Bowl or ziplock bag. Oil, lime juice, garlic, chili powder, cumin, smoked paprika, salt, pepper, cayenne if you're doing that. Chicken in, coat it evenly. Fridge, minimum 30 minutes. An hour or two if you planned ahead that day, which honestly I rarely do but it's noticeably better when I manage it.

While that sits, slice the peppers and onion roughly the same size as your chicken strips. Keeps things cooking evenly, looks right on the plate later too. Toss with oil, pinch of salt, set aside and forget about it for now.

Matters more than people think, this step. Big cast iron or grill pan, high heat, genuinely hot, you want a faint wisp of smoke before anything goes in. Not kidding about the smoke, that's your signal. Outdoor grill works fine too, just heat the grates through properly first.

Into the hot pan, single layer, don't crowd it. Crowd it and it just steams, no char, waste of a good marinade. 4-5 minutes a side till you've got a proper golden sear and it's cooked through. Pull it, tent loosely with foil, keep it warm while the veg cooks.

Peppers and onion in. Leave them alone the first couple minutes, don't keep stirring, that's what kills the char before it even starts. 6-8 minutes total, tender with some good charred edges by the end.

Slice the chicken if needed, toss it back in with the vegetables, mix a minute just to reheat and combine. Lime squeezed over right before serving. Don't skip this part, it wakes everything up.

Warm tortillas, dry pan or foil in the oven works either way. Fill with the chicken and veg mix. Toppings, whatever you're feeling.

Don't skip the marinade time even rushing. Thirty minutes actually changes things. Marinate it in the morning if you can, dinner comes together fast once you're actually home and ready to cook.

Cut everything roughly the same size. Uneven pieces cook unevenly, you end up with some chicken perfect and some dry by the time the rest finally catches up.

Stop moving things around so much while they cook. Constant stirring is exactly what kills the char before it forms. Let it sit undisturbed a bit, then flip.

Pan not hot enough, everything just steams. And then you've basically made a sad stir fry with a tortilla involved, not real fajitas.

Steak fajitas, swap in flank or skirt steak, sliced thin against the grain after cooking. Same marinade, no changes needed there.

Shrimp fajitas, marinate maybe 15 minutes since seafood doesn't need long, cooks fast too, 2-3 minutes a side tops.

Sheet pan version, if the hot pan thing feels like too much effort some night. Broil 10-12 minutes, stir halfway. Less char, still decent, way less work.

Veggie fajitas, skip the meat entirely, mushrooms, zucchini, extra peppers, same seasoning approach still works fine.

Family-style, everything laid out, tortillas, chicken and veg, a spread of toppings. Let people build their own. Good for casual dinners, good for having people over, nobody's plate ends up looking the same which is kind of the fun of it.