Grilled Steak Fajitas

Suddenly, it's summer.

Warm weather, bird song, frogs creaking, weeds growing and greengrass everywhere you look!

The animals love it!

One of Custer State Park's bulls enjoying the belly-deep
grass. Believe me, we stayed more than 25 yards
away from those horns!

Summer around our house means grilling weather. And when you have a freezer full of beef, guess what is going on the grill?

Grilled Steak Fajitas

The first step is to marinate your ingredients, so you start out by making a marinade.

By the way, you do know that "marinate" is a verb and "marinade" is a noun, right? You're welcome!

This marinade recipe is from the Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond. She knows her beef! I changed up a couple things, but I think Ree would still recognize it.

Marinade ingredients:

1/2 cup olive oil
3 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup lime juice
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 Tablespoon cumin
1 Tablespoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried cilantro (optional - it isn't available everywhere)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 Tablespoon sugar


And when the recipe says "3 cloves of garlic," it means three of these:

Not three of these:

Peel and chop the garlic,

Whisk all of the ingredients together in a small bowl. Pour the marinade over your steak, flip the meat once or twice to get the marinade into every nook and cranny, cover, and marinate it in the refrigerator for about 2 to 3 hours.

I used skirt steak, but you could use flank steak, London broil, chuck steak...whatever. You can use an "inferior" cut because the marinating tenderizes the meat beautifully.

You can even use chicken!

Of course fajitas wouldn't be fajitas without plenty of veggies! I used a Vidalia onion and a variety of Bell peppers, but you could also add mushrooms, zucchini, tomatoes...go for it!

Slice the veggies and add to the marinating beef about 2 to 3 hours before you're going to grill everything.

OR you can put the veggies and beef together in the morning, let it marinate all day and grill it in the evening.

Grilling is a personal thing. Every grill chef is very territorial of their grilling technique and recipes. But I will share my secrets with you. :)

I grill the meat over high heat for about 5 minutes per side (1 inch steaks), and then lower the heat to medium low for another 10-20 minutes.

Hubby likes his steak well done. So if you like medium or medium-rare, cook it for less time. But the important thing is to take the meat's temperature to know that you have cooked it to the right level of doneness.

Well done: 160°
Medium: 135°
Rare: 120°

That's internal temperature, measured with an instant-read thermometer like this one.

digital instant read thermometer

If you are a food service professional (aka my hubby), you always cook beef to 135° or higher. Something about killing off bad bacteria...stuff like e. coli and other bad boys.

While the meat is cooking, saute the veggies on the other side of the grill over medium-low heat. This grill pan of mine is super handy. If you're going to be doing a lot of grilling, you might want to put one on your wish list.

Stir the veggies often to keep them from burning. After about 15-20 minutes, they should be nicely caramelized.

The final step is to slice the beef into thin strips. I like to add the strips back into the pan with the veggies and bring everything back up to temperature before serving. It's a dash of heat and a blend of flavors that adds the final flourish.

Serve the fajitas on tortillas (I used low-carb whole wheat ones for mine) along with the usual fixings - salsa, sour cream, cheese, etc. Serve it with a big salad and you have a cool summer supper.


The rest of our family's world is going bonkers this week. I met my deadline for "Naomi's Hope" last week (due out in June 2017), and we're in the last mad dash to the wedding this Saturday!

We are having So. Much. Fun. And no one has turned into Bridezilla, or even Mom-of-Bridezilla. I'm expecting this week to be frantic, fun and memorable.

But no matter what else happens, these two will be husband and wife by this time next week.

Isn't that just the best thing ever?

Jan Drexler loves her family, her home, cooking and just about anything made by hand. But she loves her Lord most of all.

Stop by Jan's website to learn more about her books: www.JanDrexler.com.