You guys!! Make Sheet Pan Fajitas for a quick and healthy weeknight (or weekend) meal! What in the world are Sheet Pan Fajitas? Sheet Pan Fajitas are made on a cookie or baking sheet instead of a skillet. The prep work is the biggest time consumer when making the fajitas, but once you start cooking the recipe comes together in roughly 10 minutes. You can feed a large crowd OR scale down this recipe for 2 people, it’s highly versatile to fit your needs.
If you say, but I prefer fajitas when you caramelize the meat and vegetables in a hot skillet. The taste won’t be the same in the oven!
My rebuttal is, it won’t taste exactly the same, but you’re going to broil the ingredients in the oven rather than bake them. The broiler will give you the browning and blackening you desire to caramelize the meat and vegetable for a fantastic fajita taste!
You’ll respond by saying, holy shit Christina, you’re a God damn genius!
Holy crap I’m so distracted right now. I should be talking about the recipe, but I would rather update you on our housing situation. You guys, Kieran and I have an actual shot at a house that we just put an offer on. I’m probably jinxing the fuck out of myself right now, talking about the house on this post before the sale is final, but this is the first real shot we’ve had at home ownership in Portland so I’m dying to tell you about it!! You’ve heard me whine and moan about being outbid 11 times on homes we put offers on. Trying to find a house has been a pain in the ass, not to mention depressing, but we may have caught a break!
Our agent’s assistant showed us a few houses a while back. She’s a sweet girl with a good sense of humor, we hit it off immediately. On our 2-3rd time seeing houses with her, she informed us she’s thinking about selling her house, and if she does, she would be willing to let Kieran and I look at it pre-sale. We couldn’t believe our luck! We went back and forth with the assistant, as she changed her mind about selling after she initially brought the subject up, but after weighing her options, she decided it was in her best interest to sell. That meant not only did Kieran and I get the opportunity to view the house but were able to bid on the house with no competition. Each house we’ve bid on in the past had 3 offers or more, the highest being 19, so having the chance to be the sole bidder feels amazing.
Our offer has been officially submitted, folks! Of course, the assistant doesn’t have to accept our offer, so there’s a chance we won’t get the house, but we’re grateful she’s given us the opportunity! The house has a fun and funky layout featuring 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a root cellar, and a spacious backyard with 7 raised garden beds. Our condo in Chicago was 800 square feet, this monster house is 2,000 square feet, we feel like we’d be living in a mansion! Being so large the home is obviously more expensive, but it’s much more expensive than we anticipated, however, the house features a newly finished basement, with its own bathroom, that we could rent out the basement on Airbnb!
We’re not sure of the outcome yet, but this is the closest we’ve come to buying a house since moving to Portland. We’re nervous yet excited, fingers crossed! GAH!!
OK, enough dicking around, back to our regularly scheduled program, tacos.
No joke, I could nosh on Mexican food every day. Kieran and I make tacos every week for dinner. Since I’m counting calories we usually stick to simply seasoned chicken, a couple slices of raw red pepper, some diced onion, tomatoes, sliced avocado, and some hot sauce. Even though I adore taco’s I don’t come up with crazy funky flavors and sauces at home for the sake of my waistline. Simpler tacos = less calories = more taco’s I can eat = happy Christina! Sheet pan fajitas are a fun break from our weekly taco regiment so I look forward to making them on a regular basis.
If you want to save extra time in the kitchen, I suggest prepping the vegetables the weekend before you prepare this recipe. Each Saturday or Sunday I make salads for Kieran and me to enjoy for lunch the upcoming week. After I’m finished making the salads, I cut up the vegetables I intend to use in other recipes throughout the week. This past Sunday I sliced the peppers, onion, and the jalapeño for this recipe and stored them (together) in Tupperware, inside the fridge. I also cubed the chicken breast then stored it in a freezer bag, in the freezer. I allowed the chicken to thaw in the sink, the morning I was making fajitas, so when it was dinner time, all I had to do was throw the ingredients into a large bowl then mix with the oil and spices. While the Sheet Pan Fajitas were cooking I sliced tomatoes, the avocado, and warmed up the tortillas. Doing prep work the weekend before doesn’t work for each family, especially those with kids, but if you’re able it will save you 10-20 minutes at dinner time!
Along with pre-work beforehand, I encourage you to get creative with spices on this recipe. Years ago I stopped buying store bought taco seasonings because they’re packed with unnatural additives, so I now use whatever I have stocked in my spice rack. If you prefer store-bought taco seasonings use it, otherwise have fun with your spices and experiment! I’ve made the Sheet Pan Fajitas once using only salt and pepper and they were good too! Use my recipe as a guideline but feel free to add or omit the spices (or vegetables and meat) as you see fit, I bet pork and steak would be amazing as well!
And go hog wild with your toppings too. Add cheese, salsa, avocado, tomatoes, cilantro, lime juice, sour cream, you name it. If you think it will taste good on your fajita, throw that tasty son of a bitch in your flour tortilla and let your mouth have at it! It’s your mouth, keep it happy!!!
I hope you all enjoy this recipe for Sheet Pan Fajitas, thank for stopping by,
Christina
- 1 chicken breasts, cut into small bite-size cubes
- 1 red pepper, sliced
- 1 yellow pepper, sliced
- 1 poblano pepper, sliced
- ½ onion, thinly sliced
- 1 jalapeno, cut into rings
- Salt - depends on how salty you like it. You can start with ½ tablespoon or a couple of teaspoons and add additional salt (to your liking) after everything is cooked
- 1-2 teaspoons ground black pepper
- ½ tablespoon dried oregano
- ½ tablespoon dried thyme
- ½ tablespoons ground garlic powder
- ½ tablespoons of ground onion powder
- 2-3 teaspoons of smoked paprika
- 2-3 teaspoons ground mustard
- 2-3 teaspoons of ground turmeric
- 2-3 teaspoon of ground cumin
- Pinch (or 2) of cayenne pepper
- Big pinch of red pepper flakes
- Splash of grapeseed, olive oil, or any neutral oil
- Serve with cheese, salsa, avocado, tomatoes, cilantro, lime juice, sour cream, flour tortillas, ect
- Readjust the top rack in your oven to the 2nd rung down from the top. Turn the broiler on in your oven.
- Add the sliced veggies and cubed chicken into a big bowl. Throw the spices in the bowl and add a splash of oil. Toss all the ingredients until everything is well coated in both the spices and oil.
- Spill the contents of the bowl onto a sheet pan/baking sheet (lined with tin foil if you wish).
- Place the cookie sheet into the oven and set a timer for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes push everything around to ensure nothing is sticking to the baking sheet. Set the timer for another 2 minutes then take a peak, if you cut the chicken small enough, it should be done by now. Take a chunk of chicken out of the oven and cut it in half to ensure the center isn't pink.
- Once your chicken is fully cooked you can either take the sheet pan out of the oven or cook everything a little longer for the vegetables to blacken (or caramelize) to your liking.
- Remove the sheet pan from the oven and put the ingredients in a warm flour tortilla. Top with your favorite fajita toppings and enjoy!
While the Sheet Pan Fajitas were cooking slice up your toppings like tomatoes, avocado, ect, and warmed up your tortillas!
The recipe comes together quickly once it begins to cook. To make the overall process faster, I usually cut up my fajitas the weekend before I'm planning on making the recipe. The pre-cut veggies will last a few days in the fridge.
You can easily double or triple this recipe if you're making dinner for a large crowd!
Calorie Breakdown:
Calories will depend on the size of chicken and vegetables you use
1 chicken breast (5 oz)…233
1 red pepper… 37
1 yellow pepper… 50
1 poblano pepper… 48
1/2 onion….23
1 jalapeno…. 4
A splash of grapeseed oil (guessing1/4 cup).. 484
6 four tortillas… 660
Total: 1,539
3 tacos: 513
1 taco: 256.30
Not included in calorie count: cheese, salsa, avocado, tomatoes, cilantro, lime juice, sour cream, ect
*Note, I am not a nutritionist, nor am I pretending to be. I found the calorie counts by reading the nutrition labels on the food I purchased, searching Google, and using my Lose It! app on my phone.using my Lose It! app on my phone.
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