Steak Fajitas Recipe: Easy and Flavor-Full

Juicy, tender, and loaded with flavor, this steak fajitas recipe comes together fast and makes for an effortless weeknight family dinner. It’s so quick-and-easy that it is my go-to when I need that instant dose of Tex Mex flavor to brighten up my week.

Everything is from scratch but the whole thing cooks quick. The most time-consuming part is marinating the meat but if you can get that going a couple hours before, it’s all easy breeze from there. You’ll have dinner on the table in around 20 minutes. Tops.

What is Steak Fajitas?

Delicious foods from humble, inspiring beginnings are probably my favorite genre of food. And steak fajitas definitely fits the bill.

So where does this simple yet delectable dish come from and how has it found its way onto dinner tables everywhere?

Let’s go back to the 1930s to the ranch lands of South and West Texas. Mexican cowboys, called vaqueros, were paid in part with meat. The meat was typically the least desirable cuts like the hide, head, and entrails but also some meat trimmings like the skirt.

The inventive vaqueros soon came up with ways to turn these less-than-ideal cuts of meat into mouthwatering dishes, like steak fajitas, menudo, and baracoa de cabeza.

And because delicious things never remain a secret, steak fajitas started being sold at festival food stands and restaurants. By the 1970s, the secret was fully out and the rest is history.

So as you dig into your pile of steak fajitas tonight, say a little gracias to the vaqueros-turned-cocineros who made it all possible.

Beef Fajita Ingredients

You don’t need much to make steak fajitas. It’s really just:

• Beef
• Fajita marinade
• Sides like rice or tortilla, grilled veggies, and the typical fajitas accoutrements like cheese, salsa or pico de gallo, sour cream, and guacamole

Let’s go over each one in a bit of detail…

What’s the Best Steak for Fajitas?

The clue is in the name. “Fajita” is named after the Spanish word “faja,” which means belt or strip. That’s because the skirt steak originally used for fajitas is cut from the diaphragm – between the abdomen and the chest – and is thin and long, kind of like a belt.

Another very similar cut that can be used interchangeably is flank steak (aka bavette in the UK). This cut of beef comes from the abdomen, below the loin. It’s also long and flat.

Both cuts of meat – skirt and flank – make ideal fajita meat cuts. They’re both lean and tough but when seared over high heat and sliced against the grain, they cook quick and taste tender. The coarse textures are also perfect for soaking up the fajita marinade. And both cuts are wonderfully flavorful.

So skirt or flank are the best steak for fajitas. But if you don’t have that, you can also go with sirloin, rump, or hanger steak.

What’s in Steak Fajita Marinade?

Some like to use a dry fajitas seasoning. And yes, you can get away with a very simple fajitas seasoning mix made of the must-have spices like cumin, paprika, chili powder, and so on.

But I recommend a wet marinade every time. Why? It allows you to add a whole lot more flavor and tenderization for roughly the same amount of work. Here’s what goes into the fajita marinade I use:

• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup cilantro, lightly packed
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/2 tsp chili powder or chili flakes
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper

The fresh garlic and cilantro adds so much more flavor. The lime juice and Worcestershire sauce are perfect for both flavor and to tenderize the steak. Cumin and paprika, of course, are fajitas must haves.

As for the chili powder – you can use any mild or hot chili powder you have. I go with Aleppo, chipotle or Kashmiri chili powder when making steak fajitas for my child as they’re flavorful, low-spice chilis. But when cooking for adults who can take some heat, ancho chili powder or even Thai chili is a good way to ramp up the spice factor.

It’s completely up to you what you use.

What to Eat with Steak Fajitas?

The above steak fajitas ingredients – the steak and the marinade – are really the main things you need for steak fajitas.

The rest depends on what you’ll be serving it with, like…

• Tortillas or rice
• Grilled vegetables – I always go with onions and bell peppers
• Pico de gallo (recipe below)
• Guacamole or sliced avocado
• Sour cream

And, of course, extra lime wedges and cilantro are always welcome.

That’s it! Let’s get to cooking up some steak fajitas!

How to Make Steak Fajitas in 3 steps

Steak fajitas are ridiculously simple to whip up. The only thing that requires thinking ahead is the marination. If you can do that the night before or earlier in the day, that’s most of the work already done.

After that, serving up a complete steak fajitas dinner takes around 20 minutes. Here’s what it looks like, in short:

• Preheat the oven while you slice bell peppers and onions
• Roast the bell peppers and onions in the oven for 20 minutes
• Prepare pico de gallo and sliced avocado
• Sear the steak fajitas and let rest
• Stick tortilla wraps in the oven to warm up for 2 minutes while you slice the steak
• Serve it all up as a family dinner that looks much more impressive than it actually was

And here’s the process, in more detail…

Marinade the Beef

Mix all the marinade ingredients in a blender or food processor. Or if you’re using minced garlic and finely chopped cilantro, combine it all in a large bowl or Ziploc bag.

Add the steak and coat it with the marinade. Stick it in the fridge for 2 hours to overnight. The longer, the better – as with all marinated meat since it’ll have more time to soak in the flavor and tenderize.

That being said, I have made this steak fajitas recipe with just about 30 minutes marinating time. It basically sat on my counter in the marinade while I preheated the oven for grilled peppers and prepped other side dishes.

So if you don’t have the time to marinade it for hours, just let it sit and soak for as long as you can.

Roast the Veggies

Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). While it’s heating up, slice onions and bell pepper. Lay them out on a sheet-lined baking pan. Coat with oil and then stick in the oven for 20 minutes.

While the peppers and onions are roasting, we have enough time to prep the side dishes you’ll be serving up with the steak fajitas, like:

• Pico de gallo (recipe below)
• Guacamole or sliced avocado

That will still leave you time to cook up the steak fajitas themselves while the veggies are cooking…

Cook Steak Fajitas

The best steak for fajitas are skirt and flank. They both demand that you cook them hot and fast.

You can use a grill to do this, a broiler, or my favorite option – pan-sear them!

If you are using a cast-iron pan, make sure you give it at least 5 minutes over medium heat to evenly heat up. You’ll know it’s ready to go when you drop a bit of water on it and the droplets sizzle, dance, and disappear.

Sear the steak for 3 minutes on each side or until it’s cooked to your preference. Here’s a rough guide on how long it takes for each level of doneness:

• Rare to medium-rare: Just 2 to 3 minutes on each side
• Medium-rare to medium: About 3 to 4 minutes on each side
• Medium to well-done: Around 4 to 5 minutes on each side

Let the seared steak rest for about 5 minutes. Then slice to serve – remember to cut against the grain.

Note: Right before you slice the steak fajitas – which should be about the time the bell peppers and onion are just about done – is the perfect time to stick the tortilla wraps in the oven for about 2 minutes to get them warm and perfect.

Serve and enjoy!

What to Serve with Fajitas?

Steak fajitas are the ideal meal for family dinners or big get-togethers because each part of the meal is easy to batch cook and then you can serve everything up separately for people to make their own fajitas.

Here’s what our fajitas spread almost always looks like…

Tortilla Wraps

Whether big or small, corn or white flour – there’s no denying that tortilla wraps are the ideal thing to stuff with steak fajitas and their accompanying accoutrements, like…

Grilled peppers and onion

Bell peppers and onions go together with steak fajitas like peanut butter and jelly.

Sliced and drizzled with some oil, these can be stuck in the oven for 20 minutes, making them the easiest, no-real-work-required side to serve along with beef fajitas.

Pico de gallo

Eating steak fajitas without pico de gallo is like eating Korean ramyun without kimchi. In other words, it can’t be done. You need this stuff. Especially since it takes 5 minutes to make.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 1 shallot or 1/2 white or red onion
• 1 lime, juiced
• 1/4 cup cilantro, finely chopped
• 1 cup tomato, diced
• 1/2 tsp salt
• optional: 1 jalapeño pepper, diced

Combine all ingredients in a bowl.

Guacamole

Guacamole is an essential but when I’m short on time, I slice avocados instead. Squeeze some lime juice on top, sprinkle some cilantro and salt, add a dash of chili flakes if you want and you’ve got yourself a very quick-and-easy alternative to serve with the beef fajitas.

Sour Cream

Mmmm. So creamy with the perfect amount of tang.

So you’ll need plenty of it. On my own, I go through about half a tub of this stuff in one meal of steak fajitas.