Today I’ve got another great recipe for you that doesn’t take too many ingredients. At the very least, the primary recipe doesn’t have many ingredients, but like always, you can spice it up with extra toppings and such. Today we’re talking about fajitas, specifically chicken fajitas, but you could always make steak or vegetarian fajitas as well. When it comes down to it, all you need for chicken fajitas is a chicken breast, onion, bell pepper and tortillas.
These are fairly inexpensive ingredients, but if you wanted, you can even get all of these things from the Marketplace in a to-go box between the salad bar and the grill. If you choose that option then you don’t even need to cook the chicken breast yourself, and it just makes it that much less likely you end up giving yourself food poisoning. That’s always the goal for chefs who aren’t confident, I think.
The only somewhat difficult ingredient for this recipe is the seasoning for the fajitas. I’ve included a recipe for a fajita seasoning if you want to make your own, but otherwise you can either buy some at the store or just spice with seasonings you do like.
If nothing else, you could also use taco seasoning, which is different from fajita seasoning in that it lacks garlic powder and onion powder. It’ll still probably be fine though, so if that’s all you can get don’t worry about it.
So, let’s get to the actual cooking. If you’re working with raw chicken breasts then you’re going to want to put some of the seasoning on the raw chicken and let that sit in the fridge for a little while. You can also mix some of the seasoning with some lemon juice to make a more proper marinade rather than a rub. Just sort of wing it; it’ll be fine. If you’re seasoning your raw chicken, then you should probably let that sit for at least half an hour.
While that is soaking in the flavors, you can slice your onion and bell peppers if you didn’t get pre-sliced.
After you wait for the amount of time you are willing to wait, you should cook the chicken in a pan with a little cooking oil of your preferred variety until it seems cooked through. After it is cooked you cut it into slices, so if the chicken is still a little pink then you should just keep cooking it until it’s actually ready.
After the chicken is ready you should add a bit more oil and the peppers and onion along with more of the seasoning. If you had a pre-cooked chicken breast then you can actually cook the onions and peppers with oil and the seasonings at the same time as the chicken. In that case you’re really just reheating the chicken (and ideally infusing the seasoning into it), but it’s more important to make sure you cook the vegetables to the level of softness you prefer.
When all the fillings are cooked, hot and seasoned then you can get ready to serve them up! Typically fajitas are served with tortillas, but I’m hardly a fajita cop, so if you’d rather have your meal in taco shells, on tortilla chips or even on a bed of lettuce as a fun fajita salad, then you should absolutely go for it. If you want to do this the traditional way then load up a flour or corn tortilla and enjoy.
Also, toppings aren’t necessary, but if you want them you can put any combination of lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, salsa, sour cream and guacamole on your fajitas. Again, this is your meal so feel free to make these the way you are going to enjoy them the most. I hope you do make and enjoy this meal, and if you do I hope it makes you feel a little more like a person who does know how to cook.
