Are you looking for the best carne asada tacos? We love Mexican food so I am always looking for a flavorful carne asada recipe. I think it has to do with a great marinade! Since we lived in Mexico for 12 years – we know what a good taco tastes like.
This recipe uses simple ingredients and you get authentic Mexican flavor!
Living in the US is really hard when you know how good Mexican tacos should taste, but all the US Mexican Restaurants claim to make good tacos – but they really don’t! (Mexican Tacos never have cheddar cheese or lettuce on them!)
We have been back in the US for 7 years and we still have people tell us where to get the “best” tacos. (That’s a long time without great carne asada!) I’m sure they are delicious – but they just aren’t the same. I needed a homemade carne asada recipe.
We have found some little restaurants and food trucks that serve good tacos, but I am pretty sure we are going to have to go back to visit Mexico for authentic flavors to eat tacos for all 3 meals for a few days!
I have made it my mission to make a few good recipes so we can get our taco fix. Our favorite taco is Tacos al Pastor. The mix of pork, onion, cilantro, and pineapple in a corn tortilla is amazing!!
What is in a real street taco?
If you have only eaten tacos in America you may be surprised to know that Mexican tacos don’t have sour cream, lettuce, nor shredded cheese!
They are usually just a double corn tortilla topped with meat, onions, cilantro, and a salsa. That’s it! Simple and full of flavor!
When my boys were younger, like 8 years old and 5 years old, they would eat 5-7 tacos each! It was easy to feed them so many tacos because they were only about .65 cents each. It was one of their favorite things about living in Mexico.
Here are a few more of our favorite Mexican Recipes:
- Chicken Pozole Recipe In The Slow Cooker
- Chicken Tinga Tostadas
- Easy Carne Picada Recipe
- Chicken Taquitos
- Authentic Green Salsa
- Picadillo – This is a yummy ground beef recipe served over rice
- Tres Leche Cake
- Cilantro soup
- Mexican Eggs Benedict
What kind of meat should I use to make Carne Asada?
Carne Asada can be made with 2 types of steaks. When we lived in Mexico, Carne Asada was made with skirt steak or flank steak. I don’t have a preference – I usually get what is cheaper.
If you like lean cuts of meat, a flank steak is usually a leaner cut of meat, and the skirt steak has a little more fat so it has a marbled appearance. The best cut of meat is your preference!
If you have a sirloin steak at home and you want to make this recipe – go for it. But I prefer flank or skirt steak for my carne asada meat.
So in my attempt to make some Mexican Street Tacos with carne asada – I found a good combination of flavors to make a tender and delicious carne asada beef taco. (And one day I will also make carne asada fries or a carne asada burritos!)
To make the best carne asada marinade you have to throw all the marinade ingredients together about an hour before you cook – but after that, the cooking time is only about 15 minutes to get all these delicious flavors to make it an authentic carne asada marinade!
Check out this list of 35+ Recipes To Make with Tacos!
(Keep scrolling for the printable recipe)
Ingredients needed for authentic carne asada recipe
- Soy Sauce – I prefer low sodium soy sauce
- Limes – for their lime juice
- orange juice – gotta have a little sweet!
- olive oil
- fresh garlic clove
- Ancho chili powder – one of my favorite spices along with smoked paprika!
- ground cumin
- skirt steak
- Mini corn tortillas (double this if you want to have 2 tortillas per taco)
- white onions – diced
- Fresh cilantro leaves
- Salt and black pepper to taste
- Optional – top it off with your favorite salsa
How to make the tacos:
Marinade recipe – Add the spices and juices to a resealable bag. Cut up the meat into thin slices then add the skirt steak to the container and marinate for at least 1 hour up to 4 hours, turning the bag occasionally. You could also use a large bowl but I find it easier to just discard the bag when I am done.
Cut up the meat into thin slices and cook on high heat in a cast iron skillet. Add the marinade and stir until the liquid evaporates. This will cook quickly because the pieces of meat are small. So you can take it off the stove when it’s cooked to your preference.
Or you could just marinade the full piece of meat and add it to a grill pan or outdoor grill if you like that extra charred flavor. Depending on the thickness of the meat you will only need to grill steak for 3-4 minutes per side depending on how rare you want the meat. Use an instant read thermometer for best results.
While the meat is cooking, follow the package instructions to warm tortillas and keep them warm in paper towels. I prefer to heat them in a frying pan but you can also heat them in the microwave.
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Serve steak in warm corn tortillas, topped with onion, cilantro, and lime juice. Im pretty sure my kids loved it because there were NO leftovers!
If you do have leftovers – store them in an airtight container for 2-3 days.
Optional side items:
- Cilantro lime rice
- Chips with fresh Pico de gallo
- Lime wedges – you can never have enough lime juice for tacos!
I hope you enjoy this easy carne asada recipe! I love that I can cook it on my stove or take it to the grill for grilled meat. It’s a juicy steak with so many great flavors.
This taco recipe is so flavorful! You will love how tender the meat is and how quickly you can cook these tacos! You could just marinade the full piece of meat and add it to a grill pan or outdoor grill if you like that extra charred flavor. Depending on the size of the meat you will only need to grill steak for 3-4 minutes per side depending on how rare you want the meat. Use an instant read thermometer for best results.Authentic Carne Asada Seasonings Recipe
Ingredients
Instructions
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