumnz.com attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates.

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 I love how simple this recipe was, but I ended up with a glorious restaurant quality meal that I could hardly believe I had made! Whenever you are preparing a meal like this do read the instructions from top to bottom so that you know what you will be doing before you start out. I have altered the order in the method to reflect what you need to do in each step, so marinating well ahead of time is a great idea.

I hope you enjoy this recipe and find a time soon to try it yourselves.

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Happy Baking!

Anna