Fancy a change from chicken or beef fajitas? These Easy Lamb Fajitas could be just the thing! Easy to make and super tasty, they are perfect for shaking up your midweek meal routine.
I love fajitas! Who doesn’t? But until recently, I had never had a lamb fajita…I know crazy, huh? Especially given how much I LOVE lamb. Something I clearly needed to put right!
This year I’ve teamed up with the ‘LAMB. Tasty Easy Fun’ campaign to share my love of lamb and to bring you lots of delicious and easy lamb recipes.
So when it came to dreaming up this month’s new lamb recipes, I knew exactly what I needed to make – lamb fajitas! The trouble with fajitas though, and this happens with chicken and beef ones too, is it’s all too easy to get your timings wrong and end up with dry overcooked meat…having just bought some lovely lamb leg steaks, I definitely did not want that to happen to me!
I love lamb and wanted to make every effort to ensure that the lamb was cooked to perfection – nicely browned on the outside, tender, succulent and just a touch pink on the inside. But at the same time I wanted to ensure the veggies were also perfectly cooked.
The solution, rather unusually for me, was to use two pans…yes I know, I know…I’m usually all about avoiding any more washing up than is strictly necessary…but in this instance I promise you it is more than worth it for fajita perfection.
Instead of cutting the lamb into strips BEFORE cooking, I cooked my lamb leg steaks whole (after first marinating them in my delicious homemade fajita seasoning), using my griddle pan – thus achieving that super delicious brown on the outside, just a little pink in the middle lamb that I love.
I then allowed my lamb leg steaks to rest for 5 minutes while I got on with frying my veggies to perfection (Top tip: hot pan and lots of stirring, then reduce the heat a little and add fajita seasoning = fajita veggie perfection).
When my veggies were ready, I quickly sliced my beautiful lamb into thin strips and added it to the veggies, then served the lot up in corn tortillas with lots of sour cream, guacamole and salsa.
One thing that always impresses me about lamb, is how well it goes with a whole host of different flavours, and these fajitas are no exception, lamb works beautifully with Mexican flavours and is a really great alternative to beef and chicken – perfect for shaking up your midweek meal routine or for making a weekend family feast!
If you like the idea of lamb with Mexican flavours, then you also might like to try my Lamb Tacos with Avocado, Feta and Pomegranate or my Spicy Mexican Lamb Stew. And if you are looking for a great side dish to serve with these Easy Lamb Fajitas, why not try my Mexican Spiced Roasted Sweet Potato Cubes?
These Easy Lamb Fajitas would also be a great way of using up leftover roast lamb. Simply put the roast lamb in the pan along with all of the fajita seasoning, after you’ve sizzled the peppers and onions and turned down the heat. Cook for a little longer, until the lamb is piping hot all the way through.
For me the perfect wine for this meal would be a young and fruity Argentinian Malbec, but a Cabernet Sauvignon from either Argentina or Chile would work well too, as would a Zinfandel from the USA.
Easy Lamb Fajitas
Ingredients
Easy Lamb Fajitas
- 12 corn or wheat tortillas
- 4 lamb leg steaks roughly 100g/3.5oz each
- 3 peppers sliced finely (mixed colours)
- 2 large onions sliced finely
- Salsa guacamole and sour cream, plus any other bit you like with fajitas
- Fresh coriander / cilantro (optional)
Fajita Seasoning
- 3 teaspoons ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper (more if you like things hot!)
- 3 teaspoons dried oregano
- 3 cloves garlic grated or crushed
- 3 teaspoons smoked paprika
- Pinch of salt
- Juice of 2 limes
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180C / 160C fan/ gas mark 4 / 350F. Wrap the tortillas in foil to make a sealed parcel and place in the oven when the oven is heated up. Cook for 10 minutes then remove from the oven.
- Meanwhile mix together the ingredients for the fajita seasoning. Add the lamb leg steaks and coat thoroughly. (If you have time you can leave the lamb in the marinade for up to 2 hours for extra flavour, but this is optional.)
- Next, heat up a griddle pan or frying pan over a high heat for 1 minute. Place the lamb in the pan (set aside the leftover fajita seasoning) and cook for 1 minute on each side, then cook for a further 2 minutes on each side for medium (6 minutes total) or a further 3 minutes on each side for well done (8 minutes total).
- When the lamb is ready, place on a board or a plate to rest.
- Meanwhile, place another pan over a high heat with the oil. Heat for 1 minute then add the peppers and onions and stir fry for 3-4 minutes, or until well browned. Turn the heat right down and add the remaining fajita seasoning (from the bowl the lamb was in). Fry for 2 more minutes.
- Slice the lamb and add it to the pan with the veggies. Sprinkle over a little fresh coriander if you wish and serve at the table with the warm tortillas and all your favourite toppings.
Notes
This is a collaborative post with the ‘LAMB. Tasty Easy Fun’ campaign. ‘LAMB. Tasty Easy Fun’ is an EU funded campaign which aims to increase the use of lamb in everyday cooking. Lamb is often considered difficult to cook, expensive, or something to be saved for Sunday roasts. The aim of the campaign is to demonstrate just how tasty, easy and fun lamb is to cook with every day of the week! They also have a wonderful website, full of tasty and easy lamb recipes that go way beyond the traditional roast lamb we all know and love.
Want more delicious lamb recipes? Find more here…
Love Mexican Food? Check out my collection of Easy Peasy Mexican Inspired Recipes
Pin Moroccan Lamb Chops for later
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Linkies
I am linking this up to Brilliant Blog Posts, Cook Blog Share, Cook Once Eat Twice, Free From Fridays and Recipe of the Week.
I love anything fajita, but haven’t tried it with lamb. This looks appetizing! Thanks for sharing, Eb!
Oh you really have to try it – it’s FAB with lamb!! Those flavours: cumin, paprika etc – they just go so well with lamb. Thanks for your kind words. Eb x
Ha Ha Careful you don’t become known as two-pan Eb! Seriously though some great tips. I usually make my fajitas with chicken but occasionally use the lamb so I shall have to test out your method. I am sure you are right and its worth the two pans:) Thanks for linking up to this weeks #CookBlogShare
Hahahaha! Not likely…least-washing-up-possible Eb is more likely!! But seriously, it is well worth doing the meat and veggies separately – and the meat cooked in a larger piece and then sliced is so much more succulent. (I’ve learnt from previous disasters where everything has just kind of steamed in a sort of soupy sludge – bleurgh!!) Eb x
Mexican meals are a true favourite on our house, the kids love everything in the middle of the table and digging in. These fajitas sound delicious x #CookBlogShare
Yeah, my kids love this kind of meal too – they love having control over what they eat…although I do have to set a few rules, otherwise they’d just eat about 10 plain tortillas each!!! Eb x
I love how great fajitas are for feeding a group of people ( though they’re still good when it’s just hubby & me). We had them when Mum, Dad and I travelled down to Essex to meet my little nephew and it was so lovely just to dive in and make them as we each individually liked 🙂
Angela x
Fajitas are brilliant, aren’t they? My kids love them especially as they get to choose exactly what they have in them…and a sharing type meal always feels so much more socialble, doesn’t it? Eb x
Can you use lemon juice instead of lime?
Yes that’s absolutely fine! Eb 🙂