The Best Steak Fajitas: The Afterburner Method
Skirt steak and a cheap charcoal chimney are all you need for the best steak fajitas recipe. It also helps to have a good marinade and some veggies.
Special Tools
- Blender or food processor
- Charcoal chimney and briquets
- wire grill grate to place over chimney
- frying pan
- foil
Ingredients
Marinated Meat
- 2 oranges
- 2 limes
- 3 garlic cloves
- 3 canned chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
- 3 tablespoons fresh cilantro leaves
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon Morton Coarse Kosher Salt
- 1/2 teaspoon fine-grind black pepper
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 1/2 pounds skirt steak preferably outside skirt steak
Fajitas
- 2 medium bell peppers any color
- 1 large onion
- 2 medium tomatoes
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil + more as needed
- 6 tortillas your choice of flour or corn
- 1 avocado
Method
- Make the marinade. Squeeze the oranges and pour 3/4 cup of the juice into the bowl of a food processor or blender. Squeeze the limes and add 3 tablespoons of the juice to the processor. Peel and press or mince the garlic. Finely chop the chipotles and the cilantro and add them along with the cumin, salt, black pepper, and oil. Puree everything to small bits—It doesn’t have to be perfectly smooth. Measure out 1/4 cup and put it in a small bowl in the fridge to use as a sauce. Pour the rest into a large bowl.
- Marinate the meat. Cut the meat with the grain, basically crosswise, into 6-inch lengths (the white lines in the raw skirt steak image). Put on some gloves, add the meat to the big bowl with the marinade, and massage it in. Let them get to know each other in the fridge for 1 to 3 hours.
- Prep. Slice the peppers in half, rip out the stems and seeds, and cut what’s left into 1/4-inch slices. Cut the top off the onion, peel the onion, cut it in half pole to pole, and then slice it into 1/4-inch half-moons. Cut the tomatoes in half and, over the trash, squeeze out the seeds and gel. Chop what is left into 1/4-inch chunks and put them in a bowl. (Don’t cut the avocado yet or it will turn brown.)
- Fire up. Put the charcoal chimney on top of the cooking grate on your grill. Fill the chimney halfway with briquets and light it.
- Cook the fajita vegetables. When the coals are white and flame is shooting out of the top like an afterburner, put the cast-iron skillet on the chimney, add the oil, spread it around, and add the bell peppers and onion. Cook just until they soften a bit, but leave some crunch, about 4 minutes. If they scorch a bit, that’s OK. Pour them into a bowl.
- Warm the tortillas. With a paper towel wipe the oil from the pan, being careful not to burn yourself. Working quickly place one tortilla at a time in the pan and heat them until they toast slightly on one side. Take them out and stack them on a plate and cover with foil to keep them warm.
- Cook the meat. Remove the pan and put a wire grate on the chimney. Remove the meat from the marinade, wipe off the excess marinade, put the meat on a plate, and head for the chimney. Grill one chunk at a time. Sear one side quickly, 1 minute is all, and then flip and sear the other side until it has good color and the interior is 125° to 130°F. Move the cooked meat to a cutting board. Cut each piece across grain (opposite the direction you cut in before) into 1/4-inch strips (the black lines in the skirt steak photo). Put them in a bowl.
- Slice the avocado. Carefully run a knife around the avocado cutting it in half from pole to pole. Twist the halves apart and with a spoon pop out the seed. Cut the halves again so you have 4 quarters. Scoop the meat of the fruit out of the skins, cut it into 1/4-inch slivers, and put them in a bowl.
- Serve. Now, set all the bowls on the table—meat, onions and peppers, tomatoes, and avocados—and don’t forget the sauce in the fridge. Let your guests assemble their fajitas as they wish.
Notes
About skirt steaks. Go for the outside skirt. It comes from the diaphragm between the sixth and twelfth ribs. It is thicker, more tender, and more uniform than the inside skirt. You may have to order it from your butcher because most go to restaurants. It may come with a membrane attached that is easy to remove.
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