Loaded with tender chicken, fresh peppers, pasta, and a creamy fajita sauce, this hearty chicken fajita pasta is pure comfort food and completely irresitible!

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Prep Time15

Cook Time30

Total Time45

Servings

This One Pot Chicken Fajita Pasta delivers big, bold flavor with minimal effort. Juicy chicken, sautéed peppers, and tender pasta tossed in a creamy, spiced sauce—all made in one pot. No fancy steps, no extra pans. Just an easy dinner idea that tastes like you worked harder than you did.

Close-up of creamy one-pot chicken fajita pasta featuring penne, tender chicken strips, and sautéed red, yellow, and green bell peppers, all coated in a spiced sauce and garnished with fresh cilantro. Bold text overlay reads “One-Pot Chicken Fajita Pasta.

One-Pot Chicken Fajita Pasta Ingredients

Overhead layout of all ingredients for chicken fajita pasta labeled with text. Ingredients include chicken breast, penne pasta, bell peppers, onion, garlic powder, chili powder, cumin, oregano, chicken broth, heavy cream, cheese, olive oil, and seasonings.

Ingredients You’ll Need

2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
¾ teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon dried oregano
¼ teaspoon black pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 ½ pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 cup each of yellow onion, red bell pepper, green bell pepper and yellow bell pepper
2 ½ cups chicken broth
8 ounces penne pasta
¼ cup heavy cream
1 cup grated colby-jack cheese

🛒 Ingredient Substitutes & Shortcuts

Fajita Seasoning – Short on time? Use two tablespoons of your favorite premade fajita spice blend instead of mixing your own. Just be sure to choose one without added cornstarch—it can thicken the sauce too much.

Bell Peppers – Use any combination of bell peppers you like. The mix of red, green, and yellow adds color and flavor, but you can stick to one or two types based on what you have on hand.

Chicken – This recipe would be just as delicious with chicken thighs if you prefer dark meat to white meat.

Pasta – Bow-tie, rigatoni, rotini, or any other short pasta will work just as well as penne in this one-pot dish.

Cheese – Colby-jack melts beautifully into the sauce and keeps things mild and creamy. For a kick, swap in pepper-jack. Prefer a classic flavor? Mild cheddar works too.

Broth – If using low or no sodium chicken broth, you may want to add an additional ½ teaspoon of salt to the seasoning blend.

🌶️ This dish has a bold, smoky flavor but stays mild on the heat—perfect for families and spice-sensitive eaters. If you want to turn it up a notch, add ⅛ to ¼ teaspoon of cayenne pepper or swap in pepper-jack for an extra kick. 🌶️

🔥 Pro Tips for the Best Chicken Fajita Pasta

✅ Sear the chicken in batches if needed
If your skillet is crowded, cook the chicken in two batches so it browns instead of steaming. Golden edges = better flavor.

mage of seasoned chicken strips cooking in a skillet with a tip overlay titled "For the Best Fajita Pasta." Four cooking tips are listed in bold text, with a small photo of finished fajita pasta in the top right corner. /

✅ Don’t overcook the veggies
Stop cooking the peppers and onions once they’re just tender but still vibrant. You want that classic fajita texture—not soggy veg.

Split image showing raw sliced green, red, and yellow bell peppers and onions in a skillet on the left, and the same vegetables cooked to a crisp-tender stage on the right. Text overlay reads: "Add olive oil, onion, and bell peppers to the skillet with seasoning. Stir and cook until crisp-tender

✅ Stir the pasta once halfway—no more, no less
Stirring halfway helps prevent sticking without over-agitating the starches, which can make the sauce gluey.

✅ Add cream and cheese gradually
After cooking, reduce the heat (or remove the skillet from heat entirely), then stir in the cream and cheese slowly. This keeps the sauce silky and prevents curdling.

Overhead view of a bowl filled with chicken fajita pasta beside a pot of the same dish. The pasta features penne, seasoned chicken strips, sautéed bell peppers, and is garnished with cilantro. Surrounding elements include fresh cilantro and shredded cheese.

🍽️ How to Serve

Serve hot, straight from the pot — it’s best fresh!
Top with extra shredded cheese or a dollop of sour cream.
Garnish with fresh cilantro or sliced green onions.
Pair with a simple green salad or Spanish Rice.
Add lime wedges on the side.

Storing a Mexican Pasta

This one pot pasta is best served fresh, but leftovers can be saved for later. Store any cooled leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to three days. The pasta will continue to absorb the sauce as it sits, so it may thicken over time.

To reheat, warm the pasta gently in a skillet over medium heat. Add a splash of chicken broth or cream to help loosen the sauce and bring back that creamy texture. Avoid microwaving in large batches, as it can dry out the chicken—reheat in smaller portions if using the microwave.

🚫 We don’t recommend freezing this fajita pasta—the creamy sauce can separate and the pasta tends to get mushy once thawed. 🚫

Make Ahead: Chicken, onion, bell peppers, and garlic can all be pre-chopped and stored in airtight containers in the refrigerator until you are ready to make this recipe. Make sure to store the raw chicken in a separate container.

Close-up of a fork lifting a bite of creamy chicken fajita pasta with red and yellow bell peppers and chicken strips. Background shows bowls of shredded cheese and chopped cilantro out of focus.

Big flavour, one pot, so easy to make—that’s dinner done right. This one-pot chicken fajita pasta checks all the boxes: hearty, creamy, loaded with veggies, and guaranteed to leave clean plates. Definitely one to keep in the weeknight rotation.

More Chicken Fajita Recipes

One Pot Chicken Fajita Pasta

5 from 2 votes

Loaded with tender chicken, fresh peppers, pasta, and a creamy fajita sauce, this hearty chicken fajita pasta is pure comfort food and completely irresitible!

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 30

Total Time 45

Servings

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Ingredients

2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
¾ teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon dried oregano
¼ teaspoon black pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil divided (2 tablespoons to cook the chicken and 1 tablespoon for the vegetables)
1 ½ pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into ½ inch strips
1 cup large yellow onion approximately half, cut into ½ inch strips
1 cup red bell pepper seeded and cut into ½ inch strips (approximately 1 medium pepper)
1 cup green bell pepper seeded and cut into ½ inch strips (approximately 1 medium pepper)
1 cup yellow bell pepper seeded and cut into ½ inch strips (approximately 1 medium pepper)
2 ½ cups chicken broth
8 ounces penne pasta
¼ cup heavy cream
1 cup grated colby-jack cheese
Chopped fresh cilantro optional garnish

Instructions

Combine together in a small bowl the chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, ground cumin, dried oregano and black pepper. Set aside.
Add 1 tablespoon of the seasoning blend to the chicken breast strips and toss to evenly coat.
To a large (12 inch) heavy duty skillet over medium-high heat, add 2 tablespoons olive oil. When the oil is hot, add the seasoned chicken breast strips. Cook the chicken for 6-8 minutes or until golden brown and no pink remains.
Transfer the cooked chicken to a plate and set aside.
Add the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil, yellow onion, red bell pepper, green bell pepper, yellow bell pepper and remaining seasoning blend to the skillet. Stir to coat the vegetables in the seasoning blend and cook for 4-6 minutes or until the vegetables are crisp tender.
Add the chicken broth and penne pasta to the skillet. Stir to combine.
Bring the liquids to a boil then reduce the heat to medium-low. Cover the skillet with a tight fitting lid and simmer the pasta for 12-15 minutes or until the pasta is tender. Be sure to stir the pasta half way through the cooking process to ensure that all the pasta is cooking evenly.
Remove the lid to the skillet. Stir in the heavy cream and shredded colby-jack cheese until the cheese is fully melted and the sauce is thickened.
Add the chicken back to the skillet and stir to combine all the ingredients. Remove the chicken fajita pasta from the heat. Sprinkle with chopped fresh cilantro if desired for garnish.

Nutrition

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Proudly Prepared by the Spaceships Kitchen

This recipe was developed, tested, cooked and photographed by the Spaceships Kitchen. From our dinner table to yours, we hope you think it's out of this world!

Stephanie Keeping Publisher
Layne Kangas Marketing
Lexus Monroe Editorial Assistant

One-Pot Chicken Fajita Pasta