Chicken Fajitas | Recipe from Leigh Anne Wilkes (2024)

FAQs

What nationality is chicken fajitas? ›

Fajitas have grown from obscure, South Texas roots to become a beloved mainstay of Mexican cooking. The history of fajitas, while somewhat blurred, belongs to the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas and northern Mexico, where skirt steak was often used as payment to vaqueros (Spanish for “cowboys”).

The history of fajitas can be traced back to the cattle ranches of West Texas and Northern Mexico, where ranchers would use the tougher cuts of meat, such as skirt steak, directly over an open flame. This practice, known as “barbacoa,” was popular among Mexican cowboys, also known as vaqueros.

What about fajitas? To be sure, numbers can vary widely among Tex-Mex joints. But $80 per pound is not unheard of and represents a raw material cost of about $15 for the inside skirt steak that is likely used to make the dish. Add another $5 in cost for beans, rice, onions and tortillas, and the total cost is $20.

Heat refried beans in microwave until warm. Spread over tortillas. Top each tortilla with chicken, pepper mixture, cheese and additional toppings.

I cooked for chili's for years. We kept the fajita skillets on overhead broilers, called salamanders. They were extremely hot. When the foodserver requested the fajita plate, a skillet was brought down and placed in the cutting board, it was sprayed with a light film vegetable oil from a spray bottle.

(The word faja is Spanish for "strip", or "belt", from the Latin fascia, "band") Although fajita originally referred to these strips of beef skirt, fajitas now are made with a variety of fillings, including vegetarian options such as green/red/yellow peppers, onions, chilies, and jalapeño peppers.

Fajitas are a popular Tex-Mex dish consisting of marinated, grilled meat served on a flour or corn tortilla. Traditionally, fajitas were made using skirt steak, which was marinated, grilled, and thinly sliced. Over time, the dish has evolved to include various meat options such as chicken, shrimp, fish, and pork.

Fajitas. Finally, the much-loved fajita is the one dish that rather than having roots in Mexico before becoming a classic of Tex-Mex, is actually entirely a U.S. invention.

Even fajitas are a Tex-Mex invention (offered to tourists in Mexico now because so many Americans associate fajitas as authentic). Tex-Mex is a cuisine only very loosely related to Mexican cuisine.

The fajita is believed to have originated in the ranch lands of West Texas and Northern Mexico. Cattle ranchers would often be given the less desirable parts of the beef, such as the skirt steak, as part of their payment. The ranchers would cook the meat over an open fire, creating a delicious and tender dish.

What is chicken fajita in English? ›

noun. fa·​ji·​ta fə-ˈhē-tə fä- : a marinated strip usually of beef or chicken grilled or broiled and served usually with a flour tortilla and various savory fillings. usually used in plural.