Chicken fajitas are a summer staple in our house. Throw together some tasty marinade, grill up chicken and vegetables and serve them together on warm tortillas. It’s the perfect summer meal: no indoor cooking, minimal dishes and maximum flavor.  Serve them on the deck with an  ice-cold margarita and you’re faced with pure perfection.

While tequila-lime marinade has been my go-to choice for all things Mexican-related, I decided to shake things up a bit last weekend and searched AllRecipces.com for a new chicken fajita marinade.   Success!  The lime juice provides a bit of tart sweetness, while the liquid smoke and cayenne pepper imparts a smokey zing.  I was in a rush and only let the chicken marinate for about an hour, but that didn’t seem to cause any problems.

I use a grill basket like this one for my grilled vegetables, so it’s just as easy as sauteing on the stove.   I don’t use an actual recipe;  chop up mushrooms, peppers and onions and toss them in either olive oil or Italian dressing and then season with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Coat your basket with cooking spray and place on the grill during pre-heating.  Cooking times will vary, but 5-8 minutes, stirring every 2-3 minutes, will usually do it.

Chicken Fajita Marinade

1/4 cup lime juice
1/3 cup water
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke flavoring
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1. In a small bowl whisk together the lime juice, water, olive oil, garlic, soy sauce, salt, liquid smoke, cayenne and black pepper.
2. Pour marinade over meat and refrigerate at least 1 hour. Cook as desired.

The last time we grilled, I wanted to do something other than the usual BBQ sauce. A Mexican inspired marinade sounded good: tequila, lime, cilantro… something along those lines. A quick search of allrecipes.com produced this recipe for Tequila Lime Chicken.

The original recipe includes instructions for baking the chicken, and for an accompanying Mexi-Ranch dressing. I was only interested in the marinade. Based upon recommendations of reviewers and my personal tastes, I changed a few of the proportions. Since it is Tequila Lime Chicken, I increased the amount of tequila to 1 teaspoon, and will probably add more next time. The recipe produced an ample amount of marinade and would easily work for more than the suggested four chicken breast halves.

The chicken was delicious and tender! It had a tangy, smokey flavor that went very well with the cilantro lime rice I made that night. The leftover chicken was delicious on it’s own and on grilled pizza. This marinade will be added to our regular grilling rotation this summer!

Tequila Lime Chicken

1 cup water
1/3 cup Teriyaki sauce
2 tbsp lime juice (juice of 1 lime)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 tsp liquid smoke flavoring
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp tequila
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

1. Combine all ingredients, except chicken, in non-reactive bowl. Mix well.
2. Add chicken and turn to coat.
3. Cover and refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours.
4. Grill chicken.