chicken fajitas
/
CHICKEN FAJITAS
I made these chicken fajitas last week almost on a whim. We'd had so much red meat and brown food over the holidays that I was craving something a bit lighter and more colorful. I had boneless, skinless chicken thighs defrosted from the freezer and an empty week of menu planning staring at me. Spicy-ish Mexican sounded perfect.
This is an incredibly easy recipe and using chicken thighs is a little more forgiving for those of you that tend to overcook chicken... ahem, I'm talking to myself. My kids gobbled them up and when one dinner can do double-duty-- satisfying both the kids and the parents-- I'm a happy mom. Plus, I've learned that if you let the kids add sour cream to their plates, they'll eat almost anything.
I don't have a ton of pictures because when I was cooking the fajitas, I wasn't sure this was going to go over with the kids. But, don't let this less-illustrated blog post & recipe deceive you. These are yum-yum good. This recipe allowed for leftovers (make a lunch salad!) for my family of 2 kids & 2 grown-ups. Feel free to half it
Chicken Fajitas
- 7 TBSPs vegetable oil, divided
- 4 TBSPs fresh lemon juice
- 2 tsps salt
- 3 tsps dried oregano
- 3 tsps ground cumin
- 2 tsps garlic powder
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp paprika
- 3 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- 1 sweet red pepper
- 1 sweet yellow pepper
- 1 yellow onion
- avocado, corn, sour cream, cheese, beans as toppings to taste
Combine 4 TBSPs vegetable oil, lemon juice & spices in a a bowl. Stir to fully combine. Slice chicken thighs into fajita-sized strips/chunks. Add chicken to a resealable plastic bag and pour marinade into the bag. Mix and massage the bag, making sure the marinade covers all the chicken pieces. Set bag in fridge to marinate for 1-4 hours. (4 hours was delicious for us!)
Begin by cooking your peppers & onions. Slice veggies into strips and saute with a splash of vegetable oil until veggies are softened, but still have a bit of bite. Set veggies aside & add a bit more vegetable oil to the pan over medium-high heat.
Using tongs, remove half of the chicken pieces from the marinade and saute for about 5-6 minutes. Don't start pushing the chicken around and flipping it inside the pan right away. Set the pieces into the pan and let them cook like that for about 3 minutes before flipping them to get them cooked on all sides. Once cooked through, remove first batch of chicken, re-oil the pan and cook the last batch of chicken.
Warm your tortillas on the stovetop, slice up an avocado, defrost your corn (it's winter, we're all about the frozen corn), pull out some hot sauces and let everyone build their own plates. A little veggies, a little chicken, some avocado, cheese, corn. It's a DIY meal.