Craveable Flank-Steak Fajitas, and the Temps You Need to Get Them

There’s nothing quite like the sizzle of a plate of fajitas being walked past you at a Mexican restaurant. The ones that go to another table are almost more exciting than the ones you get. The anticipation heightens the sensory experience as they walk by—”Are those ours? Noooo…well, pass the chips.” But often, when they finally land at your place, they are…fine. They’re ok. They’re usually pretty good. But rarely are they as good as they seemed they’d be as they sizzled past you. But what if you could make homemade fajitas that were every bit as good as the ones you hope to get, but never seem to land? My friends, you can. With our friend Tuffy Stone’s irresistible marinade and our temperature tips and tools, you’ll be fajita-feasting like never before! Let’s dive in.

Get the tools you need for perfect fajitas here:

What fajitas are, and the best cuts to use

The work fajita means “little strips” or “little belts,” a reference to the preparation of the food: meat and veggies cut up into little strips to be mounded together on warm tortillas. The dish is classically (originally) made with beef, though the definition has widened to include chicken and other meats. The meat is seasoned, grilled, cut into strips across the grain, and served with grilled onions and peppers. To be extra traditional, one would use skirt steak—itself a long belt or strip. But any semi-steak-like cut will do, with flank steak (our present choice) filling the role exceptionally well. Other steaks are fine, but the bit of chew that comes form these cuts is actually a feature, not a flaw.

Interstingly, fajitas are not “Mexican” food, but rather authentically Tex-Mex. Tex-Mex is a legitimate cuisine unto itself, springing from an amalgam of culinary and linguistic cultures that arose in southern Texas, and it has its own standard dishes, flavor profiles, and seats of influence. Fajitas were created—or at least named—by ranch hands in south and west Texas, probably in the 1930’s, who had access to this cheaper cut and grills. The first commercially known shop to sell them might be one that was opened in 1969, with the sizzling platter innovation coming at about the same time. (The sizzling platter is not the cooking method, nor was it ever “traditional,” it’s only ever been a fancy way of serving them.)

Getting the char without burning the meat—techniques for grilling fajitas

Fajitas started out as field food, meat grilled over an open flame to feed hungry mouths. We want to keep that flavor, that feel. So grilling is the thing to do. How do we make sure our fajitas are delicious and fun to eat, but not overcooked and chewy? Get out the thermometers! We’re looking for beef that is medium-rare to medium, 130–140°F (54–60°C), and we’re not likely to get it by poking the meat on the grill with our fingers.

Use RFX MEAT to track the temperature of the flank steak as it cooks. The method we’re employing seems to be slow at first, but if you keep one eye on the steak and one eye on the app gathering data from RFX MEAT, you’ll see the temperature’s speed increase as you cook. Knowing how fast it’s rising can help you plan your carryover cooking so you don’t pull it at “the right” temperature only to overcook the meat on the plate. Of course you’ll still need to wield your Thermapen ONE to verify that you hit the coldest part of the meat with your RFX MEAT probe and be sure the accurate temperatures it’s giving you are the ones you want. Set the high-temp alarm for somewhere between 120 and 130°F (49 and 54°C) so you can get the meat off the grill in time for carryover to happen.

And how do we cook the meat? We just keep flipping it. Insert RFX MEAT into the side of the flank so that it won’t get in the way during several flips, and cook the steak on a hot grill, flipping it every 45–60 seconds. At first, the meat will seem wan, bland, and sad. But after only four or five flips, it will start to char, brown, and get deliciously steaky looking. With this technique, form will very nearly follow function and you can expect that the steak will start to look down at about the same time your RFX will confirm that the insides are reaching 130-ish°F (54-ish°C).

Why flipping works

Flipping over and over works to keep the meat from charring by letting the meat strategically cool off. If we pump heat into one side of the steak until it’s “half done” it will actually be well more than half done! Flip it and keep cooking sure, but you’ll end up with an uneven steak or one that is more cooked than you want it to be. By cooking, flipping, cooking, flipping, we cool the meat and allow the heat to penetrate more evenly into the food. The result is a steak with all the flavor of the grill with none of the burnt edges or overcooked insides.

RFX MEAT helps immeasurably with this. If you see the temperature is climbing a degree every second or so and you’re at 125°F (52°C), you know you need to get the meat off the grill soon, even if the side you’re looking at isn’t perfectly charred yet. Temperature matters!

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We hope you give these fajitas a try. This grilling method, combined with the monitoring power and accuracy of RFX MEAT, practically guarantees proper doneness, and the marinade recipe from Tuffy Stone will delight every ranch-hand you serve! Get out your thermometers and experience…happy cooking.

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A note on the skillet, including why it isn’t necessary to sizzle it, but how to use it if you want to

As briefly noted above, the use of a sizzling skillet is not strictly traditional. A hot skillet was never the means of making fajitas. Restaurants do it because of the sizzle sound and smell as they move it through the restaurant. It is showmanship and presentation. But just because it’s a piece of restaurant theater doesn’t mean it’s bad. If you want to recreate it at home for your guests, put a cast iron skillet in the oven at 475°F (246°C)—or even higher—starting a few minutes before you start cooking your meat. Once the meat and veggies are cooked and the meat is sliced, very carefully remove the skillet from the oven using hot pads. Load the fajitas in and carry it, again using hot pads or even welding gloves, to the table. It will sizzle and sing and smell just like it does at restaurants. But it may also overcook some of the meat you worked so hard to get just right. That’s just the cost of a show…