Fajita Chicken Sheet Pan Recipe

With all the kids now all grown and meals just down to the two of us, I find myself lacking motivation. When I had to feed a whole family it seemed to inspire me more or just feel more important. Now that we're down to only the two of us, I often just want to graze on what is in the fridge or even worse, resort to packaged food which we all know comes with health risks in the long term.

I'm working in many ways to try to break this cycle. I signed up for a trial period on Goodfoods to have a box with 2 meal kits delivered every week.  I am going to start pulling my cookbooks out and commit to trying one recipe from one of them each week.  And I spend time on the internet doing searches once and awhile, or checking out recipes others have shared on their social media.

One type of cooking that caught my eye was the Sheet Pan or Tray Bake style.  The best ones have everything tossed onto a large sheet pan (or 2 smaller ones) and it comes out ready to serve. Others do the main cooking in a sheet pan, but there is still prep on the side. These second often offer more variety, but usually involve a lot more time as well. 

I previously made one I think qualifies as sheet pan - Balsamic Glazed Mediterranean Chicken Bake. While I enjoyed it as is, the second time I made it I personalized it to our taste. I took out the cheese, added marinated artichokes and upped the olives. MMMMM! AND my daughter and her husband were thrilled when I made it for them as it was low carb which they were fond of.

Balsamic Glazed Chicken recipe - HERE!

As it's Taco Tuesday tonight, I'm going to try the Fajita Chicken version byTamsin Burnett-Hall from Sainsbury's Magazine. I am probably going to make my own seasoning mix, and I switched out the red onion for sweet onion. as I prefer this milder option. I'll let you know how it turns out.

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Fajita Chicken Sheet Pan Recipe

Ingredients 

2 T             Fajita spice mix (purchased or make your own see NOTE)

2 T             Vegetable oil 

2                Sweet Onion cut vertically in slices (original recipe used Red Onions) 

3                Mixed peppers, deseeded cut vertically into slices

1 lb.           Chicken breast cut into smallish slices - Can substitute shredded cooked chicken, about 350-175 grams, but add with the rice the last 5 minutes.

1                Small can black beans, rinsed and drained (about 14 oz or 398 ml)

3-1/2 C      Cooked Rice (original used 2 pkgs of precooked rice)

1                Large or small depending on whether you want taco style or burrito style fajitas

NOTE - this homemade fajita seasoning mix recipe is from Spend With Pennies, just combine and stir well.

• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt to taste
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

Toppings - 

Sour Cream, Lite Sour Cream, Greek Yogurt or dairy free option.

Chopped Cilantro

Instructions - 

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees with a very large shallow roasting tin inside (if you don’t have a really large one, use 2 trays). 

In a large bowl, stir the spice mix into the oil, then toss the onions, peppers and chicken in to coat. Tip into the hot roasting tin (or divide between 2 trays – you want everything fairly well spread out so that they roast rather than steam). Roast in the oven for 10 minutes. Stir everything around and cook for another 5 minutes, then mix in the black beans and rice (if using pre-cooked chicken at it here) and return to the oven to heat through for 5 minutes. 

Drizzle with the sour cream or other option, and then sprinkle with chopped coriander. Warm the flour tortillas, then fill with fajita mixture and serve.

Veggie option - 

Swap the chicken for a 300g pack of prepared butternut squash and sweet potato. Microwave according to pack instructions, then roast as directed.