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 just want to say thank for this recipe and for this blog. I have tried so many recipes from here and my family has loved every single one. Thanks for helping us save money and for the delicious, easy meals!!
Made these tonight. Followed the recipe exactly except that I only had smoked paprika. They are delicious! I can’t thank you enough for this post. I will make these again and again, for sure! Next time I will try with regular sweet paprika and see the difference.
Going to try this one in a few days, seems like a great recipe! However, I am extremely jealous of your low food costs, I live on a semi isolated island and would pay the $7 just for the 3 peppers most days….sighhhh.
WOW!! Amazingly good. I used coconut oil and it really was tasty! I eat gluten free so I just threw it over some rice. It was like a burrito bowl :)
One of our favorites!
made these twice – splurged and got a pre taco mix and added other veggies like zucchini. Definitely a go to from now on! Liked it better than the Ropa in the crock pot.
Made this last night for dinner for me and my boyfriend. it was my first go at Fajitas personally and it was AMAZING. I will definitely be making this again ! Thanks! :D
THANK YOU SO MUCH for this recipe. I have been eyeballing this recipe for a year now and finally today I tried it. I definitely thought it was too good to be true to make fajitas in the oven but omg so amazing and so easy!!! This will def be a staple in my diet. Thanks so much again.
Good Lord Beth, these fajitas are TO DIE FOR! So excellent. You are such a blessing!
I made these last night and they were delicious with gluten free corn tortillas. I mixed the veggies with seasoning first then put some in a separate pan for my vegetarian roommate before adding the chicken. I still used a store-bought fajita seasoning packet because buying all the spice bottles I need would cost about $30! I may make this 30 times in a lifetime, but for now I’m gonna to stick with spice packets that are more friendly to a college student’s budget.
Hey, just a hint for you, in the Spanish food aisle, in any grocery store, they sell packs of the individual spices for like 50 cents a piece.
A time saving tip is to get the fajita seasoning pack while at the store, it has all the ingredients and really cuts down the prep time!
You’re paying quite a bit for the convenience of having someone else simply mix a couple spices together. I also prefer Beth’s seasoning mix and it has the bonus of being customizable to your taste.
Be careful! The preview recipe calls for 8 tsp of cayenne & it was soooooooooo hot! Its 1/8 of a tsp. Hope this gets fixed so no one else makes this mistake
Yeah, that’s an issue with Pinterest and I’ve emailed about them about the way their program or whatever grabs the recipe information. There is often incorrect info in the recipe previews. They have not fixed it. :( I wish they would make it editable!
I made these at the beach a couple of weeks ago. I just prepped everything in the morning and left them in the fridge until we came back that evening. My family loved them so much and they were so easy to prepare. My husband requested them again so they are in the oven right now. They smell delicious and we can’ t wait to eat them. Thanks so much for the recipe.
I’ve made these several times and love them. Last time I mistakenly grabbed my bag of smoked paprika vs sweet paprika, and what a lovely mistake that was! I think that is going to be a permanent variation to the recipe for me.
I’ve been using the smoked paprika myself and I think it makes a huge difference! It gives the fajitas more of a “grilled” taste.
Really good. As a preference, I will leave out some of the sugar. It was a bit sweet for me. I also put on a sheet pan so the veggies and meat would roast more. I prepared the meat, veggies and seasoning and froze them (each separately, although I think you could mix them). I then thawed and cooked as directed. It worked out really well. We used this in taco salads for dinner and then fajitas for lunch the next day.