Chicken Fajita Pasta

Chicken Fajita Pasta has turned into one of our favorite dishes without it being made from leftovers! One night we had made plenty of chicken fajitas and I was determined not to waste it as neither of us were interested in eating chicken fajitas with tortillas for Night 2 of that dinner. Kyler doesn’t care much for microwave leftovers (not that I blame him), so I tried coming up with a creative way of using the leftover chicken strips, bell peppers and onions.

Things I knew I needed to do: (1) “Refresh” the original flavors (2) “Retexture” the chicken so as to redistribute the ingredient (3) I needed to add to the original flavors. So what I had done was that shredded the chicken, added a fresh packet of taco seasoning, sautéed fresh onions, freshly cut bell peppers, and mince garlic before adding the leftover ingredients. Then I stared everything together and dumped quite a lot of cheese and then I had created Fajita Pasta.

We make this dish fresh more often than not now that we love it so much!

Chicken Fajita Pasta Recipe

Ingredients

• Chicken strips whole package
• Frozen bell peppers
• Onion Garlic, Fajita seasoning packet
• Bowtie pasta

Instructions

• Mix the Fajita or Taco seasoning packet with 1 cup of hot water, pour a small layer of the mixture in a pan
• Add diced onion and minced garlic to the pan in a single layer and heat the seasoning and onion
• Once hot, add salt and peppered chicken strips and slowly cook the chicken. Periodically flip the chicken so as to color and season both sides of the strips
• Periodically add the seasoned mix to the pan to avoid the ingredients sticking to the pan and drying out. You will use all of the seasoning mix in this step, or leave some to be used in Step 7
• Once the chicken is fully cooked, let chicken strips rest on a cutting board before shredding or shred immediately and set into a bowl. Set pan aside on the stovetop and leave onions in *you will be using it again later!
• In a pot, boil water and cook bowtie pasta (or other preferred pasta) until the center of the bowtie is fully cooked. If using frozen bell peppers, add peppers to this pot slightly before the pasta is tender. Drain pasta and pepper once pasta is fully cooked.

• Add cheese to the pan and mix with remaining amount of seasoning mix. Slowly heat and stir to prevent the cheese from getting goopy.
• Slowly add chicken, pasta and peppers, and cheese to the pot and stir until well mixed. Salt and pepper if needed. I take turns adding chicken, and the pasta/peppers mix and adding cheese to keep the pasta consistent

Estimated Cost of Chicken Fajita Pasta

• Chicken strips $6
• Frozen bell peppers (bag for $1)
• Onion, Garlic, Fajita seasoning packet $0.60
• Bowtie pasta $0.24 ( I bought a bag on sale for $0.48)

Estimated Cost $8 total- made 3 meals

Chicken Fajita Pasta

This chicken fajita pasta started out as a night of mixing leftovers together for a new creation. NOW it's something we enjoy almost weekly!

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Ingredients

  

• Chicken strips whole package
• Frozen bell peppers
• Onion Garlic, Fajita seasoning packet
• Bowtie pasta

Instructions

 

• Mix the Fajita or Taco seasoning packet with 1 cup of hot water, pour a small layer of the mixture in a pan
• Add diced onion and minced garlic to the pan in a single layer and heat the seasoning and onion
• Once hot, add salt and peppered chicken strips and slowly cook the chicken. Periodically flip the chicken so as to color and season both sides of the strips
• Periodically add the seasoned mix to the pan to avoid the ingredients sticking to the pan and drying out. You will use all of the seasoning mix in this step, or leave some to be used in Step 7
• Once the chicken is fully cooked, let chicken strips rest on a cutting board before shredding or shred immediately and set into a bowl. Set pan aside on the stovetop and leave onions in *you will be using it again later!
• In a pot, boil water and cook bowtie pasta (or other preferred pasta) until the center of the bowtie is fully cooked. If using frozen bell peppers, add peppers to this pot slightly before the pasta is tender. Drain pasta and pepper once pasta is fully cooked.
• Add cheese to the pan and mix with remaining amount of seasoning mix. Slowly heat and stir to prevent the cheese from getting goopy.
• Slowly add chicken, pasta and peppers, and cheese to the pot and stir until well mixed. Salt and pepper if needed. I take turns adding chicken, and the pasta/peppers mix and adding cheese to keep the pasta consistent

Notes

Cost at a Glance

• Chicken strips $6
• Frozen bell peppers (bag for $1)
• Onion, Garlic, Fajita seasoning packet $0.60
• Bowtie pasta $0.24 ( I bought a bag on sale for $0.48)

Keyword $5 dinners, chicken, chicken pasta, chicken recipe, pasta, pasta leftovers