I know you’ve all been posed the question (and I have no idea where or when, but somehow I have had to answer it many times thus far in my relatively short life): “If you had to pick one thing to eat every day for the rest of your life, what would it be?” And while I would hate to be required to pick just one thing, this meal would be one of my top contenders. I love fajitas that much. But not just any fajitas- they have to be good. Really good. So toss out the store-bought seasoning packet and the 50 for $1 bag of tortillas. I’m going to show you a flavor-packed marinade that you can whip up in a flash. And when you combine it with homemade tortillas and all the fixins, these will be the best chicken or steak fajitas you’ve ever eaten!
Ingredient Notes
- Chicken or Steak – You can use your choice of meat; boneless chicken breasts work great, as do chicken thighs or tenders. Steak is also awesome–flank steak and sirloin are both fantastic cuts for this recipe. We often do both chicken and steak.
- Peppers and Onions – No rules here- grab whatever colors of peppers and onions you have around and grill them up.
- Liquid Smoke – If you’re not familiar with liquid smoke, you can find it near the BBQ sauces. Don’t make these fajitas without it! It’s definitely one of the key components. It makes things yummy and smoky and super flavorful. And if you’re wondering, it actually is real smoke in liquid form. Interesting, eh? Start with 1 teaspoon and add more if you’d like a smokier flavor.
How to Make The BEST Chicken or Steak Fajitas
- Start with the marinade: mix up some lime juice, water, oil, garlic, vinegar, soy sauce, liquid smoke. We’re then going to add some salt, chili powder, cayenne pepper, black pepper, and onion powder. My trick is to set 3-4 tablespoons of the finished marinade aside to drizzle over the platter when finished.
- Next, separate your meat and veggies in plastic zip-top bags or shallow dishes. Splash a bit of the marinade on the veggies, just enough to coat them, and add the rest to the meat. Make sure everything is coated well, and then marinate in the fridge for 4-6 hours.
- Everything then gets tossed on the grill and is grilled to perfection. The vegetables may cook faster than the meat, so have a plate ready to remove them when done and cover loosely with foil. If you’d like to use a grill pan inside you can, I just recommend using thinner cutes of meat, like butterflied chicken breasts or flank steak.
- When the meat is done, let it rest for a few minutes, tented with foil, before slicing.
When everything is sliced up, drizzle the meat and veggies with the remaining marinade and serve. I like to serve it on a big platter and let everyone serve themselves, but if you want to make sure everything is distributed evenly, you could also mix everything up on the platter.
Serving Suggestions
Serve along side any or all of the following:
Flour Tortillas
Black Beans
Lime-Cilantro Rice
Pico de Gallo
Salsa
Diced avocado
Guacamole
Sour Cream
Shredded cheese or crumbled cotija cheese
If it’s not really grill season at your house, consider my Sheet Pan Fajitas or Easy Slowcooker Fajitas with Chili-Lime Cream as well!
FAQs
- I’m making these for a crowd. Can I cook them ahead of time? My recommendation for serving a crowd is to prep all of your side dishes and toppings ahead of time and store in their serving dishes, covered in plastic in the fridge. See my hack for warming lots of fresh tortillas at once here: Fresh Tortilla Hack. Stick with the recommended marinating time and cook the meat and veggies right before serving. Definitely use your outdoor grill for cooking a large quantity of meat and veggies. Lastly, take a look at my popular Sheet Pan Fajitas or Easy Slowcooker Fajitas with Chili-Lime Cream to see if one of those recipes might work better for your needs!
Did You Make This?
I’d love to hear from you! Snap a picture and tag me on Instagram, and then come back and give this recipe a rating!
The BEST Chicken or Steak Fajitas
- Total Time: 4-6 hours
Description
If you’ve only ever made fajitas with the store-bought seasoning packet, this homemade fajita marinade will knock your socks off. This is truly one of our favorite meals!
Ingredients
filling
1–1 1/2 pounds chicken (boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs) or steak (sirloin or flank steak)
2–3 red, orange, and/or yellow bell peppers, halved (or use a few handfuls of baby peppers)
1 large onion, sliced into 1/2” thick slices
marinade
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
1/3 cup water
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, pressed or finely minced
1 tablespoon white vinegar
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1–2 teaspoons liquid smoke (see note)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon chili powder or chipotle chili powder (chipotle chili powder will have heat and smoke)
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
Suggestions FOR SERVING
tortillas
sour cream
green onions
cilantro
diced tomatoes, salsa, or pico de gallo
diced avocados or guacamole
black beans
shredded cheese
Instructions
In a medium bowl, combine all marinade ingredients and whisk well. Reserve 3-4 tablespoons of marinade for later use.
Place meat in a Ziploc bag or shallow dish. Place vegetables in another.
With remaining marinade, add a splash to the vegetables (enough for a light coating) and the remaining to the meat. Marinate for 4-6 hours and up to overnight.
grill instructions
Preheat outdoor grill (our preference) to medium heat. When the grill is hot, place everything on at the same time in a single layer. Cook until desired doneness is reached, flipping once (about 7 minutes per side for chicken breasts, 3-4 minutes per side for chicken thighs, or see this tutorial for How to Grill the Perfect Steak.) You may need to remove the vegetables before the meat is done- just transfer to a plate and cover loosely with foil. When the meat is done, transfer to a plate and allow to stand for a few minutes, tented with foil, then slice the meat. Drizzle reserved marinade over finished meat and veggies and serve.
indoor instructions
Heat a large skillet or grill pan to medium heat. Cook the peppers and onions first and then remove from pan, covering loosely with foil. Cook chicken or steak on each side until cooked through and remove from pan and allow to rest, tented with foil, for a few minutes before slicing. Drizzle reserved marinade over finished meat and veggies and serve.
serving instructions
After you’ve sliced the meat, toss the meat and vegetables with reserved marinade and serve along side any or all of the following:
Flour Tortillas
Black Beans
Lime-Cilantro Rice
Pico de Gallo
Salsa
Diced avocado
Guacamole
Sour Cream
Shredded cheese or crumbled cotija cheese
Notes
*If you’re not familiar with liquid smoke, you can find it near the BBQ sauces. Don’t make this without it! It’s definitely one of the key components. It makes things yummy and smoky and super flavorful. And if you’re wondering, it actually is real smoke in liquid form. Interesting, eh? Start with 1 teaspoon and add more if you’d like a smokier flavor.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Refrigerator Time: 4-6 hours
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
Questions & Reviews
So, just ate these for dinner aaaaaaaannnnnndddd……….. they were FANTASTIC! I was really worried about the amount of cayenne, so I only put in about 1/4 tsp. They turned out perfect. A little bit of kick but not too spicy (however, I am kind of a wuss when it comes to spice). I’ve been looking for a good fajita recipe forever, glad I finally found it!
Yep, I even put less cayenne because I was afraid. Grilling right now so we’ll see how it turns out! Sure smells amazing!
These sound great! I have the meat and veggies marinating as I type, and I have to admit I’m a bit nervous about the spiciness of the fajitas. The marinade was SUPER spicy. I’m assuming that a lot of that heat will be lost once they’re cooked. How spicy are they once cooked?
They’re not really spicy at all Jennifer! Did you measure everything right? You must have used chipotle powder- that’s the only thing in there that adds heat. Don’t worry, it’s a marinade, so a lot of those spices will stay right in the liquid when you take out the chicken.
Bueno…les voy a dar una leccion en Espanol!!! Primeramenta…nos otros le llamamos aracherra!!! I have had these all my life, and they are even better with corn tortillas, guacamole (which is smashed avacado and jalapenos!! We don’t add tomatoes or onions, its preference) We ususally don’t even marinate. We we grill them, we use maybe garlic, salt & pepper…And we always have homemade salsa on hand. They used to be the cheapest cut in the grocery, until they became very popular…Desfrute de su Cinco de Mayo!!! Es una celebracion muy especial para nosotros…mucho amor, y gracias por todoas sus recetas tan deliciosas…
ok, the food looks awesome, but what I really love… is the hint about clicking the roller ball to open in a new tab! My co-worker thanks you as well! Now back to the food
We made these tonight. Super yummo! We don't particularly like peppers so we cut up some zucchini and yellow squash and sateed those in some of the marinate.
This is definitely a keeper. Thanks for the tasty recipe.
These were amazing! Love, love, love the marinade! We made steak fajitas with your homemade tortillas and loved every bite!
this looks delicious and now i want fajitas at 11am!
This recipe was great!!! I also made the homemade tortillas, and doubled the recipe. With remaining half of the dough I made empanadas stuffed with apple pie filling and basted the top with egg and sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon and baked. Our meal tonight was outstanding. Thanks yummy recipe lady!
Judy- you just need to cut the veggies in large pieces to grill and then slice after!
How do you grill the veggies without them falling through the grill?
I made these last night for dinner with homemade pico de gallo. They were a huge hit! I wasn't able to make it to the market to get liquid smoke but they were still tasty without it. It gave the chicken/veggies a nice subtle flavour.
Sarah- my rule of thumb is that if it's something that I'm going to cook veggies and meat together at the same time in the same pan, then I marinate them together, but if I'm cooking them separately, like here, then I do it separately. I guess I just don't like the thought of my veggies soaking in the meat juice.
Thanks a lot, Sara! I DVRed the Next FoodNetwork Star and haven't seen the last two episodes!! I guess I'll pretend I didn't see your spoiler. *sigh* I'm sure you and/or Kate will be on that show someday…
These look positively DELISH! Gonna add the ingredients to my shopping list so I can make these soon! YUM!
I LOVE these!!! they have been a HUGE summer staple this year – add some pico, guac, and cilantro-lime dressing and i'm in heaven Ü
I LOVE these!!! they have been a HUGE summer staple this year – add some pico, guac, and cilantro-lime dressing and i'm in heaven Ü
How do you always know what I've been hungry for??!! Making shopping list now… can't wait to try these!
Can you PLEASE move next door to me? Everything you make looks amazing!!
Just out of curiosity,why do you marinate the vegetables separate from the meat? I have always done them together.
this is the first time i've tried these! my recipe is pretty similar, but doesn't pack quite as much heat… delicious as usual and my husband loved them!
Hey Belle- thanks for the comment. I buy the soy sauce at Walmart!
increible! sabroso! okay, so I MUST ask. . . where on earth do you find your Aloha soy sauce? I noticed (blog stalking for some time–btw, you girls are amazing!) that sara you are in the boise id area. me too! I am DYING for the Aloha since our Hawaii trip last year. ?? and thank you so so so much for your blog. my fav!
Ay que lindo mujer! Tengo que tratarlo. Muchisimas gracias por esto.
Renae, haha I never noticed that. You know what? There isn’t cumin in the recipe, I’m sure I just grabbed it for that picture out of habit because I use cumin so much! It would definitely be good in there though, so if you feel like adding it throw some in 🙂
I don’t see cumin in the recipe although it is listed in the ingredients–it is possible that I just can’t read…can you tell me how much to use? (guessing 1/2 tsp?)
sure Carly. Obviously lime juice is going to be better, but if you were desperate and just had lemon, I’d throw a little in there, just for the tang. Maybe a little less though, so it’s not too strong.
Stupid late question here: If you run out of limes can you add in lemon juice to the marinade?!
I’m exited, my meat is marinating right now but I wanted to ask that question for the future.
okay, I will totally defend and explain my husband here, lol. We speak fluent Portuguese, which is very similar to Spanish. He’s got some Portuguese spelling in there, lol. But that’s pretty darn good for someone who has never taken a Spanish class in his life! I think it’s harder to write in any language, but he *speaks* great Spanish in person! He translates for Spanish speaking patients every day and heck, we’ve been to Mexico together and he rolls with the Latinos just fine. *They* all understand him! Just had to throw that out there! haha
Totally agree that Eric’s is not spanish. Well I can see where you’re going with it…
Mia mulher, desculpe por no ter lido teu post…la verdad e que normalmiente solo miro para las fotos.
Mi mujer, disculpa por no haber leido tu post. La verdad es que normalmente solo miro para las fotos.