Chicken Fajitas is a Tex-Mex recipe made with stripped chicken, peppers, and onions and served with a tortilla. You can substitute any meat such as beef, pork as well as vegetables in place of meat.
These chicken fajitas are quick and easy to make in a cast iron skillet. Make sure the chicken gets marinated in the spice mixture well before cooking.
Chicken Fajitas
Ingredients
Chicken Fajitas
- 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1 onion thinly sliced
- 3 bell peppers thinly sliced
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- ½ lime
Fajita Seasoning
- ½ tbsp chili powder
- ½ tbsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp paprika
- ½ tsp oregano
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp pepper
For Serving
- tortillas
- sour cream
- pico de gallo
- avocado
Instructions
Fajita Seasoning
- Add the fajitas seasoning ingredients to a small mixing bowl and stir together.
Chicken Fajitas
- Generously sprinkle the fajita seasoning on both sides of the chicken and use your fingers to press it into the chicken.
- Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Sear the chicken breasts for about 7-8 minutes on each side.
- While your chicken is cooking, cut the bell peppers and onion into thin slices.
- Once the chicken has finished cooking, remove it to a plate and let it rest for a couple of minutes. Add the bell peppers and onion to the same skillet over medium heat and saute for 4-5 minutes, stirring frequently.
- When the bell peppers are just about done sauteing, slice the chicken breasts into strips.
- Add the chicken back into the skillet, add a squeeze of fresh lime juice and stir everything together.
For Serving
- Serve immediately with tortillas and extra toppings such as sour cream, pico de gallo and guacamole.
Nutrition
History of Fajitas
In exploring the history of fajitas, several credible stories emerge, and all of them have roots in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. It first appeared in the 1930s in the ranchlands of South and West Texas. During cattle roundups, beef was butchered regularly to feed the hands. Throwaway items such as the hide, the head, the entrails, and meat trimmings such as skirt were given to the Mexican vaqueros (cowboys) as part of their pay.
Considering the limited number of skirts per carcass and the fact the meat wasn’t available commercially, the fajita tradition remained regional and relatively obscure for many years, probably only familiar to vaqueros, butchers, and their families.
Fajitas appear to have made the quantum leap from campfire and backyard grill obscurity to commercial sales in 1969. Sonny Falcon, an Austin meat market manager, operated the first commercial fajita taco concession stand at a rural Diez Y Seis celebration in tiny Kyle in September of 1969. That same year, fajitas debuted on the menu at Otilia Garza’s Round-Up Restaurant in the Rio Grande Valley community of Pharr, according to Texas Monthly contributing editor John Morthland in a 1993 magazine story.
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