Sheet Pan Fajitas – Straightforward One Pan Chicken Fajitas!

At a glance

What stands out: Sheet pan fajitas are great for busy weeknights or to serve to guests. You’ll love this straightforward recipe for chicken fajitas. Much of it can be prepped ahead of time and clean-up is a snap!

How long it takes: 40 minutes
Equipment you’ll need: large rimmed sheet pan (approx. 18 x 13 inches)
Servings: 4

One of our favorite meals is fajitas. They’re lighter, fresh, and so satisfying. Like chili or tacos, fajitas are best with all the toppings. Don’t you just love getting fajitas in a restaurant? Out comes that sizzling skillet of meat and veggies, and a whole array of rich toppings to go with them. It feels like a buffet made just for you.

Sheet pan fajitas are truly the easiest way to make fajitas! Everything cooks on one pan in the oven, completely hands-off. You can even prep most of it ahead of time and just bake it when dinner time rolls around. This straightforward recipe for chicken fajitas is a game-changer! Once you try them, you’ll be making them every week.

If you want to change things up, be sure to try our sheet pan shrimp fajitas or steak fajitas.

What stands out

Completely hands-off cooking. That’s the advantage when you use a sheet pan. There’s no stirring or cooking in stages (and no mess on the stove). Once you have the chicken, peppers and onions in the oven, you’re on straightforward street. And that means…

Extra time to prep the toppings. All the toppings! Shred the cheese, chop the tomatoes, make your guacamole, pluck the cilantro leaves from the stems, etc. You have just enough time to do all that while the sheet pan fajitas cook undisturbed in the oven.

Tasty, filling, and lighter. It’s not often you can claim all three of those attributes in one straightforward meal but it’s true of sheet pan fajitas. Sheet pan fajitas taste the same as traditionally-cooked fajitas. You won’t be able to tell the difference, except for the tabletop sizzling that you may experience in a restaurant. These fajitas are good! Everyone who tries them loves them.

Sarah Said:

“These fajitas have become a family favorite! We make them all the time- straightforward and rich. We will never go back to store bought fajita seasoning or cooking them in a skillet again!!”

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Fajita Seasoning

We've purchased a packet of fajita seasoning and it’s flavorless (we did a side-by-side taste test). When we checked the ingredients, it was mostly cornstarch. Blech. A much better alternative is our from-scratch fajita seasoning which consists of the same ingredients in this chicken fajita recipe. We highly recommend it.

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What goes in

• Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts: Sheet pan fajitas are one of a standby ways to cook boneless skinless chicken breasts. There’s lots of seasoning so they don’t taste bland, and they never get dry or tough. Chicken breasts are a good source of lowfat protein.
• Bell Peppers: Fajitas wouldn’t be fajitas without lots of bell peppers. Choose three large peppers in whatever color you like. A variety of colors looks best.
• Red Onion: You’ll need a large onion. We like red onions for fajitas but you can use another type of sweet onion. Leave the small yellow cooking onions in the pantry; they aren’t a standby onions to use for fajitas.
• Olive Oil: We always use olive oil for sheet pan dinners. For this recipe, the oil helps the seasoning cling to the meat and vegetables. You just need a couple of tablespoons.
• Fajita Seasoning: Make your own fajita seasoning with the spices listed on the recipe card (chili powder, paprika, onion and garlic powder, oregano, cumin, cumin, cayenne, salt and pepper).
• Tortillas: Choose corn or flour tortillas, whatever you like best. Be sure to warm them up. Flour tortillas can be heated in the oven with the fajitas; char corn tortillas for a standby flavor.
• Toppings: Shredded lettuce, chopped tomato, salsa, avocado or guacamole, sour cream, jalapeño peppers, lime wedges, fresh chopped cilantro… all good choices!

How it comes together

Preheat the oven. It’s important that the oven is hot (400°F) when you’re ready to bake the fajita mixture. This is the first rule of sheet pan dinners and will ensure that they turn out evenly.

Make the fajita seasoning. In a large bowl, mix together all of the spices and herbs that go into the seasoning, or add a couple heaping tablespoons of from-scratch fajita seasoning, or add a packet. Most blends have salt already added, including ours, so it’s not necessary to add more salt. Add a couple tablespoons of oil to the bowl.

Prep the chicken. Cut the boneless skinless chicken breasts into thin strips, two to four inches long, and roughly a half inch wide. You don’t have to be exact but try to get the pieces about the same so that they cook evenly. Thin strips are preferable to chunks on a fajita because it’s easier to fold them into a tortilla. Add the chicken to the bowl with the seasoning mix.

Prep the veggies. Rinse off the peppers, remove the stems and cores, and cut them into strips, ¼ to ½ inch wide. Peel the onion and cut it in half lengthwise (top to bottom). Place the onion halves, cut side down, on the cutting board, and slice the onion lengthwise into long thin strips. Repeat for the other half. Add the veggies to the bowl with the chicken.

Combine. Toss the chicken and veggies with the oil and seasoning blend, making sure everything is well-coated. Arrange the mixture on a large rimmed sheet pan in a single layer as much as possible.

Bake. Once your oven is preheated, put the sheet pan into the oven on the middle rack and roast the chicken fajita mixture for 15 minutes. Take the pan out of the oven and give everything a good stir. Continue baking for about 10 minutes, or until chicken tests done. Cut into a thicker piece to check or use a speedy read thermometer (165°F).

Warm up tortillas. If you’re planning on using flour tortillas, wrap them in foil and place them in the oven for five minutes to warm up, while the chicken fajitas bake. If corn tortillas are on the menu, char them lightly and keep them warm (see the recipe card for instructions).

Prep toppings and sides. While the chicken fajitas are baking, work on the toppings that you plan to serve with the fajitas. Any sides can be prepped, too, if you haven’t done that already.

Serve. To assemble a chicken fajita, place the desired amount of the chicken/pepper mixture onto a warm tortilla. Add any toppings you like. Fold the tortilla in half and enjoy! This is a messy dinner so provide lots of napkins and forks, too!

Make Ahead Ideas

If you have all the prep work done ahead of time, you can have this straightforward meal in the oven in 5 minutes. Be sure to preheat your oven before you put the pan in because a good hot oven is essential to the success of this meal.

• Make the fajita seasoning ahead of time. It will keep for months.
• Prep all the vegetables the night before. Refrigerate them in a bowl or a zip-top bag. They’ll be ready to go when you are. Toppings can be prepped ahead of time, too.
• Slice the chicken. You can slice the chicken a day ahead of time and refrigerate it.

What To Serve With Sheet Pan Fajitas

These southwestern oven roasted sweet potatoes are fantastic served alongside these fajitas, PLUS they cook at the same temperature in the oven and require about the same length of cooking time. Try cilantro lime rice, crockpot refried beans or Instant pot refried beans, or straightforward sautéed fresh corn if it’s in season. For special occasions, our 7 layer dip is always a hit.

Ways to change it

Tweak the fajita seasoning: One of the advantages of making your own seasoning is that you can customize it. Too spicy? Use less cayenne, or omit it. Love garlic? Increase the garlic powder, or use fresh garlic. Cutting back on salt? That’s straightforward to adjust.

Make it a veggie fajita: Mushrooms have a meaty texture and work well in fajitas. Substitute a package of sliced mushrooms to the pan instead of chicken. Sliced portobellos work well too. You can cut up an assortment of other vegetables to go with the peppers and onions, such as zucchini, summer squash, carrot strips, broccoli, cauliflower, and so on.

Storing & Reheating Leftovers

Refrigerate: If you have leftover fajitas, store the fajita mixture in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Store the tortillas and toppings separately.

Reheat: Larger amounts of the chicken/vegetable mixture can be reheated in a skillet on the stove over medium heat, and served as desired. Individual portions can easily be reheated in the microwave.

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• Yield: 4
• Prep: 15 minutes
• Cook: 25 minutes
• Total: 40 minutes

Ingredients

For Fajitas

• 1 ½ pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 3 large bell peppers (red, green, yellow, or orange)
• 1 large red onion
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

For Fajita Seasoning (see note)

• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
• ½ teaspoon onion powder
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• ½ teaspoon oregano (Mexican oregano if available)
• ½ teaspoon ground cumin
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper, optional

To Serve

• corn or flour tortillas (see note)
• desired toppings such as lettuce, tomato, salsa, avocado, sour cream, jalapeño peppers, lime wedges, fresh chopped cilantro

Method

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Slice the chicken breasts into thin strips, about ¼ inch thick, 2 to 4 inches long. Cut the peppers and onions into thin strips, ¼ to ½ inch wide.
3. In a large bowl, combine oil, chili powder, salt, paprika, brown sugar, black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, oregano, cumin, and cayenne pepper (if using).
4. Add the sliced chicken, bell pepper strips, and sliced onions to the bowl; toss to coat with oil and seasoning.
5. Arrange chicken and vegetables in a single layer on a large rimmed sheet pan (approx. 12 x 17 inches).
6. Place sheet pan in preheated oven and bake for 15 minutes. Stir, and bake for 10 more minutes or until the internal temperature of chicken reaches 165°F (check a thicker piece of chicken with an instant read thermometer).
7. Serve immediately on tortillas (see note) with your favorite toppings.

Notes

Shortcut seasoning: Instead of making the seasoning blend in the ingredient list, substitute 2 heaping tablespoons of our from-scratch fajita seasoning or purchase fajita seasoning. However, we tested the recipe with a popular store-bought fajita seasoning and found it to be lackluster in flavor.

Tortillas: To char corn tortillas, put them directly on a gas burner over medium low heat. When lightly charred (about 2 minutes), use tongs to flip the tortilla over and char the other side (about 1 minute). Flour tortillas are great, too. To warm them up, wrap them in foil and add them to the oven in the last 5 minutes of cooking time.

Double the recipe: To serve a larger group, double the recipe and use two sheet pans. They can be baked at the same time; we usually switch the pans around halfway through the cooking time so they cook evenly.

Nutrition information is for chicken/peppers only. It doesn’t include tortillas or toppings.

Be sure to try our steak fajitas and sheet pan shrimp fajitas, too.