Your hunt for the perfect carne asada taco is over. This flavorful handheld food has it all—tender marinated skirt steak, an aromatic corn tortilla, and all of the classic street taco toppings. Served for lunch or dinner, these are delicious with a hearty side of refried beans and rice, or you can keep it light with corn salad.
Carne asada is a simple, classic Mexican preparation for skirt or flank steak. The meat is marinated for at least 4 hours, then grilled over medium-high heat to get a charred, flavor-packed crust. Both skirt and flank steak have an intensely beefy flavor and cook quickly on a grill or grill pan, but if you can’t find either of those, you can also make a knockout carne asada with hanger or flat-iron steak. Be mindful that your cooking time will change based on the cut you use. This recipe calls for skirt steak, which is a particularly forgiving cut of meat that will stay tender even when cooked past medium-rare.
The key to great carne asada is starting with simple yet bold flavors for the skirt steak marinade. Here we used the must-haves—garlic, cilantro, and citrus—and added chipotle chiles in adobo for more heat and Worcestershire sauce for a subtle, complex sweetness. When it comes to citrus, the traditional choice for carne asada is sour orange (also known as Seville orange). Depending on where you live, those can be tough to find, so we swapped the sour orange for a navel orange and added a bit of extra lime juice to balance the sweetness.
When it comes to taco toppings, don’t go too crazy. Remember, the meat is the star of the show. Keep it classic with chopped white onion, cilantro, and red radish. You can also slice up an avocado or add your favorite salsa or crema.
Have you made this yet? Let us know how it went in the comments below! 😁
