It's hard to beat the flare of a smoking hot plate of grilled veggies and delicious shrimp. With this easy recipe for skillet shrimp fajitas you can sizzle with the best of 'em—right at home!
Shrimp fajitas recipe
I'm all for supporting your local restaurant, and Mexican spots are among my favorite. We literally have 3 within walking distance of our house, so it's no surprise that we often find ourselves looking at a menu with margaritas and micheladas.
And what's not to love? Chips and salsa get you in the door, of course, but the main courses are fresh, comforting, and full of big flavor.
Though it's nice to explore some different options, the most common choice in this household will always be fajitas. It's a simple concept—protein, veggies, sides, tortillas—executed to delicious perfection.
In spite of the abundance of restaurant options around here, I sometimes want to take matters into my own hands and bring the magic of fajitas into my own kitchen. This skillet shrimp fajitas recipe shows you how I like to do that!
Skillet shrimp fajitas
Chicken? Steak? Seafood? Veggies only?
There are plenty of ways to do fajitas, and I don't think any of them will steer you wrong. For this one, however, I'm focusing on shrimp.
Some folks get intimidated by cooking anything that has to do with seafood in their own home. If I had to guess why, it's probably because seafood is sometimes easy to overcook and turn a light and fresh entree into a rubbery disaster.
The instructions included here will work with fresh shrimp from the store (more on cooking advice later in the most). I promise you'll be able to execute to perfection and maybe even surprise yourself in the process!
If you really want to give yourself a taste of the restaurant experience, I recommend using a cast iron skillet for this recipe. You can achieve perfectly good cooked meat and veggies in any skillet, but sometimes there's no substitute for sizzle.
Now let's talk about what to throw in there!
Shrimp fajitas ingredients
This recipe will show you how to make the protein and vegetable component of fajitas. Of course, the usual accompaniments (rice, beans, guacamole) are always a welcome addition, but those instructions are for another time.
Here's what goes into my shrimp fajitas recipe:
Ingredients
- raw shrimp (peeled & deveined)
- olive oil
- bell peppers
- onion
- lime (juiced)
- cilantro
Seasonings
- chili powder
- cumin
- garlic powder
- paprika
- onion powder
- salt & pepper
Optional Toppings
- avocado, tortillas, tortilla chips, salsa, greek yogurt, etc.
It's pretty well known that you can buy pre-made fajita seasoning at the grocery store, and these can actually be pretty good. In case you don't want to do that, though, this spice mix will get you where you need to go and provide some room to customize if you prefer a different flavor profile.
How to make shrimp fajitas
Here's how you'll go about turning the above ingredients into your new favorite dinner:
- Gather all ingredients.
- Add all seasonings to a small bowl. Mix well.
- Add shrimp to a large bowl. Pat dry. Add ½ tbsp olive oil and juice from ½ lime. Mix and coat the shrimp. Add in ½ seasonings and mix well. Set aside to marinate (up to 2 hours).
- Chop the bell peppers and onion into very thin slices. Place in a large bowl. Add ½ tbsp olive oil, juice from ½ limes, and other ½ of the seasonings.
- Heat ½ tbsp olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
- Add shrimp.
- Cook shrimp for about 1-2 minutes on each side. Remove shrimp from the skillet.
- Add the veggies to the skillet. Cook for about 7 mins, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.
- Add the shrimp back to the skillet and sprinkle with cilantro. Toss to combine.
- Serve with tortillas, tortilla chips, salsa, greek yogurt, cheese, or whatever you like with fajitas!
What is fajita marinade made from?
As you can see, the marinade for this recipe is a simple mixture of olive oil and lime juice. The shrimp is also marinaded along with the spices to give a chance for those flavors to be introduced during the process.
You don't need to marinate the shrimp or veggies for much time before making this recipe, but it can sometimes strengthen the flavor of the ingredients if you give them some time to get to know each other.
How do you cook shrimps?
Answer: pretty quickly.
Really, it doesn't take much time at all for shrimp to reach their safe temperature and finish cooking—only 1-2 minutes per side here.
You might say there's a pretty big margin there, but it ultimately depends on how hot your cooking implements will be, and every stove/burner/skillet is different.
As to the method, you can just cook the marinated shrimp right in the skillet, flipping about halfway through. That's all!
What toppings go on fajitas?
Off the top of my head, here's what I like along with a good shrimp fajitas recipe:
- Avocado
- Guacamole
- Salsa
- Sour Cream
- Cheese
- Cilantro
- Jalapenos
What is a serving of shrimp fajitas?
This recipe makes 4 servings, each of which provide the following nutrition: Calories: 216kcal | Carbohydrates: 10.2g | Protein: 23.8g | Fat: 8.3g | Cholesterol: 247.5mg |
Do you put cheese in fajitas?
You can certainly add cheese to your fajitas (you're the boss, after all). While you could melt some right on top of a sizzling dish, you could also sprinkle some on if you construct little tacos with your tortillas. I bet some cotija cheese would be good for this!
Need some more recipes?
Why not try one of these Jordo's World staples:
Shrimp Fajitas
Equipment
- cast iron skillet
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbs raw shrimp peeled & deveined
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 3 bell peppers cut into very thin slices
- 1 onion cut into very thin slices
- 1 lime juiced
- ¼ cup cilantro chopped
Seasonings
- 2 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp onion powder
- salt & pepper
Optional Toppings
- avocado, tortillas, tortilla chips, salsa, greek yogurt, etc.
Instructions
- Gather all ingredients.
- Add all seasonings to a small bowl. Mix well.
- Add shrimp to a large bowl. Pat dry. Add ½ tbsp olive oil and juice from ½ lime. Mix and coat the shrimp. Add in ½ seasonings and mix well. Set aside to marinate (up to 2 hours).
- Chop the bell peppers and onion into very thin slices. Place in a large bowl. Add ½ tbsp olive oil, juice from ½ limes, and other ½ of the seasonings.
- Heat ½ tbsp olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
- Add shrimp.
- Cook shrimp for about 1-2 minutes on each side. Remove shrimp from the skillet.
- Add the veggies to the skillet. Cook for about 7 mins, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.
- Add the shrimp back to the skillet and sprinkle with cilantro. Toss to combine.
- Serve with tortillas, tortilla chips, salsa, greek yogurt, cheese, or whatever you like with fajitas!