Mexican Street Tacos
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Easy, quick, authentic carne asada street tacos you can make right at home! Top with onion, cilantro and lime juice!
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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 Tacos 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 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. Onion, cilantro and cotija cheese are classic street taco toppings.
Tips for Perfect Mexican Street Tacos Every Time
- Use a cast iron skillet. Use a cast iron skillet, the same tool used in many Mexico street food stalls. Cast iron skillets retain heat much better than nonstick pans, giving your carne asada that authentic sear for Mexican 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.
- Slice for tenderness. For the best steak tacos recipe, slice the carne asada thinly against the grain so every bite stays tender.
- 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 as needed. Label, date and freeze up to 2 months.
Best Sides 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, flank steak or sirloin steak are all great options.
Yes! 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, will freeze beautifully. Let cool completely; portion into plastic freezer bags in individual servings, squeezing out any excess air before sealing. Lay the bags flat in a single layer in the freezer (this will help them freeze quickly). To reheat, thaw overnight in the fridge, reheating over low heat, stirring occasionally, until heated through.
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 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 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.
Did you make this recipe?
Tag @damn_delicious on Instagram and hashtag it #damndelicious!
I made this recipe as is the first time around. I loved it so much I didn’t change a thing the next few times I prepared it. I live on a tiny Island that has two terrible Mexican restaurants so I’ve resorted to learning how to cook my own. This recipe couldn’t be any easier or tastier. I read a few comments that clearly this recipe bland. They must have done it wrong. There is no way you can have that much chilli powder and cumin in a small recipe and have it come out bland. I paired my tacos with a radish onion cilantro relish and a fresh squeeze of lime.
Hafa Adai Guam!
I am in Boston and am thinking of trying this with “Beyond Beef” which seems to just be as versatile as ground beef.
Be well!
Celeste in Boston
I used shoulder tender, taco seasoning, garlic, soy sauce, and fresh squeezed mandarin orange (didnt have lime)
Marinated for one hour, heated corn tacos in a skillet and seared the meat.
Just added chopped onions and cilantro to the tortillas.
Delicious.
super good! just did this yesterday and we loved eating it and got many rave reviews about how good the meat looked (when i posted it to social media). i added jalepeno to my marinade and toppings and it made it sooooo good! i also subbed canola for olive oil.
The marinade was delicious and so easy to make. We splurged and made with beef filet and grilled. I cut the steaks in 2 pieces before marinating to expose more beef to the marinade and grilled to medium rare. Sliced the cooked beef and served with homemade guacamole, pickled radishes and onions (made from another recipe- so easy!), and pickled jalapeños. Served roasted mini peppers on the side. Next time will make pico de gallo to go with but it was delicious! Will be saving to our family cookbook ! THANK YOU 🙂
These were amazing, probably the best tacos I’ve ever had! Followed the recipe but instead of skirt steak, I used ribeye and sirloin I had on hand. This marinade adds great flavor to the meat!
Followed recipe exactly just doubled the marinade and they came out delicious !!
Hi, I’m going to make this tonight, but I’m a little confused. By 6 servings, does that mean enough for 6 people, or just 6 tacos? My family has 5 people so if it’s just 6 tacos I’d do a double recipe, but if not I’d do just a single recipe. Thanks in advance!
This recipe is the best! I diced up a strip steak instead of flank as that’s what I had on hand. Also diced up a link of chorizo and added a pinch of Tajin seasoning. So good!!
Can you marinade overnight so up to 24 hours or is 4 hours the limit?
You could but it doesn’t change the flavor any more than 4 hours.
These were really easy!! Family loved them! I will definitely be playing with this recipe some. The only thing I added to the marinade was rosemary. I’m a sucker for that herb. It just adds that little bit. This is a great base recipe and I think it would work great with a pork roast on a smoker and make some pulled pork taco. Thanks for the recipe and it lived up to your website name…Damn Delicious!!
Just made this recipe and it was off the chart!!!! Actually used two split chicken breasts (with skin and ribs) and tripled the marinade. Let it marinate for three and a half hours in a gallon bag in the refrigerator. I then grilled them in a Weber kettle charcoal grille over indirect and moderate heat for about 45 minutes (165F). This is, by far, the best chicken we’ve ever had. We can’t wait to try the steak.
Supper easy and really delicious!!
I followed the recipe but only used half the amount of skirt steak. I also heated the tortillas in a skillet. My picky family raved about how good they were.
Real real nice.
These were absolutely delicious! My entire family loved them. I used beef escalope and lemon juice because it was all I had on hand and they were so good. Served them with homemade tortillas, onions, pico de Gallo, and guacamole. The sauce is amazing to pour over the tacos or dip into.
This has gone into our family rotation! So good. So easy. We serve it with cilantro lime slaw. Amazing!
In response to comments saying skirt steak is fatty, I do look for leaner cuts and trim whatever I purchase when cutting pieces to marinate. It comes out great!
This looks delicious and can’t wait to make it! I have a silly question, is skirt steak the same as flank steak? Or what would I be looking for at the grocery store? Thanks!
Not the same. Skirt steak is better then flank.
Kristen
– My grocery doesn’t carry skirt steak so I had to use Flank. Worked just fine.
These were awesome! Definitely using this recipe from now on.
OMG. I was quite skeptical of the use of soy sauce in a Mexican dish, but this marinade is AMAZING. Actually, strike that. It is PHENOMENAL…best I have ever tasted anywhere.
I used cuts of filet, as that’s my preference and what I had on had. These tacos were so so so good. 15/10….will be making again and again!
These tacos were amazing. I threw in some chopped up jalepenos while I was marinading (and I doubled the recipe). My husband said if he could only eat this meal for the rest of his life he would die a happy man! It was absolutely delicious!
These were flipping delicious! Exactly what I wanted. Thank you for sharing. Used chicken instead of steak, only because that’s what I had thawed out. Worked perfectly! My family devoured them..even my three year old daughter! Total win!