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Chicken Fajitas for the Slow Cooker or the Grill

Ahhh, chicken fajitas. You know, to feed my Mexican food addiction? Yeah…. that Mexican food addiction. It gets me every time. I just had my gallbladder out and NOTHING was sitting well, until I thought of fajitas. That will work, I thought to myself. And you know what? It did!

It was one of the first foods that didn’t upset my tummy. I’d been feeling dizzy for a while, but after I ate the fajitas, suddenly I didn’t feel dizzy any more. Maybe I needed the extra protein? I don’t know…but I’ll take it. The dizziness eventually came back, but….I enjoyed the break.

This recipe is special, because I made it as a marinade, so that you can either grill it OR you can cook it in the slow cooker. In my case, I cooked it in the slow cooker. I wanted it to be ready for lunch after church, so I cooked it all night and when morning came, I switched it to warm. I knew that I didn’t want my onions and peppers to get too soggy, so I waited to put them in until after I switched it to warm. The time I was at church was just enough time to steam those veggies and make them slightly soft, but not mushy. Perfection.

Cooking it over night caused it to fall apart easier, because really, we probably cooked it for 10 hours. That’s why, in the picture, it doesn’t look like your typical fajita meat. We ended up mostly breaking it apart and shredding it as we stirred it up. If you want yours to turn out more like the sliced fajita meat that you find at restaurants, cook it on the grill OR for no more than 7-8 hours on low in the slow cooker. Then remove it and slice it. It’s still not going to have that grilled texture, unless of course, you cook it on the grill. Either way, it’ll taste awesome AND if you cook it in the slow cooker, you won’t have to spend that much time slaving over it, heating up your house in this hot summer!

Ingredients:

1/4 c. olive oil
1/3 c. lime juice
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cumin
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 c. apple cider vinegar
1 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 tbsp. paprika
1 1/2 tsp onion powder
2 t chili powder
6-8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (we use frozen)
2 peppers (any color, sliced)
1 Large Onion, sliced
2 gallon sized freezer bags

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Instructions:

Slice onions and peppers into strips
Place spices, liquids and chicken breasts into gallon sized freezer bag.
Seal bag and let marinade in fridge for 3-4 hours or freeze until you’re ready to use it.
Place onions and peppers in another freezer bag until you’re ready to use them.
If you plan to slow cook these fajitas, just dump contents of the chicken bag in slow cooker and cook on low for 7-8 hours or on high for 4 hours.
About an hour before you plan to eat, put onions and peppers in the slow cooker so that they soften up. Stir them around a bit so they cook in the marinade a little.
If you plan to cook these on the grill, just place chicken breasts on grill to cook until done. Be sure to baste them with the sauce a few times midway through.
To cook the onions and peppers, place them in a tin foil packet with a little of the marinade liquid and cook until they’re softened.

Freezer to Slow Cooker Instructions:

Slice onions and peppers into strips.
Place onions and peppers into gallon sized freezer bag. Be sure to label it “Chicken Fajitas”
Place chicken, spices and liquids into a gallon sized freezer bag.
Label it “Chicken Fajitas” and lay it flat to freeze
Be sure to get it out the night before and let it thaw out in the bag, so that it has time to marinade nicely.
Cook as directed above.

You’ll find that this recipe calls for A LOT of spices. If you’re not used to cooking from scratch, it may discourage you when you realize how much this will add up if you don’t have all of these spices on hand. But…I just wanted to tell you that when you cook from scratch, the spices in this recipe are extremely common. You’ll find lots of other recipes on my site that uses these exact spices. So, think of all of these spices as investment for future recipes. Then, when you already have them on hand, it’ll feel like having free food! 🙂

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