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Steak Fajitas

·3 mins
Food Cooking Recipes Steak-Fajitas Steak Mexican
Chrisando Wagner
Author
Chrisando Wagner
25+ years across the full estate — Microsoft/VMware, OpenStack/Red Hat, cloud-native Kubernetes. These days that’s reference architectures, FinOps governance, and regulatory guardrails other teams build against. When I’m not debating gateway API controllers, I’m automating something in my homelab.

Marinated skirt steak seared hard, peppers and onions charred in the same pan while the meat rests, and warm tortillas to wrap it all in. It’s a fast cook once the steak has had its time in the marinade — everything after that happens in about fifteen minutes. This is the base recipe, now with photos from the first proper run at it.

Folded steak fajita with griddle marks, guacamole and sour cream on the side

Steak Fajitas
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Servings: 4

Ingredients
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  • 700g skirt or flank steak
  • 1 lime, juiced
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • 1 tsp smoked paprika
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 red bell pepper, sliced
  • 1 green bell pepper, sliced
  • 1 large onion, sliced
  • 8 flour or corn tortillas
  • 2 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped
  • 1 lime, cut into wedges
  • Guacamole, to serve

Method
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  1. Marinate the steak. In a bowl, whisk together the lime juice, garlic, 2 tbsp of the olive oil, cumin, chili powder, smoked paprika, and salt. Add the steak, turn to coat well, and leave for at least 30 minutes. Up to a few hours in the fridge is better; overnight works too, but with this much lime the surface goes a little soft, so don’t expect a dry sear if you push it that far.

  2. Sear the steak. Heat a heavy skillet or grill pan over high heat until it’s properly smoking. Sear the steak 3–4 minutes per side for medium-rare, then move it to a board and rest for 5–10 minutes before slicing — resting is what keeps the juice in the meat instead of on the board.

  3. Cook the peppers and onion. In the same pan, heat the remaining 1 tbsp olive oil. Add the peppers and onion and cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until softened and lightly charred, about 8 minutes. Keep the heat up — you want colour on them, not a slow steam. Do it in two batches if the pan looks crowded.

  4. Slice the steak. Slice thinly against the grain. Skirt and flank both have a very obvious grain direction, and cutting across it is the difference between tender strips and chewy ones.

  5. Warm the tortillas. Warm them in a dry skillet or straight over a gas flame, about 20–30 seconds per side, and keep them wrapped in a cloth until serving.

  6. Assemble. Pile steak and peppers onto the warm tortillas. Top with coriander and a squeeze of lime, and serve with guacamole and sour cream on the side.

Open tortilla loaded with steak strips, charred red and green peppers and onion, with guacamole and sour cream alongside

Notes
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  • Skirt has more flavour, flank is easier to find and slightly leaner — either works, just don’t cook it past medium or it tightens up.
  • The pan needs to be hotter than feels comfortable before the steak goes in. A cooler pan greys the meat instead of searing it, and then the resting juices run everywhere.
  • Corn tortillas for flavour, flour for durability if you’re loading them heavily. Warm them last so they’re still soft when the food hits them.