We live in the middle of the countryside, and thankfully we are too far from any takeaway food places to deliver to us, so there’s no temptation on Friday evenings after a long week at work to order in. Of course there are times when I wish we could, but it just takes a little bit of thought and planning to get the ingredients in for a healthy but tasty Friday night dinner. Fajitas are a regular Friday night meal in our house – they are quick to make and healthy, but they somehow feel like an end-of-week treat. They are also great for entertaining, especially if you present all the extras in attractive little bowls on the table. Everyone can just dig in and help themselves.
Most fajita recipes will recommend sour cream as an accompaniment, but I use either reduced-fat crème fraiche or natural yogurt. Skip the grated cheese too, to save on calories and fat – there’s enough flavour so you don’t need it.
Here’s my version but you can make it your own by varying the veg and accompaniments. I love to serve it with guacamole, tomato salsa (shop-bought is fine) and natural yogurt placed on the table in little bowls. If you are entertaining, you could serve some Mexican rice too – you can buy this ready-cooked in packs in the supermarket. If you don’t have all the spices, it’s fine to use a packet of fajita spice mix!
Chicken & Veg Fajitas
Check out the nutrition information at the end to see the abundance of nutrients this tasty dish provides!
Serves 4 hungry adults
- 3 chicken fillets, chopped into bite-size strips
- 1 small tin kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 red pepper & 1 yellow pepper, chopped into strips
- 1 red onion, sliced
- 2 tsp paprika
- Pinch of cumin
- 1 tsp rapeseed oil
- Juice of 1 lime
- 8 wholegrain tortilla wraps
Accompaniments (all optional):
- Tomato salsa
- Guacamole
- Natural yogurt or reduced-fat crème fraiche
- Mexican rice
- Preheat the oven to 180°C. Wrap the tortilla wraps in tinfoil. Heat the rapeseed oil in a large frying pan. Add the chicken strips and allow to cook on a medium heat for 5-10 minutes until starting to brown.
- Place the tortilla wraps in tinfoil in the hot oven.
- Add the peppers and onions to the chicken and continue to cook until the veg starts to soften slightly (about 7 minutes). Add the spices and kidney beans and cook for a further 5 minutes, tossing everything together.
- Meanwhile, place the accompaniments in little bowls on the table.
- Place the chicken & veg mix in a bowl and squeeze over the lime juice. Place the bowl and tortilla wraps on the table, and allow everyone to help themselves.
Nutrition information per serving: 404 calories, 7g fat, 1.5g saturates, 56g carbohydrate, 7g fibre
High in Vitamin C, Folic Acid, Beta-carotene (Vitamin A), Niacin
Source of Iron, Zinc, Calcium, Magnesium, Vitamin B6
