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Martha Rose Shulman's Chicken Fajitas
Updated Aug. 3, 2024
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- Total Time
- 1¾ hours
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- Finely grated zest of 1 lime (about 2 teaspoons)
- ¼cup fresh lime juice
- Salt and black pepper
- 2teaspoons cumin seeds, lightly toasted and ground
- 2tablespoons adobo sauce from canned chipotles in adobo
- 1chipotle chile in adobo, seeded and minced (optional)
- ¼cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 4large garlic cloves, minced or put through a press
- 1½pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast
- 1large red or yellow onion, halved and sliced
- 2red bell peppers (or 1 red and 1 orange or yellow), seeded and sliced about ¼ inch thick
- 1green bell pepper, seeded and sliced about ¼ inch thick
- 1jalapeño or 2 serrano chiles, minced
- ¼cup chopped cilantro
- 4large flour or 8 corn tortillas
- 1tablespoon grapeseed or canola oil (or use olive oil)
- 1romaine heart, sliced crosswise
- Salsa fresca, for serving (see recipe)
- Queso fresco, for sprinkling
Preparation
- Step 1
In a small bowl, combine lime zest and juice, ½ teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon ground cumin, the adobo sauce and optional minced chipotle, ¼ cup olive oil and half the garlic. Mix well. Set aside 2 tablespoons of the marinade.
- Step 2
Season chicken with salt and pepper and place in a resealable bag. Pour in the marinade and seal bag. Move chicken around to coat well, place bag in a bowl and refrigerate for 30 minutes (or up to 12 hours). Flip the bag over from time to time to redistribute marinade.
- Step 3
Heat a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat and add 2 tablespoons olive oil. When oil is hot, add onions and cook, stirring, until they soften and begin to color, 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in bell peppers and chile and cook, stirring, until peppers begin to soften, 3 to 4 minutes.
- Step 4
Turn heat to medium, add remaining garlic and cumin and salt to taste, and cook, stirring often, until peppers are nicely seared, softened and beginning to caramelize, 5 to 8 minutes.
- Step 5
Pour in reserved 2 tablespoons marinade and scrape bottom of pan with a wooden spoon to deglaze. Add half the cilantro, and stir together. Taste and adjust seasoning. Remove from heat but keep warm.
- Step 6
Wrap tortillas in foil and warm in a low oven, or wrap in a towel and warm in a steamer or in the microwave.
- Step 7
Heat grapeseed or canola oil over medium-high heat in a large, heavy skillet. Remove chicken breasts from marinade, reserving marinade, and pat dry with paper towels. Add to pan, rounded side down, and sear for 3 to 4 minutes, until lightly charred. Flip breasts over, pour in marinade, cover pan and reduce heat to medium. Cook 12 to 15 minutes, flipping over from time to time, until a thermometer registers 160 to 165 degrees when inserted into thickest part. Transfer to a cutting board and cover with foil. Let sit 5 to 10 minutes, then cut across the grain into ½- to ¾-inch thick strips.
- Step 8
Arrange lettuce on a platter, then place chicken next to lettuce. Tip juices from cutting board over chicken and sprinkle with cilantro. Serve vegetables on the same platter or separately. Serve with warm tortillas, salsa and crumbled queso fresco.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
My one tip is to cut the chicken breast in half sideways, reducing the thickness, before marinating. That way you can char them wonderfully for just half the time, eliminating the problem of dry chicken.
Absolutely the BEST chicken fajitas ever! Tips: * Slice the chicken breasts in half horizontally. More surface for the marinade * Don't skip the added adobo chile. It's a very small amount for a lot of vegetables = big benefit! * Remember to keep the 2T of marinade aside in the first step. It really shines when added later. * I flipped the cooking order and cooked the chicken first - followed by the onions/peppers. This helped the onions/peppers pick up the carmelization from the chicken.
Really first-rate fajitas. I used chicken thighs, because that's what I had on hand. I added the adobo sauce, which is hot, itself, but not the chopped chipotle, serrano or jalapino, which would have made the dish super-hot.
I was dismayed to find that I was out of canned Chipotle peppers! I subbed 2 tablespoons tomato paste and 1 tablespoon of Chipotle powder, and it worked great.
After marinating, I grilled the chicken instead of cooking it in a skillet. It was terrific!
These are the best fajitas I've ever tasted. It's the chipotle chili in the adobo sauce that really makes it. I noticed the recipe here says these ingredients are optional. Really, they are crucial in this dish! You can get a can in any Mexican grocery or any grocery that has a good section of Mexican food. A great meal!
My suggestion, having cooked bell peppers and onions for many, many years, is to cook the bell peppers first until they are half way cooked, then add the onions. Bell peppers have a lot of water. It takes a long time for them to cook. If you cook the onions first, then add the peppers, the onions will burn. Peppers for some ready give me a lot of acid reflux, so I really need them to be cooked through.
Urban Accents makes a delicious mildly hot sauce that was terrific with this. It's called "Tangy Tomatillo Garlic Simmering Sauce. urbanaccents.com I found it at Whole Foods Charlottesville, VA.
I didn’t use this marinade on chicken but I use it on hanger steak and it is my go to marinade. Whether I’m making fajitas, tacos, or steak quesadillas.
Good recipe but takes a lot of time to prep everything
My husband doesn't like even the slightest hot in his food, so I used the recipe as described by two others with only these changes. I cooked the chicken first so the vegetables could get all of that good flavor and fond. I used tomato paste and cumin with a tiny sprinkle of crushed red pepper in the marinade rather than hot peppers. It was so flavorful and my husband didn't even notice the sprinkle of red pepper. I will make this again for sure.
Made just as written. Delicious. The peppers were off the charts!
There are so many positive comments here that I went ahead and made the dish for my family without field testing it first, which was a mistake. I used thin-sliced chicken breast and only marinated for about an hour & a half. None of the marinade flavors came through, which was a surprise, since I’ve cooked with chipotle & adobo sauce before so I’m familiar with its strength. Also, do not cook the onions first or they will totally shrivel by the time the peppers are done.
Beyond restaurant anything I have had in a restaurant. When I reattempt these next, I will: 1) Continue to cut the chicken into strips before marinading 2) Marinade the chicken longer 3) Make an additional marinade to add to the veggies 4) Continue to use the chipotle chile from the adobo sauce in the marinade 5) Having guacamole with the fajitas was a game changer
Very good. Used 1 tsp ground cumin, 1 Tablespoon adobo sauce, just part of a chipotle pepper (not a whole)
Superb! Forgot the jalapeno but had already added adobe sauce and optional adobe pepper with seeds. Cut everything up, put it all in a plastic bag, poured in all of the marinade and left for 5 hours. Grilled everything together on cast iron griddle on my grill at 450 degrees. Heavenly smells as it cook. Amazing flavors. Thanks Ms. Shulman!
This was out of this world good! We set aside more of the marinade and cooked the chicken on our la plancha on a charcoal grill and then poured the marinade over the chicken after it cooked, deglazing the pan. We added mushrooms to the veg mix. We're in San Diego so are surrounded by excellent Mexican food and this was truly better than any restaurant fajitas we've ever had. A total keeper.
Less cumin on onions, don’t skimp adobo sauce, fry pan for peppers, more cilantro, higher quality pico de gallo
Less cumin on the veggies, more adobo sauce, Cheryl didn’t like the pico de gallo, actual quest not cotija
So good. - Cook the chicken before the veggies. - Use breast from a whole chicken with the skin on and char with the skin side down so some of the fat renders. You can reduce the oil if you do this. - After the chicken is cooked and out, drain any extra grease and deglaze with some water and the reserved marinade. Reduce, scraping the pan to release all the tasty bits. Once reduced, strain the sauce into a bowl. - Add the reserved pan sauce to your veggies at the end.
The first time I made this, I made it as written except that I sliced the chicken breasts in half, thickness-wise, and pan-fried the marinated chicken breast without wiping off the marinade and without cooking the chicken in the marinade. This resulted in reducing down the adobo flavors in the oil after having driven off all the water. The second time, I made it as written. I found that the chicken from the first time was much more flavorful and easily the best I've ever had.
I spiced up this recipe slightly (as a Texan should!) by increasing the cumin in the marinade to two teaspoons and using two chipotle chilis in adobe sauce, leaving in the seeds. A little more of a kick, ya’ll! Pair with Alton Brown’s “Fully-loaded Guacamole” and corn tortillas, and you’ve got yourself a real meal.
- Boneless chicken thighs are more flavorful and less dry than breasts. - Cut up the chicken before you cook, or better, before you marinate, to cook faster. - Add liquid smoke or Chipotle Tabasco to the marinade to get that smoky flavor without setting off your fire alarms. It also works with tofu and shrimp, which you shouldn't overcook. - Consider umami: crumbled porcini mushrooms or soy sauce in the marinade - Consider a bit of sweetness. I used dried cranberries, minced.
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