Description
This is easily the most requested meal in my home. Grab your cast iron skillet and get ready to caramelize some onions because these chicken fajitas are a one pan meal that are so good they'll outshine your favorite Tex-Mex restaurant!
Ingredients
For Fajitas:
- 1 tablespoon fajita seasoning
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast (or thin-sliced chicken breast cutlets)
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice
- 2 tablespoons high-heat cooking oil, such as avocado oil or peanut oil
- 2 medium yellow onions, sliced 1/4-inch thick
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 3 bell peppers, seeded and sliced 1/4-inch thick
- 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 3/4 teaspoon low sodium soy sauce (optional)
For Serving:
- Flour tortillas, warmed
- Greek yogurt, sour cream, or Mexican crema (optional)
- Lime wedges
Instructions
- Combine fajita seasoning and water in gallon-sized zip-top bag and set aside.
- Pat the chicken dry with paper towels and trim off any large pieces of fat. Cut meat against the grain into 1/4-inch thick slices and add to the bag of seasoning. Add olive oil and lime juice and seal bag, squeezing out as much air as you can. Transfer to refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, or up to 4 hours.
- Heat a large, heavy-bottomed skillet (preferably cast iron) over medium-high heat. Once hot (this takes a few minutes), add the high-heat oil and turn to coat the bottom of the skillet. Add the sliced onions and break them up w a wooden spoon. Lower heat to medium-low and season with 1/2 teaspoon salt. Stir constantly until it stops sizzling.
- When the pan stops sizzling, add the butter. Let the onions cook, stirring every 10 min or so until caramelized, about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Transfer to a bowl, scraping out all the browned bits and cover. DO NOT CLEAN THE PAN.
- Return skillet to medium-high heat. Pan should be smoking.
- Drain the marinade from the bag of chicken and place the meat in an even layer into the hot skillet. Cook until the chicken is cooked through, about 2-3 minutes per side, stirring as needed. Once cooked, place the chicken in the bowl with onions and cover. Again, do not clean the pan.
- Add the peppers to the pan and season with 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring constantly. When they start to char and stick to the bottom of the pan, lower the heat to medium. Cook until they reach your desired doneness, then stir in garlic.
- Add onions and meat back into the skillet, then add tomato paste, turn off heat and stir in until well combined. At this point, you can pour in soy sauce to get that sizzling sound and smoke for when you bring it to the table.
- Serve fajitas with warmed flour tortillas, Greek yogurt, and lime wedges alongside.
Notes
If using larger chicken breasts, cut them in half horizontally or pound them to make thinner pieces of chicken to work with.
Feel free to use any pre-made fajita seasoning blend that you like, or make your own homemade fajita seasoning blend!
We like using a reusable Stasher Stand-Up bag for marinating the chicken. You can also do this in a container with a tight-fitting lid.
If you don't have time to caramelize onions, put them in with the peppers.
If the peppers aren't charring, you can raise the heat to high for a bit. If they start to burn, lower the beat and add a splash of water.
Make sure you don't clean or wipe out the pan in between steps. The bits that are in the bottom of the pan from each stage really add extra flavor to the final dish.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 Fajitas
- Calories: 270
- Sugar: 4.6 g
- Sodium: 367.7 mg
- Fat: 18 g
- Saturated Fat: 3.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 9 g
- Fiber: 2.2 g
- Protein: 18.3 g
- Cholesterol: 60.2 mg
