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. 😄
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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
- Enamelware Sheet Pan
Nutrition
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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!
Can you make this with beef strips?
Hmm, I haven’t tried that. I’m not sure if they’ll get tough in the oven with this method.
Yes you can! I’ve made this recipe countless times over the years and I alternate between beef and chicken! I just get a cheap cut of beef, like round steaks (and then cut them into strips) or beef already cut into strips for stir fry. I follow the recipe exactly as written and my beef has never been tough. It may help that I cut the strips very thin to stretch out the meat since I don’t use much.
This is soooo much easier than stir frying it in a pan and it leaves me time to make the guacamole and Mexican rice while it cooks. Thank you.
Just made this for dinner! Turned out delicious! Just the right amount of spicy too. Will definitely make again!
I make this all the time! It’s great for entertaining as well I just chop everything up & mix spices before hand.
This is a great recipe. I threw in a coarsesly chopped tomato because I like roasted tomatoes so much. And, I halved the sugar, not that it made much difference. The veggies caramelized beautifully with less sugar. Served with sour cream, salsa, and homemade flour tortillas. I will never order fajitas in a Mexican restaurant again. These were so much better, esp with the tomato and only red and orange peppers. And a big hit with the family.
Cooked it tonight for dinner. Easy and tasted great. Added some smoked paprika for smokey flavor. Thanks.
Made this tonight for a picky family of 6 & it was a huge hit! Everyone loved it! Wouldn’t change a single thing!
I love these! Any suggestions for turning it into a crock pot meal?
I wouldn’t suggest this one for the crock pot because you really need the dry air of the oven to get the right texture/flavor. Slow cookers hold in all the moisture, which will stew the vegetables instead of roasting them.
Best recipe ever. I use it for meal prep. I don’t use tortilla, I just add some brown rice to my meal prep containers weight the chicken with veggies. So delicious
Please no me the recipe for chicken fajitas. Thank you
Another winner. I made this for dinner tonight and it was fantastic. I chopped the peppers and onions on Sunday so all I had to do was add the spices and put in the over. So good.
This recipe was fantastic!! Didn’t have the cayenne pepper, so subbed crushed red pepper and was great!! (Not to mention, had to triple spices because of how much I had to cook, for 4)!! One if our new favorites!!!!
Have you ever tried this recipe with shrimp instead of chicken? Would that work too?
I haven’t, but I think it would work if you add the shrimp later in the baking time. Shrimp cooks really quickly and gets tough if you let it go too long. :)
I used 1 lb. of jumbo shrimp, peeled, and it was awesome.
I just wanted to write to say I love this recipe! We often make it with steak instead of chicken because that’s my husbands preference for fajitas. We also have done this as a freezer meal! We will add everything to the bag and freeze (yes you can use frozen peppers and onions, they are soft, but not bad). During the time to thaw the marinade has plenty of time to work. I’ve also made this with lemon juice when that’s what was in the house and i couldn’t tell the difference. Thank you for sharing the recipe :D
This is my FAVORITE budget bytes recipe. I make it at least every other week. My husband loves it and leftovers are delicious! Would a bag of frozen peppers work for this? Sometimes I just don’t have time to prep veggies. Plus frozen are soooo much cheaper!
Frozen peppers might work, but there’s a chance that they’ll be too soft after thawing. Freezing makes ice crystals in the cells, which tear through the cell wall, making the vegetables limp once they thaw.