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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.)
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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
I followed this recipe and loved it! I received the compliment that it was better than anything he had ever eaten at Los Portales our favorite Mexican restaurant from my husband. Promise you’ll be happy you tried it!
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so good!!!!
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I didn’t have enough olive oil for the marinade (currently in the fridge) because im making a LOT of fajitas (serving 8 ppl) so used vegetable oil, but plan to use a little of what i have of olive oil for the pan when i cook the steak. Will that matter?
Hi, Leigh! Nope, that shouldn’t matter. It won’t have the exact same flavor, but it will still work!
I made this tonight with a Rib Eye steak and it was delicious! I used 2 limes cause I love that lime flavor.
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I was worried that there was too much lime in the marinade but I followed the recipe exactly and the meat was delicious!! Everyone at dinner loved it – including the kids who can be picky.
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