Easy Chicken Fajitas

These easy chicken fajitas with moist and tender chicken and sauteed vegetables make a great weeknight dinner in about 30 minutes. Cook your favorite Mexican at home today.

Introduction

We all love chicken fajitas, and now you can easily make this classic Mexican recipe at home from scratch. And yours will be better than the restaurants. Just follow the simple step-by-step photo instructions. Only a little work and almost no skill, and you have a new house favorite.

The "secret" to this recipe is the marinade. Using a liquid that will penetrate slices of chicken instead of dry spices on a whole chicken breast, you get outstanding flavor quickly.

👨‍🍳How to make this recipe

1. Mix marinade in a 1-gallon zip lock of lime juice, water, olive oil, kosher salt, liquid smoke (optional), cayenne pepper, black pepper, soy sauce, and crushed garlic.
2. Clean and trim about 1 ½ pounds of skinless boneless chicken breasts. Cut the chicken into strips about ½ inch thick.
3. Add the chicken to the marinade while preparing vegetables. A quick marinade will do, but it can be done overnight.
4. Slice onion and one or two bell peppers.
5. Heat oil in a large cast-iron pan over medium-high heat.
6. Mix 1 tablespoon water, 1 teaspoon lime juice, and 1 teaspoon soy sauce in a small bowl.
7. When the oil is hot, add the veggies, and after a few minutes, add the water, soy sauce, and lime mixture. When onions are clearing and starting to brown (about 8-9 minutes), remove from pan, set aside, and cover.
8. Add a little oil to the pan. When hot, add the drained chicken and brown. Near the end of cooking, break apart the chicken with a wooden spoon into bite-size pieces. Check a few larger pieces with an instant-read thermometer to be sure you are at least 165°.
9. When the chicken is done, move the meat to one side and add the veggies to the pan. Cook and stir for a minute or two until the veggies are reheated.
10. Serve in the hot skillet with heated tortillas, sour cream, guacamole, and anything else you like. An easy way to heat tortillas is to sprinkle a dish towel with some water, put the tortillas inside, and heat them in a microwave.

🐓The Chicken

Fresh chicken is preferred here. Use skinless boneless breasts or thighs. I don't recommend pre-cooked shredded chicken like rotisserie chicken.

I cut the chicken into strips and then broke them up during cooking. This gives a little of that shredded texture while still having chunks. Cut them into small cubes if you want, but I think the little cubes look like dog food—but they will cook and taste great.

🥣Homemade Marinade

The key to why this recipe is so good is the marinade. Most home recipes are some dry spice mix from the store. It is just not acceptable after you try this.

By slicing the chicken before seasoning, we are opening up a lot more surface area for the liquid to penetrate instead of dry seasoning on the surface of a whole chicken breast.

The marinade will work reasonably quickly. So if the chicken goes in at the beginning, by the time you have prepped and cooked the onion and peppers, it will be excellent.

Like many marinades, longer is better. So 2 hours will get every bit of flavor, and you can leave it longer, like overnight, if that works better for your timing.

The ingredients of the marinade are pretty standard outside of the liquid smoke. Skip it if you want, but it adds a nice touch of smoke. If you do use it, it must be of good quality.

❓FAQs

📖Chicken Fajita Recipes

Easy Sheet Pan Chicken Fajitas

Crockpot Chicken Fajitas

Grilled Chicken Fajitas in 30 Minutes

Chicken Quesadillas

This recipe is listed in these categories. See them for more similar recipes.

🖼️Step-by-Step Photo Instructions

Start by mixing a marinade in a 1-gallon zip lock. 2 tablespoon lime juice, 4 tablespoon water, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, ¼ teaspoon liquid smoke (optional), ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper, 1/ 4 teaspoon pepper, 1 teaspoon soy sauce, 1-2 cloves of garlic crushed.

Clean and trim about 1 ½ pounds of skinless boneless chicken breasts. This is about 2 medium-large ones. Don't worry if you're a little over or under that amount. Cut the chicken into strips about ½ inch thick.

Add to the marinade for about 15 minutes, but refrigerated for 2 hours is a bit better. Overnight is fine, also.

Put 1 teaspoon oil in a large cast-iron pan and heat over medium-high heat. While heating, slice up a large onion and one or two peppers. I like medium red and green pepper. If your pepper is large, you only need one. Mix 1 tablespoon water, 1 teaspoon lime juice, and 1 teaspoon soy sauce in a small bowl.

When the oil is hot, add the veggies, and after a few minutes, add the water, soy sauce, and lime mixture. When onions are clearing and starting to brown (about 8-9 minutes), remove from pan and set aside and cover.

Add a little oil to the pan. When hot, add the drained chicken and brown. Near the end of cooking, break apart the chicken with a wooden spoon. This will make much smaller pieces and prove the meat is cooked. About 8-9 minutes. Please check a few of the large pieces with an instant-read thermometer to be sure you are to 165°.

When the chicken is done, move the meat to one side and add the veggies back to the pan. Cook and stir for a minute or two until veggies are reheated.

Serve hot in the skillet with heated tortillas, sour cream, guacamole, and anything else you like. An easy way to heat tortillas is to sprinkle a dish towel with some water, put the tortillas inside, and heat them in a microwave.

📝Recipe

Originally Published May 3, 2012. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.