These Sheet Pan Chicken Fajitas have been a Budget Bytes staple recipe since I first posted them eight years ago! I love fajitas, but they require a super hot griddle to get that nice smoky flavor, which also means a lot of smoky smell in my house and standing over a super hot stove. Not my favorite way to spend my evening. So I make baked fajitas instead. Is it exactly the same? No, BUT it’s almost completely hands-off (yay) and you get some nice caramelization on the edges of the peppers and onions, which gives you a similar char effect. I’ll save the real deal fajitas for when I’m at a restaurant and not doing the cooking. 😄
What Kind of Sheet Pan to Use
You definitely want the largest sheet pan (or baking dish) you can find for this recipe. It’s imperative that the chicken and vegetables are not too crowded on the baking sheet otherwise the steam will get trapped as they bake and you won’t get that nice caramelization that only happens in a dry heat environment. I’m using a 13×16 inch baking sheet here and in the original version of this recipe I used a 13×15 inch glass baking dish.
Make it Fit in your Budget
Red, yellow, and orange bell peppers are usually significantly more expensive than green bell peppers, but you can use any mix that fits your budget. Despite using a couple of more expensive colored peppers, I used more vegetables than meat to keep costs low. The meat to veggie ratio ended up being perfect once everything had been cooked down. If you want to make these Sheet Pan Chicken Fajitas vegetarian, try this Chipotle Portobello Oven Fajita recipe.
Make Your Own Fajita Seasoning or Buy Pre-Made
The ingredient list below might look long, but most of that is the fajita seasoning mix. So if you’re looking for a short cut or your kitchen spice cabinet is not well-stocked, you can simply use a packet of store-bought fajita seasoning.
Toppings for Chicken Fajitas
I like to keep my chicken fajitas really simple with just a squeeze of lime, maybe some fresh cilantro, and a small dollop of sour cream, but there are so many other things you could use to top your chicken fajitas. Try these toppings
- Shredded cheese
- Cotija cheese
- Green onions
- Salsa
- Guacamole or sliced avocado
- Pickled red onion
- Pico de Gallo
Sheet Pan Chicken Fajitas
Servings 4 (2 fajitas each)Ingredients
FAJITA SEASONING
- 1 Tbsp chili powder ($0.30)
- 1/2 Tbsp paprika ($0.15)
- 1/2 tsp onion powder ($0.05)
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder ($0.03)
- 1/4 tsp cumin ($0.03)
- 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper ($0.02)
- 1 tsp sugar ($0.02)
- 1/2 tsp salt ($0.02)
FAJITAS
- 2 small yellow onions (or one large) ($0.57)
- 3 bell peppers, any color ($3.69)
- 1 lb. chicken breast ($6.24)
- 2 Tbsp cooking oil ($0.08)
- 1 lime ($0.30)
- 8 6-inch tortillas ($1.28)
- 1/2 cup sour cream (optional) ($0.90)
- 1/4 bunch cilantro (optional) ($0.22)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Mix all of the spices for the fajita seasoning in a small bowl and set aside (chili powder, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, cumin, cayenne pepper, sugar, and salt).
- Cut the onion and bell peppers into 1/4-inch wide strips. Slice the chicken breast into thin strips. Add the chicken and vegetables to a large baking sheet or casserole dish.
- Drizzle the cooking oil over the chicken and vegetables, then sprinkle the fajita seasoning mix over top. Use your hands to toss the ingredients until everything is well coated in oil and seasoning. Spread the chicken and vegetables out over the baking sheet evenly.
- Bake the chicken and vegetables in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes, stirring once halfway through. Squeeze the juice from half of the lime over top of the meat and vegetables after they come out of the oven.
- To serve, scoop a small amount of meat and vegetables into the center of each tortilla. Top with a few sprigs of cilantro, a dollop of sour cream, and an extra squeeze of lime if desired.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Equipment
Nutrition
Video
What to serve with oven baked fajitas
Need a side dish to go with your Oven Fajitas? Try one of these awesome sides
Scroll down for the step by step photos!
How to Make Sheet Pan Chicken Fajitas – Step By Step Photos:
Begin by preheating the oven to 400ºF. In a small bowl, stir together 1 Tbsp chili powder (this is a mild blend, not hot red chiles), 1/2 Tbsp paprika, 1/2 tsp onion powder, 1/4 tsp garlic powder, 1/4 tsp cumin, 1/8 tsp cayenne, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1 tsp sugar. The sugar helps the vegetables caramelize and gives the dish a very subtle sweetness.
Slice three bell peppers and two small onions (or one large onion) into thin, 1/4-inch wide strips. Red, yellow, and orange bell peppers are usually more expensive than green, so use a mix of peppers that fits your budget.
Slice 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast into thin strips as well. Place the sliced bell peppers, onion, and chicken on a large sheet pan (13×16-inch). You want to avoid piling the ingredients in so deep that they begin to stew in their juices in the oven, instead of browning, so you’ll need the largest dish available. You can also use an extra large casserole dish, if you don’t have a large sheet pan.
Drizzle 2 Tbsp cooking oil over the meat and vegetables, followed by the fajita spice mix, then toss the ingredients until everything is well coated in oil and spices.
Now that everything is coated in oil and spices, it’s ready to go into the oven.
Roast the chicken and vegetables for 35-40 minutes at 400ºF, stirring once halfway through, or until the fajita veggies have softened slightly and are a bit brown on the edges.
Squeeze the fresh lime juice over the chicken and fajita veggies.
Serve hot with tortillas, extra lime wedges, sour cream, cilantro, or whatever other fajita toppings you like!
After many years, this is still the #1 best dish in my entire cooking repertoire, hands down, according to both me and my husband. SO. GOOD.
I do a non-authentic adaptation and serve it over yellow rice rather than in tortillas (because I’m lazy and it’s a little neater to eat), with shredded Mexican-blend cheese and a fat dollop of sour cream on top. I also tend to cook LARGE batches of this; we happily eat leftovers for several nights in a row! I buy a big pack of chicken breasts, about 12 bell peppers, and two big Vidalia onions, and I 4x the seasonings. Not sure if the proportions are exactly the same as Beth’s, but it works well for us. Oh–and it takes up two casserole dishes and definitely isn’t single-layered like Beth recommends…but again, that’s the lazy/practical adaptation that works well for us, in case someone else would like to try scaling it way up like I do!
Can I use frozen veggies? How might that change the recipe?
Thank you!
That should be fine! You should be able to just add them to the sheet pan frozen and cook as normal! If they’re a lot smaller, as frozen fajita veggies tend to be, you might just want to keep an eye out to make sure that they don’t burn.
Enjoyed by my family!
I only needed to cook for 15-20 minutes until my chicken was done (any longer and it would have been too dry.)
Hi
Do you have to do the oil and is so can you use a spray.
You definitely need a little oil at least! You can reduce the oil a bit or a spray should be okay.
This has been our go-to recipe for years! No one is ever disappointed!
Excellent recipe! Super easy and fast. Can I marinade the chicken overnight you think?
I’d say so!
Thank you guys so much for your recipe I hope it taste as good as it looks
I have been using this recipe for years now. I sometimes use beef instead of chicken. It always comes out great. Thank you for posting it!
I made this for the second time today. I only have to cook for two so both times I used leftover chicken from a grocery store rotisserie chicken as well as chicken broth from cooking the carcass. I seasoned the chicken and sauteed it with the seasoning and a little oil instead. The first time I made it I chopped the rest of the bunch of cilantro and squeezed the leftover lime and zest and froze it so I could use it for today. I also made extra seasoning which was ready when I made it the second time. This recipe is easy and very tasty! Thank you!
The chicken fajitas were pretty good. The chicken was a bit on the dry side, and not as flavorful as I expected. Additionally, the veggies were overcooked. I even cooked everything for 35 minutes and not 40 minutes. May give the recipe another try sometime. Thank you for sharing.
I am 44 year old female. I just bookmarked your website
Love this recipe which my mom has made for years..now that i live in a remote mountain area..I no longer have easy access to take out Mexican food so ive started preparing this recipe often! Thanks so much
I made this recipie for the first time on Tuesday night and it was great it is now going into the rotation. We used the soft street size net zero tortillas and it was hit with us! With most of the recipies with Budgetbytes I have to double the spices in the recipies (and I went ahead and did with this one) with this one I will not have to that or I will use the regular homemade taco seasoning that is on the website if I am in a hurry and just add lime juice. I did add about 1 1/2 t. of Badia Complete seasoning to it and it was just so yummy.
Beth, funny story. I have been cooking your recipe for years. When our house flooded we stayed with my in-laws for a month. My sister in law asked if we had any meal requests. Not being able to cook them myself, I sent her the link to your recipe. I just love the simplicity and taste. Thanks
Can a person use pre cooked drozen chicken stripes. Thawed?
You can use 1lb of chicken strips, but you’d still need to cut them into thinner strips, unless you prefer to eat the whole tender. In that case you’d need to cook them a bit longer.