Best Easy Chicken Fajitas
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Best Easy Chicken Fajitas recipe made with juicy chicken, tender peppers, and bold fajita seasoning. Ready in 30 minutes and perfect for busy weeknights!
If you love one-pan meals, then you’re also going to love my One Pan Skillet Honey Dijon Chicken, this One Pan Skillet Garlic Parmesan Chicken & Asparagus, and this One Pan Shrimp and Asparagus.
Why This Recipe Works
Easy weekday meal — Fajitas are the best are they not? What makes them even better is when they’re broken down into a quick, simple chicken fajitas recipe that’s great for making on those busy weeknights. This dish is all the best things about tacos, Mexican food, and fajitas and all put together in one pan like a magic dinner show.
Kid-approved — It’s also a great dish if you have any tiny humans running around in your house. It’s easy to pick out things they won’t eat (or easy for them to pick out and throw on the floor the things they don’t want). And for older kids, they enjoy putting together their own meal — filling up a tortilla with the peppers, chicken, and then of course all the fun toppings.
Quick — Making these best chicken fajitas is a breeze! The key is to have all your ingredients prepped and ready to go. Cut the veggies and chicken into tortilla-size pieces before you get started so it’s easy to just add to the pan, season, and cook!
Easy clean up — To clean up the dish from these quick and simple chicken fajitas, I recommend just soaking your pan for an hour (or even overnight) using some dish soap in the bottom of the pan. If you let it soak, any stuck-on pieces should just come right off.
Ingredients
Boneless skinless chicken breasts — Boneless, skinless are the best in this easy chicken fajitas recipe, as they are easy to cook, to cut into strips, and to store. You can also substitute chicken thighs if you prefer, again I’d go skinless, boneless.
Bell peppers — I like to use one of each color of pepper (red, yellow, green) because it looks pretty but you can use three of the same or whatever you have on hand.
Onion — Just like I like the color in the peppers, I also like to add a red onion to this recipe for chicken fajitas because it’s pretty to look at (who doesn’t eat with their eyes?) AND red onions taste really great in this recipe. But you can use a yellow, milder onion if you prefer.
Spices — For the spices for chicken fajitas, I use cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Any brand you have in your pantry should work just fine.
Tortillas — I like to use 8-inch flour tortillas, as I find these are the best size for holding all the yummy ingredients. But you can use smaller tortillas or corn if you prefer.
Lime juice — Fresh lime juice is best — it always tastes better in my opinion, but if you only have bottled, that will work too! It’s all about being easy with this recipe.
Toppings — I love love love love all the toppings on a taco or in a fajita — for my favorite suggestions, keep reading!
How to Make Chicken Fajitas
- First, slice the chicken, peppers, and onions into similar-sized strips to allow for more even cooking.
- Next, add oil to a large skillet (a dutch oven works too) set over medium heat. Add in the chicken and veggies after the oil heats up for about a minute or so.
- Measure out the spices over the top of the chicken and veggies and toss together until everything is coated thoroughly.
- Cook the meat and veggies for about 6-8 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and the vegetables are tender.
- I take the whole pan, ingredients and all, off the burner and drizzle the dish with lime juice before serving. I like to serve this dish hot — so I recommend you serve it right away with fresh tortillas and all the toppings you love!
FAQs
The following are my favorite toppings for chicken fajitas:
– Cheese (queso fresco, cheddar, and Monterey jack are all good with Mexican food)
– Salsa (for a great recipe, head to my Best Mexican Salsa Recipe for Canning.)
– Cilantro
– Black olives
– Sour cream (or use plain Greek yogurt if you’re cutting calories and fat)
– Hot sauce
– Crushed red pepper flakes
– Guacamole
– Pickled red onions
– Pickled jalapeño (or fresh if you’re daring)
– Beans (if you don’t want to serve beans on the side, I say pile ’em on as a topping!)
– Refried beans
– Shredded lettuce
– Rice (see: beans)
The 111th reason why I love fajitas, tacos, quesadillas, burritos, and basically anything that is build-your-own Mexican is because of the build-your-own part. I imagine there are about an infinite number of ways to put these babies together.
If you don’t like chicken, use thin slices of beef or pork, or use shrimp or a meaty fish. Want vegetarian fajitas? Use beans and rice as your base and load up with all your favorite veggies.
Speaking of veggies, I used peppers and onions here, but you could also add shredded cabbage, corn, avocado (uncooked), mushrooms, tomatoes, or jalapenos or really any vegetables you want — it’s your fajita and you should eat it how you want to.
I lay a tortilla on my plate, then use tongs to add on the chicken and vegetables so that I don’t grab so much of the sauce and make my tortilla too soggy.
Then, I layer on the toppings — I don’t think it matters which order you use to layer on. I tend to put the cheese on first so it gets good and melty but I know some people consider that a crime and prefer it to be on the top of the toppings.
Roll or fold up the tortilla and eat from one end to the other, any ingredients that fall onto your plate can be considered a “bonus” fajita at the end.
Expert Tips + Tricks
- Make it spicy by adding about 1 teaspoon chipotle chili powder OR 1-2 tablespoons chipotle adobo sauce (from a can of chipotles packed in adobo sauce) to the skillet with the spices.
- This flavorful chicken fajitas recipe also works well with chicken thighs. If you’re going to use chicken thighs, I recommend medium size, boneless. If you are using skin-on thighs, be sure to brown them in a skillet over medium-high heat first.
- Any leftovers will keep in the fridge for up to 5 days. You can also freeze it for up to 6 months (but warning — the veggies will be kind of slimy after thawing so you may want to make fresh when re-serving).
- Protein swap — you can easily swap out the chicken for shrimp or thinly sliced steak!
More Recipes to Try
- Sheet Pan Chili Lime Shrimp Fajitas – juicy, colorful, and impossible to resist!
- Meal Prep Chicken Fajitas – make healthy eating feel insanely delicious all week long!
- Steak Fajita Foil Packs – juicy fajita perfection with zero fuss!
When you make this recipe, snap a photo and tag me on social – I love connecting with you and seeing what you’re up to in the kitchen!
Best Easy Chicken Fajitas
Ingredients
- 2-3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 3 bell peppers, any color
- ½ medium onion
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 8 8-inch flour tortillas
- juice of 1 lime
- toppings such as lime wedges, cilantro, sour cream, salsa, avocados, hot sauce
Instructions
- Chop chicken, peppers, and onions into thin strips.
- Drizzle a large skillet over medium heat with oil. Let it come to temperature for about 30 seconds.
- Add chicken, peppers, and onions to the pan. Season with salt, cumin, chili powder, and garlic powder and stir.
- Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, for 6-8 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and veggies are tender.
- Remove from heat, drizzle with lime juice. Serve immediately with tortillas and your favorite toppings.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This couldn’t be a simpler dish to make. Very tasty with very little effort, perfect for a weeknight when time is short and/or you just don’t have the mental energy for something more complex.
Very good with corn tortillas too! At first i thought there would be too much red pepper but it was just right!
So glad that you enjoyed this recipe! Thank. you for your positive feedback.
delicious!
Simple, but delicious!
Thanks for your awesome feedback, Angela!!
My picky e love it!
Love this so much very easy to follow fasT to cook!
Thanks for your feedback!
Delish! Definite keeper.
Thank you, Chery!
Fast, easy peasy. Delicious! various toppings let folks short order if they’re inclined. “Customizable” from mild to wicked hot.
husband loved it. This is going into the regular dinner rotation.
Thanks very much for this.
You are so welcome!
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