Steak Fajitas For One

Classic Tex Mex steak fajitas are an easy and adaptable dish to make. Consider topping yours with shredded cheese, chopped cilantro, and a dollop of sour cream. For a low-carb option, enjoy the cooked steak and vegetables over a plate of chopped salad greens: truly spectacular!

Steak fajitas are one of my favorite Mexican meals. This steak fajitas recipe is easy to make with a versatile homemade seasoning that adds a tremendous amount of flavor to the beef. After seasoning the meat, the fajita steak and vegetables cook in less than 20 minutes!

Why This Recipe Works

• The homemade steak seasoning we use adds so much flavor! Although you can use your favorite store brand of seasoning, we encourage you to take a minute and mix up your own using our seasoning recipe. You can even use this flavorful blend of spices on chicken or shrimp too!
• Fajitas cook quickly. After seasoning the beef and slicing the vegetables, the meal comes together so fast.
• These steak fajitas are better than any restaurant version and are a fraction of the price.
• This is a scaled down version of the beef fajitas I've making for years. Although this is a single serving fajita recipe, the ingredients can easily be doubled to make extra.
• I lived in Houston for over 20 years and this steak fajita recipe delivers the same wonderful fajitas I remember from so many fantastic Tex-Mex restaurants in Texas.

What Are Fajitas?

Although chicken, shrimp, and beef fajitas can be found in almost every Mexican restaurant, they don't actually come from Mexico at all. Fajitas were created by ranch workers from Mexico who lived along the Rio Grande on the Texas-Mexico border in the late 1930s. During cattle roundups, beef was butchered regularly to feed the Mexican vaqueros (cowboys) as part of their pay. The meats given were tougher "throwaway" cuts of meat that the workers tenderized and cooked into something quite delicious.

Sometime around the 1970s, fajitas became what we know of today - sizzling steak served on a platter surrounded by thinly sliced vegetables and onions.

Fajita Seasoning Ingredients

Pro Tip: Although I highly recommend using our steak seasoning recipe, you can use your favorite brand of pre-mixed steak seasoning if preferred.

Steak Fajita Ingredients

Ingredient Notes

Scroll down to the recipe at the bottom for quantities.

• Steak: Although you can use most cuts of steak to make steak fajitas, the more traditional options are flank steak or skirt steak. Both cuts of meat look very similar, but flank steak is a bit more tender than skirt steak and this is the type of meat I prefer when making steak fajitas. If using skirt steak, it is best to cook it rare or medium-rare for the most tender texture.
  • Pro Tip: Be sure to cut the meat against the grain. This is very important! When you look at your meat, notice the long, white strands running across it. Those are the muscle fibers which are resilient and tough. When a piece of meat has a lot of those fibers, it can be hard to eat. Do not cut the meat parallel to those lines. Cutting against the grain will sever the fibers which will make the meat more tender and easier to eat.

• Steak seasoning: Use our homemade steak seasoning mix or your favorite store brand of steak seasoning.
• Olive oil: I always use extra virgin olive oil in my fajita recipes. Extra virgin olive oil is the least processed form of olive oil. It is an unrefined oil and the highest-quality olive oil you can buy. Because of the way extra virgin olive oil is made, it retains a more true olive taste. It also contains more of the vitamins and minerals found in olives. It's my favorite type of olive oil to use but you may use light olive oil instead.
• Peppers: I love using colorful red, orange, or yellow peppers. Use the kind you prefer or a combination of them all.
• Onions: I prefer red onions in this recipe, but yellow or white onions work well too.
• Garlic: Use 1 clove of garlic.
• Worcestershire sauce: The ingredients in Worcestershire sauce adds flavor the meat and vegetables.
• Tortillas: Although I perfer using flour tortillas, you can use corn instead. You might like to use our flour tortilla recipe to make delicious homemade tortillas for your fajitas.
• Optional toppings: Enjoy beef fajitas as is or top with sour cream, shredded cheese, slices of avocado or guacamole, pico de gallo, and cilantro.

How To Make Fajitas

1. Prepare the seasoning. Mix cumin, chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, and salt in a small bowl. Season both sides of the steak with the seasoning. Set aside.

2. Sear the steak: Set a heavy 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat and let it heat up for 1 minute. Add ½ tablespoon of olive oil to the pan and let it heat for 30 seconds. Add the steak, searing each side for 3 to 4 minutes, or to desired doneness. Cooking the meat for this length of time will deliver steak that is between medium and medium rare.

3. Let the meat rest. Remove the steak from the skillet and place it on a plate. Cover the steak while you cook the vegetables. This step is important. If you slice the meat before allowing it to rest, much of the meat juices will run out onto the plate leaving you with a dry, flavorless piece of meat.
   • Pro Tip: If the pan starts to smoke too much, reduce the heat to medium.
4. Cook the vegetables while the meat is resting. Add an additional ½ tablespoon of oil to the skillet. Then, add the onions and bell peppers and cook, stirring frequently for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds more.

5. Slice the meat and add to the skillet. Slice the meat across the grain into thin slices which will help make them easier to eat. Return the slices of meat to the skillet and add ½ tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce. Stir constantly until heated through, about 1 minute.

6. Enjoy immediately. Spoon the meat and vegetables into warmed tortillas. Serve plain or top with sour cream, cheese, cilantro, guacamole, or salsa.

Expert Tips

• This steak fajita recipe is perfect for meal prep. You can slice the vegetables ahead of time and see below for ways to use leftover ingredients.
• Bring steak to room temperature before cooking so that the steak cooks evenly and becomes juicy when cooked.
• To make sure each bite of steak is extra tender, when slicing your steak hold your knife blade at a 45-degree angle; this is called "cutting on the bias". This will increase the surface area of each slice, breaking down more muscle fibers which will make the meat more tender.
• Add a squeeze of lime to brighten the earthy flavors of the fajitas.
• To make low-carb steak fajitas, use large butter lettuce leaves or romaine lettuce to make fajita lettuce wraps.

Frequently Asked Questions

Serving Suggestions

My favorite toppings for fajitas are homemade pico de gallo and guacamole. I also like to add sour cream, creamy avocado pureé, shredded cheese, and/or chopped cilantro.

I also love making my perfect single serving margarita!

Ways To Use Leftover Ingredients

If you have any ingredients leftover from this flank steak fajitas recipe you might like to consider using them in any of these single serving and small batch recipes:

• Cumin: Butter Chicken, Vegetarian Chili, Black Bean Hummus
• Chili powder: Zuppa Toscana, Curried Carrot Soup, Chilli and Cheese Baked Potato
• Garlic powder: Hash Browns, Cheese Grits, Baked Pork Chop
• Bell peppers: Ratatouille, Stuffed Peppers, Guacamole Salad
• Red onions: Cucumber Salsa, Mediterranean Quinoa Salad, Chicken Caprese
• Worcestershire sauce: Salisbury Steak, Sloppy Joe, Buffalo Chicken Tenders
• Tortillas: Southwest Wrap, Fruit Quesadilla, Baked Tortilla Chips

More Single Serving Mexican Recipes

• Chicken Fajitas
• Vegetarian Enchiladas
• Huevos Rancheros Breakfast Burritos
• Queso Blanco
• Beef Enchiladas
• Beef Tacos
• Taco Casserole
• Taco Salad

If you’ve tried this steak fajitas recipe or any recipe on One Dish Kitchen please let me know how you liked it by rating the recipe and telling me about it in the comment section below.

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