Easy 30-Minute Fajita Bowls

These easy 30-minute fajita bowls are one of the easiest and most flavorful meals to make. They come together in about thirty minutes, which is perfect at the end of a long day of work, or for when kids are melting down. This meal is popular with groups and families because it’s so easy for people to customize — someone can skip the cheese, another can skip the limes, cilantro-tastes-like-soap-people can skip the cilantro.

If you can, mix up the marinade in the morning; it takes about five minutes. The chicken gets so much flavor from the marinade, and remains really juicy after cooking. If the weather is good, we love to grill this chicken for that smoky flavor, but this chicken bakes well too. While the chicken and rice cook, you can chop up all the veggies and garnishes. Everything is ready at the same time, and dinner is served.

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Easy Fajita Bowls

(Yields: 4 Servings)

Ingredients
Marinade:
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
4 tablespoons fresh lime juice (about 2 limes)
1 tablespoons olive oil
1 (heaping) tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoons chopped onion (red or yellow)
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

Bowl:
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup uncooked basmati rice
2 bell peppers, seeded and chopped*
4 green onions, sliced*
Optional garnishes: chopped cilantro, shredded cheese, salsa, sour cream, lime juice / lime wedges, chopped tomatoes, avocado slices, tortilla chips

*You could also grill the peppers and onions. If going that route, seed and halve the peppers, and cut thick ring slices into a white or red onion (rather than green). Brush all sides with olive oil and sprinkle with salt.

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Directions:
Marinate the Chicken: Combine all marinade ingredients in a bowl. Place chicken breast ingredients inside, and coat with marinade. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, but no longer than 8.

Cook the Chicken: You can grill this chicken, turning a few times, over medium heat for about 15 minutes until no longer pink. (If grilling peppers and onions, throw on the grill for the last 5 minutes of chicken cooking time, turning a few times until slightly softened and somewhat blackened).
You could also bake the chicken in the oven. If baking, preheat oven to 375*. Place chicken in a greased baking dish and cook for 35 minutes.
Once chicken is cooked through, cut into cubes.

Rice: Meanwhile, cook your rice according to package directions.

Veggies & Garnishes: As the rice and chicken cook, chop your peppers, onions, and garnishes to have ready.

Assemble:
To assemble fajita bowls, layer rice in the bottom of a wide, shallow bowl. Top with cooked, chopped chicken, peppers, onions, and garnishes of choice!

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Credits: Images, styling & recipe by Liz Berget

6 thoughts on “Easy 30-Minute Fajita Bowls”

  1. This fajita bowl sounds the very EPITOME of summer! All in one bowl, and all of the picky eaters can choose only what they will actually consume (says the mother of four sons with totally different palates). Thank you for finding this and sharing it with all of us!

  2. Kate the Great

    We have lots of meals similar to this one in that I cook and cut up bowls of ingredients and we all help ourselves: burritos (egg, beef, or chicken), haystacks, and taco salad.

    My problem is that it’s too easy for my kids to reject all veggies. They end up with little piles of cheese, chips or rice, and ranch. One has a small pile of meat and the other does not. Hardly a meal, but I did ask them which ingredients they wanted. They also watch both my husband and me eat a regular adult- sized meal from the same ingredients.

    Maybe it’s our seating arrangement that’s the problem. My six year old sets the table and chooses where everyone sits, and he always chooses to have the kids sit on one side of the table with the food separating the line of sight to the adults’ plates…

  3. is the green marinade in the picture just more of the chicken marinade to add on top? thanks for this! it looks amazing!

  4. I saw this picture yesterday and didn’t have time to read the recipe. but I had leftover BBQ chicken, so I picked up the few things I saw and it was the best meal!!
    It fed the whole family and their varying tastes perfectly, this will be on our regular rotation (as is any recipe I can make quickly off the top of my head)

  5. I printed this recipe before leaving on vacation and we finally tried it tonight. Fajita bowls were a huge success! One kid even licked his bowl clean :) I’ll probably double the recipe next time for our family of five so we can have leftovers for lunch. Thanks for sharing!

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