This Chicken Fajita Pasta is fresh, bold and flavorful, and made in just one pan! Everything you love about fajitas, transformed into a delicious pasta dish.
I love traditional fajitas so much that I've also revamped them into sheet pan fajitas, foil packet fajitas and even fajita soup! Don't miss all my other favorite Mexican-inspired recipes.
I've been in a comfort mood lately, but wanting something that's not overly heavy in calories, but still give that warm, comfort-food feeling. This pasta hits the mark, made with fresh veggies and bold flavors from the easy homemade fajita seasoning combined with some whole wheat penne noodles.
How to make Chicken Fajita Pasta:
- In a small bowl combine the fajita marinade ingredients.
- Place the chopped chicken in one large ziplock bag, and the veggies in another large ziplock bag. Pour half of the marinade into each bag and toss them to coat. Refrigerate for 15 minutes, or up to a few hours.
- When ready to cook, heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once hot, add the chicken (discard any remaining marinade), and cook for 3-4 minutes. Flip chicken to cook on the other side and move to one side of the pan. Add veggies and garlic to the other side (discard excess marinade) and sauté for several minutes, until chicken is cooked through (about 165 degrees F). Remove everything to a plate and cover with aluminum foil.
- In the same skillet, add the broth, milk, diced tomatoes, uncooked pasta, and salt.
- Stir to combine and bring to a boil. Once boiling, cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook for 13-15 minutes or until pasta is tender and liquid is mostly absorbed.
- Add the chicken and veggies back into the skillet and stir to combine until heated through.
- Serve immediately, topped with salsa and sour cream, if desired.
If you love One Pan Meals, try one of these favorites:
You can also FOLLOW ME on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM and PINTEREST for more great recipes!
Recipe
Chicken Fajita Pasta
Ingredients
For the fajita marinade:
- 2 Tablespoons oil (vegetable or canola oil)
- 3 Tablespoons lemon juice
- 1-2 cloves garlic , minced
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- pinch of salt
- freshly ground black pepper
For the pasta:
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast halves or tenders
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 1 whole onion chopped
- 1 green bell pepper , chopped
- 1 red bell pepper chopped
- 1-2 cloves garlic , minced
- 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- ½ cup milk
- 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes , undrained
- 8 ounces Penne Pastas , regular or whole wheat
- ½ teaspoon salt
- salsa and sour cream , for topping, if desired
Instructions
- In a small bowl combine the fajita marinade ingredients.
- Place the chopped chicken in one large ziplock bag, and the veggies in another large ziplock bag. Pour half of the marinade into each bag and toss them to coat. Refrigerate for 15 minutes, or up to a few hours.
- When ready to cook, heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once hot, add the chicken (discard any remaining marinade), and cook for 3-4 minutes. Flip chicken to cook on the other side until cooked through (about 165 degrees F). Remove to a plate and cover with aluminum foil. Add veggies and garlic to the pan and sauté for a few minutes, until tender. Remove to the plate with the chicken.
- In the same skillet, add the broth, milk, diced tomatoes, uncooked pasta, and salt.
- Stir to combine and bring to a boil. Once boiling, cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook for 13-15 minutes or until pasta is tender and liquid is mostly absorbed.
- Add the chicken and veggies back into the skillet and stir to combine until heated through.
- Serve immediately, topped with salsa and sour cream, if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?!
RATE and COMMENT below! I would love to hear your experience.
I originally shared this recipe February 2016. Updated July 2020 with process photos and a video.
This post contains affiliate links.
Made this tonight – my first of your recipes – and I’m looking forward to trying many more! I chose it simply because it was the first one I saw that I could manage with stuff already in my house, and I did have to change up a couple things, like using rotini instead of penne, and only green peppers instead of green and red. I also wound up topping it with crumbled bacon because I was lucky enough to have some left over from breakfast. It was absolutely delicious and I enjoyed every bite! Can’t wait to try more!
Made this tonight for dinner and we loved it! It was a nice take on a new kind of pasta, instead of just an Italian recipe. I made the full amount so I could eat it for left overs. I used a bit more chicken because my husband is very carnivorous.
Is the serving size 1 cup?
To reduce calories and/or WWpoints, I cut the oil to 1 tsp. for the marinade and just Pamming the frying pan when I went to stir-fry the chicken. Then, I also cut the dry pasta down to 4 oz. instead of 8 oz. The result for the marinade: with only a tsp of oil: it was more like a paste than a loose dressing, but it still flavored the meat and (tremendous volume of )veggies well, although one could tell there wasn’t much oil in it. In addition, the ample amount of liquids from the canned tomatoes, milk and broth cooked the 4 oz. of pasta properly, and a serving (1/5 of the batch) was still almost too much for me to eat at once…and it tasted good. One snafu: I mistakenly combined both the garlic powder and the minced garlic when making the marinade instead of adding the minced garlic at the end of the cooking…I’ll be reading the “how to” instructions first, next time around.
Great taste and easy to prepare
Really easy and yummy recipe. Like the balance between healthy and comfort food. My kids loved it too.
yummy and easy!
When you say “tossing any remaining marinade” do you mean tossing it into the skillet or in the trash?
Sorry if that was confusing–yes, discard the remaining marinade.
can i miss out the milk or use something not dairy instead
I Fred, the milk is just to make it a little creamier. You could try soy milk or almond milk.
I made this for family and friends last night and it tasted so fresh and delicious! Just like fajitas!
I was wondering if the marinade could be mixed up ahead and stored in the fridge overnight in order to reduce prep time on busy nights?
Hi Michelle, thanks for your comment–I’m so happy you liked them! Yes, the marinade could absolutely be made ahead of time!