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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General carne asada recipe. Good but very common. Not a huge difference in this recipe if you’re comparing a “LA” or “Chicago” recipe, which can differ upon region of Mexico.
Absolutely delicious and easy to prepare. I bought tenderized skirt steak and we grilled the meat. Was fantastic! Even my picky kids liked the flavor of the meat. Was fantastic! Can’t wait to make this recipe again.
Great recipe! I add a little cornstarch to the marinade and i love that it tenderizes the meat a bit and crisps it up.
We make these tacos at least a few times a month and they are always amazing. The steak is so flavorful and delicious that sometimes I make a double batch just so we can add the steak to other lunches and meals throughout the week. Definitely one of my favorites.
Wowzer! These are our new favorite tacos! Thank you so much for sharing. If anyone is on the fence….try them! You will be the hero of your taco loving family!
This recipe is a keeper!
Used it for spanish foods thing. easy. thx.
Made this tonight and it turned out amazing. Served it with pico and limes. So good. Also a side thanks to the various folks who suggested warming up the tortillas in a skillet. It solved my tortilla breakage problems like a charm. This will be a regular rotation. Thanks for sharing.
This was an excellent marinade and I’ll be using it again.
But Chicago tacos can hold their own to LA, even better (especially the carnitas!) Get out there and try more.
que delicisoso gracias
Great recipe, I personally don’t like the taste of cumin. I think it over powers everything else. So I left it out, and it still tasted amazing!
Instead of the skillet, I grilled it. Everyone loved it, definitely a do over!
This recipe was a huge hit in my house, we were all drooling over it, exquisite flavor, fantastic, thank you for sharing it!
Do you think this could be made in a crockpot??
Yes, i do..what i do is: buy 2lbs of ground beef 80/20 crumble it in your crock pot, i use black lava salt, everglades brand seasoning, coarse black pepper, red oions, white pepper fresh muisahrooms with the above ingredients listed and cook for 5 hours high or 10 hours slow
I accidentally put 2 tablespoons into my marinade instead of the 1. Is that okay or do I need to start over?
Should be fine just might be be extra flavorful
OMG these are so good! I had trimmings leftover from a nice beef tenderloin so it was perfect for this. I also added pico de gallo as a topping. SO good. This will be my go to for steak tacos and even can use the marinated steak in quesadillas or on a steak taco salad!
The flavor of these was great. Definitely recommend marinating for awhile, more than an hour if you can. The skirt steak was too tough though, maybe it wouldn’t have been if I marinated for more than an hour. Not sure but it was very chewy and it won’t be my go-to steak for Mexican dishes. But the flavor and everything else was great!
Chop the meat into fine pieces
I found your recipe about a month or so ago and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!!! Since I’ve found it I make it once every week or sometimes twice!! I love Carne Asada and this is close to my brothers real Mexican Father’s way he makes it and he said it was rlly good so yah great tacos all around. I get the crumbling queso as a toppers and it rlly adds to the authenticity and I use the green Salsa Verde by Herdez and it’s Amazing!!!
Any suggestions if we only have Regular soy sauce (not reduced sodium)?
I always use regular soy sauce in my marinades and it works really well. You can always use a bit less initially and then taste the ingredients all together before adding the remainder just to make sure that it’s not too salty.
I normally use regular soy sauce for my marinades and it works very well. If you’re hesitant, I would add 1/2 of the recommended amount, taste the marinade once it’s all mixed together and then evaluate how salty it is before adding the remainder.
What brand of tortillas do you use. I made the recipe and it was great bit tortillas turn all flaky and didn’t hold the meat too good. I know tacos normally are messy when eating but would love to know if there is a brand to go to. Thanks for sharing
With corn tortillas it helps if you heat them in a skillet on both sides for a few mins and wrap them inside of paper towels or aluminum foil as you’re cooking them. This makes them more playable and moist so they don’t crack. Any brand should work just fine.
I made this for Christmas this year (it’s 2020, I went easy). What a hit with the family! Even my extremely picky kid loved it!