Chicken Fajita Salad Recipe

Chicken Fajita Salad is a refreshing dinner salad for two with juicy chicken thighs, onion and bell pepper served with avocado, tomatoes and ranch dressing. Serve as an easy gluten free Mexican dinner You see, he’s the world’s pickiest cat. Only eats chicken. Only shredded or pate. Won’t eat chunky. Only certain brands.

And then, even at that, sometimes refuses to eat, only to scarf down his food an hour later because his hunger strike is over.

All in all, a few delicious, heartwarming touches to add to your kitchen experience. What is clear from such stories is that your furry friend retains endless hope for every meal to be chicken. His ready anticipation, from racing to the kitchen at the sound of an air fryer to slyly sampling a salad to find out that it doesn’t taste like he expected, gives the scene both charm and comedy.

The flow into the recipe for Chicken Fajita Salad is seamless, as your personal anecdote dovetails with some hands-on cooking advice. It’s a humorous contrast between your cat’s high expectations and what the human approves of in this salad that adds some charm and personality to the recipe. It really turns the dish from being ‘just another meal’ into something dear to your weekly routine.

If you’re interested, I’d be happy to help flesh out this story into a recipe blog post. Let’s use all of the most vibrantly descriptive sensory details along with step-by-step breakdowns of the recipe to bring it alive. Let me know how you’d like to proceed!

What are fajitas?

Fajitas are essentially a dish of Tex-Mex origin made with a grilled meat of choice, usually beef or chicken, flavored with fajita seasoning, with colorful sweet bell peppers and onions served in a tortilla.
You can tell by the title, it can also be served as a taco salad recipe with fajitas.

Do you need to marinate chicken for fajitas?

You won’t have to marinate your chicken for fajitas for my chicken fajita salad.

Once in a while, I use a marinade for steak fajitas to help tenderize the beef. It is, however, not necessary for tender chicken.

Instead, I just rub homemade fajita seasoning on my chicken before cooking.

If you do want to use a marinade, you can use the same one from my steak fajita recipe and also you need to décor
It makes the chicken fajita salad dressing more attractive on the dining table.

Ingredients For Chicken Fajita Salad

Ingredients in this Chicken Fajita Salad recipe:

• Boneless skinless chicken: I only use chicken thighs because the dark meat is juicier, and to be honest, tastes better. You can use chicken breast if you prefer white meat.
• Fajita seasoning: This is where most of your flavor comes in! You can either make your mix—recipe included—or buy it at the store in a packet to help save on time.
• Oil—for cooking chicken and veggies. Since the flavor doesn’t matter, I recommend vegetable, canola, or olive oil.
• Sliced onion—white or yellow onion works the best.
• Sweet bell pepper: Take red, orange, or yellow because they are much sweeter than green. You need one pepper, so choose one color or a little from all three if you want to add color to the recipe.
• Salt: Salt draws out moisture while cooking the veggies. I like to use kosher, but you can definitely use table salt if that’s what you have.
• Lettuce: Confession – I despise lettuce. I did use red leaf to try and stay true to the recipe, but personally I top mine with a spinach and arugula mix. You can definitely do romaine if that’s your favorite.
• Avocado: Avocado is a healthy source of protein to pad out the salad so that you are not still feeling hungry after this.
• Tomatoes: Tomatoes add an acid and brightness to each bite. I used halved grape tomatoes, but you can use diced tomato as well.
• Ranch dressing: Letting that since chicken fajita salad is slightly heavy on the prep work, I used bottled ranch to give me a little bit of a break. I do have homemade jalapeno ranch dressing if you’re feeling ambitious.
• Cilantro: Because every Tex Mex needs cilantro! That is, of course, as long as you don’t find it soapy.
• Lime: That little splash of acidity is what really makes the salad go from flat to great.

Should You Slice Chicken Before or After Cooking for Perfect Fajitas?

When to Slice Chicken for Fajitas: Before or After Cooking?

Whether you are planning to cook the chicken beforehand or afterward for fajitas will determine how you should slice it.

• Boneless Chicken Thighs: The boneless chicken thighs that I used, when laid out flat, are normally quite thin. They’re thin, so you can pretty much cook them whole and then just slice them into strips after cooking. It helps keep them juicy and flavorful.
• Boneless chicken breasts are also very thick. Cooking them whole creates the problem that the surface might be burnt before the middle is fully cooked. To avoid this and have it cook evenly, it’s best to slice your chicken breasts into strips before cooking. This way, they will cook evenly so that the result is a tender and flavor-packed dish.

If you’re using thin chicken cutlets or butterfly-cut meat, you may be able to cook them whole. But for standard boneless chicken breasts, it’s pre-slicing time.

Chicken Fajita Salad Calories
This yields about 350-450 calories a serving for Chicken Fajita Salads. This is just a rough estimate, and it will depend, of course, on the ingredients and portions you use. Go light by using less dressing and or cutting down the avocado portion. Enjoy this tasty, low-calorie meal for refreshing, light suppers!

How To Make Chicken Fajita Salad

For the chicken fajita salad, heat your oil in a large 12-inch skillet. While that’s heating up, rub your chicken with the fajita seasoning.

Put your chicken in a single layer in the hot oil now, being careful there is enough room. If your pan is overcrowded, it will steam rather than brown.

Cook for about 3-4 minutes, flip and cook another 3-4 minutes or until the middle reaches 165°F and is no longer pink. Transfer to a plate and keep warm.

In the same skillet add your onion and bell pepper, scraping up all of the brown bits left behind. There should be enough oil and seasoning leftover from the chicken, but if not you can add a little more.

Cook until softened and browned, about 8-10 minutes. If any juices from the chicken accumulated on the plate, add it to your veggies.

In a large salad bowl, add your lettuce, avocado, tomatoes and the cooked vegetables. Slice your chicken and add that as well.
Serve with cilantro, ranch dressing and lime juice.

You can also add fresh garden salsa instead of tomatoes or guacamole instead of avocado.

Can you make chicken fajita salad ahead of time?

Yes, you can make your Chicken Fajita Salad ahead—all but a little of it.

• Cook and Cool: First, cook your chicken and vegetables. Then, after cooking, let them cool at room temperature. Let them sit in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve.
• Prep Veggies: You can also prep your lettuce and tomatoes if you want to get ahead. I, however, would not start cutting up the avocado until the very last minute. Avocado has a tendency to go brown, rather quickly after being cut, and that will affect the appearance and flavor of your salad.

For tips on choosing and cutting avocados, check my post on avocado burgers.

Assemble Just Before Serving: Keep this salad fresh and crunchy by assembling right before you are ready to serve. If it sits for too long, the salad will become soggy, ruining the texture and flavor.

Chicken Fajita Sandwich

Want another way to enjoy your fajita flavors? Whip up some Chicken Fajita Sandwiches! Here’s how you can do it:

Prep Your Ingredients: Just use the same cooked chicken and vegetables from your salad. Slice the chicken and vegetables into smaller pieces if necessary.

Toast the Bread: Lightly toast your sandwich rolls or buns to really bring in that crunch.

Assemble the Sandwich: Place chicken on top of bread with veggies. Then add your condiments and toppings—maybe a little ranch dressing or some fresh cilantro.

Serve warm and enjoy a delicious twist on your favorite fajitas in a Chicken Fajita Sandwich.

Chicken Fajita Sandwiches are perfect for a light lunch or heavy snack that packs the same flavors as the salad, but in an easy, sandwich form.