Limited on time? Make these healthy and easy Chicken Fajitas in only 30 minutes for a quick and delicious Mexican dinner tonight!
Chicken fajitas are a very popular meal in my house. Not only are they juicy, flavorful and healthy, but they’re also ready to eat in only 30 minutes!
Time is a big motivator for me. Too often I think I have to spend hours and hours in the kitchen in order to make a delicious meal. And while that holds true for authentic barbecue, slow cooker recipes and grandma’s famous stew, it doesn’t really reflect the majority of weeknight meals that I make.
So when I’m not in the mood to cook and can’t find the motivation to step into the kitchen, I ask myself, “How much total time am I willing to spend making a meal right now?”
Sometimes the answer is zero to five minutes. And those are the nights I eat leftovers or sandwiches. Sometimes it’s 10 to 20 minutes. That’s when I pan fry some chicken, steam some veggies and call it a day.
But most of the time, the answer is 30 minutes or less. Why? Because I can make myself do anything for 30 minutes. I can exercise for 30 minutes. I can clean for 30 minutes. I can pay attention in a boring meeting for 30 minutes. 30 is the magic number.
Cooking good food in that amount of time is totally possible and it doesn’t have to be complicated. Case in point – this 30 Minute Chicken Fajita recipe.
From start to finish, these fajitas should take you 30 minutes to make. I suggest having all of the tools you’ll need (measuring spoons, knives, cutting boards, bowls, etc…) and the ingredients in front of you ready to go in order to make the most of your time.
A quick chicken fajita marinade
The first thing you’ll want to do is slice the chicken into thin strips. This will help reduce the amount of time needed to thoroughly cook the meat. Then chop a handful of cilantro until you have about 1/4 cups worth. If you have any left over, save it for topping your fajitas at the end.
Add the chicken and cilantro to a large mixing bowl and toss together with the following ingredients:
- juice of 1 lime
- 1 tablespoon – cooking oil, minced garlic, chili powder
- 1 teaspoon – ground cumin, dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon – coarse kosher salt, paprika, Ancho chili powder
Cover and set the bowl aside to marinate while you slice prepare the peppers and onions.
How to make chicken fajitas
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add in a tablespoon of cooking oil and the chopped peppers and onions. Sprinkle with some salt and cook for about 8 minutes until the veggies are soft.
Remove them from the skillet, place in a large bowl, cover and set aside.
In the same skillet, add another tablespoon of cooking oil and the marinated chicken. Cook for 8 to 10 minutes, until the chicken is fully cooked through.
Add the cooked peppers and onions back to the skillet, mix together with the chicken and voila! Your chicken fajitas are officially done!
Isn’t that the easiest thing ever?
I served these chicken fajitas in some homemade flour tortillas, but you could also eat this with some Mexican Rice, Cilantro Lime Rice, low carb Cilantro Lime Cauliflower Rice or on top of salad greens.
More recipes you’ll love
- The BEST Easy Chicken Tacos
- The BEST Mexican Carnitas Recipe
- Easy Steak Fajitas
- Baja Fish Tacos
- Easy Guacamole Recipe
- Authentic Mexican Rice Recipe

Ingredients
For the meat and quick marinade
- 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast, sliced into thin strips
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
- 2 tablespoons lime juice (juice of 1 lime)
- 1 tablespoon cooking oil
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic (about 3 cloves)
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon ancho chili powder
For the peppers and onions
- 2 tablespoons cooking oil, divided
- 2 bell peppers, sliced into strips
- 1 large poblano pepper sliced into strips (or substitute with another bell pepper if you can't find poblanos)
- 1/2 large onion, sliced
- 1 pinch salt
Optional toppings
- guacamole, sour cream, chopped cilantro, flour or corn tortillas
Instructions
- Add all the ingredients for the quick marinade in a large mixing bowl. Toss together until chicken is evenly coated with spices. Cover and set aside.
- In a large skillet over medium-high heat, add 1 tablespoon of cooking oil. Add the peppers, onions and a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 8 minutes, until the veggies are soft.
- Remove from the skillet, place in a large bowl, cover and set aside.
- Add the remaining tablespoon of cooking oil to the same skillet. Add the marinated chicken and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, until chicken is fully cooked.
- Add the peppers and onions back to the skillet, toss together with the chicken and remove from heat.
- Serve in warm flour or corn tortillas and top with sour cream, guacamole and chopped cilantro.
I wish I had all the veggies to make this tonight! Ugh, just boring chicken for us, but maybe later this week.
Oh, I totally feel you there. I have BEEN THERE. Luckily, pepper season is right around the corner so you’ll have plenty of veggies on sale that you can pick up at the grocery store soon! Let me know when you make it. I’d love to know how it turns out!
I can’t wait to try this! It looks amazing!
I’ve been meaning to try to make fajitas at home and this recipe sounds so easy. I’ll try it this week.
Thanks, Aleya. It’s soooo easy to make 🙂
LOL I’m WITH you on the 30min or less! Cooking has never been a passion of mine, but eating has – this one is a def winning, thanks for sharing!
Right?! There’s something about “30 minutes or less.” I blame it all on Rachel Ray. She started it 😉
These look amazing!! my mouth is watering and it’s only 10am!! haha I can’t wait to try these out!
xo
Jalynn
http://www.theredclosetdiary.com
Woo hoo! That’s the goal – to make your mouth water!
looks amazing.. adding this to this weeks meal plan!
It is amazing what adding lime will do to a recipe! Yum yum!
Lovely pictures and the food looks so great and so quick to make
Zomg. I love this. Looks so yummy!
That looks SO delicious! Fajitas are one of my favorite meals.
This looks easy to make and delicious. Thank you for posting!
Yum! I really wanted taco’s tonight but had leftover soup instead. These look amazing and I’m always a sucker for guacamole!
I agree that the magical number is 30 minutes. Any longer than that and the pizza starts to sound like the better option 🙂 This looks like a delicious and efficient recipe! Yum! Will try soon for sure.
I totally hear you, Adina. It really is the magical number. Though pizza sounds like a good option after that, I don’t know about where you live but when I order delivery, it takes longer than 30 minutes anyways! So might as well get in the kitchen and get it over with 🙂
Great looking recipe, love mexican food. Making me hungry.
Can’t wait to cook these babies up! Thanks for sharing!
Well don’t these look delicious!! I’m going to have to add this to the menu for next week!
Those fajitas and that guac look so good. They seriously need to be in a restaurant already. Great post, thanks for making me drool on my keyboard :p
Thanks, Danielle! That means a lot!
Your photos are amazing! This looks absolutely incredible 🙂
OMtotheG this looks amazing, Now I want some tacos.
Easy and so flavorful would not mind having this for dinner tonight =) #client
Thanks, Adriana!