Mexican Street Tacos
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Easy, quick, authentic carne asada street tacos you can now make right at home! Top with onion, cilantro + fresh lime juice! SO GOOD!
You truly begin to miss things once they are gone. That’s not just a saying. It’s real life.
See, I lived a block away from a famous taco truck back in LA. And as much as I love street tacos, I only went there maybe four times a year.
And now that I’ve moved to Chicago, all I think about is the proximity of that taco truck back home in Los Angeles. If that taco truck were here in Chiberia, I would go four times a day!
But until I get back to LA, here is my rendition of my favorite street tacos that I miss so dearly.
It’s a quick recipe using a simple marinade for your skirt steak. It just needs 1 hour of marinating before you throw it onto a skillet. From there, you can top off your tacos with diced onion, cilantro and fresh lime juice.
It’s simple, it’s easy and it’s just perfect. That is, until you can get back to Los Angeles!
Mexican Street Tacos
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
- 2 tablespoons canola oil, divided
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 ½ pounds skirt steak, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
- 12 mini flour tortillas, warmed
- ¾ cup diced red onion
- ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
- 1 lime, cut into wedges
Equipment
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, combine soy sauce, lime juice, 1 tablespoon canola oil, garlic, chili powder, cumin and oregano.
- In a gallon size Ziploc bag or large bowl, combine soy sauce mixture and steak; marinate for at least 1 hour up to 4 hours, turning the bag occasionally.
- Heat remaining 1 tablespoon canola oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add steak and marinade, and cook, stirring often, until steak has browned and marinade has reduced, about 5-6 minutes, or until desired doneness.
- Serve steak in tortillas, topped with onion, cilantro and lime.
Did you make this recipe?
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This recipe is pure gold! Also, just as great leftover as it is fresh.
My family loves this recipe, I have made it a few times, and each time they eat it all, there are no leftovers. Very good and simple.
Could you please put nutrition counts with your recipes?
Delicious. Much better than any taco recipe I’ve tried on NYT cooking. Bookmarked – don’t change a thing. Used Amazon 365 flour/corn tortillas and it was the bomb. Definitely wrap tortillas in towels after charring or heating in pan. Thank you!
I love all of your recipes but I always substitute out canola oil for a healthier option. Have you given thought to perhaps provide optional oils?. I know many people also try to avoid canola oil. When I share your recipes I always have to add a comment to friends to switch it out.
I think most people can think for themselves.
Really inappropriate Cheryl. You didn’t get a nasty reply when you asked your ignorant question on Breakfast Biscuit Sandwiches. So be nice and polite.
It wasn’t nasty. It was just an obvious thought others would agree with. Go be a Karen somewhere else.
Looks delicious! Will have to give this a try. I moved from southern California to Chicago many years ago. While there is a splendid diversity of cuisines and cultures, there wasn’t much in the way of authentic Mexican food, so I feel your pain. Learned to make everything, including my own tortillas to satisfy those occasional cravings. Some of the best carne asada I ever had was in California. It was cooked in an old outdoor kitchen, put together with scrap/salvaged materials and propped up against an old building. Somehow passed code enforcement with an “A” rating and clean as a whistle. Wishing you happiness in your new city.
Looking forward to making these, one question is what did you do to the tortillas? I can’t every get them soft enough and then you have them charred on the edges? What’s the secret?
There’s at least two different ways. One, is to cook them on a cast iron comal. It gets a nice scorch. I flip them when they start to bubble and/or become pliable. The other way is to cook them on your gas stove burner. Brave people flip them with their fingers and sensible people use tongs. If the grid is too wide, you can place a cooling rack over the burner and proceed. Enjoy!
I didn’t know what skirt steak is so I used flank steak. It was delicious.
Thank you.
My family loves this recipe Do you happen to have nutritional count (calories, carbs, fats, etc ) for this recipe?
Thanks!
This is a favorite!
I plugged it into my food app. Of course it will very slightly due to which tortillas you get and if the Meat is exactly 1.5 lbs.
This is per taco.
Calories: 231
Total Fat: 10.7 g
Sat. Fat: 3.3g
Cholest: 34 mg
Sodium: 349.8 mg
Carb: 18.5 g
Fiber: 1.5g
Sugars: 2.7g
Protein: 17.6g
Question how would I season if I’m not cutting up the steak until after coming off PIT..cooking on pit
I hope you get an answer to this as I was wondering the same.
I followed directions but my skirt steak turned out very tough and chewy. Good flavor.
Jessica, be sure to cut your skirt steak the OPPOSITE way than you cut a flank steak. The grain of the meat runs across the short side. After I cook a whole skirt steak, I cut it into at least four pieces, then slice it the “other” way. It makes a huge difference.
Wondering if this would be good on pork? Has anyone tried it?
Really delicious recipe! Thanks for sharing it.
Made these street tacos for Cinco de Mayo and I have to say we are taco connoisseurs and absolutely LOVED them! (we are from Texas and California and have high expectations)
Perfect spices/seasonings! I did top off my marinade to just cover the steak in my dish with a Mexican beer (just a couple of ounces, not the whole beer) and put the steaks on the grill for the char and then into a cast iron skillet (on the grill) with the marinade to finish cooking -fantastic! Will save this recipe in my book.
I made these per the recipe with no changes. They were delicious!
Making this recipe for 50 people. So I’m multiplying everything by 10 will all my portion still be correct?
Logic says yes to me but just curious.
Excellent! I add about half a cup of orange juice to the mix as well and just double the recipe for 2lbs of skirt steak— everyone loooves this recipe
Can’t wait to make this! A question…
Is the steak cut into 1/2 inch strips or pieces?
And do you cut the raw steak before marinading, or after?
I am sure you could do either, but in the photo and the recipe it shows/says pieces. Also yes cut before marinating!
I think it would depend on your method of cooking. If grilling, you would not want to cut it into small pieces but rather grill the whole steak and then cut into small pieces after grilling. If you are using a cast iron skillet to prepare the meat, then you should/could cut into bite-size morsels.
Great and simple recipe, it reminds me of living in Belize and grabbing street tacos on hung over mornings. We used thin cuts of top sirloin and did need double the marinade.
I just put it all together. I took two pieces to cook and tear without marinating and it tasted sooooo good. Can’t wait for four hours to pass. I’m starving!
THIS WAS SO FREAKING GOOD!
This was a great taco recipe and I loved it.
This is my ultimate go to for tacos! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. I use the same marinade with chicken breast to make chicken tacos as well! Absolutely HEAVENLY RECIPE
Marinating steak RIGHT NOW and about to make this
I made mine with a bit of orange juice and lime as well as a good splash of worcheshire sauce. My local market on Western Ave makes their own corn tortillas and has all the other ingredients needed.
I added little orange juice and some lemon because I did not have lime. This is a great recipe and my house smelled so inviting. All your recipes are great! ID love to see you post some air fryer recipes
These were easy to make and so delicious! Marinade was tasty and prepping toppings was quick and easy. Definitely going into the rotation!
These are amazing! My new favorite weeknight meal.
This was amazing! My entire family loved it! Making it for a second time and I’m so excited.
Question: Can we sub the canola oil for olive or does it need to be canola?