Mexican Street Tacos
by Chungah
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Easy, quick, authentic carne asada street tacos you can make right at home, topped with onion, cilantro and lime! Ready in just 20 minutes!
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Now that I’ve moved to the brisk, cold winter of Chicago, I can’t stop thinking about the taco trucks in Los Angeles serving authentic Mexican street tacos packed with carne asada, onion, cilantro, and lime. But until I can get back to sunny California, here is my rendition of my favorite street tacos that I miss so dearly. It’s a super quick recipe using a simple marinade for your skirt steak – it just needs 1 hour of marinating before you throw it onto a hot skillet. From there, you can top off your tacos with diced onion, cilantro and freshly squeezed lime juice. Simple, easy and just perfect.
Why You’ll Love This Mexican Street Taco Recipe
- Make-ahead recipe. This is an easy peasy one skillet dinner with a simple 1 to 4 hour marinade, great for prepping ahead of time for those super busy weeknights.
- Favorited street tacos. Mexican street tacos are a crowd-favorite for the entire family, and now you can easily make these tacos right at home with easy-to-find ingredients and pantry staples. No fancy equipment or specialty ingredients needed here!
- Freezer-friendly. The carne asada meat can easily be frozen, great for batch cooking, meal prep or saving leftovers. This makes it even easier to whip up tacos using fresh tortilla and your favorite toppings, great for Taco Tuesdays!
What Are Mexican Street Tacos?
A Mexican street taco is a small taco on a corn tortilla with meats like carne asada, carnitas, or al pastor. They’re part of Mexico’s street food culture and are usually sold from carts or taco trucks, topped simply with onion, cilantro, and lime.
How to make mexican street tacos
- Marinate. Combine all the marinade ingredients in a large bowl with the diced skirt steak, letting it marinate for at least 1 hour. The marinade will help tenderize the steak (making it less chewy) and ensure juicy, caramelized goodness once cooked.
- Cook the steak. Cook the steak pieces in a hot cast iron skillet over medium high heat until browned and caramelized.
- Serve. Serve warm in tortillas, topped with onion, cilantro and lime (or your favorite toppings). If freezing, freeze the leftover carne asada prior to assembling in tacos.
What to Serve with Mexican Street Tacos
- Mexican Rice
- Mexican Corn Dip
- Creamy Chorizo Queso Dip
- Red and Green Chicken Enchiladas
- Southwestern Chopped Salad with Cilantro Lime Dressing
Tools For This Recipe
Large cast iron skillet
Mexican Street Tacos: Frequently Asked Questions
Skirt steak is the most preferred option as it is a thin cut of meat, cooks very quickly, and has great flavor from its high fat content and marbling (making it much more tender and flavorful than leaner cuts such as flank steak).
Flank steak is a great alternative. Just be sure to slice it thinly against the grain after cooking so it stays tender. Sirloin steak is another solid option if you prefer something a little leaner.
Yes! We have a recipe for that here.
Two things can cause tough steak here. First, make sure you’re cutting the steak into 1/2-inch pieces before marinating, not after cooking. Smaller pieces cook faster and more evenly in the skillet. Second, always slice against the grain. Look for the direction the muscle fibers run, then cut perpendicular to them. That short cut through the fibers makes every bite tender instead of chewy.
Yes, you can! We have a recipe for that here.
Leftover steak can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days.
Yes! The leftover steak, prior to assembling in tacos, can keep in the freezer for at least 2 months, perfect for quick taco nights throughout the week!
Mexican Street Tacos
Video
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 corn or flour tortillas, warmed
- ¾ cup diced red onion
- ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
- 1 lime, cut into wedges
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 cast iron 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.
Equipment
Notes
- Cut the skirt steak before marinating. Dice the skirt steak into 1/2-inch pieces prior to marinating, not after cooking. This will allow the marinade to coat each piece evenly, yielding a much better sear in the skillet. This is also key to getting that favorited caramelized crust on each piece!
- Avoid marinating for too long. The high acid content from the lime juice can break down the muscle fibers if marinated for too long. Marinate the steak for 1 to 4 hours.
- Use a cast iron skillet. A cast iron skillet is the same tool used in many street food stalls in Mexico. It retains heat much better than nonstick pans or even a grill grate, yielding a better sear on the meat without steaming it and giving the steak that authentic sear for Mexican street tacos.
- Use flour or corn tortillas. Mexican street tacos are traditionally made with corn tortillas but small flour or corn tortillas can be used depending on personal preference.
- Double up the tortilla. Street tacos are typically served on two tortillas, known as la copia or “the copy”. This practice helps keep the filling together, and if the first tortilla breaks, the back up tortilla can be used for the rest of the filling.
- Serve with your favorite toppings. Serve with diced onion, cilantro, cotija cheese, salsa verde, guacamole or salsa. Cotija cheese is a classic Mexican ingredient that adds salty, authentic flavor to any street taco recipe.
- Freeze before assembling in tacos. Let the leftover carne asada cool completely; portion into plastic freezer bags in individual servings, squeezing out any excess air before sealing. Label, date and freeze up to 2 months. To reheat, thaw overnight in the fridge, reheating over low heat, stirring occasionally, until heated through.
Did you make this recipe?
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Awesome, delicious flavors! Exchanged flour tortillas to corn tortillas. We will continue to make this recipe. Thanks for sharing .
These were amazing! The only change I made was to grill the steak. I marinated it for a couple of hours, threw it on the grill and then chopped it into bite size pieces. I also warned up the tortillas on the grill after I took the meat off (while the meat rested). Everyone said these were the best street tacos they had ever tasted.
Great recipe
These are awesome Im Mexican and never made with soy sauce before it really is authentic and I never realized that was the missing ingredient ALL my kids ate this which is rare.
Excellent – easy and delicious. And in addition, you need very little meat to serve a lot of people who feel more than satisfied.
The tacos can be dressed up with more veg if you feel like it.
Loved this recipe! So delicious…one change I made that I got from another Street Taco recipe a while back was to add the Cotija Cheese on these. It added a nice little touch.
My entire family loved these. Easy to make. The marinate was perfect!
I grew up on tacos, in California and Arizona. I can’t wait to make your tacos but I will be using crispy shells. I have tried the soft floppy shells, just don’t like the mess.
Made tonite and it came out great. Added a few extra ingredients especially cumin and garlic . cant wait to try more recipes
So delicious so easy it was a huge hit with everyone in our house
Your recipe looks delicious, I look forward to making it.
I wish I had all the ingredients to make the this evening.
However on a side note I’d like to say after twenty years in Chicago if you aren’t finding great Mexican food including street it’s because you aren’t looking. Chicago has a huge and thriving hispanic community and some of the most AMAZING Mexican food you could ever hope to find.
Go to Pilsen, the west side, Logan Square, Lincoln Square, Humboldt Park, East Ukrainian Village, South and west Loop. I mean I dig that you had a taco truck you liked in LA but if you’re now in the gorgeous city of Chicago and you can’t find something similar to or better than the fare you’re used to then it’s because you aren’t trying my friend. Best of luck and I look forward to making your tacos.
I completely agree! Chicago has some of the best Mexican food out there! Patron in Humboldt Park has GREAT tacos!
Incredibly easy and SO FREAKING GOOD! And even with just one hour marinating (I’ll do better next time), amazing flavor.
These are the best tacos in the entire freaking world. I’ve made them for several guests and they’ve all LOVED them. Even my mother in law, who never asks anyone for recipes because she has an armory of good recipes, asked for this one after I made it for her. They’re even great for leftovers. I make my own sauce with sour cream, cilantro, lime juice, and a little milk and it just knocks it out of the park. I also use sirloin tip thin instead of flank and it’s so tender and amazing. I’m going to make this for the rest of my life!
Delicious! It is my go to recipe for street tacos.
I made this with ground bison. It’s so good! Thank you 🙂
Appa does not approve *crying face*
Born and raised in northern California. Now living in Germany, and really miss the food. These were EPIC!
Very good tacos !
Love, love, love this recipe. First, we had the tacos exactly as your recipe directed. Next night, back by popular demand, but to change it up we just used the steak portion and topped it onto homemade Poutine. Yum. Three days in a row seemed crazy, so we skipped a day and then we had the steak portion topped off on a crisp green salad with a simple balsamic dressing for lunch. Again, yum – or should I say “Damn Delicious”!
so delicious, so flavorful, so easy. only problem is i think instead of 3 cloves of garlic it should be like 1, there was way too much garlicy flavor for my personal liking. but of course different people like different flavors! thank you for this delicious recipe
I will DEFINITELY use this recipe again. The meat was so tender and a really good flavor. I used both steak and chicken and both were perfect!
very yummy. Made it for my class fiesta and they loved it. Easy and rewarding to make.