Vivi’s Chicken Fajitas

Chicken fajitas are a weeknight staple in the Chicago kitchen of Vanessa Abeja (known as Vivi to all). Like most of her recipes, these fajitas are simple to make, bursting with flavor, healthy, and easy to scale up or down depending on who’s joining Vivi for dinner.

As you can tell from her Instagram Lives most Thursday nights, Vivi is the one friends and family call if they have a question about the kitchen. She’s as passionate as we are about Latino homecooking, and has taken her love for the kitchen to the next level as a professional chef! With our shared love of abuela cooking and deep belief in the power of family and food traditions to remind us who we are and where we come from, Familia Kitchen is excited to partner with Vivis_Table and showcase her “Feeding the Soul” Live recipe-cookalongs. By highlighting her recipes regularly, we are honored to celebrate and share Vivi’s love of traditional Mexican food with our comida Latina-loving community.

How Vivi Started Cooking Her Way Home

Vivi’s cocina journey started when she was a child, growing up in the Little Village neighborhood of Chicago. Since her mom had a lot on her plate (working multiple jobs while in school and raising four kids on her own), her family had to be creative with making meals with what they had. To help out, Vivi and her siblings would help cook and grocery shop.

Vivi has since graduated from cooking school and works at much-loved Chicago restaurant Bavette’s Steakhouse and Bar. When she’s not working, she still enjoys cooking her way home with favorite Mexican dishes, often adding her own creative spin. “I always loved and was so amazed when someone would make a meal and remember asking for the recipe so I could replicate it at home,” Vivi said. She especially loves sharing delicioso and easy recipes like these chicken fajitas, since they come together quickly, making them ideal for busy weeknights and celebrations alike. They are also endlessly customizable (Vivi tells us they taste just as good with beef or tofu), so it’s very difficult to ever get bored of them!

Let’s Make Chicken Fajitas: Live!

In Season 2 Episode 10 of her “Feeding the Soul,” Vivi’s Instagram Live series hosted on Vivis_Table, she lets us share in the joy of cooking in real time with her. Vivi walks her viewers through every step of making these chicken fajitas, all the while giving us important cooking and life lessons. For example, she shares: Add salsa to your chicken and veggies while they’re cooking (for extra juiciness and flavor), and don’t give up on when you start a new project or endeavor if it’s in alignment with your soul.

Another Vivi tip: Before she turns on the stovetop, she makes sure she has all of her ingredients prepped. All of her chicken and veggies are cut into thin, similarly-sized strips, so that they are ready to throw in the pan as soon as it heats up. “Depending on how thick or thin you cook your chicken, that’s how fast it’s going to cook,” Vivi says.

As the chicken sears, Vivi rotates the strips with her spatula to ensure all the pieces cook evenly. Once the pieces are seared through (so aromatic and juicy, Vivi sighs happily), she transfers the chicken to a bowl. Vivi then adds the onions and bell peppers to the still-sizzling spiced oil in the hot pan, to cook and take on the delicious flavor.

Vivi loves how colorful these chicken fajitas are once all the ingredients are mixed in the pan. “We want to see color, we want to see variety,” Vivi says. The first sense we use in cooking is vision, she explains. Dishes like these bright fajitas that look amazing will make you and your guests hungry to try them.

After removing the chicken and veggies from the pan, it’s time to put it all together. Vivi warms up her tortillas by toasting them in the same pan, so that they can soak up what’s left of the flavorful oil.

Time for putting it all together and garnishing. ”I like to add cilantro to brighten it up and add freshness,” Vivi says. She recommends adding your own personal favorite toppings. Options include a drizzle of salsa, Mexican crema, and sliced avocado.

Check back regularly with us at Familia Kitchen for more of Vivis_Table authentic Latino recipes! We are excited and beyond honored to celebrate and showcase Vivi’s passion for Mexican home cooking with our Familia Kitchen Community every week!  

Vivi’s Chicken Fajitas

Recipe by Vivi Abeja

5.0 from 2 votes

Cuisine: Mexican

Servings

6 to 8

servings

Prep time

15

minutes

Cooking time

20

minutes

Ingredients

• 1 yellow onion, medium, sliced

• 2 bell peppers, sliced (your choice of colors)

• 1/2 tsp chili powder

• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika

• 1/2 tsp garlic powder

• 1/4 tsp cumin

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 1/2 tsp pepper

• 1 lb chicken breast, cut in strips

• 1 to 2 Tbsp olive or avocado oil

• 2 Tbsp green salsa, homemade or store bought

• 6 to 8 flour tortillas

• For the Garnish

• 1 lime, cut in fourths

• 1/4 cup cilantro, fresh, chopped

• 1 avocado, sliced

• 1/4 cup Mexican crema

• 1/2 cup salsa, green or red

Directions

• Mix the chili powder, smoked paprika, garlic, cumin, salt, and pepper together in a small bowl.
• Slice the chicken into thin strips.
• Heat 1 Tbsp of the olive or avocado oil in a skillet or pan set to medium.
• When the oil and pan are hot, add the chicken strips, 1/2 the seasoning, and 1 Tbsp of green salsa.
• Cook for about 10 minutes, turning as needed until both sides are browned and fully cooked. Remove the chicken and set aside in a bowl.
• Add sliced onions, bell peppers, second 1/2 of the seasoning and 1 Tbsp salsa. Cook until soft.
• Add the cooked chicken back in the skillet and mix well until evenly warm.
• Remove the mixture from the pan and set aside. Working in batches, add the tortillas to same hot pan, flipping as needed until they are pale golden and warm on both sides.
• Fill each tortilla with fajita mixture and top with lime juice, cilantro, Mexican crema, sliced avocados and salsa!

Notes

• Follow Vivi on Vivis_table for her weekly Lives.