Busy Night Oven Chicken Fajitas
Worry-Free Fajitas Ready in Less Than an Hour
Check out the original recipe on the food blog Real Mom Kitchen Oven Baked Chicken Fajitas!
It doesn’t matter what kind of day I have had-I don’t ever dread making oven-baked fajitas. It could be after a day where everything might have gone wrong. It could be on a day when I am overly tired. It could also apply to a day when I don’t necessarily feel like cooking. This recipe is easy to follow and requires little cleanup. One of my favorite parts of this recipe is that there is one pan to cook the ingredients in and one cutting board to scrub when you are done. I am constantly on the lookout for easy one-pan ingredients that I can use for any night of the week. Feel free to pin the image below with the recipe and directions side-by-side (I can’t tell you the number of times I have taken pictures of the ingredients page and then scroll down to take another picture of the directions page on recipes for grocery shopping). This is an easy oven fajitas recipe that can also be substituted with strips of steak or shrimp if you adjust cooking time. Make tonight fajitas night.
Step-By-Step Directions
Step 1: Assemble your ingredients!
Time to gather all of the necessary ingredients! I like to grab the pre-cut fajitas peppers from my local grocery store to save time chopping. This isn’t necessary. You can easily grab and chop a red onion and a white onion and save the other half of the them for another recipe later on in the week. I prefer the Chipotle Rotel or the No Salt Added Rotel for the fajitas, but regular ol’ Rotel works just fine. Any fajita seasoning mix can work or you can make your own. I like to add additional seasonings as well. I also like the Frontera skillet sauces, but a chipotle sauce of any kind adds a little extra flavor after you add the peppers. The added sauce really makes the fajitas come together.
Step 2: Prep your dish. Preheat the oven.
Spray your baking tray with cooking spray, and preheat the oven to 400 before you assemble the dish. It cuts down on prep time. I like 400 for the chicken, but you may want to add some time if you use strips of steak. My husband’s favorite way to eat this dish is half chicken/half steak. I end up cooking that tray for about 45 minutes and check for the steak being done at the end of baking time.
Step 3: Season, season, season
Don’t be afraid to season your dish! It can go beyond just salt and pepper. You could go with just the package of seasoning, but I like to add another layer of flavor alongside the package of seasoning. Especially because I am using the sauce, everything mixes together and has a great flavor profile. I tend to work in the same way: I’ll start with pepper and seasoning salt, use my garlic powder and minced garlic, and then end with onion powder and minced onion. The last thing is to sprinkle a little bit of cumin and oregano over everything before mixing it all together.
Step 4: Stir and Mix
This step is easy. Just mix the seasonings, two cans of Rotel, and cut up raw chicken together in the tray.
Step 5: Add peppers and onions. Add sauce (Optional)
Chop your peppers and onions and add them to the mix. Then, cover the entire mixture with the sauce. This step is optional. If you are looking for a lower calorie or lower sodium meal option, you may want to skip this step. I like the Frontera brands of sauce, and the taco skillet sauce works just fine if the grocery store is out of the fajita sauce.
Step 6: Mix ingredients.
Stir it all together! if you are feeling fancy, top it off with oregano and pepper.
Step 7: Cook for 35 minutes. Garnish with your favorite toppings.
You don’t need to do any additional stirring while baking this dish. Just check your meat temperatures at the end of cooking to make sure everything cooked all the way through to done.
For chicken, cook for 35 minutes.
For half chicken/half steak, cook for 45 minutes
For shrimp, cook for 30-35 minutes
I also like to add pieces of sharp cheddar cheese, fresh salsa, and sour cream as my garnish toppings. Feel free to add whatever extra ingredients here to make your fajitas taste amazing.
For extra flavor, toast your tortillas! I like to warm a pan with some cooking spray and warm each side of the tortilla. The extra crispiness makes the fajita even better! I use a regular fajita-style tortilla, but you could also use the smaller taco size tortillas if you are serving a larger crowd.