Watch how it’s made
Every step in 1:32 — from the ingredients to the finished dish.
Fajitas are one of the easier restaurant dishes to rebuild, because the filling was never the problem. Peppers, onions and a protein cooked hard with cumin and chilli carry very little carbohydrate. It is the flour tortillas, the rice and the refried beans arriving alongside that turn it into a 90-gram meal.
This version serves the filling in lettuce leaves and lands at 15 grams a serving. Tofu takes the place of the meat, which is not a compromise here: it soaks up marinade better than chicken does.
Pressing the tofu is not optional
This is the step people skip and then wonder why their tofu is bland and soggy. Extra-firm tofu is still around 70 percent water, and that water occupies space the marinade wants.
Wrap the block in a clean towel, put a plate on top and something heavy on the plate. Thirty minutes is enough, and you will pour off a surprising amount of liquid.
Pressed tofu also browns. Unpressed tofu steams in its own water and stays pale no matter how hot the oven is.
Tear it, do not cube it
Cubes give you six flat faces and neat edges. Torn pieces give you an irregular surface with far more area exposed to the heat, and every one of those ragged edges crisps.
It also looks less like a health food and more like something you would want to eat, which matters more than people admit.
The spice rub, and why cornstarch is in it
Cumin, smoked paprika, chilli powder, garlic and oregano is the fajita profile. A teaspoon of cornstarch tossed through with them is the trick: it draws the remaining surface moisture and forms a thin crust that crisps in the oven.
One teaspoon across the whole tray is about 2 grams of carbohydrate. It is the best-value carbohydrate in the recipe.
Do not crowd the tray
The peppers and onions release a lot of water. On a crowded tray that water has nowhere to go and everything braises in it, coming out limp.
Use the largest sheet pan you own, or two. Everything should be in one layer with visible gaps.
Lettuce, or count the tortilla
Butter lettuce or romaine leaves hold the filling well and add nothing to the carbohydrate. That is the version the numbers above describe.
If you want a tortilla, know what it costs: a six-inch corn tortilla is about 12 grams of carbohydrate, a large flour one can be 35. Corn tortillas are the smaller step, and two of them still keeps this meal under 40 grams.