Kitchen notes · a little help before you start
Easy Chicken Fajitas
Warm tortillas filled with chicken and bright peppers make a lively dinner to share. The lime gives the seasoned chicken a fresh edge, and the vegetables stay pleasantly crisp.
- Prep
- 10 min
- Cook
- 15 min
- Total
- 30 min
- Original yield
- Serves 4
- Ingredients
- 11 listed
Make it part of your week
Recipe categories & planning details
- Meal type
- Dinner
- Primary protein
- Chicken
- Cuisine
- Mexican
- Preparation & total time
- Prep: 15 minutes or less · Total: 30 minutes or less
A few quick notes
1. Coat the strips
Toss the chicken strips in their lime-and-spice mixture before they go into the skillet, so the seasoning is evenly spread.
2. Use two chicken batches
Cook half the chicken at a time, lifting each batch out when just cooked before starting the vegetables.
3. Keep peppers crisp
The peppers only need to become hot during their brief turn with the onions before the cooked chicken returns.
Get to know the ingredients
Divided lime
Half the lime flavors the spice mixture. Save the remaining juice for squeezing over the combined chicken and vegetables at serving.
Onion slivers
Slice the onion into slivers. If soaking them in cold water as allowed, drain well before their two-minute cooking stage.
Optional cumin
The cumin is optional in the seasoning mixture. Mix it with the other spices, oil and lime if using it.
Let’s make it
Choose your servings, then check things off as you go.
Original recipe: Serves 4. Original quantities shown.
Check ingredients as you prepare them. These checks stay on this page.
How to make it
0 of 5 steps completeMake room for Easy Chicken Fajitas
Review ingredients in your pantry before anything is added. Meal plans use your household size; grocery-only additions use the servings selected above.
The last little job
Lime over the filling
Return the chicken to the vegetables, stir together and squeeze additional lime over everything before serving over tortillas.
A little more help as you go
Split the salt
The larger salt portion goes into the chicken seasoning. The remaining quarter-teaspoon seasons the peppers after they join the onions.
Oil in stages
Use one tablespoon in the spice mixture, another for cooking chicken and the final tablespoon when the onions go into the pan.
A few questions you might have
Which pepper colors work?
Red, yellow, green or orange peppers are listed options. Slice them before cooking, ready to follow the onions into the skillet.
Can I soften the onion's bite?
You can soak the sliced onions in cold water for a while. Drain them well before cooking in the skillet.
Do the vegetables cook with the raw chicken?
Cook the chicken in batches first and set it aside. The onions and peppers then cook before the chicken returns.
When does onion powder go in?
Mix it into the oil, lime and other spices before tossing with chicken, rather than adding it to the vegetables.
How do the chicken strips finish?
Cook until just cooked, about three to five minutes for each batch, then return them to the vegetables at the end.
Any more cooking tips?
Optional: If I am serving these to kids, I find soaking the onions in cold water for a bit takes a bit of the "bite" out of them.
Storage & reheating safety
For cooked, perishable leftovers, refrigerate within 2 hours (1 hour above 90°F), using shallow containers for prompt cooling. Keep the refrigerator at 40°F or below, use refrigerated leftovers within 3–4 days, and reheat hot leftovers to 165°F, checked with a food thermometer. Follow any shorter package limit.
These are general safety limits, not a tested storage or freezing recommendation for this particular dish. USDA leftovers guidance · Safe cooking temperatures
Recipe source: spendwithpennies.com. Ingredient names and quantities may be adapted for the pantry.
Preparation notes follow the recipe shown here.
