Easy Grilled Chicken Fajitas
This Grilled Chicken Fajitas recipe is so easy and loaded with flavors. It’s a family favorite and has been tweaked to perfection over the years. It’s a simple mixture of lime juice, oil, and spices mixed together to create tasty and zesty chicken fajitas.
Grilling is one of my favorite methods of cooking. It’s easy to get moist meats with a delicious char, and I’ve covered how to do this in a few meat grilling guides. Grilled Chicken Fajitas is no exception.
With a few tips, it grills into moist chicken fajitas that can be served with salads, tacos or on their own with sides such as beans and rice.
Easy Grilled Chicken Fajitas
Making fajitas is super simple and only requires mixing together the marinade ingredients, slicing the vegetables, and marinating the chicken to soak up the flavors.
Here’s What You’ll Need for the Marinade
- Soy sauce
- Red wine vinegar
- Oil
- Fresh cilantro
- Minced garlic
- Lime juice
- Pickled jalapeno juice
- Chili powder
- Cumin powder
- Black pepper
The combination of flavors creates a classic fajita marinade. It’s a mixture of umami, tangy, and spice flavors that enhances the flavor of the chicken.
How Long to Marinate the Chicken?
Marinate the chicken for at least 1 hour. Up to 8 hours is preferred to infuse the most flavor.
Pro Tip: The acids in the vinegar and lime also help to break down the proteins in the chicken. A longer marinade time will tenderize the meat and creates juicier chicken breasts.
How to Grill Chicken Fajitas
- After marinating, let the chicken sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes. Remove chicken from the bag and discard the marinade.
- Preheat gas grill to medium-high heat or 350-400° F.
- Lightly grease grill surface and add whole chicken breasts. Close lid and cook 8 minutes, or until bottoms are browned with sear marks.
- Rotate chicken, close lid, reduce heat to medium and cook 7-10 minutes more, or until internal temperature reaches 165° F.
- Remove chicken from grill and let rest 5 minutes before serving.
What About Grilling the Veggies?
The best way to cook the fajita vegetables is in a foil pouch separately from the chicken. This seals the vegetables and cooks them in steam. It also helps prevent burning and stops the veggies from falling through the grill grates. Grill about 10 minutes on medium heat, rotating mid-way.
Additional Tips for the Best Chicken Fajitas
Don’t add salt to the marinade
Soy sauce has plenty of sodium, so no extra salt is needed.
Use a high-heat cooking oil
Oil in the marinade helps infuse flavors and creates juicier chicken breasts. It also creates a nice sear and prevents sticking while grilling. Be sure to use a high-heat oil to prevent smoking, such as avocado, vegetable, or canola oil.
Bring the chicken to room temp
Cooking the chicken breast cold will most likely sear the outside too much before the center has a chance to cook evenly. It’s best to let meats sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes before cooking.
For more tips like this, read my guide to create perfectly grilled chicken breast.
I’ve also created grilling guides for other meats such as grilled ribeye, grilled pork chops, and grilled pork tenderloin. They cover everything you need to be a grilling pro and create juicy grilled meats with perfect sear marks.
How to Serve the Fajitas
After grilling, remove the chicken and vegetables from the grill and let sit at room temp for 3–5 minutes. Cut the chicken breast into slices and carefully open the vegetable pouch. Here’s a few serving suggestions:
- Serve the chicken slices and veggies as is with sides such as beans and rice.
- Make fajita tacos or burritos.
- Serve as a salad or fajita bowl.
- Garnish with extra lime juice, sour cream, salsa, chopped cilantro, and onions, and/or avocado slices.
More Chicken Recipes You Might Like
- How to Grill Chicken Breast
- No Marinade Chicken Fajitas
- Keto Chicken Fried Steak
- Keto Baked Chicken Parmesan
- Lemon Chicken Pasta
- Chicken Minestrone Soup
- Chicken Pho Soup Recipe
- BBQ Baked Chicken Drumsticks
View all chicken recipes.
More Recipes to Try on the Grill
- Shrimp Fajitas Skewers
- Grilled Pork Chops
- Grilled Ribeye Steak
- Pork Satay Skewers
- Mexican Shrimp Cocktail
- Grilled Salmon Kabobs
View all gas grilled recipes.
Looking for more fajitas? Try my easy Pork Fajita Tacos.
Leave a comment below and star rating if you made this recipe or want to share your thoughts.
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Grilled Chicken Fajitas
Ingredients
- ½ cup soy sauce
- ½ cup red wine vinegar
- ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro
- ¼ cup avocado oil
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 medium limes, juiced
- 3 tablespoons pickled jalapeno juice
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin powder
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 4 medium chicken breasts, about 2 pounds
- 3 medium bell peppers, red, yellow, and green, sliced
- 1 large yellow onion, sliced
- Garnishes such as extra lime juice, chopped cilantro and onion, salsa, sour cream and/or sliced avocado
Instructions
- Place the first 10 ingredients, through black pepper, into a large Ziploc bag. Stir to combine ingredients.
- Add whole chicken breasts and sliced vegetables to the bag and seal. Be sure to remove excess air so the ingredients stay submerged in the marinade.
- Marinate in the fridge for at least 1 hour, and up to 8 hours, rotating the bag midway.
- Let the chicken sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes. Remove chicken from the bag and set aside. Drain and discard the marinade liquid. Place the vegetables on a large foil sheet and seal to create a pouch.
- Preheat a gas grill to medium-high heat or 350-400° F. Lightly grease grill surface and add whole chicken breasts. Close lid and cook 8 minutes, or until bottoms are browned with sear marks.
- Add vegetable pouch to the grill, rotate chicken, and close the lid. Reduce heat to medium and cook 7-10 minutes more, or until the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165° F and the vegetables are tender.
- Remove chicken breasts and vegetable pouch from the grill and let rest 5 minutes. Cut the chicken into slices and serve as desired, such as in tacos, a salad or with sides.
Notes
- For more tips on how to grill chicken, check out my ultimate guide for grilled chicken breasts.
- Marinade the chicken for at least 1 hour. Up to 8 hours is preferred to infuse the most flavor.
- Soy sauce has plenty of sodium, so no extra salt is needed.
- Be sure to use a high-heat oil to prevent smoking, such as avocado, vegetable, or canola oil.
- Letting the chicken sit at room temp before grilling helps it cook more evenly.
The chicken looks moist and perfect for a fajita.
The chicken comes out so juicy and tasty! This is a great summer dish as it’s so easy to prep!
The grilled chicken is full of flavors. It’s great as is, with some rice, or some tortillas.
This was delicious! The flavors were great and it was so simple to make, thank you for sharing 🙂
I don’t grill much but sure would enjoy this recipe! Thanks for the simple tips about marinade, the step by step directions are very helpful 🙂
We love to grill at our house too and this looks like the perfect grilled chicken fajita recipe.