Quick Low Calorie Chicken Fajitas

This fajita recipe is so delicious and health! The colorful bell peppers really brighten this dish! It's healthy comfort food, for sure! The taco seasoning gives the recipe tons of flavor! Feel nice and full with just 259 calories per fajita! It's very easy, quick to make, and perfect for meal prepping! 

Serves 5

259 calories per serving

Nutrition per serving: 259 calories, 28.6 carb, 4.24 fat, 33.14 protein

Nutrition in entire recipe: 1296 calories, 143 carb, 21.2 fat, 165.7 protein

Ready in 25 minutes

Low Calorie/High Volume - so you stay fuller longer on fewer calories!

Ingredients

1 pound raw chicken breast tenderloins, (748 cal, 0 carb, 5 fat, 136 protein)

1 large onions, sliced into strips (60 cal, 14 carb, .2 fat, 1.7 protein)

2 large bell peppers, sliced into strips (78 cal, 18 carb, 1 fat, 3 protein)

2 tablespoons taco seasoning (60 cal, 16 carb, 0 fat, 0 protein)

5 carb friendly tortillas, such as the mission brand carb balance flour tortillas (350 cal, 95 carb, 15 fat, 25 protein)

Optional: top with shredded cheese, sour cream, tortilla chips, sliced green onion, salsa, avocados, guacamole, plain nonfat Greek yogurt, etc.

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375* F. 

2. In a large bowl, combine the chicken breast, sliced onions, sliced peppers, and taco seasoning. Mix until all the pieces have been coated with taco seasoning. 

3. Place the contents of the bowl on a baking sheet lined with a silicone mat, available on Amazon here. A piece of parchment paper would work if you don't have a silicone mat. Spread the contents out so it is evenly distributed and the chicken pieces are all on top of the mixture.

4. Bake for 15 minutes uncovered. Flip the chicken over and bake for an additional 5 minutes, or until the chicken is done. The chicken is done when it is no longer pink when you cut into it. 

5. Slice the chicken into thin strips. If it has cooled off too much, put it back into the oven for an additional 2 minutes. Fill each tortilla with 1/5 of the chicken mixture. 

6. Top each fajita with any optional items you like: shredded cheese, sour cream, tortilla chips, sliced green onion, salsa, avocados, guacamole, plain nonfat Greek yogurt, etc.

In the photo, I used 1 tablespoon plain nonfat Greek yogurt (9 cal), 1 tablespoon guacamole (23 cal), and 1 teaspoon shredded cheese (12 cal), making the grand total for everything on the plate just 303 calories!

If you are making this for meal prepping, store the chicken mixture in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-5 days. Do not fill the tortilla until you are ready to eat it, or it will get soggy. 

You can easily double this recipe. Just use two baking sheets and divide up the chicken mixture evenly. 

Mix the ingredients.

Evenly distribute the ingredients on a baking sheet.

When the chicken is done, remove from the oven and cut the chicken into strips.

Fill the tortilla with the chicken mixture and any optional toppings you like.

It comes together really quickly, which is perfect on days when you want to eat something with tons of protein FAST! 

Meal Prep

This is a great meal prep recipe! Keep individual servings of this chili in a microwave safe dish in the fridge for up to 5 days. When you want to eat it, microwave on high for 2-3 minutes, stirring it one time in the middle of heating.

Health Benefits of Using Herbs and Spices

Everyone knows that herbs and spices are a great way to add flavor to your food without adding additional calories, but did you know that they also have many health benefits? 

Garlic

Garlic is one of the world's most potent natural medicines. The medical database of the National Institute of Health contains more than 3,200 studies on the therapeutic power of garlic. Many of those studies are about preventing, sower, and reversing cardiovascular disease-- the heart attacks and strokes that kill more Americans than any other health problem. 

Onion

Onions are rich in quercetin, a powerful antioxidant that has been shown to slow the growth of cancer cells, stow the growth of cancer  cells, stop cancer cells from migrating to other parts of the body, and force cancer cells to die in a variety of ways, such as cutting off their blood supply or activating cancer-killing genes. Additionally, the "Journal of Medicinal Food" showed that onions lower blood sugar. 

Chili Pepper

All chilies have healing properties, but the hotter the chili the ore therapeutic it is. Two of the many awesome effects of chilies are it's a pain killer, and can help you burn more calories. 

Capsaicin is a proven pain killer. Capsaicin creams, which are approved by the FDA, can have a dramatic and long-lasting anesthetic effect on a variety of painful conditions. Additionally, several studies show that eating chilis increases the rate at which you burn calories. The effect can last for 20 minutes to six hours. As if that wasn't reason enough to eat more chilies, dozens of studies have found that capsaicin causes death to tumor cells in test animals and human cell cultures. 

Go here to learn more about benefits from cooking with herbs and spices.

For expert level learning about healing spices, I recommend the book "Healing Spices" by Bharat B. Aggarwal, PhD. Get it on Amazon here. 

This tastes better than fajitas from a restaurant, and it's healthy!!

I wrote a very informative blog post about the health benefits of cooking with spices, go here.

For expert level learning about healing spices, I recommend the book "Healing Spices" by Bharat B. Aggarwal, PhD. Get it on Amazon here.