Ingredients
Method
1. Prepare the Cilantro Lime Chicken
- Combine the lime juice, water, soy sauce, crushed red pepper, cumin, honey, and fresh cilantro.
- Season the chicken breast with baking powder, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, and a little avocado oil.
- Add the cilantro lime mixture and coat the chicken really well.
- You want all that lime, cilantro, honey, garlic, and spice getting into the chicken because that's where most of our flavor is coming from.
2. Air Fry the Chicken Breast
- Place the chicken breast into your air fryer and cook until browned on the outside and the thickest part reaches an internal temperature of 165°F.
- Mine takes approximately 16 minutes, but chicken breasts aren't exactly known for coming in identical sizes, so go by internal temperature rather than blindly trusting the clock.
- Once it's cooked, let the chicken rest for a few minutes before slicing.
3. Make the Cucumber Cabbage Slaw
- Grab your mandoline and thinly slice the cucumber, green cabbage, and jalapeño.
- Put everything into a container and add honey, Himalayan salt, Sriracha, a splash of juice from your favorite pickles, garlic salt, and plenty of fresh lime zest.
- Put the lid on.
- Now shake the hell out of it.
- That's pretty much it.
- Let it sit while you finish the rest of the sandwich. You'll end up with this cold, crunchy, sweet, spicy and acidic slaw that works ridiculously well with the warm chicken.
4. Make the Creamy Herb Sauce
- Combine sour cream, light mayonnaise, freshly chopped parsley, garlic powder, fresh lemon juice, salt, and black pepper.
- Mix until smooth and creamy.
- I like mine thin enough that I can transfer it into a squeeze bottle.
- Does putting sauce into a squeeze bottle make it taste better?
- Probably not.
- Does it make assembling the sandwich more fun?
- Absolutely.
5. Assemble the Sandwich
- Slice open your ciabatta baguette.
- Spread a mixture of sour cream and light mayonnaise over the bottom piece of bread.
- Add your sliced cilantro lime chicken breast.
- Pile the cucumber cabbage slaw over the chicken.
- Grab that squeeze bottle and drizzle the creamy herb sauce all over the top.
- Finish with freshly chopped parsley and add the top piece of ciabatta.
- That's it.
- Now try fitting the thing in your mouth.
Notes
Donaldo's Tips: Use a mandoline for the slaw. You want the cucumber, cabbage, and jalapeño really thin. It gives you that perfect crunchy bite without having giant chunks of vegetables falling out of the sandwich.
Donaldo's Tips: Don't skip the pickle juice. That little splash adds acidity, salt, and a ton of flavor without needing another complicated ingredient. Use the juice from whatever your favorite pickles happen to be.
Donaldo's Tips: Let the chicken rest. Give it a few minutes after it comes out of the air fryer before slicing it. Cut into it immediately and you're going to watch all those juices end up on your cutting board instead of in your chicken.
Donaldo's Tips: Adjust the heat however you want. Between the jalapeño, Sriracha, and crushed red pepper, this sandwich can definitely have some kick. Use less if you're not a big spice person. Or add more if you enjoy making yourself suffer.
Donaldo's Tips: Make extra slaw. Trust me. It's good enough to eat straight out of the container and works as a side for pretty much anything you're throwing on the grill or into the air fryer.
Donaldo's Tips: Toast the ciabatta if you want extra crunch. A quick toast makes the bread even better and helps keep it from getting soggy once all those sauces and slaw go on.
Ingredient Substitutions: No ciabatta? Use a brioche bun, sandwich roll, or whatever bread you have around.
Ingredient Substitutions: You can swap the chicken breast for chicken thighs if you want something a little richer and juicier, although that will change the calories and protein.
Ingredient Substitutions: If cilantro tastes like soap to you — apparently that's a real problem some of you have — fresh parsley works too. It obviously won't have quite the same cilantro-lime flavor, but you'll survive.
Ingredient Substitutions: And if you want to bring the calories down even further, use more sour cream and less mayo in the herb sauce or go with a low-fat sour cream.
Donaldo's Tips: Don't skip the pickle juice. That little splash adds acidity, salt, and a ton of flavor without needing another complicated ingredient. Use the juice from whatever your favorite pickles happen to be.
Donaldo's Tips: Let the chicken rest. Give it a few minutes after it comes out of the air fryer before slicing it. Cut into it immediately and you're going to watch all those juices end up on your cutting board instead of in your chicken.
Donaldo's Tips: Adjust the heat however you want. Between the jalapeño, Sriracha, and crushed red pepper, this sandwich can definitely have some kick. Use less if you're not a big spice person. Or add more if you enjoy making yourself suffer.
Donaldo's Tips: Make extra slaw. Trust me. It's good enough to eat straight out of the container and works as a side for pretty much anything you're throwing on the grill or into the air fryer.
Donaldo's Tips: Toast the ciabatta if you want extra crunch. A quick toast makes the bread even better and helps keep it from getting soggy once all those sauces and slaw go on.
Ingredient Substitutions: No ciabatta? Use a brioche bun, sandwich roll, or whatever bread you have around.
Ingredient Substitutions: You can swap the chicken breast for chicken thighs if you want something a little richer and juicier, although that will change the calories and protein.
Ingredient Substitutions: If cilantro tastes like soap to you — apparently that's a real problem some of you have — fresh parsley works too. It obviously won't have quite the same cilantro-lime flavor, but you'll survive.
Ingredient Substitutions: And if you want to bring the calories down even further, use more sour cream and less mayo in the herb sauce or go with a low-fat sour cream.