Growing up in the very tip of Texas, this recipe for beef and chicken fajitas with beans, cheese, guacamole, and sour cream was always a hit at gatherings and restaurants. Serve with freshly warmed flour tortillas and Spanish rice! The flavor won’t be authentic if you substitute the tortilla chips in the bag for grilled shrimp or sausage to save time.
| Prep Time: | 40 mins |
| Cook Time: | 40 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 20 mins |
| Servings: | 12 |
| Yield: | 12 servings |
Ingredients
- 2 pounds beef skirt steak
- 2 pounds boneless chicken thighs
- 2 teaspoons fajita seasoning
- 2 ½ teaspoons garlic powder, divided
- 2 cups refried beans
- salt to taste
- lemon pepper to taste
- 4 avocados – peeled, pitted, and mashed
- 1 cup corn oil
- 24 corn tortillas
- 1 medium green bell pepper, chopped
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- ⅓ bunch cilantro, chopped
- 1 (16 ounce) package shredded American cheese
- 12 ounces sour cream
- 2 large tomatoes, chopped
- 4 pickled jalapeno peppers, sliced (Optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- Rub beef and chicken with fajita seasoning and 2 teaspoons garlic powder. Cut beef and chicken into 1-inch strips, and set aside.
- In a saucepan, warm refried beans over medium-low heat.
- Stir salt, lemon pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder into mashed avocados. Set aside.
- Heat corn oil in a deep skillet over medium-high heat. Cut tortillas in half, then cut in half again to make 4 triangular pieces per tortilla. Place into the skillet as many tortilla pieces as will fit without overlapping, and fry until crisp; repeat this process until all the tortilla pieces have been fried. Remove crisp tortillas to paper towels. Discard oil, and wipe out skillet.
- Return skillet to medium heat, and stir in beef, chicken, bell pepper, and onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, about 7 minutes; then stir in cilantro.
- Layer the tortilla pieces along the bottom of a large baking dish. Spread refried beans evenly over tortilla pieces. Sprinkle cheese over beans, then spread meat mixture evenly on top.
- Bake in preheated oven until cheese and beans are bubbly, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven, and drop sour cream and guacamole by tablespoonfuls in various places across the top. Sprinkle tomatoes and jalapenos on top.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 671 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 42 g |
| Cholesterol | 120 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 11 g |
| Protein | 40 g |
| Saturated Fat | 16 g |
| Sodium | 958 mg |
| Sugars | 3 g |
| Fat | 40 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Made this but simplified by using tortilla chips instead of frying tortillas. Was a hit with all four kids and husband!
Delicious!!!!!! I made this as a family dinner and it went down so well. This is also similar to a turkish kebab without the mexican beans. I was suprised with the cheese underneath but work so well as melts onto tortillas yuuummmmmm.
Just as with Cajun-style shrimp boils, family & friends gathered around the table helping themselves to a huge, scrumptious botana platter can evoke fond memories which long outlast the meals! Excellent recipe, excellent outcome! Added a beautiful Mexican flan for dessert. For those concerned about the leftover guacamole getting yucky, considered adding guacamole seasoning that can be found in packets at supermarkets; it keeps my guacamole edible for several days.
wonderful recipe! I grew up in the Rio Grand Valley and have missed eating these! Thank you for posting this.
Excellent! The cilantro made a lot of difference in the flavor of the meat mixture. The peppers and onions were surprisingly good, but I sprinkled with extra FRESH peppers and onions like our local restaurant was extra YUM!! I also used homemade refried beans and restaurant-purchased fresh chips.
No, no, no. Many of the reviews mention skipping the very important step of frying the tortillas, in favor of buying bagged chips! Do not do this. My family has been making Botana for many years and many have tried this. It doesn’t taste anywhere near as good nor as authentically Mexican, with bagged chips.
This was very good. The only thing I did differently was to add more seasoning and made Luvann’s guacamole (from this site). My family objected to frying the tortillas for health reasons, so everyone made their own fajita burrito. I really want to try it with the fried tortillas, so I will make it again!
I made this last night and it was phenomenal! My boyfriend is from Texas, and we currently live on the Jersey Shore. He works very hard, 6 days a week at an Italian restaurant. Since he works late every night, he usually misses dinner with the family, so every Saturday night I make him a big meal to come home to, and this week he wanted something in the line of fajitas. This recipe looked so good, and it did not fail to WOW him. I made it mostly verbatim, with the exception of the guacamole – I didn’t have any lemon pepper on hand so I used regular pepper, and added a splash of lemon juice and lime juice to the guac, and it was SO good, he ate three servings and was so full he couldn’t move for awhile, lol. He’s bringing some in to work today to show it off to his coworker, who is from Mexico, and I’m pretty interested to see what he thinks since his wife is an amazing cook when it comes to authentic Mexican food. I was very very pleased with this recipe and it is now a regular in my recipe keeper, thanks Rhonda35 for posting!
Excellent dish. Time consuming but worth it! The leftovers and just as yummy.
This was excellent! Served with warm tortillas, the spanish rice from this site, and mmm mmm good traditional margaritas, everyone loved it. I made only minor changes – used probably double the amount of fajita seasoning and used refried black beans instead of regular. In a pinch I would use storebought chips, but the homemade were fabulous, really made it impressive, and were well worth the effort, which really wasn’t that big of a deal (made the day before and put in airtight container). The only thing I would do differently next time is serve the avacado/guac on the side because if you have leftovers (and you likely will!) it turns brown and looks and tastes ugly, even having added lime juice as a retardant. Definitely give this one a try for your next Mexican feast. It’s a keeper!
This is an excellent dish for any party. It takes a lot of work and time, but you can make it simple and easy. For example, you can make the chips and meat a day or so ahead of time and then all you have to do is assemble and bake when you are ready to serve. I also agree with others about buying chips. With so many brands to chose from, you can easily find a comparable chip and save yourself a lot of time. Finally, this recipe makes a ton! I only made 1/4 of the recipe. I highly recommend that unless you are making this as a main dish item for an extremely large family with big appetites, you might want to consider cutting it in half.
It was a great crowd-pleaser! Everybody loved it. It was easier to cook the meat first and then cut it.
This takes a real long time to prepare with all the prep, separate cooking, etc. Strange that the meat is on top of the cheese, I would try it the other way around the next time. Used exact quantities and had enough to make (2) casserole dishes. The overall taste was good, but not sure it was worth all the work. Next time I would buy the chips which would cut down the time a lot (and save on fat I’m sure). Also, use of fresh ingredients in the guac like real lemon and garlic (lemon pepper?) plus a little sour cream yields better results.
I didn’t have the time to fry all the tortilla triangles, so I used Tostitos lime flavored chips instead, and they seemed to work out fine. While the meat was cooking, I added a packet of Sazon and some minced garlic. I left the avocado, sour cream, tomatoes and jalapenos on the side, and let everyone put their own toppings on each serving. We all liked this very much and I will make it again. Thanks for the recipe!
Fabulous flavors in this recipe! I used chicken breast rather than thigh meat. Otherwise, I followed the recipe to the letter and it was enjoyed by all my guests. Thanks for sharing.
this was so good reminds me of a good mexican recipe…I cut this in half to only make 5 portions and used tortilla chips from Chili’s take out instead of frying the corn tortillas…and used all beef no chicken turned out wonderful what a wonderful idea to make a fajita casserole…next time I am going to add some shrimp
I’ve been putting off making this for a while as I thought it was going to be alot of hard work. It really isn’t, but the results would be definitely worth it anyway. The only thing I did differently was to rub the chicken and steak with taco seasoning, and let it sit in the fridge for most of the day. Delicious! Thanks so much!
The recipe was very easy yet tasty. I will definitely make again.
Very yummy. Thank you
The nachos were really good, but the leftover meat mixture was fantastic over spanish rice, with some minced, fresh cilantro, jalapeno, and a dollop of sour cream.
Left out the cilantro, and used all chicken, no beef. It’s like all of my favorite things all together!!! Wonderful dish. Really great flavour 🙂