As wonderful as you can get in a taqueria, these carne asada tacos are cooked with succulent slices of flank beef and served on soft corn tortillas. So great when topped with homemade tomato salsa and onion relish!
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 30 mins |
| Additional Time: | 1 hr |
| Total Time: | 2 hrs |
| Servings: | 16 |
Ingredients
- 3 pounds flank steak
- ½ cup soy sauce
- ½ cup olive oil
- ⅓ cup white vinegar
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 limes, juiced
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon ground white pepper
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 white onion, chopped
- ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro
- 1 lime, juiced
- 4 dried New Mexico chile pods
- 2 large tomatoes, chopped
- 1 white onion, quartered
- 4 cloves garlic, peeled
- 2 jalapeno peppers, chopped
- 1 pinch salt and black pepper
- 1 (32 ounce) package corn tortillas
- 2 cups grated cotija cheese (Optional)
- 2 limes, cut into wedges
Instructions
- Lay flank steak in a large glass baking dish.
- Make the marinade: Whisk soy sauce, oil, vinegar, 4 cloves of garlic, juice of two limes, salt, black pepper, white pepper, garlic powder, chili powder, oregano, cumin, and paprika together in a bowl until well blended; pour over steak, turning to coat both sides. Cover the dish with plastic wrap and marinate in the refrigerator for 1 to 8 hours.
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- Make the relish: Stir onion, cilantro, and lime juice together in a small bowl. Set aside.
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- Make the salsa: Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Heat a skillet over medium-high heat. Add chile pods and toast for a few minutes; transfer pods to a bowl of water and soak for 30 minutes.
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- Place tomatoes, 1 onion, 4 cloves of garlic, and jalapeños onto a baking sheet. Roast in the preheated oven until vegetables are toasted, about 20 minutes.
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- Transfer vegetables into a blender or food processor. Add soaked chiles, salt, and pepper; puree until smooth.
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- Remove steak from the marinade and shake off excess. Discard the remaining marinade. Cut the marinated flank steak into cubes or strips. Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add steak; cook and stir until cooked through and most of the liquid has evaporated.
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- Warm tortillas in a dry skillet over low heat for about a minute on each side.
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- Place some steak on each tortilla; top with relish and prepared salsa. Sprinkle with cotija cheese. Garnish with lime wedges and serve.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 369 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 32 g |
| Cholesterol | 44 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 5 g |
| Protein | 18 g |
| Saturated Fat | 7 g |
| Sodium | 840 mg |
| Sugars | 2 g |
| Fat | 20 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I made this for Taco Tuesday and it was a huge hit! The marinade was absolutely spot-on delicious, and the toppings were just right, although I did add a bit of lime juice (about a tablespoon) to the salsa. I must confess that I almost wanted to throw the meat on the grill instead of cooking it in the iron skillet, but I decided to follow the directions- I am so glad I did! The meat turned out tender, juicy, and didn’t require much time to cook at all. Will definitely repeat!
Great Recipe! I did it with Skirt Steak and let is sit for 5-4 hours. Flavor was aresome!
I’ve made this easily 20 times and everyone loves it. I’m gluten-free so I now make it with coconut aminos, and double the amount of dry spices, but otherwise I follow the recipe exactly as is. This is the carne asada recipe you’ve been looking for.
Followed exactly minus the salsa – as I already have homemade salsa to use – so skipped steps 4 & 5. But the meat and onion relish? Made exactly and this is AWESOME!!! Authentic? I don’t know and don’t care because this was so delish! I did sauté a red pepper and thinly sliced jalapeño to top. Will absolutely make again. Thank YOU stanicks!!
Great recipe for carna asada! Marinade made the texture of the flank steak perfect. It had great flavor too. Note to self, cut the chunks smaller – bite size or smaller. Next time, I would cook the jalapeno, onion, and garlic with some oil and use as a garnish and I would skip making it into the salsa. It was a lot of extra ingredients, steps, and the taste wasn’t worth it. The cilantro, onion, lime mixture was great but we didn’t need as much as was called for. Overall, the recipe is about the marinade and meat and that was awesome!
could do without the cheese but overall it’s delicious we also smoked it which added a depth of flavor
Though these tacos were a huge hit, like many others have said, this wasn’t really what I would think of as authentic carne asada. It was definitely a fabulous meal nonetheless and earns 5 stars however. I modified the salsa ingredients after mixing up the recipe ingredients however, as the salsa was quite bland to my taste, and too spicy. I added about 2 tablespoons of white wine vinegar, 1 tsp of salt, and a can of Italian style tomatoes. Brine time on the meat was about 4 hours. I also cooked the meat in a bit of canola oil on a cast iron griddle over a gas grill set to high, and searing hot. I used a hamburger press on each piece of meat to ensure thorough caramelization, and the flavor profile and depth, while not what I consider ‘authentic’, was nothing short of amazing. Once the meat was done, I heated up the tortillas on the same griddle for about 45-60 seconds per side. This recipe is definitely worth keeping, and I’ll be making this dish many times.
Great recipe. I only made 1 change with cutting up the beef before marinating it. I served it with the Spoon licking lime jalapeno aioli on this site.
The closest I have found to authentic carne asada from the border of Mexico! Absolutely delicious!
I did the meat marinade as per the recipe except I ended up marinating it for about two days. It was one of the most tender and flavorful princes of meat I’ve ever made. I actually used a small sirloin steak as it was just for me. I had some left over refried beans and homemade salsa which I put on the tacos and added a slice of avocado. Without a doubt the best tacos I’ve made. Thanks so much for the recipe. I’m sure I’ll make it again.
The onion relish was the best part of this! I just used jarred salsa, topped with cheese and sour cream.
This is great, have made it many times with chicken and steak.
I apologize because I didn’t have ingredients for step 3 and 4 so I skipped them, but it was still very good. I will get ingredients and follow recipe then edit my review. Who knew raw onions marinated in lime juice could be so good? Oh, I also used sirloin cause that’s all I had.
My entire family loved this! The only thing we did differently is we used corn tortillas and fried them in about 1/3 cup of vegetable oil for a few minutes so they are slightly stiff. Will be a recurring meal for us!
Good, would make again!
It’s an amazing recipe! I’ve tried so many different carne asada recipes but this one turned out better than I expected. This one is a keeper!
Grill it instead of pan frying it – you won’t be disappointed.
This recipe is amazing! I used it to make steak quesadillas. I marinated the steak for about 16 hours, we used fresh flank steak. Probably the best steak taco meat I’ve ever had and that goes for eating at authentic restaurants as well. Thanks for sharing the recipe. I have saved it and will be using this regularly on taco Tuesday! I tried to upload pictures in the app but it just kept freezing and shutting down.
This is our family go-to for carne asada. We make a bulk amount of the spice mix, label it and keep it on hand for easy last minute meals!
It was delicious. I marinated it all day, then needed to cook it fast, so I threw it in my air fryer. Turned out great and had a nice char on it. Really solid marinade. Will use again.
This was amazing