The Best Chicken Fajitas
These are the BEST chicken fajitas ever. Out-of-this-world fajita flavor and healthy to boot. Try these soon, you will not be disappointed.
It seems a bit presumptuous to call something “the best,” doesn’t it?
But I couldn’t resist, because these really are the best fajitas in the world. The entire world. No, wait, the entire galaxy.
Because I have an obsession with trying new recipes, I am always on the lookout for different versions of the same thing. I mean, look how many chocolate chip cookie recipes I have on here – and I love every single one. And rolls? Don’t even get me started.
But when it comes to these fajitas, I will not try another recipe. Them are strong words…but that is just how much we love this one.
This is in the top three of my husband’s favorite meals (right up there with sweet and sour chicken) and although I hesitate to nail down my own favorite meals, this is definitely up there in the ranks.
Amid all the new recipes I try each month, this recipe still makes a regular appearance and nearly bowls me over with it’s phenomenal flavors each time.
What to Serve With This
- Tortillas or Soft Wrap Bread
- Guacamole Salad
- Baked Brown Spanish Rice
The Best Chicken Fajitas
Ingredients
Marinade:
- ¼ cup fresh lime juice, about 3-4 limes
- ⅓ cup water
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 large cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 teaspoons apple cider or red wine vinegar
- 2 teaspoons soy sauce
- ½ teaspoons chili powder
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ½ teaspoon liquid smoke
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ⅛ teaspoon onion powder
Fajitas:
- 1 ½ pounds chicken breasts, (about 3 large chicken breasts)
- 1 medium yellow onion, cut into thin strips
- 1 medium green pepper, cut into thin strips
- 1 medium red or orange pepper, cut into thin strips
- 8 ounces fresh mushrooms, quartered
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons water
- ½ teaspoon fresh lime juice, a quick squeeze of a cut lime
- Dash of salt and pepper
Instructions
- Combine all marinade ingredients in a small bowl. Place chicken in a ziploc bag and pour the marinade ingredients over the top. Seal the bag and place in the refrigerator and let marinate for 2-3 hours.
- After marinading, take chicken out of the bag and discard the marinade. Grill or broil the chicken 5-7 minutes per side. Remove from grill or pan and tent with foil to keep warm.
- In a large nonstick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium heat and add the onion, mushrooms and peppers. Stir fry until softened but still crisp tender. Add soy sauce, water, lime juice and salt and pepper. Cook another 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Slice chicken thinly on the diagonal and toss with the vegetables in the skillet.
- Serve immediately with flour tortillas and top with tomatoes, lettuce, guacamole, cheese, sour cream…the options are endless!
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: Mel’s Kitchen Cafe/originally from Erin W.
I have made this recipe multiple times and it is always amazing! This last time I cooked chicken breasts and a skirt steak. Both meats turned out great!
I made these last week. They were delicious. My daughter and I agreed we won’t be buying the packet of seasoning anymore, these are perfect. Easy to follow directions and excellent results. Thanks Mel.
I made these in my instapot and they were FANTASTIC!!!! Left overs were even delicious!
That’s awesome!
I tried this recipe because my crew despises cumin. My hubby can smell 1/4 tsp. in a potluck batch of mexican food. This marinade is so, so good. I left out the lime juice so I could marinate the chicken overnight (but served with lime wedges). I almost didn’t add liquid smoke because I knew I would use a charcoal grill to cook the chicken breasts, but the seasoning was on point. Thank you Mel for such a yummy – cumin free! – dish.
Glad this one was a hit! I wonder what it is about cumin your husband hates??
This is my go-to chicken fajita recipe. I just made these again for the umpteenth time and they tasted phenomenal!!! I absolutely love this recipe!!
What do you think would be the best way to adapt this for the crock pot??
I’m not sure, I haven’t tried it – maybe cook the chicken in marinade ingredients and then add the veggies for another hour?
I did exactly what you suggested and it was fantastic! (As usual)
Truly the best fajitas!!! Have you tried this marinade for steak fajitas yet??
Yes, it’s amazing!
We LOVE this for a weeknight dinner or even for company! So much flavor!
Another winner Mel! Seriously, this stuff is goooood. Didn’t have liquid smoke, but I’m sure it would have made it that much better. For two adults I used one large chicken breast with half the marinade. One green one red bell pepper, half an onion, one portobello mushroom. I eat mostly the veggies and my husband makes his more equal parts chicken and veggies. Excited to have some leftovers for lunch tomorrow! Definitely 5 stars.
These are amazing! Another awesome meal from mel
Your recipe collection is the best I’ve ever come across. Your recipes have been feeding my family probably 3 times a week for at least 3-4 years. So thank you!! I have an instant pot and am learning to use it more and more – have you ever made these in the IP? If so, how did you do it? Thanks again for having such awesome do-able recipes. We love Mel at our house!!
Hi Brooke – thanks so much for your sweet comment! I haven’t made these fajitas in the IP…but I bet you could. Probably 8-9 minutes high pressure?
Delicious! I loved the soy sauce-lime over the veggies. Thank you!
Made these tonite and they were awesome!! Can’t wait to check out more recipes on your site!!
I love this recipe! has anyone tried to make and freeze the marinade with chicken?
I know this is a year later but… I have frozen this marinade with good success. I also have just added the marinade to frozen chicken breasts and then let it thaw in the marinade in the fridge. That works too!
So, I just have to tell you that you are definitely my go-to girl for all things food. I am obsessed with your blog and check it regularly. My husband makes fun of me because I’m always saying things like, “Well, Mel said it’s better refrigerated” or “Mel said to do it this way”, like I spoke to you in real life or just got off the phone with you or something. Anyway, I’ve been DYING to try this fajita recipe and asked my husband to make it for us the other night (on his night to cook, only once a week – I promise I’m not evil!) and of course he made fun of me again when I told him where the recipe was from. He said, “What did Mel say this time?” to which I replied, “She says it’s the best fajita recipe out there.” The fajitas were to die for (of course) and my husband would not shut up about how amazing the chicken was. I gave him a hard time and asked, “So was Mel right?” and he said, “She was pretty spot on.” You are #1 in our book! Thanks for all your amazing recipes! If you ever stop blogging, my family will suffer. Haha.
Haha! This was awesome; thanks for making me smile and totally making my day!
I am so in love with this recipe. My boyfriend asks for them at LEAST once a month! The flavor is to die for, even better than some fine Mexican restaurants we’ve been to.
NEVER take this recipe out of your “Bests”!! I follow it exactly, minus the mushrooms.
Guess what’s for dinner tonight?? Yup, you guessed it! My chicken is marinating as I write this!! Yummmm…
hi! thinking about making this tonight! i have never broiled anything before though (well, besides simple homemade garlic bread…), so would i broil on high or low? also, where should my oven rack be? Please and thank you!! xoxox
I usually place my oven rack a six or so inches from the top and use high or low – doesn’t really matter (and probably will depend on each individual oven). Just keep a close eye on the chicken so it doesn’t burn.
This may be blasphemous but I add a good amount of the marinade to the vegetables to add more flavor and it’s delicious! =)
I just made these for the second time for a big crowd–so super delicious!
Hi Mel! I live in Australia and liquid smoke is not available here. Would smoked paprika be an acceptable substitute? Or something else? I know nothing can actually replace the flavour of liquid smoke, so I’m kind of grasping at straws here!!
Cheers from Aus!
Hi Laura – I’d probably go for the smoked paprika. It won’t give the exact flavor of liquid smoke but will give a nice depth of flavor. Good luck!
Could you marinate these for longer than three hours? I’d like to do this before I go to work. Thank you!!!!
Sally – Yes, absolutely! I often marinade the chicken overnight.
THANK YOU!
thanks for the recipe!! the fajitas turned out great but I have a question for you. The marinade calls for 2 tablespoons of oil and later on in step 3 one tablespoon of oil is mentioned. Is that an extra tablespoon of oil or one of the 2 for the marinade?
drodgers – You use 2 tablespoons oil for the marinade and then the marinade gets discarded. You use an additional tablespoon when you start sauteing the veggies. I hope that clears it up!
I completely agree with you–these are the best chicken fajitas! They were fantastic. We had them with fresh tortillas and the regular Mexican toppings and we thoroughly enjoyed them. Thanks for another fantastic recipe!
This is my go-to recipe for Chicken Fajita!! If my boyfriend wasn’t such a Mexican Food Nazi,i would eat these every night!!! My love for you Mel is getting deeper and deeper!! lol!
i don’t have an indoor grill – could i bake the chicken or fry in oil?
Mary – Sure. Or broil in the oven.
We hosted the Elders to dinner last night and I had already planned to make fajitas and i already had your refried beans recipe going in the slow cooker. I went to your blog to look for a better Spanish/Mexican rice recipe and sure enough (and gratefully) you had one. From your blurb about the Mexican rice I noticed the link to your fajitas recipe. I have been using the same fajitas recipe for the past few years and like it, but since you raved so much about yours (and since I had an unopened bottle of liquid smoke in my pantry – an ingredient I’ve never used) I just had to try it. Oh my, they were so good!! I’m throwing out my old fajitas recipe!! In fact our whole dinner was from your recipes and it was all so good! Everyone just kept commenting on how good it was. Thank you for a wonderful dinner!!! As a side note, I made your Mexican Rice recipe with brown rice (in a pressure cooker) and it was wonderful!
Had these tonight and they were delicious! The first recipe I tried of yours was the sweet and sour chicken…loved that too! I love your blog and recipe ideas…thanks!
Just tried this recipe today. WOW! These fajitas were fantastic! This recipe is a keeper for sure! Thank you! Even my finicky boyfriend raved about these fajitas, and that’s saying a lot! I will be scouring your recipes for more to try! I hope you and your family have a fabulous Christmas!!
Made these last night for dinner.They are fab! I’m definitely adding this recipe to my recipe rotation. In fact, I made them again tonight so that I could deliver them to a friend who was in need of a meal brought in for her family. Hope to hear rave reviews from them too. 🙂
THANKS so much for sharing!
The chicken is marinating, the veggies all cut up & waiting! The marinade smelled absolutely delicious!
Hi Mel: I have made these fabulous fajitas hundreds of times and am going to have them for dinner today but was just wondering, what side dish do you like to serve with these?Thank you so much for all of your great recipes!
Brittany – that’s a good question! I make any of the following (or a combination): cornbread, mexican/Spanish rice, fresh fruit and vegetables, cottage cheese, black bean and mango quinoa salad. Hope that helps!
Omg, I have made these several times now and they are so delicious. I just got done marinating 6 chicken breasts and now im completely drooling wishing it was supper time already!! A+ Mel! Way to go!!
This was delicioso! I made one and threw 2 in the freezer for later. I just cleaned off the George Foreman grill to put it away and it occurred to me that I didn’t even serve cheese with it! My oldest OCD daughter would prefer that the ingredients were more uniform in nature so she wouldn’t get whole chunks of onion at a time. I guess I will put hers in the blender next time 😉 Will make this one again. Another hit! I am working my way through all your favorites! Thank you for some good ones.
i am serving these at my super bowl party this year as tacos…..will post after we all have tried them………………….they sound so good cant wait
Made this for dinner tonight along with the Baked Spanish Brown Rice and it was delicious! Totally do-able on a weeknight and everyone left the table happy. The only thing I did differently was to sautee the peppers and onions with some southwestern seasoning for a little additional spice, but I loved the combination of soy sauce and liquid smoke. Will absolutely make again.
I have tried this marinade before and it is fantastic! This time I put the marinade and chicken in the crock pot all day on low and shredded the chicken. I served them as chicken tacos and it was great! Thanks, Mel. I love your blog.
Chipotle Tabasco in these is wonderful, too! It isn’t as hot as regular Tabasco, but has the best chipotle flavor!
Vanessa – I’ve never used corn oil so I’m not sure. Sorry!
will using corn oil make a difference?
These really are the best fajitas. I made them tonight, along with your yummy Mexican rice, sliced avocado, and the toasted corn black-bean salsa from America’s Kitchen Healthy cookbook. Just one was super filling but super good. I can’t wait for leftovers for lunch tomorrow. The chicken marinade is so easy and super flavourful– I would make the chicken on it’s own again too.
these are the best fajitas i have EVER had!!!! just simply amazing, made them tonight, and everyone loved them!!!! my dad said it was the best chicken he has ever had!!!
These are really good we had them for supper tonite, I added black beans and small chucks of pineapple instead of the mushrooms. Awesome thanks Mel!
Made these for dinner tonight and they were wonderful. What a great recipe!
Mel thank you so much for bringing me back to cooking. I stumbled upon your site by mistake or what I now feel was a prayer answered from God! I have a 4, 3, and 1 year old so cooking has taken a back seat until recently. I just love your blog and the best recipes section. I’ve tried many recipes and have enjoyed them all! Tonight it fajitas and I knoiw they will be great! Thanks again for making me feel like a cook again instead of just a diaper changing child chasing mama 🙂
I have made these a few times and I must say, I like them better without the soy sauce. When you leave it out, the lime really shines, which I like because it tastes more Mexican-y. I think if I had to choose one thing to eat the rest of my life, it would be these. I can’t wait to try it with beef. I used chipotle chili powder and left out the mushrooms….I love mushrooms, just not in fajitas. I also just cooked the chicken in the pan before i did the veggies…my grill is on winter vacation and I wasn’t in the mood to turn on the oven. They were perfect. I will try the grill this spring. I have a friends old family recipe for tortillas….I love them because not only are they divine, but the recipe calls for oil instead of shortening. These fajitas were amazing on homemade tortillas. I love food and have a hard time committing to say what my favorite is, but I think I can commit to saying these are in my top 5. Thank you for an amazing recipe!
Best. Fajitas. Ever. My husband could not stop talking about how good they were! Thanks for another great meal!