The $1.25 Dollar Tree Find I’m Buying Every Time I Go

I always have lofty ambitions of having a slow and satisfying Sunday night dinner to end the weekend on a high note. But sometimes, the thought of cooking complex or involved dishes after a full weekend of activities feels impossible. After a recent jam-packed weekend, Sunday night felt more like a weekday. And, like on other typical weekdays, I have limited time to prepare dinner before it’s bath and bedtime for my kids. Luckily, I remembered stashing a packet of Saucy Lips Fajita Sauce from Dollar Tree for just this kind of night.

Why I Love Saucy Lips Fajita Sauce Packets

The most impressive part of this sauce is that the ingredient list reads like something I would put together in my own kitchen: water, plantain, tomato, onion, apple cider vinegar, and a perfect blend of spices, including jalapeño, paprika, garlic powder, and ancho chili.

While the sauce benefits from a hit of salt and pepper (don’t most things?), it provides a foundational flavor base for some pretty decent fajitas. At $1.25 per packet, it’s significantly more affordable than other premium cooking sauces I’ve tried, and the quality is surprisingly impressive.

How I Use the Fajita Sauce

The first time I tried it, I followed the simple recipe on the back of the packet. I sliced a pound of chicken breast into strips and mixed it with half of the sauce. Next, I sauteed thinly sliced bell peppers and onions until they took on a bit of color and transferred them to a plate. Then, I added the chicken into the pan to cook before adding the remaining sauce and bell pepper mixture back. It was quick and easy, and before long, we were tucking that chicken and pepper mixture into warm tortillas and topping them with salsa, avocado, hot sauce, and cilantro. 

My first impression was that the flavor was a bit ho-hum, but I quickly realized that a sprinkling of salt and pepper rectified everything. It was an easy fix and something I will be more intentional (and generous) about going forward.

If I’m craving the best chicken fajitas, you can bet I’ll make the real deal. But if I want an enjoyable dinner with virtually no effort, I can count on the Saucy Lips Fajita Sauce to have it covered. That (plus salt and pepper) will be perfectly satisfying on a busy night! And when I have the bandwidth, a good shake of ground cumin or some extra chili powder and a squeeze of lime would make it even better. Alternatively, I might upgrade to two packets for extra sauciness and flavor. 

Beyond chicken, I can see using these sauce packets to make steak fajitas, to marinate shrimp for taco bowls, or to add to a pot of rice for a cheater Spanish-style rice. After several successful meals with Saucy Lips, I’ve added them to my Dollar Tree stock-up list. For just $1.25, I now have a quick and tasty solution to getting a wholesome dinner on the table, and that’s worth much more than five quarters.

^{To learn more about our approach to product recommendations, see HERE.}