Student Suppers: Homemade Chicken Fajitas

While I promise that I’ve got a brand new recipe planned for you next week, as Cinco de Mayo is coming up I could not help but share another archived recipe that I posted way back in 2013 (!) when I was living in West Los Angeles attending the University of California, Los Angeles as an exchange student. My Homemade Chicken Fajitas are one of my favourite weeknight go-to’s both for entertaining and just a quick supper, and I think should make the star of your spread with lots of soured cream, shredded Mexican or crumbled feta cheese, lots of fresh lime wedges, fresh pico de gallo salsa and boozy, tequila spiked guacamole (the recipes of the latter two are in my book Student Eats, which is a total steal on Amazon as a £1.99 Kindle edition!)

While growing up back in the days of spice sachet fajitas before I figured out how to make my own spice mixes up we always used chicken, which is why I naturally gravitated towards using it in my first ever fajita recipe (note: this recipe is such a ‘classic Rachel’ I’ve not even included any avocado in the photos – I did not realise how much I loved it until I was in my 20’s!) but this mix works perfectly well with steak, prawns, and even chickpeas for a vegan number. Just follow the instructions as below, except if you’re making the prawns add them at the end until they’re just cooked through so you don’t get rubbery seafood! If you want, you can also make up a load of the spice mix and keep it in an tub in the spice rack for even quicker and easier fajitas and tacos, just use 1 tsp to 1 1/2 tsp (depending how spicy you like it) per person when marinating your proteins!

As they’re food for sharing, I see these fajitas as very much Friday night food, so do pair them with a good margarita (or two!). Also in Student Eats I’ve shared my recipes for a Classic Margarita and a Mexican Beer Margarita, but here on the blog you can also find my recipes for a Frozen Mango Margarita, Cucumber & Jalapeno Margarita and a Blood Orange Margarita. You can tell the margarita is my favourite cocktail, right?

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Homemade Chicken Fajitas

• Author: Rachel Phipps
• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 15 minutes
• Total Time: 25 minutes
• Yield: Serves 2
• Category: Dinner
• Cuisine: Mexican

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Description

These easy, 100% homemade chicken fajitas are a great Friday night meal (with a pitcher of margaritas to share, of course!) and great for feeding a crowd!

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 1 Large Chicken Breast
• Juice 1/2 Lime
• 1 tsp Chili Powder
• 1/4 tsp Cumin
• 1/2 tsp Light Olive or Vegetable Oil, plus extra for frying
• 1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper (it is this, not the chili powder so much that give this spice mix its kick, so if you prefer less spice, add only a pinch of this instead of the full amount)
• 1/4 tsp Dried Oregano 
• 1 White Onion
• 1 Red Pepper
• Salt

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Instructions

1. Combine the spices, oregano, olive oil, lime juice and a pinch of salt in a small bowl. Slice the chicken into small bite sized strips and add to the bowl. Mix well so all the chicken is covered in spice marinade. Cover with cling film and leave in the fridge for at least an hour to marinate. This can be done in advance, for example before you leave for class in the morning so your dinner will be relatively quick to put together in the evening after a long day even if you are multiplying the recipe up a couple of times to feed a lot of friends. 
2. When you are ready to cook, slice your onion very thin wedge style, about a centimetre each in thickness. Slice the red pepper into salad style strips.
3. Add a little oil to a large pan and over a medium to high heat fry the onions and the peppers together for a few minutes until the onions are almost soft and have a bit of colour. Now, as anyone who follows me on Instagram will know my fajitas happen in a Wok. While when you are cooking the usually proportion of ingredients for this recipe for the two of you everything will fit into most big saucepans, once you quantities start to get a bit bigger most of us don’t have a (preferably non stick) pan big enough for the operation except for our Woks. Ever since my Dad figured out this was the only way we would be serving up fajitas for all three of us when we first started making them, now even if there are bigger and better pans on hand, when making fajitas I will always reach for my Wok; it works really well!
4. Add the chicken and any of its juices out of the marinade bowl and cook on a high heat for about 6 to 10 minutes until all the chicken is cooked and white all through. The exact timing will really depend on how thick you cooked your chicken pieces.
5. Serve still in the pan to keep the chicken and vegetables warm, with warmed tortillas and everything in small bowls so people can help themselves. Coronas with lime wedges or homemade frozen margaritas recommended.

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