Blackstone Chicken Fajitas to Feed a Crowd – Easy Griddle Recipe

This Blackstone chicken fajitas recipe is easy to make and only takes a few basic ingredients. Learn how to make chicken fajitas on the griddle, and see why I prefer to use chicken thighs instead of breasts when making griddle fajitas for a crowd!

If you own a Blackstone griddle or other outdoor gas griddle, then you know that one of the benefits is the ability to cook a large amount of food at once. So, when we hosted a big 40th birthday party recently, we put the griddle to good use with these Blackstone chicken fajitas for a crowd!

If you marinate the chicken the night before, and start cooking your fajita meat a few hours before your guests arrive, you’ll be able to serve a big batch of chicken fajitas as part of your taco bar or Mexican buffet, and you may even have time to make a few homemade margaritas or this awesome Mexican street corn also!

Since I was preparing loads of different dishes for the party, I kept the cooked chicken fajita meat in an aluminum steam pan covered with aluminum foil in the oven on the warm setting while I finished up other things – like homemade pinto beans and 6 pounds of ground beef taco meat (also made on the Blackstone griddle).

When it was time to serve dinner, the chicken fajitas and vegetables were still warm and juicy, and great food was enjoyed by all!

If you’re looking for an inexpensive and easy meal to feed a large family or to serve at your next fiesta, give these griddle chicken fajitas a try!

Ingredients for Griddle Chicken Fajitas

The great thing about this chicken fajitas recipe is that it only calls for a few basic ingredients… nothing fancy. So if you’re feeding a large group of people like we did, this is a great budget friendly griddle recipe to make!

Here are the ingredients that we used for our chicken fajitas with a simple marinade:

The chicken:

While you can definitely use boneless skinless chicken breasts for fajitas, I prefer to use chicken thighs when making a large batch because the thighs are less likely to dry out as they’re sitting in a steam pan. Chicken thighs have a much higher fat content than breasts, and more fat means more moisture.

Just watch me make these Blackstone chicken fajitas on YouTube to see how juicy they turned out!

To keep costs down since I was feeding a large group of people, I chose to debone and skin the chicken thighs myself. So I was able to make well over 15 servings of chicken fajitas for less than $20. Not bad!

If you don’t want to breakdown the chicken yourself, you can definitely use boneless skinless chicken thighs or substitute chicken breasts.

The chicken fajitas marinade:

I made a very simple marinade for my chicken thighs with olive oil and a combination of two seasonings that I had in the pantry: one all purpose Mexican seasoning that a viewer sent me and Sure Shot Sid’s Lime Pepper Seasoning. If you don’t have those on hand, you can substitute taco seasoning or your favorite Mexican seasoning.

The vegetables:

You can use a variety of vegetables for your chicken fajitas, but traditionally they’re made with:

• sliced onions
• sliced bell peppers – You can use a variety of colors or stick with green bell peppers for a less expensive option.
• sliced tomatoes – I used Roma tomatoes because they have fewer seeds and they don’t break down as much on the griddle.

If you want to add some additional vegetables to your dish, you can also use broccoli florets, zucchini, mushrooms, or carrots.

How to Prep Chicken for Fajitas

Since I chose to use chicken thighs for my Blackstone fajitas, I had to do a little prep work in advance – but it was well worth the cost savings! You can find a great step-by-step guide for how to debone chicken thighs here.

Then, when the chicken thighs are deboned and skinned, follow these steps:

1. Lay the chicken thighs flat on a sheet tray, with the “skin side” facing down. Yes, you have already removed the skin, but place them so that the side where the skin once was is touching the cookie sheet.
2. Sprinkle your Mexican fajita seasoning on one side of the chicken thighs (the underneath side where you originally cut the bone from). This side will be rougher than the other side.
3. Put the seasoned chicken thighs in a large zip top bag or a large bowl.
4. Add about a few tablespoons of olive oil.
5. Mix the chicken and olive oil around a bit, and refrigerate for about 8 hours or overnight.

After your chicken has had a chance to marinate, it’s ready to cook!

How to Make Blackstone Chicken Fajitas

Once your chicken is prepped and it has had a chance to marinate, you’re ready to start making your Blackstone chicken fajitas. Preheat your griddle or flat top grill on low or medium low until it reaches about 400 degrees F. Then, follow these steps:

Step 1: Cook the marinated chicken thighs on the griddle.

When the griddle is hot, lay the chicken thighs down on the griddle surface so that the side with the most seasoning is facing up – so “skin” side down touching the griddle. For this recipe, I made two family size packs of chicken thighs, so my Blackstone griddle was quite full like this:

Once you lay the chicken down, don’t touch it. Allowing your food to cook on the griddle on the first side untouched helps to build a nice crust, whether you’re making smash burgers or griddle steaks or chicken.

Once your chicken has a nice golden brown crust on the first side, flip it to the second side to continue to cook. When you flip the chicken, you’ll also notice that some pieces are darker in color than others – and chances are, if you’re using a Blackstone griddle, the chicken pieces that are in the middle section of the griddle will be the darkest. Each griddle brand has different hot and cool zones, so it’s important to use those to your advantage!

After you flip you’ll want to play a bit of “musical chairs” with your chicken thighs… Move the darker pieces in the center to the outer edges, and transfer the pieces that are lighter in color to the center where the temp is hottest.

Also, be sure that you’re not leaving the thinnest pieces to overcook in the center hot zone of the griddle. Move those to the top or bottom edges so they don’t dry out, because thinner cuts of meat will cook more quickly.

After a few minutes on the second side, you can start temping the fattest part of each chicken thigh. This is where a good instant read probe thermometer comes in handy – A thermometer is one of my must-have Blackstone griddle accessories!

I chose to pull my chicken thighs off the griddle when they reached 165 degrees F, because I knew that I was going to put the chicken back on the griddle to mix with the vegetables right at the end of the cook.

As the individual chicken thighs reach the proper temperature, remove them from the griddle and transfer to a cutting board. And remember, your chicken will cook at different times… DON’T assume that when one thigh reads 165 degrees F that all of the chicken is done. You’ll want to probe each piece to check for doneness.

Step 2: Cook the fajita vegetables on the Blackstone griddle.

If you’re familiar with cooking vegetables like onions or bell peppers, you know that you would typically cook them first because they take longer to cook and tenderize than most proteins. However, cooking the vegetables second for my fajitas was a conscious decision…

Vegetables like bell peppers and tomatoes have a high water content, and water mixed with heat creates steam which helps to deglaze and clean your griddle top.

After you cook your chicken thighs, you have loads of seasoning and chicken fat left on your griddle surface, and all of that is major FLAVOR! So when I added the vegetables to the griddle second, the moisture from the peppers and onions deglazed all of that residual chicken goodness, helping to flavor the vegetables.

The result was an easier to clean griddle and perfectly fajita-flavored vegetables!

See all of that fond and seasoning on the griddle as I added the onions? That’s MAJOR flavor, so don’t waste it:

Add the onions and bell peppers to the griddle first, and spread them out into a thin layer so that the moisture from the veggies can start to bring that fond and seasoning up from the griddle. Season the vegetables with salt and pepper (or you could also season them with your Mexican fajita seasoning). Let the veggies cook untouched for about 3-4 minutes and then sauté them together.

Then, when the onions and peppers are almost done cooking, add the roma tomatoes to the mix. The tomatoes don’t take nearly as long to cook, so don’t add them to the griddle with the other vegetables or they will break down too much.

Here’s what my fajita vegetables looked like when I added the tomatoes to the mix:

Step 3: Cut the cooked chicken thighs into bite-sized strips.

While your vegetables finish cooking, go ahead and finish up your chicken. Just cut each thigh into strips, and then taste the cooked chicken for seasoning. Add more seasoning if you need to:

I chose to add more seasoning to the cut chicken BEFORE putting it back on the griddle, because it only needs to be on the griddle for a few more minutes to mix it with the veggies. Since the griddle is so hot, and griddle cooking goes so quickly, your chicken can overcook in the few minutes that it takes you to season it if you do so while it’s on the griddle.

Step 4: Mix the cooked fajita chicken and vegetables together and serve.

Next, add the chicken to the griddle again to finish it up… You’re in the home stretch and you’ll be serving some delicious and moist Blackstone griddle chicken fajitas in no time!

Just squeeze on the juice of half a lime:

And then mix all of the veggies and chicken fajitas together. Saute for just a few more minutes, and then transfer your Mexican chicken fajitas to a serving platter (or an aluminum pan if you’re going to be holding them in the oven on warm).

And then you’re done!

Other Mexican Griddle Recipes

Want some other Blackstone griddle recipes for when you’re craving Mexican food? Try these other recipes:

• Blackstone Griddle Mexican Chicken and Rice – A play on Arroz con Pollo and SO GOOD!
• Grilled Stuffed Steak Burrito on the Blackstone Griddle – Make this giant stuffed burrito at home on your griddle!
• Mexican Street Corn on the Griddle (with Frozen Corn) – An awesome Mexican side dish to go with your chicken fajitas!

And be sure to PIN this easy Blackstone griddle recipe for a crowd to your Pinterest Board:

Blackstone Chicken Fajitas Recipe

This Blackstone chicken fajitas recipe is so delicious, and it’s the perfect way to feed a crowd on a budget! I specifically love that the seasoning isn’t overpowering so that you don’t lose the flavor of the chicken and fajita vegetables when you pile on your other toppings.

Want to print this recipe and add it to your recipe binder? Use the recipe card down below… Enjoy!