Steak & Chicken Fajita Marinades

Our beef raising neighbor, Pat, called to advise she had some flank steak and wondered what to use it for and ask if I wanted to cook it.  Since it weighed only 1½ pounds, I suggested fajitas as it would feed our crowd that way (all of my girls are back home now).  To help it be really tender, I found a marinade recipe from Little Spice Jar that was labeled as “The absolute BEST Steak Fajitas you've ever had! This is my take on the tex-mex steak fajitas. Marinated for hours in lime juice, garlic, and cumin -- so good you'll never use another recipe again!”  For more pics like this one click on the above link to visit Marzia's blog.

I followed the marinade recipe as written but used my own recipe for the fajitas. 

Steak Fajitas Marinade

Ingredients:

 ⅓ cup lime juice

 ¼ cup pineapple juice (no sugar added)

 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

 3 tablespoons olive oil

 1 tablespoon minced garlic

 2 teaspoon EACH: ground cumin AND chili powder (or more to taste)

 1 teaspoon EACH: kosher salt AND smoked paprika

 ½ teaspoon EACH: black pepper AND red pepper flakes (or more to taste)

 ¼ cup chopped cilantro

The Directions:

Add the ingredients to a deep container and mix with an immersion blender or use a bowl and whisk.  

For the non-beef eaters, I also cooked a few chicken breasts which I marinated using the recipe from Simply Recipes.  Again, you can click on the link for more make-you-want-to make-this pics like this.

Chicken Marinade

The Ingredients:

3 tablespoons lime juice

1/3 c. orange juice (added by Larry)

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 garlic clove, minced

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon ground cumin

3/4 teaspoon chili powder

1/2 jalapeño, seeded and minced

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

The Directions:

Mix all the marinade ingredients together in a deep container and mix with an immersion blender or use a bowl and whisk.

Fajitas

1½ lbs. Flank steak

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 tbsp. oil

2 medium white onions, sliced into half rounds

3 sweet peppers, mixed colors, thinly sliced

The Directions:

1. Jaccard the steak and the chicken and add to plastic bags.  Add the marinades, give the meat a good massage and marinate overnight (too long) for the steak and 8 hours for the chicken.

2. An hour before cooking remove meat from the fridge and let it sit at room temperature.

3. Preheat the grill to medium high heat.

4. Add the oil to a large pan and preheat it over medium high heat.  Add the vegetables to the pan and cook to desired level of crispness and remove to a bowl.

5. Meanwhile, add the chicken to the grill and cook to 160F internal temp then remove and tent to rest.

6. After flipping the chicken, add the steak to the grill and cook to 125F internal temp – or your desired level of done then remove and tent to rest.

7. To serve, slice the beef thinly across the grain and the chicken into ¼“- ½“ slices across the grain.

8. To serve, set up an assembly line with 6” flour tortillas, each meat, cooked veggies and other toppings of choice – thin sliced lettuce, diced tomatoes, salsa, guacamole, shredded cheddar, sour cream.

Note:  If you spread everything out, one person can’t tie up 3-4 stations at one time while others wait – the line moves quicker this way.

It’s a good thing this post is about marinades and fajita bar and not the fajitas themselves as I was so busy slicing meat and getting things ready I forgot to take a single fajita shot, but they looked delicious Bev had trouble closing hers it was so full.

The Verdict:

The fajita eaters thought both meats were delicious as were the fajitas. I ate my meat bare and thought the chicken was outstanding with a good flavor and it was fork tender.  The beef was good but a little too tangy so next time for this thin piece of meat, I’ll only marinate for 8 hours and I may Jaccard after marinating. I will definitely use both marinades for our next fajitas or maybe chicken tacos topped with Mango Salsa.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

03/31/22 event date