The best fajita marinade recipe is here for you to enjoy! If you’re obsessed with fajitas like we are we’re sharing the best beef marinade secret with you! Cheap and amazing dinner topped with cilantro leaves inside air fryer tortillas.

A bowl filled with raw, seasoned chunks of red meat, marinated with the best fajita marinade. The meat appears to be heavily coated with spices. The bowl is placed on a textured surface.
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Do you order chicken or beef fajitas at your favorite Mexican restaurant and wish you could bring that great bold taste home??!! Well with the best homemade fajita marinade recipe you can do just that and make them as spicy or tame as you want them. Get ready to make these at home for dinner this week, packed with all the veggies you like wrapped in tortillas…..oh I can taste them already! (affiliate links present)

How to Make Beef Fajita Marinade

We love steak fajitas marinade!! Yes chicken fajitas are yummy too and for the most part I would choose chicken over steak…except when it comes to fajitas.

With that said you could use the best fajita marinade on chicken that has been cut into strips similar to our beef here, totally your choice. Here is us preparing our easy steak fajita recipe, showing you all the different spices we use as a dry rub essentially.

How to Make The Best Steak Fajitas

Using a bit of olive oil and water to thin out our steak dry rub turns this into the best marinated steak fajitas recipe we’re going to share with you. You want the slices to be thin, soaked in a bold seasoning mix like this one, and cooked just enough, leaving a bit of pink inside.

A plate with various spices and a small bowl of olive oil is arranged on a table, promising the best fajita marinade. In the background, there is a bowl with cuts of raw meat. A text at the bottom reads "Beef or Chicken Fajita Marinade.

What cut of meat do Mexican restaurants use for fajitas?

Skirt steak is the most common cut. Since it does have a lot of connective tissues that is why you really want to soak it for quite some time. A rather cheap cut it can feed a crowd and is quite delicious if prepped properly.

  • BOLD flavors!!
    • So bold they permeate the meat so the flavor isn’t just on the outside when you cook it
  • A bit of heat – feel free to amp it up even more if you really like heat/this recipe is med. I would say
  • Easy to throw together – I am all about easy, but flavorful. Whether it is already made like soy sauce, or this easy recipe it needs to have little prep.
  • Ability to make a batch ahead of time
    • You could easily make several batches minus the olive oil and water
    • Store each batch in a gallon freezer bag so they’re ready when you are

Massaging the meat is an important step too before you throw everything into your storage baggie and into the fridge to soak up all that marinade goodness!

How do you tenderize beef for fajitas?

This is one of them, soaking in a sauce that has a bit of citrus in it will break down the connective tissues. Scoring the top is another tip and/or pounding it out thinner to make it more tender works. Steps to take in order to achieve the best Mexican easy fajita marinade and really coat your pieces of meat:

  1. Cut your steak or chicken into strips
    1. Thinner = more flavor soaked in, more tender, AND cooks for a shorter amount of time
  2. Mix your fajita marinade recipe below in a bowl
  3. Add your fajita meat
  4. Massage the fajita marinade and meat – using your hands is best to really make sure it is all over each piece
  5. Dump contents of bowl into a gallon storage bag
  6. Store in fridge overnight
  7. Make carne asada Crock Pot style or your other method of choice and enjoy!
A plastic zipper bag filled with steak marinating in a red sauce sits on a wooden surface, promising the best fajita marinade experience. The text above reads "The Best Steak Marinade." A fabric with a floral pattern is partially visible on the left.

Ingredients in Beef Fajita Marinade

If you end up making this often I make a few batches and store it in sandwich bags. Zip closed and mark on the outside that is is fajita marinade so I know for next time.

  1. Beef or chicken – 2 lbs. is what we tend to cook at a time
  2. A gallon storage bag
  3. Olive oil
  4. Water
  5. Dry Sriracha – if you’ve never used it dry it is the bomb!!
  6. Cumin
  7. Salt
  8. Pepper
  9. Paprika
  10. Garlic powder

We made our steak fajitas in the Instant Pot but you can use the grill or stovetop. Because there are so many different ways to cook them there isn’t a standard this is how long to grill or timing for so many minutes per side to go off of. It doesn’t take long though because typically the meat is sliced relatively thin.

Raw marinated beef pieces in a pot with sliced carrots and onions, infused with the best fajita marinade for an extra burst of flavor.

What makes the best fajita marinade

Bold bold flavors!! You do want heat and some citrus like lime juice to make your beef tender and bring out the flavors. As you can see the meat has soaked up most of the liquid that was added into the bag and looks like more of a dry rub on our beef, that is what you want!! Alternatively this is how to make fajita seasoning as a dry rub. Either way is amazing.

Beef Fajita Marinade

Of course fajitas aren’t done until you add lots of veggies like onions and bell peppers for us (in all colors). If you want to change it up a bit another time, try our Asian steak marinade some night too. Let us know what you think!!

If you want the best chicken marinade we have that too! It’s great on breasts, chicken tenders, wings, all sorts of protein I tell you.

Grilled chicken breasts on a wooden cutting board, garnished with herbs and enhanced by the best fajita marinade. Several pieces are intact, while some are sliced. A small bowl of sauce is partially visible in the background, with fresh greens nearby.

How to Make Flank Steak Marinade

Mix all spices together well, add olive oil and mix. Then add water or broth and combine well. Add to a bowl or gallon freezer bag with meat and mix well (using your hands to massage it into the meat works best).

  1. Put mixture into a gallon bag, zip, and store in fridge overnight.
  2. Then cook your flank steak, cut of beef, or sliced meat over medium high heat, on a grill pan, or cast iron skillet.
steak fajita marinade
4.55 from 11 votes

Best Fajita Marinade

By The Typical Mom
The best fajita marinade recipe is here for you to enjoy! If you’re obsessed with fajitas like we are we’re sharing the best beef marinade secret with you! 
Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 0 minutes
Total: 10 minutes
Servings: 6
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Equipment

  • 1 Bowl
  • 1 gallon bag

Ingredients 

  • 1 tbsp chili powder
  • 1.5 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp pepper
  • 1 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp Sriracha, dry, powdered
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 1/3 c water, or beef broth

Instructions 

  • Mix all spices together well, add olive oil and mix. Then add water or broth and combine well.
  • Add to a bowl or gallon freezer bag with meat and mix well (using your hands to massage it into the meat works best).
  • Put mixture into a gallon bag, zip, and store in fridge overnight.

Video

Nutrition

Serving: 3oz, Calories: 71kcal, Carbohydrates: 1g, Fat: 7g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Sodium: 432mg, Potassium: 49mg, Vitamin A: 585IU, Vitamin C: 0.6mg, Calcium: 9mg, Iron: 0.7mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Entree, Main Course
Cuisine: American
Tried this recipe?Mention @thetypical_mom or tag #thetypicalmom!
Close-up of various seasonings for fajita dry rub and the best fajita marinade, featuring a bag of beef, coarse sea salt, jars labeled "pepper" and "chili," garlic powder, and Mrs. Dash seasoning; text reads "Best Dry Rub Fajita Seasoning.
A bowl filled with marinated meat is placed above bold black text that proudly declares, "Best Fajita Marinade.
A yellow bowl brimming with marinated beef, drenched in the best fajita marinade, is showcased against a rustic wooden background. The caption proudly declares "Best Fajita Marinade.

About The Typical Mom

Justine is the creative mind behind The Typical Mom and The Typical Family on YouTube. She began blogging about easy recipes, budget friendly activities for kids, and fun family travel destinations in September 2012.

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4.55 from 11 votes (3 ratings without comment)

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24 Comments

  1. Still using! Added kiwi, someone told me it’s a natural tenderizer…..Thanks for the recipe!

  2. How much of the actual Sriracha would I need to substitute instead of the powder?

  3. This was so good! We used skirt steak, I left it whole while marinading and while cooking to get a nice sear on both sides with a nice medium rare/medium center. Squeezed half a lime in with the marinade and the other half over the steak while it rested. Other than the lime and cutting up the steak beforehand, I followed the recipe exactly. We’ll definitely be using this again.

  4. Can I use liquid sriracha in place of the powdered? It’s what I have on hand. Thanks!

  5. I’ve used this marinade many times, never fails to be amazing. Even if you only have 30min of marinating time it still tastes delicious.

  6. I would like to make Mexican fajita marinade, but the recipe doesn’t say how much sriracha?

  7. This looks great but I don’t have any dried Sriracha. Is there anything else you would use to substitute? Thanks!

  8. This was delicious. I added just a little bit of lime juice. Will definitely make again.

  9. I made this last night and it was delicious! I threw some shrimp in the bag to marinate with the steak and it turned out sooooo great. Definitely will be making this again!