Oven Roasted Rainbow Shrimp Fajita

Move over Taco Tuesday – We celebrated National Fajita Day last night with this one pan, family style meal that is easy to assemble

What are Fajitas?

Fajitas are popular Mexican fare that consist of sautéed onions and peppers, and typically a protein like shrimp, chicken, or steak. While they are often confused with tacos, fajita refers to the filling, which originally consisted of “carne,” or beef, but fast forward to today and it seems just about anything goes in the filling! You can even skip the animal protein and use tofu or tempeh to keep it vegan. In restaurants, fajitas are served with the filling separate from the tortilla, and often on a sizzling cast iron skillet, unlike tacos which come already assembled.

How to Cook Fajitas

Fajita filling is typically cooked on the stove top. In this recipe we are moving it to the oven to roast and caramelize our ingredients to add to the depth of flavor, plus it saves time and clean up on the stove. I like to line my pan with parchment paper. Tortillas are lightly toasted in a dry skillet. Just warm them through. If they are overtoasted, the tortillas will get hard as they cool, and will crack and break when you fold the tortilla over the filling.

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Rainbow Shrimp Fajita

Course Appetizer, dinner, tapas

Cuisine anti inflammatory, Mexican, seafood, Shrimp

Keyword bell peppers, chilis, fajita, guacamole, Shrimp

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Calories 300 kcal

Ingredients

• 1 ½ pounds peeled and deveined wild caught shrimp raw
• 1 large red onion peeled and thinly sliced
• 4 cloves fresh garlic minced
• 1 each red orange, and yellow bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
• 2 tbsp good olive oil divided
• 1 tsp ancho chili powder
• 1 tsp chipotle chili powder
• 1 tbsp ground cumin
• ½ cup fresh oregano destemmed and chopped
• ½ tsp fine ground sea salt
• 8 small or 4 large tortilla
• 1 lime cut into wedges

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F – use convection roast setting if you have a convection oven
2. Mix dry spices – chili powders, cumin, and sea salt
3. In a large baking dish, toss onions, garlic, peppers, and oregano with 1 tbsp olive oil, and half of spice mix
4. Bake on middle upper oven rack until vegetables begin to wilt, about 10 minutes
   

5. Toss remaining spice mix with shrimp, then layer shrimp on top of vegetables and return pan to oven

   
6. Roast for 10 minutes, turning shrimp over with tongs halfway through
7. Shrimp is cooked when it is pink and minimum internal temperature is 145 degrees F
8. While fajita mixture is roasting, warm tortillas in a dry preheated nonstick pan or cast iron skillet, toasting each side, then set aside stacked to keep warm
9. Serve family style with lime wedges, and if desired, guacamole, salsa, and a dollop of plain yogurt