Chicken fajita tacos are a fun new dinner idea your kids are going to love. Made in air fryer, slow cooker, or in Instant Pot these have all the same ingredients in your favorite Mexican dish but wrapped inside a tortilla.
We are going to focus on making these in the air fryer in the recipe card below. I will give you links to other ways you can cook the meat and peppers together though too. Try them all and see which is your favorite. It’s a cheap healthy meal everyone loves inside air fryer taco shells.
How Long to Cook Chicken Fajitas in Air Fryer
As for the total cook time for air fryer chicken fajitas you will need about 17-20 minutes including time it takes to preheat the air fryer initially. This step is important as you want chicken and vegetables to cook at the same rate from start to finish. There will be a variance as not all strips are going to be the same size and you might want it darker in color than I did. Same goes for beef air fryer fajitas.
Ingredient Notes
I used 1 pound of boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into equal sized chicken strips. You could use store bought thighs if you preferred dark meat instead.
As for the vegetables to jazz this up I went with red, green and yellow bell peppers and onions cut into strips. The thinner they are the softer they will become so remember that when slicing.
Olive oil is best to toss everything in so it doesn’t dry out and can spray on more near the end to get to more of a golden brown too. Avocado oil would be a good substitute.
As for seasonings you can use whatever you wish but I generally go for some granulated garlic or garlic powder, paprika and/or chicken seasonings.
How to Make Spicy
Similar to our Mexican shredded chicken recipe you can adjust the heat quite a bit with this one. Of course you can add in from there such as shallots, diced roasted jalapenos for more spice but likely the easiest way to amp up the heat would be with some red pepper flakes or chili powder. Add, toss, taste, and adjust from there.
Chicken Fajita Sauce
Feel free to marinate in Fajita Marinade once sliced if you want to add more flavor but if that isn’t enough you could blend up a quick tangy sauce in about 15 minutes to pour over the top of your creation. Everything is better when it is dripping with goodness right? You just need some ranch dressing mix, mayo, milk, lime juice, minced garlic, and some green salsa or enchilada sauce to thin it out to your liking. Blend it up and serve alongside or on top.
How to cut chicken breasts into strips for fajitas
Slice very thick breasts in half to make them thinner. Use a sharp knife to cut lengthwise from one end to the other so each are the same size, about 1/2 inch thick. Grill, air fry or pressure cook until insides reach 165 degrees F.
Chicken Fajita Tacos Recipe
Equipment
- 1 air fryer or pan
Ingredients
- 1 pound chicken breasts, or thighs cut into strips
- 2 whole bell peppers, cut into strips
- 2 whole shallots, diced
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/3 tsp granulated garlic, or garlic powder
- 1/3 tsp paprika
- 1/3 tsp chicken seasoning
- 6-7 whole cherry tomatoes, halved
Instructions
- Rinse the chicken fillet and pat dry with paper towels. Cut into thin strips and put into a bowl. Add olive oil, salt and all spices on top. Toss to coat. * You can leave for half an hour in fridge, covering the bowl with cling film for stronger flavors if desired.
- Slice bell pepper and peel shallots then dice them fine, put in a bowl with breast. Stir contents together.
- Preheat air fryer to 400 F for 5 minutes. Spray basket with olive oil and transfer to the air fryer basket in a single layer. Cook for 12 minutes at 400F.
- Toss chicken and vegetables and cook for another 8 minutes at 400F. Add in halved tomatoes and parsley.
- Divide the filling into the tortillas. Place them in the air fryer basket and fry at 390F for another 4 minutes if you want them to be crispy on the outside.
- Drizzle with some lime juice, add cheese if desired and serve.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Crockpot Directions
Served wrapped in a tortilla as is or crisped so it is crunchy, these are great and easy to make. If you wanted to make this filling in your Crockpot you could follow our slow cooker chicken fajitas recipe. They can cook all day together so the flavors get bolder and bolder. Add red pepper flakes for heat or leave mild.
Pressure Cooker Directions
You could throw together Instant Pot fajitas too. I have done this with beef or poultry the same way. If you are in a time crunch and you don’t have all day this is the way to go. Second fastest method, but below is even quicker and gets some crisp to it too. That is the joy of air frying
Could you make this as a quick chicken thigh recipe? For sure. You could use any part, just boneless skinless so you can cut into small bite size pieces or strips so it cooks quickly. I actually love dark meat beyond the other and typically it is less expensive as well so that is a win win overall.
Should you rinse chicken breasts before cooking?
There is a debate on rinsing poultry in your kitchen, I just do it. Just with some cool water I run a little bit over for a few seconds and dry the outsides well with a bunch of paper towels that can be disposed of easily. Dry outsides is necessary so you can get the oil to coat and seasonings to stick well.
How to serve
Want another idea other than tacos?? Use large burrito size tortillas, fill half of the side with your filling and a layer of cheese over that. You can then set in a large pan on the stove to melt or follow our air fryer quesadilla steps. This is something we definitely do if we have leftovers of this. Adding new ooey gooey cheddar cheese revives it in a sense.
If you wanted to skip the carbs you could just serve what is in your fryer in a bowl. Top with sour cream , slices of avocado and make it a low carb meal. Still delish just will need a fork for that. OR instead you can fill with brown or white rice with your filling over the top. Would work over air fryer potatoes and onions too.
