Grilled Marinated Skirt Steak Fajitas

Imagine serving the best Steak Fajitas to that hungry family. Learn what takes a skirt steak fajitas recipe from good to great! It’s all about the fajitas marinade recipe.

Tender juicy slices of grilled steak alongside grilled vegetables all wrapped in a flour tortilla and sprinkled with fresh pico de gallo = dynamite.

This grilled steak fajita recipe is hands down the best fajita recipe I’ve ever had. And everyone I’ve served it to whole-heartedly agrees. Let’s find out why.

There are currently 30,700,000 Steak Fajitas Recipes on the internet. But there’s always room for one more. Especially when that “one more” is a recipe from one of Denver’s most popular Mexican Food Restaurants, The Rio Grande.

A few months ago, the Rio reached out to share with me their Paloma Recipe, and I was so glad to hear from them again with reference to their Skirt Steak Fajitas Recipe.

A big thank you for this one, as this is the best steak fajita recipe I’ve ever tasted. Ever! What makes this one so special? The fajita marinade recipe.

Before we go any further, the Rio’s recipe calls for skirt steak, which I didn’t have on hand, so I used a flank steak. Flank steak is a larger and thicker cut of meat than skirt steak. Either cut will work for this recipe. The flank steak simply calls for a longer marinade and cook time.

Let’s take a look.

What Goes Into This Recipe?

This flank steak or skirt steak fajitas marinade comes together effortlessly, then all you have to do is sit back, relax and let it work its magic. The end result is a bright flavorful tender steak you’re going to love. Here’s what you need.

• Pineapple juice not only adds a wonderful tropical flavor, it also helps to tenderize the steak. The enzyme bromelain softens the meat while bringing a rich and tangy flavor. Lime and orange juice follow suit.
• Soy Sauce acts like a good brine for this steak fajita marinade. Soy sauce not only tenderizes the meat, but also acts as a flavor enhance.
• Worcestershire Sauce Does Worcestershire sauce tenderize meat? It’s full of so many wonderful flavors, and yes, the vinegar in Worcestershire sauce tenderizes meat. Sugar adds sweetness and shine, and the strong concentration of savory ingredients penetrate the meat.
• Brown Sugar Does brown sugar tenderize meat? Sugar is a natural tenderizer, so you add it to effect the texture of the steak.
• Kosher Salt Does Kosher salt work better for brining? Kosher salt simply has a more pure salty taste. Chefs prefer it. You can also use sea salt here. Sea salt tends to be pricier.

Let’s Make Those Fajitas

Steak fajitas are pure Tex-Mex cuisine. The work fajita means “little strip” Once that steak is marinated, this is a quick fix dinner. And a delicious one, at that. Here’s how to make grilled steak fajitas, restaurant style.

• Slice all vegetables into thick rings. Red bell peppers, green bell peppers, onions, jalapenos, plum tomatoes (halved) all work well here.
• Preheat grill to 500 degrees.
• Remove the steak from the marinade. And reduce the grill heat to 400 degrees.
• For Flank Steak, cook about six minutes per side. Skirt steak, a much thinner cut of meat, will only take about 2-3 minutes per side. You want a good sear on the outside and medium rare on the inside.
• About half way through the cooking time, add the vegetables onto the grill.
• Place vegetables in a grill basket and add to hot grill. I like to baste them with a little olive oil to keep them nice and hydrated. Oil will also help the browning process.
• Using tongs, toss the vegetables often to get a good char. If using plum tomatoes, cut them in half and cook them cut side down, without turning. If they get charred before the other veggies, just move them to a cooler part of the grill.
• Once steak is cooked, remove the steak to a cutting board and tent for ten minutes.
• Continue cooking the vegetables until tender and slightly charred.
• You’ll be serving these skirt steak fajitas with warmed flour tortillas. You can either add the tortillas to the grill for a quick heat, or warm them in the microwave for thirty seconds, or so. Either method, just cook them long enough to make them warm and pliable.

Using a sharp knife, slice the steak against the grain as thin as you can. You can rough chop the vegetables if you’d like. Serve with warm flour tortillas and slices of avocado.

FAQs and Expert Tips

What to serve with Skirt Steak Fajitas

If you’re enjoying these grilled skirt steak fajitas at the Rio Grande Restaurant they’ll come with:

• Homemade flour tortillas
• Black Beans
• Spanish Rice
• Gulf Coast Style Baked Rice
• Pico de Gallo
• Guacamole (or slices of avocado)

Rio Grande Fajitas Recipe

Do you remember the first time you ordered fajitas in a restaurant? I most certainly do. It was at a popular chain restaurant and the presentation was a sizzling theatrical production.

Now you can make restaurant beef fajitas at home, that are even more delicious than those, and you won’t have to worry about burning yourself on that sizzling hot cast iron fajitas serving platter.

More Western Style Steak Recipes

• Taqueria Style Grilled Carne Asada, Carne Asada cooked on the grill takes the humble flank steak to a whole new level of greatness. A bold marinade adds flavor, moisturizes and tenderizes the meat.
• Grilled Flank Steak with Chimichurri Sauce, A bright zesty, herb packed sauce that will blow you away. Also used as a marinade, the fresh vibrant flavors bring a zest of flavor to any type of meat. 
• Grilled T-Bone Steaks with Cowboy Butter, T-bones are simply and served with a Cowboy Butter dipping sauce for a perfect steak dinner.
• Pan Seared Bison Steak Recipe, Served on a bed of red and yellow bell peppers that have been stir-fried and tossed with a grainy mustard sauce.

I hope you give these grilled skirt steak fajitas with this very special fajitas marinade recipe a try. And if you do, please come back and give the recipe a star rating and leave a comment about your experience with the recipe.

And if you’re looking for more beef recipes, don’t miss my Beef Category, you’ll find lots of great recipe ideas, including the most popular beef recipe on my site, a line up of 31 Burger Recipes. You’ve got the check that one out.

Skirt Steak Fajitas Marinade Recipe.

It is a wonderful recipe for a dinner party. One pound of skirt steak will feed four people, so just scale up the meat if you want more servings. This marinade recipe is enough for 12 1-pound steaks. If making one steak, freeze the rest of the marinade to use later.

5 from 6 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Main Course Beef

Cuisine: Tex-Mex

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes minutes

Marinade time: 1 hour hour

Servings: 6 cups

Calories: 114kcal

Author: Lea Ann Brown

Ingredients

• ▢ 1 1/2 cups pineapple juice
• ▢ 1 cup soy sauce
• ▢ 1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
• ▢ 1 Tablespoon chopped garlic
• ▢ 2 3/4 Tablespoon Brown sugar
• ▢ 9 ounces orange juice
• ▢ 1 3/4 ounces lime juice
• ▢ 1 3/4 cups water
• ▢ 1 3/4 Tablespoons kosher salt

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Instructions

• Mix all marinade ingredients. Set aside a portion of marinade to drizzle on top of your meat after cooking.
• Marinate skirt steak in four ounces (1/2 cup) of the marinade for one hour. (For every pound of meat, use four ounces of marinade.) If using a larger thicker flank steak, marinade for 2 hours.
• Remove meat from marinade and grill on a hot grill until medium/medium rare or your doneness preference. Keep in mind that residual heat will continue to cook the meat as it rests.
• Remove from grill and let rest for 10 minutes.
• Cut meat against the grain, drizzle with some reserved marinade and serve with your favorite accompaniments like a “build your own fajita taco.”
• Serve alongside grilled vegetables. We like sweet yellow onions, red and green peppers, and roma tomatoes.
• At the restaurant, we also serve our fajitas with warmed homemade tortillas, black beans, Spanish rice, pico de gallo and guacamole.

Notes

This fajitas marinade recipe is a restaurant recipe used to prepare steak fajitas to feed a crowd. It makes six cups of marinade, or enough to marinade 12 steaks. 

I only cooked one steak. And used only 1/2 cup of the marinade. I simply placed the the remainder of the marinade in a freezable container to use for later fajita recipes.

For flank steak, marinade for two hours.

For skirt steak, marinade for 1 hour.

This recipe is compliments of the Popular Denver Mexican Restaurant, The Rio Grande.

Nutrition

Calories: 114kcal | Carbohydrates: 25g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 4426mg | Potassium: 444mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 18g | Vitamin A: 103IU | Vitamin C: 33mg | Calcium: 51mg | Iron: 2mg

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Skirt Steak Fajitas …. It’s Whats for Dinner

Lea Ann Brown

Why Trust These Recipes? Lea Ann Brown has lived, worked and played in Colorado for 45 years. She has immersed herself in the Colorado Culinary space, is a Culinary School Graduate and publishes her Colorado food Blog, Cooking On The Ranch.