Restaurant Style Chicken Fajitas pack a ton of flavor, but are so easy to make. Sizzling skillet chicken, peppers and onions, and a delicious combination of spices give these chicken fajitas a punch of flavor. This chicken recipe is a family-favorite, and is so versatile in how it can be served; I love eating this chicken on top of salads, in a bowl with rice, or on tortillas with all the fixin’s.
What you’ll need to make restaurant style chicken fajitas:
- thin sliced chicken breast
- kosher salt
- paprika
- garlic powder
- cumin
- cayenne pepper
- olive oil
- lime juice
- bell peppers
- onion
- salsa
Other optional ingredients for serving:
- rice
- avocado
- corn
- tortillas
- sour cream
- salsa
- shredded lettuce
- beans
How to prepare the chicken
To prepare the chicken, we are going to marinate it. I like to do this at least all day long (approximately 4 or more hours). If I can think of it, I like to put the marinade and chicken together in the morning, and let it sit in the fridge all day.
If you don’t have all day, that’s ok. You can do this half an hour before. But just know, the longer it sits in the marinade, the better it is!
To prep the marinade, simply combine the salt, paprika, garlic powder, cumin, cayenne, olive oil, and lime juice together in a small bowl. It will be a thin paste-like consistency. Then, rub that mixture all over the chicken, and throw it in a bowl covered in the fridge. You can also throw it in a freezer bag, whatever’s easier!
How to cook the chicken, peppers and onion
Peppers and onion
When it comes to cooking this recipe, I like to use a cast iron skillet. I don’t use my cast iron skillet a ton, but I do really prefer it for this recipe. The cast iron skillet really gives everything a lovely char and flavor.
I cook the peppers and onion first, in order to flavor the skillet even further. So, start by thinly slicing the peppers and onion, and discarding the seeds. Then, preheat the skillet over medium high heat. Add some olive oil spray, and then add the peppers and onion to the pan with a pinch of salt.
Cover the pan with a lid, and let the peppers and onion steam for about ten minutes. Every so often, remove the lid, and toss the peppers and onion around with tongs to make sure they are cooking evenly.
After ten minutes, remove the peppers and onion from the pan and set them in a bowl to the side.
Chicken
Once the peppers and onion are finished cooking, add more olive oil spray to the pan, along with the chicken.
Cook the chicken for five minutes per side, flipping once.
Once the chicken is fully cooked, remove it from the pan and set it on a cutting board.
Slice the chicken into strips and then return it to the skillet, along with the cooked peppers and onions.
Add 1/3 cup of salsa, and stir to incorporate it into the chicken, peppers and onions. Cook for a few minutes until the liquid is absorbed.
Restaurant Style Chicken Fajitas
Equipment
- cast iron skillet
Ingredients
- 1.25 lb chicken breast, thinly sliced
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- ½ tsp paprika
- ½ tsp cumin
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp lime juice
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 2 bell peppers
- 1 onion
- olive oil spray
- 1/3 cup salsa, jarred, I use Tostitos
Instructions
- Thinly slice the chicken breast.
- Combine the kosher salt, paprika, cumin, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, lime juice and olive oil in a small bowl.
- Rub the marinade all over the pieces of chicken.
- Cover the chicken in a bowl (or freezer bag) and place in the fridge to marinate.
- Marinate for at least a half hour before cooking, longer is preferred.
- Add olive oil spray to a cast iron skillet over medium high heat.
- Thinly slice the peppers and onions and add them to the skillet. Add a pinch of kosher salt. Cover with a lid.
- Steam the vegetables for 10 minutes, removing the lid every so often and tossing them with tongs. Add more olive oil spray as needed.
- Once the peppers and onions are done cooking, remove them from the pan and set aside in a bowl.
- Add more olive oil spray to the pan.
- Add the full pieces of chicken to the pan. Cook for 5 minutes per side, flipping once.
- Remove the cooked chicken from the pan, and place on a cutting board.
- Cut into strips.
- Add the chicken back to the pan with the peppers and onions, and add the salsa.
- Let the mixture cook together for 2 minutes or until the liquid is absorbed.
Notes
- 2 WW points (green plan)
- 0 WW points (blue and purple plans)
Nutrition
How to serve restaurant-style chicken fajitas
I like to serve mine buffet style; a kind of “build your own fajita” station. I like to make some guacamole, add some tortillas, sour cream, and shredded lettuce for topping. The options are really endless here: serve with rice and beans, put the chicken over a salad. What I love about this meal is that you can cook one meal, but then everyone in the family can choose how to eat theirs!
You might also enjoy these recipes:
Chicken Enchiladas with Pico de Gallo
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I didn’t know I could make fajitas that taste better than a restaurant! This recipe is the best! Works with boneless skinless thighs too!
So delicious and so much flavor! Love this recipe and so does my family!!
I precut my chicken into strips because I don’t read directions so it came out a little drier than if should have, but cooking this in the cast iron was the best tip ever. Yum!!
Oh my gosh this was amazing!! The flavor was incredible! Thanks so much! My Chile lime was from TJ and already had salt in it so next time I’d leave out salt. But overall fantastic!
Such a simple and quick meal to make! My husband loves it!
This looks delicious! It will definitely be in our rotation next week! You ROCK!
These were so flavorful and a huge hit with my family…definitely restaurant quality. We’ll be adding these to our rotation for sure!
We make fajitas often in our house and I liked the addition of “steaming” the onions and peppers as well as adding salsa at the end. Will definitely make again- it was delicious!
This recipe was so good I had to go for seconds!!!
This recipe is so authentic, it is better than a restaurant 🙂
I will NEVER make fajitas any other way! These were delicious. The whole family loved them.
This was phenomenal!!!! Thank you!!!
I make fajita bowls at least once a month and will never do my chicken and peppers another way!
👍🏼👍🏼
I felt like a professional chef while making these, the house smelled fantastic and they came out tasting better than the fajitas I get in restaurants. So simple too!! I used the leftovers on top of a salad the next day for lunch.
I will never be making chicken fajitas any other way. This simple recipe completely blew me away! SO good for meal prep!
So delicious! Everyone in my family loves this recipe!
Loved this!!! Super easy to make, even for a novice cook like me! So delicious!
This is one of my FAVORITE recipes by Steph! This is in my normal recipe rotation – delicious and so easy to make!
Omg this was delicious! Top it with some cilantro and lime juice at the end. My husband loved it!!
I made these this evening. These were so good. I make chicken fajitas all the time for dinner but this recipe was so much easier and I thought had better flavor than the recipe that I adapted and have been using. Definitely a keeper and I cannot wait to cook it for more than just me.
So much flavor! This will become a staple in our house for sure. I also used the marinade on a steak because that’s my husbands preference and both the chicken and steak were amazing! Served as a fajita bowl over brown rice and it was delicious and filling!
I will never make fajitas any other way! These are the best!
So easy and better than our local Mexican restaurant.
These are so delicious!!! I really didn’t think they would be a lot different than those I’ve made before but I was wrong – they have the best flavor – love the marinate!! And they’re really quick and easy too!
Saw this on your ig story and literally ran to the supermarket to pick up some chicken – looked like a fast and easy recipe. It was a hit! So easy to make, only marinated for a couple of hours, but still full of flavor and one pan is always a bonus! We ate it in tortillas and also my daughter made hers into a bowl with rice instead of a tortilla. Very versatile and will definitely keep in rotation. Glad to have recipes that taste delicious with pantry staple ingredients. Thanks!
This recipe was simple and delicious! Probably the best chicken fajitas I have ever made! Definitely restaurant quality!
WOW! I made these for dinner and it was maybe the easiest dinner ever! We served ours with white rice and did a burrito bowl style dinner. The marinade was key. So easy and delicious!
Easy, delicious, zero points! Love your recipes!
Delicious and so easy! The chicken came out so juicy too!
Full of flavor and great for meal prep!
Delicious!! I had rotisserie chicken to use so I cut the breast and small strips and use the marinade with the already cooked chicken for a few hours in the fridge. When the peppers were done I just added the chicken and then the salsa for just a few minutes super super easy and so delicious
Delicious! I served this over rice. So tasty and so easy to make. Thanks Steph.
Delicious
This was SO good and flavorful! It has become my go to way to make chicken or steak fajitas now. I love thé mix of salsa and pepper/onions together with the meat.
Another fantastic recipe! Wish I would have tried it sooner.
These are great. I use salsa lime marinated chicken breasts from Sendiks and still use the marinade in the recipe. Tonight I added mushrooms and garlic to the mix– SO GOOD. These are a fav.
I”m confused as to when to slice the chicken- before marinating, or after cooking it?
after cooking it 🙂
These authentic chicken fajitas are a burst of flavor with tender chicken, perfectly seared veggies, and a medley of spices. Outstanding
Best fajitas ever! Just made these tonight and the chicken was the most flavorful and moist chicken for our fajitas. Definitely cook the chicken is whole pieces then slice and adding the 1/4 c of salsa was huge! We will make this again!
So easy and flavorful and so many ways to eat it. In a wrap. Over salad. Over rice. Great meal prep.
So easy and delicious! My boyfriend and I both loved it! I didn’t have salsa, so I just diced up a tomato and seasoned with chili powder, cumin, and a little salt and pepper. We used corn tortillas since he’s gluten free. Will definitely be making again!
It says in point 1: thinly slice the chicken breast. Is this a typo?
Amazing recipe! I kept saying WOW with every bite. So fast to throw together with tons of favor.