Save It
Saved
Best Steak For Fajitas
Classic Tex Mex, fajitas (pronounced fah-hee-tas) are typically made with grilled strips of skirt steak with onions and bell peppers, and served sizzling hot with fresh tortillas, guacamole, sour cream, and salsa.
You can make fajitas with steak or chicken, or even make it plain vegetarian. Here’s a quick and easy recipe for steak fajitas.
How to make beef steak fajitas
Beef Steak Fajitas Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 pound of flank steak, skirt steak or carne asada
- 1 large yellow onion, peeled and sliced with the grain, not against the grain as one would normally slice an onion. Slice first in half, and then slice off sections a half inch wide at widest point.
- 2-3 bell peppers of various colors, stemmed, seeded, de-ribbed, sliced lengthwise into strips
- Salt
Steak Fajita Marinade:
- Juice of 1 lime
- 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 fresh jalapeño pepper, seeded, ribs removed, finely chopped (be careful not to touch your eyes or anywhere near your eyes after handling a jalapeño pepper!)
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro, including stems
Method
1 Marinate the steak: Mix all marinade ingredients. Coat the steak with the marinade and let it sit at room temperature for an hour, or longer in the fridge.
Before you cook the meat, wipe off most of the marinade and sprinkle the steak with salt.
2 Sear the steak on both sides: Set a large cast iron pan or griddle over high heat and let this heat up for 1-2 minutes. Add the tablespoon of oil to the pan and let this heat up for 1 minute.
Add the steak, frying on each side for 3 minutes, or to desired doneness. 3 minutes per side will yield approximately medium rare doneness for an average cut of flank steak.
Carne asada and skirt steak will need less time. If the pan starts to smoke too much, reduce the heat to medium-high. You want the steak browned, not burned.
Remove from pan and let sit, tented with foil, for 5 minutes.
3 Cook the vegetables while the meat is resting. Add a little more oil to the pan if necessary, then add the onions and bell peppers.
Let these sear for 1 minute before stirring, then stir every 90 seconds or so as the veggies sear. Cook for 5-6 minutes total.
4 Slice the meat across the grain into thin slices. If you slice the meat at an angle, you will be able to get your slices pretty thin. These cuts of steak are flavorful but can be a little tough, so thin slices will really help make it easier to eat.
5 Serve immediately with shredded cheese, salsa, shredded iceberg lettuce, sour cream, guacamole and warm flour tortillas. (Hint for warming tortillas - put in microwave over a paper towel for 20 seconds on high heat.)
Hello! All photos and content are copyright protected. Please do not use our photos without prior written permission. Thank you!
Products We Love
This post may contain links to Amazon or other partners; your purchases via these links can benefit Simply Recipes. Read more about our affiliate linking policy.
Links:
Tequila Lime Chicken Fajitas - from Andrea's Recipes
Beef Fajita Nachos - from The Pioneer Woman
Elise Bauer is the founder of Simply Recipes. Elise launched Simply Recipes in 2003 as a way to keep track of her family's recipes, and along the way grew it into one of the most popular cooking websites in the world. Elise is dedicated to helping home cooks be successful in the kitchen. Elise is a graduate of Stanford University, and lives in Sacramento, California.
Beef Steak Fajitas
Steak or chicken…delicious!!! I like to use filets sliced lengthwise in half the sliced thin. So tender and so good. The chicken is great too!
Easy to make, the marinade smelled delicious, but the cooked meat was very plain. I was surprised the has many good reviews (that’s the reason I picked the recipe for tonight).
xxxxxyyyyy
Good and fast. I modified the recipe slightly but the general effect was yummy!
The steak was pre sliced into strips, so I ran those through the marinade and threw the entire “marinading steak” after 10 min into the pan with additional 2Tbsp olive oil at medium high, seared and tossed for ~7min more, added a strong pinch of salt, then fell back into following the directions for the vegetables.
My lady was happy, thanks!!
xxxxxyyyyy
Just made the recipe tonight it was absolutely delicious I marinated the steak and chicken all night with Jamaican Jerk marinate then followed directions. Next time I will use more vegetables.
xxxxxyyyyy
I actually thought that there was not much flavor. I followed the recipe as stated. I lived in Texas for several years so maybe I am just used to different spices in my fajitas.
xxxxxyyyyy
Sorry these disappointed you! I was going through this recipe’s comments from way back and noticed one reader adds tequila to his marinade. It might not be totally authentic, but perhaps you would try it next time, whichever recipe you use.
You need to marinate it all day and best overnight. I also cook meat first and set aside. I add vegetables along with a packet of ElPaso Fajata seasoning.
A Fajita place in Austin taught me to use olive oil and soy sauce in the marinade, as well as generous amount of cumin and lime juice and moderate amount of chipotle and black pepper and skip the salt because it’s already in the soy sauce.
The pre-heated oil in the pan must be high heat rated, like avocado or grape seed oil, not olive oil.
For the very best, smoke at low temp on a grill with charcoal off to the side for 5 minutes before putting meat on hot oil in skillet, which could already be sitting over charcoal if outdoors.
Hi Patrick,
Thanks for sharing! Did you know extra-virgin olive oil (contrary to popular belief) is actually very stable under high heat? Some oils, like virgin coconut and extra virgin olive oil, have lower smoke points, but they actually hold up better over prolonged heat because of their antioxidant content. For more about smoke points and oil stability, check out our post What Oil Should I Cook With?.