These Smoked Chipotle Chicken Fajitas combine a tasty and slightly spicy garlic chipotle marinade for chicken, and are perfect for fajitas.
Making a marinade for chicken is a great use for leftover (or excess) chipotle in adobo sauce. Find out how to use that sauce in a delicious chicken marinade.
My mom is the queen of salsa. I’ve mentioned this before. The range is quite unique. This post actually highlights a few of her favorite signature salsas. One such salsa has inherited the name “Revenge Salsa,” and if you look at the ingredients it’s not hard to understand why. There’s a full bulb of garlic mixed with a full can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. Super garlicky. Spicy. Intense. And super irresistible!
But outside of eating it as a salsa, it actually makes for an incredible marinade for chicken. I’ve adjusted the actual salsa ingredients to make it more marinade-friendly and lowered the amount of garlic significantly (your friends will thank you). When used as a marinade the chicken takes on some of those rich smoky flavors from the chipotle, but it is not very spicy once grilled or smoked.
Using Leftover Chipotle in Adobo
Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce is one of those ingredients you see from time to time used in very small quantities, yet it usually comes in a 7oz can leaving you with a bunch left over. What’s a gal to do with all that chipotle?
Case in point, those Smoked Burgers with Mexican Chorizo and Chipotle Aioli. While trying to figure out what to do with the leftover chipotle we used for the aioli in that recipe, I decided it was finally time to share this tasty recipe here.
Use it as a marinade for chicken!
How to Make Garlic Chipotle Marinade
It’s quite simple.
- Just throw the chipotle peppers and some of the sauce into the food processor, then add some garlic, cilantro, tomato sauce, olive oil, agave (or honey), some salt and pepper, and some fresh lime juice to brighten things up, and then pulse away.
Marinating & Grilling Fajita Chicken
- Marinate your chicken in the sauce for a few hours, or as long as overnight.
- Smoke the meat on the smoker for added smoky love (but of course you can easily grill your chicken too if you don’t have a smoker).
Temperature to cook marinated grilled chicken
Regardless of whether you smoke or grill your chicken, just make sure you cook the chicken to an internal temperature of 165 degrees to get that perfect balance of moisture and flavor, without overcooking it.
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it over and over, a good thermometer (like this one) is essential to creating amazing smoked and grilled meats! Never undercook or overcook your meat again, my friends! Boom.
Once the chicken is cooked, feel free to use it for tacos, salads (if you’re feeling all healthy), or (our favorite) — fajitas!
Smoked Chipotle Chicken Fajitas Recipe
Smoked Chipotle Chicken Fajitas
Ingredients
For the Chipotle Garlic Marinade:
- 4 cloves of garlic, smashed
- ¼ cup cilantro, roughly chopped (about 1 handful)
- ¼ cup Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce about 4 peppers and some of the sauce, recommended brand Embasa (comes in a 7 oz can)
- ¼ cup tomato sauce
- Juice of ½ lime
- 1 teaspoon agave, or honey
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon fresh ground pepper
For the Smoked Chicken:
- 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
For the Fajitas:
- 1 yellow pepper sliced
- 1 orange or red pepper sliced
- 1/2 red onion sliced
- 4-8 small flour tortillas
- Optional Toppings: avocado slices, guacamole, sour cream, salsa, shredded cheese, diced tomatoes
Instructions
For the Chipotle Garlic Marinade:
- Place all marinade ingredients into the food processor and pulse until everything has broken up and there are no more chunks.
- Place in a large plastic baggie add the chicken and let marinate from 5 hours, up to overnight. *Reserve 1/4 cup for fajitas as a topping or as a final brush on the grill.
For the Smoked Chicken:
- Preheat smoker to 250 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Remove chicken from the marinade and let start coming up to room temperature while the smoker is preheating.
- Place chicken breasts on smoker and cook for roughly 90 minutes, or until internal temperature of the meat is at 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Remove from smoker and let rest 10 minutes.
- Slice the chicken and use for fajitas, tacos, or in a salad with your favorite filling. We love sautéed peppers and onions.
For the Fajitas:
- Warm up a large pan over medium heat. Coat it with oil, then sauté your peppers and onions for 5-10 minutes, until softened.
- Warm up your tortillas, and serve them with the pepper and onion mixture, sliced smoked chipotle chicken, and your favorite toppings.
Wine Pairing for Smoked Chicken Fajitas
If you’re serving these fajita-style I’m a fan of a crisp fruity rosé for this. I know I know I sound like a broken record with my undying love of rosé, but it really is a great option for the combination of the mild spicy chipotle flavors, and grilled veggies. Alternatively, these particular fajitas also go quite well with Malbec, a fruity Grenache, fruity Beaujolais (or Beaujolais-style), or even Zinfandel.
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Juventa says
This looks delicious!!!
Mary says
Thanks!!
The Southern Thing says
Oh how I wish I had some of this right now!!
Jen says
We’ll have a lot of these ingredients fresh from the farm this season… Looking forward to trying this one!
Carly @ Fitliving Eats says
Oh, yum. That marinade sounds to die for and I could use it for so many things! Thanks for the recipe 🙂
Mary says
Exactly! It’s very versatile!!
Melody Rosa says
I wish you were in my kitchen for every time I want to whip something up.Really looks scrumptious need to try this out.http://sheismelrose.net/
Mary says
Haha! That would be great wouldn’t it 😉
We do have a few houses on the market near us. We’re always cooking for our neighbors 😉
Mary Burris says
I love chicken and this dinner looks quite delicious, as well as it seems easy to make. I may need to make this soon.
Thanks!
Mary says
Thank you 🙂
Jenni says
Rose would be the perfect pairing for this! The chicken looks delish- I have got to get a new grill and stat. Great job on the marinade.
Mary says
Thanks! Then nice things is that you don’t need to spend a fortune on a good grill. Our trusty Weber goes for less than $100 (brand new!).
Aarika says
Chipotle marinade? This recipe rocks! =) I am always looking for ways to grill and/or cook chicken, and this recipe of yours is filled with incredible flavor. I can’t wait to try this chicken over the weekend. Yum!
Mary says
It is indeed jam packed with flavor. Chicken can be so boring, so we’re always looking for new ways to jazz up the flavor 🙂
Jasmine says
That looks amazing and pretty easy to make too.
Mary says
Super easy! And quick (well, besides the time marinating of course!).
Marlynn @ UrbanBlissLife says
This looks so great as a marinade! I like to enjoy fajitas with beer 🙂 but your wine pairings sound delicious.
Mary says
Beer is definitely most peoples go-to choice (myself included many days!), but a nice crisp rosé and some fajitas… Yum!!
Monica Louie says
Oh, my! Those chipotle peppers in adobo sauce are SPICY!! These fajitas look so good, though! I’m pinning this to try! I’ll take a large glass of water with my fajitas, but a nice, cold glass of wine sounds good too. 🙂
Mary says
Haha!! It’s pretty amazing how toned down the chipotle flavors become when marinaded, then smoked off. It’s there, but not as spicy as, say, eating a pepper straight from the jar 😉
Natalie @ Obsessive Cooking Disorder says
Mnn this looks good – Mom’s cooking is always the best. I’m from San Antonio, Texas so we love fajitas of course
Mary says
Ahh yes, we’re from Phoenix, so we feel rather similar about our Mex-inspired foods 🙂
Pech says
Ooo, how smart, I never thought of using salsa as a meat marinade! And I love chipotle flavors!
Mary says
Thanks! Using the salsa as a marinade works like a charm!!
grace says
this batch of one of my favorite dinners makes my recipe for fajitas look AWFUL! what amazing flavors you’ve created and combined! bravo!
Mary says
Haha 😉 Thanks! I’m sure yours looks absolutely gorgeous! Fajitas are simply one of the most perfect dinners. How can they ever look bad?