Whew!! It’s been a busy couple of weeks. As I mentioned in my last post, my in-laws flew all the way from Ohio to visit us here in China. Never having been to China (as I think is the case for most Americans!), they wanted to do lots of sightseeing. During their 2 week visit we did a lot of traveling. First we flew to Hong Kong, where we walked Nathan Road, road to the top of the peak, shopped till we dropped at the Ladies Market in Mongkok, and just generally wore out the bottoms of our shoes. After Hong Kong we had just 2 days of rest in Suzhou before hopping on a high-speed train to Beijing. In Beijing we climbed the Great Wall, walked in THE Water Cube, toured the Forbidden City, walked Tiananmen Square, and, of course, ate the most delicious noodles ever!
By the time we got back to Suzhou we had just enough time to squeeze in one last bit of excitement – by riding the scooters to Guanqian during rush hour. If you know Suzhou, you know how crazy that is! Needless to say, I’m exhausted! I *almost* didn’t even have the energy to write this post, but I had to because I couldn’t wait any longer to share this recipe!
I first made this marinade last month and I was blown away by the flavor! My search for the best fajita marinade is now over. This keeps the meat (chicken or steak) juicy and provides just the right amount of heat and citrus. The key/secret to this marinade is the zest. Donna, from Apron Springs, wrote up a great post about it so if you’re interested in reading about why she chose zest over juice, check it out!
Best Fajita Marinade
Ingredients
2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
Zest from one lime (~2 tsp)
1/4 red onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, diced
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp kosher salt
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Directions
Place all ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth. Pour into a Ziploc bag* with 1 1/2-2 pounds of the meat of your choice. Let stand for at least one hour, or as long as overnight, occasionally squeezing and turning bag to evenly distribute marinade.
Remove the meat from the bag and wipe off any excess marinade.
Cook using your preferred method (I have been cooking mine in a skillet because we do not have a grill, but grill is really ideal). Allow meat to rest for about 10 minutes before slicing. Serve with bell peppers, onions, tortillas, sour cream, salsa… any of your favorite fajita fixins!
*I reserved 1 tablespoon of the marinade and tossed with bell peppers and onions before cooking.
Source: Apron Strings
Here are a few more great marinade/sauce ideas to add variety to your chicken/fish/beef!
Southwest Marinade
Lemon Greek Chicken
Grilled Marinated Mahi Mahi
This looks fantastic! I can’t wait to try it 🙂
Hello there – I’ve been looking for a great fajita recipe, and now it seems I have found it. Thank you for posting the recipe, I can’t wait to try it. I found your post on tastespotting, and I’m sure glad I did because this post contained more info. than I bargained for. 🙂
I will be going to Beijing next summer to lead a study abroad trip. My students and I (students I will be bringing over from a university in California) will be there for about 3 weeks. We will be staying at a local university in Beijing, and will be studying Communication and Culture. Do you have any tips for me having never been to China? Our program includes many excursions, and we will see things like the Great Wall, Forbidden City, etc… But I’m looking for tips that you may have regarding local cuisine, lesser known ‘must visit’ sites, tips on shopping, etc… Any info. would be most helpful.
🙂
Carol
Hi Carol! What an exciting trip! I absolutely love Beijing. The Great Wall is an experience unlike any I have ever had. As for local cuisine, there is a noodle restaurant that simple amazing (I need to find the actual address and location, I’ll come back and add that later)! No picture menus, but they did have a little English on the menu this time, I highly recommend the noodles with eggplant and pork. YUM! Also, if you’re in Beijing you must try the Peking Duck. The restaurant we went to (not this trip, but last summer) was just up the block from Tianamen Square. As for shopping, a few helpful phrases are “bu yao” (equivalent to no thanks, translates to don’t want), “tai gui le” (too expensive), and “pian yi yi dian(r)” (equivalent to make it cheaper, translates to cheaper a little bit). Bargaining is a huge part of the culture here and it’s not unusual to be able to get something for as much as half of what they initially ask for. Watch out for scams and don’t buy from the vendors right at the entrance of the Great Wall, you can find pretty much everything they have to offer other places for much, much, cheaper – learned the hard way. 🙂
I could go on and on, so if you want more information feel free to send me an email through my contact page!
This looks so delicious! Can’t wait to try making it for myself!
Holy Cannoli! That marinade is amazing! I made Chicken and Steak Fajitas tonight and doubled the recipe to put half in with the chicken and half with the steak. I found I liked it on Chicken better (but it could have been my choice of cut of meat). Definitely will use this recipe again both for Fajitas and for grill Chicken breasts.
Where can I buy chipotle peppers in adobo sauce?
These can usually be found in a regular grocery store be either the taco stuff OR Mexican specialty stuff. The brands I’ve seen most often are La Costena and Embasa – both are in red cans. Hope that helps!
Also, there will be several peppers packed in the can. You can just pull out the 2 you’ll need for this recipe and then put the rest of the peppers/sauce in a freezer safe zipper bag.
I’ve used your recipe 3-4 times now, and it’s great! I like to add in a little smoked paprika and chili powder for the heat and smokey flavor; I also add half a lime’s worth of juice (I think the acidity helps to keep the meat tender). Thanks for the recipe! It’s been a keeper!