Chicken Fajitas
Chicken fajitas is a popular meal in our household. It is super quick, delicious, and full of nutrients. Even my picky eaters love this dish. Strips of chicken stir-fried with the traditional Mexican seasonings, green and red peppers, onions, and garlic. You can serve it over rice or in a tortilla with some salsa and avocado slices. Yum!
Equipment
- Chopping board
- Large plate
- Large skillet
- Wooden Spoon
- Large sharp knife
- Measuring scale
- Medium bowl
- Cling wrap
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds chicken breasts
or 4 chicken breasts
- 1 large onion juliened
- 1 large red pepper julienned
- 1 large green pepper julienned
- Gluten free tortilla bread or my Flat Rice Bread
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt or to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 6 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 Jalopinio fresh or pickled, thiny sliced
- fresh cilantro for garnish
Instructions
- You don’t have to measure your chicken on the scale, but if you do, the seasoning will always be perfect, and you will not have to change a thing. So I advise you to measure your chicken before you begin any of the next steps.
- After you have measured your chicken, thinly slice your it into about an eighth or a quarter-inch thick strips. They should be about 2 inches long. It is ok if they are not exactly those measurements. Believe me, when I say, I don’t get my ruler out when I do this step.
- Place the chicken in a medium bowl. Add the lemon juice, chili powder, cumin, dried oregano, 1 teaspoon salt, paprika, black pepper, ½ a tablespoon minced garlic, and 2 tablespoons olive oil. Using a spoon, mix all the ingredients together along with the chicken strips until everything is well combined and everything is well coated. Cover the chicken using a plastic wrap, and let it sit, or marinate for 20 minutes. You can also do this step the night before and allow your chicken to marinate overnight. This will definitely enhance the flavor.
- Place your large skillet on high heat. Add 2 tablespoons of the olive oil to the pan, and preheat a little until the oil is glistening, NOT smoking. Add the onions, ½ a tablespoon minced garlic, green pepper, red pepper, and salt. Stir Fry the vegetables until slightly softened. You don’t want them to be mushy otherwise it wouldn’t be chicken fajitas, or at least not in my book.
- Remove the pan from heat, and transfer the vegetables onto a clean plate.
- After the chicken has finished marinating, add 2 tablespoons olive oil to the skillet, and preheat on high heat until the oil is glistening. Add the marinated chicken strips with all the juices, and stir fry until the chicken is no longer pink on the inside. 5 to 10 minutes.
- Once the chicken is fully cooked, add the cooked vegetables, and sliced jalopeno to it, and stir fry everything together for 1 to 2 more minutes.
- Remove from heat and transfer onto a serving platter.
- Serve with Tortilla bread or my Flat Rice Bread which I personally prefer and believe it to be better with this dish than any chemically produced tortilla bread. Is it just me, or do all store bought tortilla bread taste as if they are loaded with chemicals? You could also serve this with some salsa and sour cream if you would like. I like it just the way it is unless I make my homemade salsa or Pico de Gallo. You could also serve it with warm jasmine rice, which is definitely awesome as well.
Video
Notes
If you would like to freeze this dish, you could do so before cooking it. What I do is I put my vegetable mixture (without the salt because it will take all the water out of it. You can add that when you are cooking it.) in one freezer bag, my marinated chicken in another freezer bag, and put both bags in just one extra freezer bag and write the instructions on it. This way when it is time to cook it, you could take your marinated chicken out of the freezer and thaw it the night before while keeping your vegetables in the freezer and pulling them out only when it is time to cook. This method will ensure that your vegetables will not turn out soggy, and you will not end up with too much liquid in your chicken fajitas.
If somehow you do end up with too much liquid in your chicken fajitas, which can happen (raising my hand here because that happened to me a few times), you could add a little corn starch to thicken it. Add 1 teaspoon at a time this way it will not end up way too thick. And by the way, this will be awesome on rice!
If you have little ones who don’t particularly like spicy food, you can omit the jalapeno.