Slow Cooker Steak Fajitas
Craving fajitas without the hassle of a blazing hot skillet? Use your slow cooker to achieve juicy-tender steak fajitas with a mix of colorful peppers and onions ready just in time for dinner! Even better, Slow Cooker Steak Fajitas will reduce the time and cost of eating out, AND you’ll have easy leftovers to enjoy for more meals at home!
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Ingredients Needed
- Skirt steak – This is a cut of meat from the underside of the cow that is thin, lean, and can be slightly tough. Cut from the “plate” area, it is a type of beef that often needs to be cooked at a high temperature very quickly to prevent overcooking. The slow cooker, alternatively, is a great option for tenderizing the meat slowly while preserving the juices that can easily evaporate and lead to toughness.
- Bell peppers – Any colors will work and a combination provides some nice visual appeal! I used one orange and one yellow. Red, yellow, and orange peppers will tend to be sweeter than green.
- Large red onion – Red onion is slightly sweet and provides a nice contrast to the fajita texture.
- Olive oil – A small amount will allow all the seasonings to evenly coat the meat, peppers, and onions.
- Homemade fajita seasoning – If you haven’t already mixed up my homemade blend, take a few extra minutes to make a double batch and store some for later! This seasoning is very similar to taco seasoning but with the addition of dried cilantro.
- Juice of one lime – The perfect tang to achieve flavorful steak fajitas.
- Honey – This is one of the best additions for sauces and flavorings in slow cooking! It’s just the perfect amount of sweetness and melds into the other ingredients seamlessly.
- Flour tortillas – Fajita-size flour tortillas are perfect to serve with this recipe. If you have a few extra minutes at dinnertime, try a package of ready-to-cook tortillas for extra freshness at home!
Lastly, if you want to recreate a restaurant spread at home, serve sour cream and a blend of shredded cheese on the side. Bonus ingredients include fresh guac, pico de gallo, and a few extra lime wedges.
How To Make Slow Cooker Steak Fajitas
- Place the skirt steak in the bottom of the slow cooker.
- Remove ribs and seeds from peppers, slice them lengthwise, then layer around the steak in the slow cooker.
- Peel the onion, slice into petals, and add to slow cooker.
- Whisk together all the remaining ingredients and pour over the meat and veggies. (It won’t seem like much liquid is being added since this mixture will have a paste-like consistency. However, as the meal cooks, the water content of the veggies and meat will be released.)
- Cover and cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-8 hours.
- Remove the steak and the veggies from the slow cooker (you won’t need the extra sauce since it would make the dish soggy). Slice the steak into strips.
- Serve with tortillas, sour cream, and cheese, or as desired.
Note: Your cooking time may slightly vary based on the size and settings of your slow cooker!
Recipe Variations
Good quality faita meat makes a fantastic main ingredient for many variations.
With such a flexible recipe, you can add many more veggies if you wish. Some suggestions are jalapeños for spice, white onions, sliced baby bella mushrooms, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, or thin-sliced carrots. When you choose additional veggies to add to the slow cooker, stick to choices that won’t get super watery or mushy (i.e. squash).
If skirt steak is not a readily available option at your grocery store, you can achieve the same flavor and excellent results with flank steak (a similarly thin, plate cut), or swap for boneless skinless chicken breasts. With both of these substitutions, wait to slice them until after cooking and allow them to rest for a few minutes once removed from the slow cooker.
Flour tortillas are the traditional fajita option but warmed corn tortillas will also work for gluten-free needs.
How To Serve Slow Cooker Steak Fajitas
I love to cook a large batch of this steak fajita recipe to serve with all the toppings, and then have plenty of leftovers for my family to eat throughout the week!
Some toppings that are traditionally served with fajitas include shredded cheese, sour cream, guacamole or avocado slices, salsa, chopped cilantro, and extra wedges of lime to drizzle over the ingredients rolled into a flour tortilla.
This meat, pepper, and onion mixture is also delicious served over a bowl of rice, grilled into quesadillas, layered over nachos, or mixed with greens as a fajita salad. Corn, pinto beans, or refried beans are all excellent sides that can round out any variation of this meal.
However you choose to serve fajita meat, remember to wait to slice or pull the meat apart until AFTER it has cooked.
Storing and Reheating
Fajitas make fantastic leftovers! Store leftover meat, peppers, and onions in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 3 days. You can save some of the juices to preserve extra flavor.
Additionally, freeze the fajitas in airtight containers for up to 3 months. Leave a small amount of the liquid in the freezer container to maintain tenderness when reheating.
Reheat in the microwave or in a skillet on the stove. If you reheat from frozen, Allow the fajitas to fully defrost in the refrigerator before reheating.
Slow Cooker Fajitas FAQs
- How do you keep fajitas juicy? The slow cooker is a great option for flavorful, juicy fajitas since the meat will cook in its own juices plus the water released from the vegetables as opposed to flash cooking on a hot skillet. Once the meat is removed from the slow cooker, allow it to rest for a few minutes prior to slicing to preserve the natural juices throughout the meat.
- How thin do you cut the meat for fajitas? Slice the meat in roughly the same sizes as the peppers for even distribution in an individual serving. A good estimation for the slices would be around ½ inch to 1 inch thick. Be sure to cut against the grain (this is usually slicing through the width rather than the length of a skirt steak).
- Do you slice fajita meat before or after cooking? Slice the fajita meat AFTER it has cooked and been removed from the slow cooker. Allow the meat to rest for a few minutes to preserve the juiciness. You may be able to pull it apart with a fork, or you can slice it into thin strips.
- Can you freeze steak fajitas? You can freeze steak fajitas along with the peppers and onions for a great leftover option! Freeze a small amount of the juices along with the meat and peppers to preserve tenderness and flavor when defrosting.
Slow Cooker Steak Fajitas
Equipment
- Slow Cooker
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds skirt steak
- 2 bell peppers I used one orange and one yellow
- 1/2 large red onion
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons homemade fajita seasoning
- Juice of one lime
- 1 tablespoon honey
- Flour tortillas
- Sour cream and cheese for serving optional
Instructions
- Place the skirt steak in bottom of slow cooker
- Remove ribs and seeds from peppers, slice peppers lengthwise, then layer around steak in slow cooker
- Peel onion, slice into petals, add to slow cooker
- Whisk together remaining ingredients and pour over meat and veggies
- Cover and cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-8 hours
- Remove the steak and veggies from the slow cooker; slice steak into strips
- Serve with tortillas, sour cream, and cheese, or as desired
Notes
- Store leftovers in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 3 days. Freeze with a small amount of the juices in an airtight container for up to 3 months.
- Reheat in the microwave or in a skillet on the stove.
- Be sure to slice meat after removing it from the slow cooker and let it rest for a few moments to preserve the juices.
- Drain extra juices before serving.
- Check out this simple lime squeezer for an easy tool to use on your next fajita night!
I cut the meat into bite size pieces before cooking. What can I do to save it. I haven’t started cooking yet
This will still work! Just be sure to reduce cooking time a bit.
Just put everything in the crock pot. It doesn’t seem like enough marinade. It was about a 1/4 cup of liquid…
The veggies will release a lot of liquid as they cook. You should be good!
To me, the flavor of the meat was more in line with a burrito, not fajitas. And, the veggies were too mushy. I might make the meat again, but use it for burittos.
Thanks for the feedback Sarah.
I added liquid smoke to mine and did not add mushrooms I love mushrooms but we don’t use mushrooms with fajitas in Texas 🙂
đź‘Ť God’s country!
What if you use more meat do you have to cook it for longer?
As long as you are using the correct size of slow cooker for the amount of meat/veggie you add, most likely not. Just make sure your slow cooker is somewhere between 1/2 and 2/3 full and you should be good. If it’s too full, it will take longer for the food to cook.
Can I use chicken instead of beef? Thanks. Love your site.
Hi Cami! I haven’t tried it yet, but I think it should work!
Hi Jennifer, You say that you cooked this on high for 8 hours….. Is that correct?
thanks, Suzanne
Nope, that should be on low! Fixing now.. thank you for the catch!!
These look delicious!
Thanks!