Marinated Chicken Fajitas are one of our Mexican restaurant go to dishes. Now we enjoy them at home! This marinade makes the chicken taste just like at the restaurant. Love the flavors from the sautéed onions and peppers with the meat, and don’t even need any extras like sour cream or guacamole (don’t need doesn’t necessarily mean we don’t use…) We always make extra of this meat and freeze it in 4 oz. packages so we have it readily available for salads or quinoa bowls!
The Marinade – This is the key to great Marinated Chicken Fajitas!
We’ve played with this one quite a bit to get the flavor to match what you get from the restaurants. I like to mix it up in a gallon bag so it’s easy to add the chicken and mix it together to get the most liquid against the chicken. We like to make a bunch of chicken when we go through this process so we have extra in the freezer for salads or quinoa bowls. Each gallon bag of marinade can handle 4-6 chicken breasts. Because each bag uses half the bottle of teriyaki sauce, we typically make 2 batches at a time (we had 9 breasts in the freezer when we filmed the video, so worked great!) As long as you’re heating the grill and going through the process, you might as well cook a bunch!
The main component in the marinade is a teriyaki sauce. I really like Lawry’s Teriyaki Marinade. This is one of their 15 minute marinade series. I have tried others, and while still good, they don’t have the same taste I was looking for! For each batch, you’ll use half the bottle of marinade, so 6 oz. or 3/4 cup.
Add 3 cloves of minced garlic, 2 Tbsp. of olive oil and 2 Tbsp. of soy sauce then mix all together in the gallon bag.
The Chicken
We use boneless chicken breasts for most things chicken in our house. Rene’ doesn’t care for the way dark chicken meat tastes, so we don’t use it very often. The flavor is truer to traditional fajitas if you use chicken thighs instead, so feel free to go your own way with these! They’ll definitely be juicier and more flavorful if you do, but you also give up a bit of the healthiness of the chicken by making that decision.
With the breasts, I like to remove any excess fat on them then cut them into thirds so there is more surface area to absorb the marinade, but the pieces are still big enough to we easily handled on the grill. I have tried poking the breasts with a fork to see if they absorb more flavor, but it didn’t seem to make much difference…
Once your chicken is ready, place it in the bag with the marinade and allow to sit for several hours before you grill them.
The Fajita Veggies
Fajita Veggies don’t have to be extravagant. We normally cut a bell pepper into strips (red provides a big color contrast!) and half a yellow onion by slicing it into 3/4″ slices then cutting each slice in half to create long strips.
Use 1 Tbsp. of butter in a large fry pan to sauté the veggies until still crispy but cooked to be tender.
We find the marinade on the chicken and flavor of the veggies is often enough for us. Feel free to add other fajita favorites such as sour cream, guacamole, lettuce, cheese, etc. for your personal taste!
Grilling the Marinated Chicken
Preheat the grill and clean the rack once it is warm.
Turn the heat down to medium low (your grill should stay between 350F – 400F). Place the marinated chicken on the grill. I usually flip the chicken after 8-9 minutes and it is done after both sides have their time. If it is colder outside, you might need a bit more time. The larger pieces on the video took and extra 5 minutes). You want to make sure your chicken is cooked through (this is NOT the time to go for medium rare!)
Time To Eat Marinated Chicken Fajitas!
Thin slice the meat that you’re going to use on your fajitas. Cut against the grain of the meat to make the slices easier to bite.
We like flour tortillas with our fajitas. Corn tortillas are great, but somehow fajitas just seem to scream for flour.
Heat the tortillas in the microwave for 10 seconds per tortilla. Add the meat and veggies for a great meal!
We also made this video if you want to see how we made ours.
Leftover Meat
We measure our leftover meat so we can have 4 oz. serving sizes. We wrap them in plastic wrap and foil to avoid freezer burn and throw them in the freezer. These are great for salads or our quinoa bowl. They are also fantastic to just heat up with a vegetable for a quick dinner!
Wine Time
A couple of whites to consider:
Chardonnay- matches with the buttery flavor of the veggies
Sauvignon Blanc plays off the sweetness of the sauce and the taste of the peppers
If you want to go red, think about lighter reds:
Pinot Noir, Malbec or a Rioja (Tempranillo) are great choices! These will all allow the sweet and buttery flavors of the fajitas to shine through. They also play off the teriyaki flavoring and pull out the flavor of the chicken.
Marinated Chicken Fajitas
Course: Chicken, Entrees, RecipesCuisine: MexicanDifficulty: Easy6
servings20
minutes18
minutes359
kcal3
hours3
hours38
minutesThis marinade makes the chicken taste just like at the restaurant. Love the flavors from the sautéed onions and peppers with the meat, and don’t even need any extras like sour cream or guacamole (don’t need doesn’t necessarily mean we don’t use…) We always make extra of this meat and freeze it in 4 oz. packages so we have it readily available for salads or quinoa bowls!
Ingredients
4 Chicken Breasts – trimmed and chopped into thirds
6 oz. Lawrys Teriyaki Marinade
3 cloves Garlic – minced
2 Tbsp. Olive Oil
2 Tbsp. Soy Sauce
1 Red Bell Pepper – cut into strips
1/2 Yellow Onion – cut into strips
1 Tbsp. Butter
12 Flour Tortillas – fajita size
Any toppings you want – Sour Cream, Guacamole, Cheese, Lettuce, etc.
Directions
- Place teriyaki marinade, minced garlic, olive oil and soy sauce in a gallon size bag. Mix thoroughly.
- Add chicken to the marinade. Seal and allow to marinate for at least three hours in the refrigerator.
- Preheat grill. Cook chicken for about 9 minutes per side until cooked through.
- While chicken cooks, melt butter in a heavy frying pan and sauté onions and peppers until tender crisp.
- Thin slice cooked chicken against the grain.
- Heat tortillas. We usually microwave for 10 seconds per tortilla so they don’t break as easily.
- Fill tortillas with meat and veggies and any other toppings you desire.