Sheet Pan Shrimp Fajitas
They're not true fajitas in the classic Tex-Mex style, but a close approximation that requires a lot less effort, the hallmark of any Sheet Pan Dinner.
My Number One Fan gets all the credit for finding, testing and refining all but one of the Sheet Pan Dinners on Kitchen Tapestry. This one came from the shockingly delicious website.
Fajitas got their start with Mexican ranch workers, known as vaqueros, who were given less desirable cuts of beef, often from the skirt steak (the diaphragm muscle of the cow). The meat was often grilled over an open flame or cooked on a skewer, and to make it tender and flavorful, it was marinated and served with tortillas.
In the 1930s, ranchers in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas started cooking this cut of beef in the same manner. These workers would grill the skirt steak and serve it with tortillas and condiments, creating an early version of fajitas. While it was a common practice among ranch workers, the dish didn’t become widely known or commercialized outside of the Texas-Mexico border region until the ‘70s when it started gaining prominence throughout Texas. The dish became a sensation when Ned & Johnny’s, a Mexican restaurant in San Antonio, began serving Fajitas as a formal menu item, and it helped popularize the concept of grilling marinated meat, particularly skirt steak, and serving it with tortillas and various sides. Fajita translates as "little strip" or "small strip," referring to the way the meat is typically sliced for the dish.
The dish took off nationally in the 1980s, when the Hyatt Regency in Austin, Texas hired a chef named Johnny Hernandez, who is associated with helping to bring Fajitas into the mainstream. The hotel's restaurant began serving "Sizzling Fajitas" as a dramatic presentation where the fajitas were served on a hot, sizzling plate, which became a signature way of presenting the dish. This presentation not only enhanced the appeal of the fajitas but also drew attention to the dish in a way that hadn't been done before in mainstream restaurants. The rest, of course, is culinary history.
While this is an unconventional method of cooking shrimp fajitas, the end result is much the same. I do emphasize, however, that you use fresh cilantro, fresh lime juice and as an accompaniment, Mexican style sour cream, known as Crema Mexicana Agria, rather than traditional American sour cream. The Mexican version is both sweeter and more tart than American sour cream, and looser in texture.
Sheet Pan Shrimp Fajitas
Ingredients
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp smoked salt (like, San Francisco Salt Company Cherry Wood)
- 1/2 tsp Worcestershire black pepper (like, McCormick)
- 1/2 medium sweet yellow onion, thinly sliced (like, Vidalia or Texas-1015)
- 1 small green bell pepper, thinly sliced
- 1 small of either or red bell pepper or yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced
- 1 16-oz bag frozen medium uncooked peeled/de-veined shrimp, thawed
- 1 tbsp garlic, minced
- 2-3 tbsp olive oil
- juice of 1 fresh lime
- 1 handful fresh cilantro, rough chopped
- 4-6 soft fajita sized (about 8" diameter) flour tortillas (like, Mission Carb Balance)
- Mexican style sour cream (like, Cacique Crema Mexicana Agria)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Spray the sheet pan with non-stick cooking spray.
- Mix the chili powder, ground cumin, paprika, smoked salt and Worcestershire black pepper together.
- Toss the onions and bell peppers in a mixing bowl, drizzle with half the olive oil and about half of the spice mix and stir to coat everything well.
- Lay the veggies out on the sheet pan and roast for 13-17 minutes until the veggies are wilted and beginning to caramelize.
- While the veggies are cooking, do the same thing with the shrimp and the remaining olive oil and spice mix, and all the garlic, ensuring everything is evenly coated.
- Add the shrimp to the sheet pan and cook an additional 7-8 minutes until the shrimp are no longer pink.
- While the shrimp are cooking, warm the flour tortillas either in the oven wrapped in aluminum foil, or zapped in a paper towel in the microwave.
- When you bring the shrimp and veggies with out of the oven, hit them with the fresh squeezed lime juice and the fresh cilantro.
- Slather a warm flour tortillas with the Mexican style sour cream, then scoop up some onions and peppers, and 3-4 shrimp. Fold over and serve immediately.
Notes
- Frozen shrimp thaw very quickly in a colander under cold running water, turning and tossing the shrimp frequently to get its cold water shower.
- Do this about 30 minutes prior to cooking, then wrap the shrimp in paper towels and put in the refrigerator to dry out before using.
