Are you proud of me for taking such a long break from one pot pastas?? I was getting redundant there a while ago and decided to take a little one-pot pasta reprive and not over do it…which…can you actually do? I mean, does one ever actually get enough of one pot pastas?? They are basically the best and most efficient dinners ever. All your stuff, pasta included, cooks in one pot. How do up beat that?! My personal favorite from my one pot pasta streak was this One Pot Three Cheese Mac and Cheese . Yaasssss. Can you blame me? It’s mac and cheese, girl. Mac and cheesy.
However! This one pot steak fajita pasta is definitely up there as a front runner. For sure. All the flavors in here that we cook into the pasta and add at the end just make me happy. We’re talkin’ onions, peppers, marinated steak, salsa, lots of spices (think chili powder and paprika), sour cream, black beans, and of course – cheese!!
😍😍😍 ALLLLLL the heart eye emojis 😍😍😍
I just love one pot pastas. They are the peanut butter to my jelly. The cheese to my macaroni. The t-shirt to my leggings << feel me, ladies? And now I have the strongest desire to go put on a t-shirt and leggings…but Ford is sleeping on me. And baby naps are SACRED, yo. Soon, leggings…soon.
Let’s talk steak real quick. I use hangar steak here because it’s just absurdly cheap at my grocery store (why?? No idea because it is mouthwatering and tender when cooked right). We do a super chill marinade of lime juice, garlic, and chili power. Easy peasy. Marinate it for as long as you have. 10 minutes? Fine. Overnight? Great. Do whatevs – it’s delicious regardless. We slice the steak up thinly before we marinate it, so it doesn’t take long for the yummy mixture to soak into the beef and work its limey magic.
That’s the first key to tender, juicy steak. The second? Cook it SUPER fast in batches in a really hot pot. I cooked mine in about three batches – if you overcrowd the pan, the meat will steam instead of sear, and that just makes everyone sad and way less tasty. You do a super fast cook on these – like less than five minutes.
Now let’s talk other flavor bases. Since everything cooks in the same pot, you’ve already got the brown bits on the bottom of the pot from the steak workin’ for ya. Then we add our veggies, pasta, chicken stock, spices, and salsa. Cook that until the pasta is done, and theennnnn we add some more spices, sour cream, beans, and cheese.
Stir it together, and listen to the creamy pasta making magical music. You can hear when pasta is creamy – it has a sound when you stir it. Don’t think I’m crazy, just listen next time. For those of you who know exactly what I’m talkin’ about, cue pools of drool.
Okay, and now that I have ranted about One Pot Steak Fajita Pasta for a while, I must rant about something else. Something equally if not more so amazing. Something that I experienced this morning that put me in a good mood for basically the entire rest of the day.
Grocery. Delivery. GROCERY DELIVERY! So I knew that some grocery stores were doing this now, but I assumed it was absurdly expensive and not something I was willing to spend a small fortune on. But no. No, my dear internet friends. If you order more than one hundred dollars of groceries (which, if I’m buying a week at a time, I ALWAYS spend at least a hundo) the delivery is free. Say whaaaaaat?! If it’s less than one hundred dollars, the delivery is…wait for it…five dollars. Five measly little dollars. I would probably spend more than five extra dollars if I actually went to the grocery store myself and grabbed a bunch of random things that I wanted but didn’t actually need.
THIS IS LITERALLY MAKING MY LIFE AMAZING. Here’s my usual routine: I have a nanny that comes to watch Ford for three hours every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday so I can cook and photograph for the blog. Usually when she gets here at noon, I rush out the door to get the groceries I need for the day for blogging. By the time I get back and put everything away, it has usually been close to an hour since she got to my house.
But with the grocery delivery (today was the first day I had any delivered), the dude came to my door, GAVE ME MY GROCERIES – I still can’t get over this whole thing – and then I just had everything I needed at my fingertips. And then when Catie (Ford’s nanny) got here today, I immediately started cooking because I already had everything!
Literally, modern day America is amazing. Yes, a million ways to cut corners have been invented, and yes, many people are just lazy, BUT, when you have a little baby and your free time is highly limited? Grocery delivery for an amazing price is the equivalent of Christmas being once a month for the rest of my life. Think I’m being dramatic? Step inside ma brain, these feelings are not being exaggerated.
It’s the little things in life, people. Like grocery delivery and One Pot Steak Fajita Pasta 🙌🏻.
This recipe is 10 smart points per serving!
PrintOne Pot Steak Fajita Pasta

- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 15 mins
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 12 servings 1x
Ingredients
For the steak
- 1 1/2 pound hangar steak, fat trimmed off, thinly sliced
- 3 limes, juiced
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1/2 tablespoon garlic powder
- 2 teaspoons coconut oil
For the pasta
- 1 pound short pasta
- 1 cup salsa
- 32 oz box beef stock
- 1 cup water
- 1 onion, sliced
- 2 bell peppers (I used 1 red and 1 green), sliced
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 cup light sour cream
- 7 oz bag (1 3/4 cup) reduced fat cheddar cheese
- 15 oz can black beans, drained
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon paprika
Instructions
- Add the sliced steak, lime juice, chili powder, and garlic powder into a large zip-lock bag. Season with salt and pepper. Close the bag and massage the marinade into the meat. Let the meat marinate for as long as you have. 10 minutes while you prep your other ingredients is fine, or several hours is fine!
- When ready to cook, heat a large non stick pot over high heat with 1 teaspoon of your coconut oil – add the second if your pot gets too dry. Cook your meat in batches so that it doesn’t overcrowd the pot and steam (I cooked mine in three batches). The pan should be very hot when you cook your meat – stir the slices of steak around often, and take them out when they have just browned. This will take less than 5 minutes per batch
- Remove all the meat to a plate as each batch finishes cooking and set aside until the end.
- To your pot, add the pasta, salsa, water, beef stock, onion, garlic, and bell peppers along with some salt and pepper. Bring this mixture to heavy simmer/boil and cook for about 10-12 minutes, until the pasta is al dente
- Remove the pot from the heat and add back in your meat, sour cream, cheese, black beans, chili powder, and paprika
- Stir to thoroughly combine and season to taste with salt and pepper
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cup
- Calories: 366
- Sugar: 2 g
- Sodium: 522 mg
- Fat: 9 g
- Carbohydrates: 41 g
- Fiber: 3 g
- Protein: 30 g
- Cholesterol: 19 mg
If you make this or any of my other recipes, be sure to Instagram it and hashtag #thegarlicdiaries!
In the mood for more yummy one pot pastas? Check these out!
One Pot Three Cheese Mac and Cheese
Creamy One Pot Spring Vegetable Fettuccine
One Pot Philly Cheesesteak Pasta
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