Fajitas - too messy to be party food?

WaltKowalski

Am thinking of serving fajitas at a party I'm having at home - about 20 people coming.
Is that acceptable party grub?

Lornen

Fajita's sound like a pretty decent party food for adults. I wouldn't try it if many kids were about. If you have a wide selection of toppings all around a table it could be pretty fun, but also incredibly messy.

I'd go with maybe some little home made samosa's or bigs in plankets or mini (but substantial) quiches, something you can pick up and carry around while eating that doesn't drip would be a big helping hand.
Fajita's can be a bit "drippy" if you have too much sauce from the chicken in one, gets all over your hands and top!

But it really would depend on the party you're having.

If you want to keep with the mexican theme, I'd go with enchiladas and loads of little nibbles like nacho's, salsa's, refried beans and mexican rice.
The reason why I'd say enchiladas over fajita's, is because usually if you have a big bowl of chicken and people are making them themselves, you'll have the occasional greedy guss who hogs all the chicken. Some people don't like peppers, some no onions! It can all get a little tricky.
Atleast with enchiladas you can do all the prep, keep them aside til they need to be whacked into the oven. Then you can take them out and you'll have less hassle as each enchilada will be the same so no arguements as to who's got more of what! :P
Also, sides can be prepper while the enchiladas are cooking.

Sorry if that sounds a bit jumbled! It's late

WaltKowalski

Thanks for the reply and the suggestions Lornen.

I thought of fajitas because I have limited oven/hob space, cookware and crockery and I thought my (adult only) guests could just add fillings as they please so then could have as little/much as they'd like.

But maybe a salad/buffet bar would be a better idea.

l5lr

If you're making them, may I recommend getting you're hands on a lazy susan for the night. Might slightly decrease the amount of mess made from sauces or the likes because people can move it closer

Honey-ec

I really wouldn't recommend fajitas for more than about 4 people, to be honest. I'd go with a big pot of chili instead. Has the advantage of only needing one pot/ring to make it; can be made the day before (and will, in fact, be nicer if it is) and you can just serve everyone a bowl of it and put big dishes of rice, warmed tortilla chips, breads and salads on the table to let people choose their sides.

If you really wanted to show off a bit, you could do one red and one white chili, although that mightn't be an option if you have oven/hob space, cookware and crockery, as you say.

Lornen

+1 on the chilli idea. Everyone loves chilli!