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!
I added an extra green pepper, split it into two casserole dishes and did one with chicken and one with steak. Yum! The family loved it, and it was the easiest fajita recipe I’ve ever made!
Oh! And yellow bells were on sale, so I included one of those too!
Totally exceeded my expectations! Whenever I make fajitas at home, the peppers/onions don’t get that lovely browned coating that you see at restaurants. Baking it was the way to go – and so easy/hands-off compared to standing over the stove. Didn’t change a thing other than adding extra cayenne. Next time will double everything to stretch this for two meals and some lunches for us! I will be making this very frequently! :)
Delicious, thank you Beth!
Great recipe! We liked it a lot. Next time we’ll put it a bit shorter in the oven though :)
Making this tonight hope it turns out okay.
This was sooo good! Thank you!
Beth, this recipe is an absolute winner! I’ve made it for my family a few times (I can even prep it ahead and leave the pan, covered, in the fridge until it’s time to roast it in the oven … great weeknight meal that everyone loves).
But the best was when my 17-year-old son was having a party at our house and a bunch of his friends came over early to help him set up – I fed them a double batch of oven fajitas and was winner of the “Best Mom Ever” award. Some of these guys even asked me for the recipe, so they could make it for their families! A big win in my book!
Made this tonight, and my goodness it was goooood!!!
Happy (late) Cinco de Mayo…we made these for it, yesterday! My husband and I love fajitas, so I was excited to make these. I only used 1 pepper, 1.5 onions, and extra chicken. Everything was cut ahead of time (over the weekend) and bagged into vegi and meat bags.
When I was ready to cook last night, I took everything out of the bags, put them in the pyrex, and finished with the spices and oil. Things were cooked exactly at 40 minutes. We enjoyed these with sour cream and homemade guac. Even our 4 year old ate them! YUM!!!!! We will make these again.
Oh, and I have 2 days of work lunches where I am going to make people jealous!
Made this tonight, didn’t read the comments and used 4 tbs of oil at the end (for a bigger tray and all the chicken breast I had, maybe 600g). I should have followed the recipe. Even so, it didn’t turn out greasy and it was delicious. I rarely cook but this was so easy and delicious, I’m encouraged to try more from this web site. Thank you, Beth!
This was absolutely AMAZING!! So easy to make and clean up! My family loved the flavorful fajitas. I cant wait to have leftovers tomorrow for lunch. Thanks for sharing :)
Made this last night. Loved it! Due to various family diet restrictions, I left out the salt and sugar. Still delicious! I wondered if you could put a cup of rice and 2 c chicken stock in the pan before layering the veggies/chicken. Would the veggies come out too soggy? Just thinking of a way to have a complete meal in one dish. Due to celiac, we avoid the flour tortillas.
Yes, that will definitely make the veggies more soggy. They’ll steam instead of roast. :(
I made these tonight and just made our usual rice on the side, and served them with tortilla chips, too, like nachos :)
Another one added to my rotation. Delicious and easy. I forgot the lime juice, which I’ll try next time, but this was awesome. And it made my kitchen smell great.
This is by far the best recipe that I have tried recently. My husband and I seriously loved the recipe and the idea of making them in the oven. Great idea…this will become a regular in our home :)
This was easy and delicious. Thanks for sharing.