Best Ever Blackstone Steak Fajitas (with Homemade Marinade)

Share on Social!

These griddle steak fajitas are made with a flavorful citrus marinade and some basic Mexican spices. Sure to be the best Blackstone steak fajitas that you’ve ever made on your flat top grill or griddle!

Every now and then I cook something that the wife proclaims as “the best I’ve ever had”. And then she proceeds to request that griddle dinner over and over and over again.

That’s exactly what happened when I made these steak fajitas on the griddle recently.

In the past, I had always done a mixture of dry seasonings for my fajita steak, but I was wanting to try something new with this recipe so I experimented with a wet marinade of pineapple juice, lime juice, soy sauce, and a few other ingredients. The homemade steak fajita marinade was a winner, full of flavor and brightness and not like anything that I had ever tasted before. Even my 13 year old daughter loved it… and that’s saying a lot!

The acidity from the citrus helps to tenderize the skirt steak, and the Worcestershire and soy sauces bring a punch of boldness to compliment the sweetness from the fruits. Absolute perfection!

Here’s how to make my wife’s new favorite griddle steak fajitas:

Ingredients for Griddle Steak Fajitas

For the Fajitas:

• Skirt steak. I have always used skirt steak for this Blackstone fajitas recipe, but flank steak or sirloin would work well also.
• Bell peppers. I used a combination of orange and yellow peppers because my grocery store had them on sale, but use whatever color of peppers that you prefer.
• Onion.
• Tomatoes. I like tomatoes in my fajitas, but feel free to leave them out or even substitute a different vegetable like mushrooms, zucchini, or broccoli. If using tomatoes, look for a smaller variety like Campari tomatoes, because they have fewer seeds.
• Salt and pepper or all-purpose seasoning of your choice. The steak fajitas marinade in this recipe is very flavorful, so you don’t need a lot of extra seasoning for your beef and vegetables. *You can check out my Shake That All Purpose Seasoning here!
• Lime wedges for serving. Trust me, this steak is so dang good, you probably won’t need any other toppings.

For the Homemade Fajita Marinade:

The magic of this steak fajitas recipe is in the marinade, and while it seems like an odd mixture of ingredients (who puts soy sauce in fajitas?!), this wet marinade is sure to make it in to your recipe binder! Here are the ingredients for the best steak fajita marinade:

• pineapple juice
• Worcestershire sauce
• soy sauce
• fresh squeezed orange juice
• juice and zest of a lime
• minced garlic
• onion powder
• cumin
• chili powder
• paprika
• brown sugar
• cayenne pepper
• salt and pepper

How to Make the Steak Fajitas Marinade

This awesome wet marinade for steak fajitas is very easy to make. Just open a gallon sized zip top bag and add all of the wet and dry marinade ingredients. Mix everything together and add your steak.

WET MARINADE TIP:

Open a gallon sized Ziploc bag and place the bag in a saucepan. Fold the top of the bag over the sides of the saucepan a few inches. Now you can add all of your wet ingredients and juice the citrus fruits without worrying about your bag falling over and your marinade spilling out.

Prepping the Skirt Steak for the Marinade:

Before you add the skirt steak to the Ziploc bag to marinate, you’ll need to do some prep work.

A skirt steak is typically a larger and flatter cut of beef, so you’ll need to cut it down a bit before adding it to the bag. Also, cutting the beef into more manageable steaks adds more surface area so you get more of the bright and bold citrus marinade flavor. The skirt steak that I used was about 1.5 pounds and I cut it into 4 pieces, so each was about 6 ounces.

If your steak is not uniform in thickness, then you should also pound out any thicker parts so that it cooks evenly on the griddle.

Then, just add the steak to the Ziploc bag, press out the excess air from the bag, and refrigerate for about 6-8 hours.

Why not cut the steak into strips first?

I prefer to cook my fajita beef in larger steaks first before cutting it into strips, and I HIGHLY recommend that you do the same. When you cook the larger pieces of meat, it allows you to build a nice steak crust on the griddle and your beef is much less likely to overcook.

Also, by leaving your skirt or flat iron steak in larger 6-8 ounce pieces, you’re able to cook it on the griddle just like you would a normal steak, flipping it a few times so that it cooks evenly.

Just think about how often you order steak fajitas at a restaurant and the steak is well done and dry. This steak fajitas recipe is definitely NOT like that!

How to Cook Steak Fajitas on the Griddle

After your steak has had a chance to marinate for 6-8 hours in the fridge, you’re ready to start making these awesome Blackstone fajitas! Just heat up your griddle, slice the fajita vegetables, and you’ll be enjoying some awesome griddle steak fajitas in no time!

Here’s how to make this fantastic griddle dinner:

Step 1: Slice the vegetables for fajitas and prep your toppings.

While your griddle is heating up, go ahead and prep your vegetables. Just slice the bell peppers and onions into thin strips, and cut the tomatoes into quarters, or smaller wedges if you’re using regular tomatoes.

I also made a quick homemade “avocado smash”, like a chunkier version of guacamole. The brightness of the fresh avocado and lime juice really complimented the steak fajitas.

Here’s what my prepped vegetables looked like before adding them to the griddle:

Step 2: Cook the steak for fajitas.

I chose to cook the steak for my griddle fajitas first so that it could have ample time to rest while the vegetables cooked. *Remember, griddle cooking is largely about planning the sequence of your recipe and managing the temperatures.

To get a nice char on my beef, I just added the large pieces of skirt steak to the hottest part of the griddle. Then, allow the steak to cook untouched on the first side for about 5-7 minutes, depending on the temperature of your griddle, until it develops a nice crust.

Then, flip the skirt steak to the second side and continue to cook until done to your liking, flipping every 3-4 minutes or so.

We prefer our steaks to be medium rare to medium, so I aimed for an internal temp of about 128 degrees F. *This is where a good internal probe instant read thermometer comes in handy – and it’s one of my MUST-HAVE griddle accessories!

*GRIDDLE COOKING TIP: This steak fajitas marinade contains a good amount of sugar from the citrus juices and brown sugar, so flip your steak to a fresh spot on the griddle and then use your bench scraper to scrape off the excess marinade immediately. Cleaning as you go will save you some elbow grease later.

When the steak is done, transfer it to a cutting board to rest for about 10-12 minutes.

Step 3: Cook the vegetables on the griddle.

While the steak is resting, cook the fajita vegetables. If you time it just right, then the veggies should be done cooking right when it’s time to slice the steak.

Just add a bit of your favorite cooking oil to the surface and spread it around with your spatula. Then, add the sliced peppers and onions in a thin layer like this:

You can immediately start to sauté the vegetables, but I prefer to let them sit on the griddle for a few minutes first so that they develop a nice char. Season the fajita veggies with your favorite all purpose seasoning or salt and pepper, and then sauté them together.

When the vegetables only have a few minutes of cook time left, add the cut tomatoes to the griddle. If you add the tomatoes at the same time as the peppers and onions, then they will get too soft and mushy on the griddle. No bueno!

Saute the tomatoes briefly until they develop a light char. Then, combine all of the veggies together and transfer them to a serving plate. And your griddle fajitas are almost ready to serve!

Step 4: Slice the fajita steak and serve.

After the skirt steak has rested, it’s time to slice it and serve your griddle fajitas!

First, locate the grain of the skirt steak to see which direction it goes. Then, turn the steak so that your knife is perpendicular to the grain, and slice into strips that are about 1/4″ thick. If you cut your steak fajitas too thick, then they will be difficult to bite into when you roll them up into a tortilla.

Your steak should look something like this:

To serve the fajitas family style, I like to add the vegetables to a long charcuterie-style cutting board, fan the sliced steak pieces on top, and garnish with guacamole, slices of lime, and a stack of warm flour tortillas.

But don’t be surprised if you don’t even use any toppings. My wife and I ate these awesome steak fajitas with just the beef and veggies on a plate… no extras needed!

Other Mexican Inspired Griddle Recipes to Try

• Want an awesome side dish to go with your Blackstone fajitas? Try this Mexican Street Corn on the Griddle (with Frozen Corn)! Packed with flavor!
• Need a chicken fajitas recipe for the Blackstone? This large batch Griddle Chicken Fajitas Recipe is perfect to feed a crowd!
• Missing the Mexican rice? Try this easy Blackstone Griddle Mexican Chicken and Rice recipe!

Steak Fajitas and Homemade Marinade Recipe

This fajitas recipe now has a permanent home in our griddle recipes binder! Trust us, you’ll want to print this one out and give it a try:

Steak Fajitas on the Griddle (with Homemade Marinade)

Created by: Neal

Course Main Course

Cuisine Mexican

Prep Time 8 hours hours 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 8 hours hours 30 minutes minutes

4 people

These griddle steak fajitas are packed with flavor thanks to a simple homemade fajitas marinade. Plan ahead to marinate your steak for about 8 hours, and then fire up the griddle for your new favorite steak fajitas recipe!

Print

Pin

Share

Rate

Ingredients

  

• 1½-2 lb skirt steak or substitute flat iron, flank, or sirloin steak
• 2 large bell peppers thinly sliced
• 1 medium sweet onion thinly sliced
• 2 green onions thinly sliced
• about 3 tbsp cooking oil *I prefer avocado oil
• salt and pepper or your favorite all purpose seasoning
• fresh lime wedges for garnish

For the Steak Fajitas Marinade:

• ¾ cup pineapple juice no sugar added/100% juice
• juice of ½ large orange
• juice and zest of 1 lime
• 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1½ tbsp cumin
• ½ tbsp chili powder
• 1½ tsp paprika
• 1 tsp onion powder
• ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
• ½ tbsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper

Instructions

• Prep the skirt steak. If your skirt steak is on the larger side, cut it into 4 pieces that are about 6-8 ounces each. Pound out any thicker portions so that they all cook evenly on the griddle.
• Make the marinade by combining all marinade ingredients in a gallon sized zip top bag. Stir to mix well. Add the skirt steak to the bag, and work it around so that it is evenly coated. Press the excess air out of the bag and seal it. Allow the steak to marinate in the refrigerator for 6-8 hours.
• Heat griddle until it reaches about 425-450 degrees F. Add the skirt steak pieces to the griddle. As you're taking the steak pieces out of the bag, allow the excess marinade to drain off a bit. Allow the steak to cook on the first side for about 4-5 minutes. Then flip to the second side and cook an additional 3-4 minutes. Flip again and continue to cook, flipping periodically, until done to your liking. *I cooked my steak to an internal temp of about 128 degrees F. When steak is done, transfer it to a cutting board to rest while the vegetables cook. Scrape the griddle clean before moving on.
• Add about 2 tablespoons of your favorite cooking oil to the surface and spread it around with your spatula. Add the sliced bell peppers and onions to the griddle in a thin layer. Season with salt and pepper or your favorite all purpose seasoning. Allow the vegetables to cook untouched for about 2-3 minutes to develop a nice char, then sauté until almost done to your liking.
• When peppers and onions are almost done cooking, move them to the side of the griddle. Begin cooking the tomato wedges in the clear area on the griddle. After about 2-3 minutes, combine the tomatoes with the other vegetables on the griddle. Saute briefly and transfer the fajita vegetables to a serving plate.
• Slice the cooked steak against the grain in to strips that are about 1/4" thick. Plate the sliced steak on top of the fajita vegetables. Serve your steak fajitas with warm flour tortillas, lime wedges, and your favorite fajita toppings.

Notes

• When flipping the steak each time, flip it to a clear area on your griddle.  Then, scrape off the leftover marinade on the griddle to make clean up easier.
• This steak fajita marinade has sugar from the citrus juice and brown sugar, so clean as you go by frequently scraping the excess marinade off the griddle as you’re cooking.

Want More Recipes?

Make sure to check out The Flat Top King on Youtube and subscribe to the channel!

Pinterest user? Do me a favor and PIN this to your griddle recipes board: