Cheesy Chicken Fajita Bake

Chicken fajita bake turns the classic stovetop chicken fajitas into an easy oven baked meal that cooks with no fuss no muss in 40 minutes. Layer cheese, chicken breasts, and seasoning over fajita veggies for a simple meal any night of the week. It's a Whole Lotta Yum!

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Chicken Fajita Bake

Chicken fajitas are one of the most popular recipes in our home and it's a dish we make regularly, usually by skillet. However, we wanted to try something different so we turned our family favorite into an oven baked version almost like a chicken fajitas casserole.  Even better that this is a keto chicken casserole recipe for our low-carb readers. When you're looking for a new take on a chicken fajita recipe, you'll love this one for variety in your meal rotation.

When I created a recipe for chicken fajita bake, both my husband and son were out of town, leaving my daughter to the tasting. She LOVED this recipe so much she ended up eating 3 out of the 4 fajita chicken fajitas pieces!

Looking for more chicken bake recipes?  Be sure to check out our Cheesy Baked Salsa Chicken or viral Green Chili Chicken too.

And if you LOVE peppers as we do, you'll definitely want to make our popular stuffed peppers without rice and our Philly cheesesteak stuffed peppers. SO. GOOD.

Why You'll Love This!

• Chicken fajita casserole is almost effortless with just 10 minutes of prep.
• It's a unique yet easy variation from the same basic chicken fajitas recipes you make over and over again.
• The oven-baked chicken fajitas casserole is low carb, gluten-free, and keto-friendly.

Ingredient Notes

The ingredients for our ultra cheesy chicken fajita bake are almost identical to stovetop fajitas, the only difference with this recipe (other than serving the toppings over chicken breasts), is that we add cheese.

• chicken breasts - you can cut them lengthwise yourself or buy chicken cutlets already sliced in half.
• sugar-free taco seasoning or store bought fajita seasoning mix - we love to make our own with simple ingredients already in your pantry. You can make your own taco or homemade fajita seasoning, or look for store versions without processed ingredients or sugar.
• cheddar cheese - be sure to shred your own from a block to get the best texture, pre-shredded adds hidden starches. Pepper Jack cheese would be a nice variation.
• olive oil
• bell peppers - red and green bell peppers for color variety
• red onion
• Optional garnishes- fresh cilantro, sour cream, avocado, salsa

Supplies

• 2-3 qt baking dish (approximately 9x13-inch) or a large cast iron skillet

Dietary Concern

Keto/Low Carb-Each serving of the baked chicken fajitas recipe has 6.6 net carbs, plus it's such a great low carb meal because it not only has lean protein and healthy fats, but it includes lots of low carb vegetables.  Be sure to check the carbs in the sour cream, shred your own cheese to avoid added starches, and use a sugar-free taco seasoning.

Gluten-free- The only thing to be aware of in this recipe is the taco seasoning. If you buy the packaged taco seasonings, they may contain gluten, which is why we make our own homemade taco mix (no sugar).

Step by Step Instructions

The simplicity of the chicken fajitas bake recipe really makes it a staple for any home chef, regardless of cooking skill level. Prep the veggies, slice the chicken, sprinkle the toppings, and stick it in the oven is all there is to it! It makes for a great leftover lunch, cooking for a date, meal prep for the week, or dinner for one.

1. Preheat the oven to 375 F.
2. Slice the bell peppers and onion into thin strips and set them in the bottom of a greased casserole dish. Sprinkle them with ½ tablespoon seasoning and drizzle with olive oil.  Note: cut your bell peppers as thin as possible. We like to have a little crisp and crunch to our vegetables, and the picture shows how the peppers turn out with the width we slice our vegetables. Try to slice them as thin as ⅛-1/4 inch for softer peppers.
3. For the chicken, you’ll want 4 pieces so the dish has 4 servings. Many grocery store chicken pieces are huge and you may need to cut the chicken breasts in half.  Our recipe used two chicken breasts that weighed a total of 1 ½ lbs. Alternatively, you can buy chicken cutlets that are already cut in half.
4. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of taco or fajita seasoning over the top of the chicken.
5. Sprinkle with 1 ½ cups+ cheddar cheese.
6. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked to 165F when tested in the center. Top with your favorite fajita garnishes such as sour cream, cilantro, sliced avocado, or salsa.

Recipe Tips

• You’ll want each piece of chicken to be about 6 oz and you may need to cut the chicken breasts in half to get this size. Chicken does not come in a consistent size at the grocery store, unfortunately. Focus on the weight of the chicken package versus the number of pieces.
• Boneless skinless chicken thighs can be used to make our chicken fajitas casserole, look for larger ones that are about 6 oz so the recipe will cook the same.
• You can use any combo of bell peppers, whether it be green, red, orange, or yellow. When you use at least 2 colors the dish looks pretty and presentable for guests.
• We love to use sweet yellow onions instead of red onions, however, red adds a bold color contrast. Feel free to use any type of onion you prefer.

Common Questions

Can you Freeze Them?

Most definitely! Freezing the baked chicken fajita casserole will add more liquid to the dish, but it'll still taste super good. Feel free to add a fresh sprinkle of cheese before baking to freshen up the tasty cheesy chicken fajita bake. Store in the freezer for up to 3 months.

What to Serve with Chicken Fajita Casserole?

To be honest, fajita chicken bake is one of those recipes it's a meal all on its own. With lean protein, lots of vegetables, healthy fat, and even dairy, it might not need a side dish.

But if you want something more on your table, we suggest a simple green salad or cauliflower rice. If you aren't eating low carb then white rice or Spanish rice are great ideas too.

More Keto Mexican Recipes

• Green Chili Chicken Casserole
• Low Carb Taco Pie
• Crockpot Taco Soup
• Sour cream chicken enchilada casserole

Continue to Content

Fajita Chicken Bake

Yield: 4

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes

Fajita chicken bake is an easy alternative to stovetop fajitas. Layer your vegetables, seasoning, chicken, and cheese then bake. So simple!

Print

Ingredients

• 1 red pepper, thinly sliced
• 1 green pepper, thinly sliced
• 1 red onion, thinly sliced
• 1 ½ tablespoon taco seasoning, divided
• 2 chicken breasts (1.5 lb total), cut in half lengthwise to make cutlets
• 1 ½ tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 + cups shredded cheddar cheese
• Optional garnishes- cilantro, sour cream, avocado, salsa

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 F.
2. Lay the sliced peppers and onions on the bottom of a baking dish.
3. Sprinkle the vegetables with ½ tablespoon of taco or fajita seasoning over the vegetables. Drizzle with olive oil.
4. Place the chicken cutlets on top of vegetables.
5. Sprinkle the chicken with 1 Tablespoon of taco or fajita seasoning and then top with the shredded cheese.
6. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked to 165 F when tested with a digital meat thermometer.
7. Garnish with your favorite fajita toppings and enjoy!

Notes

You can purchase chicken cutlets instead of cutting chicken breasts lengthwise which saves time, however, sometimes the precut chicken cutlets are packaged in varying sizes.

To keep this dish keto friendly and low carb, use sugar-free taco seasoning or make our homemade no-sugar taco seasoning. Also, be sure to slice the cheddar from a block of cheese since pre-shredded cheese contains starch (and hidden carbs).

The dish can be lightened by cutting back on the amount of cheese used in the recipe.

Nutrition Information

Yield 4 Serving Size 1
Amount Per Serving Calories 373Total Fat 20gSaturated Fat 7gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 10gCholesterol 118mgSodium 517mgCarbohydrates 13gFiber 2gSugar 4gProtein 34g

The nutrional information is just an estimate and was calculated by an automated calculator. If you're on a restricted health program please manually calculate this information using the brands of ingredients you have since brands can vary.

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