Best Fajita Marinade

This is the best fajita marinade recipe for beef! If you’re obsessed with ordering these at your favorite Mexican restaurant but ready to make them at home this is where to start. You can make it as spicy or mild as you’d like.

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!

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!!

We started this journey with sharing how to make fajita seasoning which is a dry rub and yes that is good enough but marinating is the best way to go if you have some time.

Ingredient Notes

You are going to want a freezer bag that is big enough to mix this together and soak your beef in. I like the gallon size best, sealed so you can massage and flip it once during the time it is in the fridge. You are going to need the following seasonings + olive oil to make this including;

A bit more moisture is needed to coat the outsides and beef broth is better than water to add even more flavors.

For just a touch of heat I really like Dry Sriracha, if you’ve never used it dry it is the bomb!! It is better than red pepper flakes because it has a warm taste vs. just adding heat and that is all.

Cumin isn’t just for Middle Eastern dishes, it adds a great pop to the other seasoning blends and wonderful with strips of beef.

I add garlic powder or granulated garlic is similar, but more potent with larger granules.

You can use “regular” or smoked paprika for a warm add in in addition to the basics of salt and pepper.

It’s a bit like our steak dry rub but with the added oil you can really coat each piece entirely and when sliced thin that allows it to be more soaked in. 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.

How long should you marinate beef for fajitas?

For beef fajitas, you should marinate the meat for at least 30 minutes, but for best flavor and tenderness, marinate it for 4 to 12 hours. Avoid more than 24 hours, if you choose to add acidic ingredients like lime juice or vinegar because it can start to break down the meat too much and make it mushy.

Tips for Success

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. Then cook your flank steak, cut of beef, or sliced meat over medium high heat, on a grill pan, or cast iron skillet.

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!

What cut of meat is best 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.

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!

Fajita Recipes to Make

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.

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!!

Crockpot chicken fajitas have peppers and onions in it, we like to serve those up inside a batch of flour air fryer tortillas. Our under 30 minute air fryer fajitas is a great recipe. Add some spice with red pepper flakes or chili powder. Then make Instant Pot tacos out of them with sour cream. Barbecue steak fajitas are great