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!
Featured Comment
Now that I’ve moved to the brisk, cold winter of Chicago, all I think about is the proximity of that taco truck back home in Los Angeles. 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.
reasons to make Mexican street tacos
- 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 corn tortilla with different meats (al pastor, carne asada, barbacoa, carnitas or chorizo), served on small plates in street-style fashion from carts or trucks in empty parking lots or on the side of the street. Onion, cilantro and cotija cheese are classic street taco toppings.
tips and tricks for success
- Use a cast iron skillet. Cast iron skillets retain heat much better than a nonstick skillet, allowing for even cooking to quickly brown the meat while sealing in its juices.
- 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.
- Freeze as needed. Label, date and freeze up to 2 months.
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, 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
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.
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This recipe has ruined me for any other tacos. They are beyond delicious
One of my favorite recipes
i used a 2 hr chimichurri marinade and beef loin. 3 hr smoke and finished at 165 internal temp last hour at 250 . homemade tortillas , home made pico and salsa . yummy
Hey Mark,
This recipe is for a quick street taco nosh, not a 3 hr smoke this n that “I make better tacos than you” smart ass comment. No one here cares about how you made a complete different taco recipe that takes 5 hrs using a smoker,…clown.
As some who loves to cook and was already looking for a recipe, I love his review and hate yours. You have zero input on this or a variation. You criticize another person’s take on what they believe is a great recipe. Instead of being so rude why don’t you try something called respect and learn how other people do something. It might open your mind to create a dish as good as his!
His wasn’t a review – he was just posting a totally different recipe – while it sounds delicious, he needs to post it in his own website.
Thanks for the fabulous recipe. Just what I needed in my life.
I seriously wish that children were not allowed to comment though. Grow up people! Just do you!
Your totally rude comment was unnecessary, Deborah!! What gives you the right to be so obnoxious? Some people might be interested in how Mark prepared the steak, especially if they like to grill/smoke on the BBQ, and it is not your place to pass judgment or make snide remarks. I specifically read user reviews to get helpful info that may vary from the original recipe according to my own taste or health restrictions. You need to learn some manners. You certainly could have made your point without being so rude and offensive.
If anyone’s the clown, it’s you. There’s no need to be rude and talk to people the way you just did, just because your eon the internet. Learn to be friendly and talk to others with kindness. Mark didn’t say one bad thing towards you and you lashed out at him.
Do better. Treat people the way you’d want to be treated.
Both recipes are awesome!
10+ This recipe was just like the Mexican tacos I buy $20 for just 10 tacos. This being homemade $7 for the same amount of tacos even more if you split it up!
Thank you, definitely adding to my recipe book. Super simple and easy to make!
Have to learn how to make the green hot sauce w/it but Goya hot sauce does the trick too!
Chiberia! Thank you for sharing. Chicago kid here who fell in love w tacos living in LA for a decade. Miss those food trucks w magic inside.
Yum.
Wife just made these with Skirt steak from Aldi. Better than even one of our local taco trucks. Will save this for the foreseeable future.
I marinated the meat the full four hours, and these tacos were incredible! My husband could not stop raving about them, so these will definitely be on our menu rotation.
I used thin sliced top sirloin because that’s what I had on hand. These are the best tacos I’ve ever had.
I made this tonight and my only regret is I didn’t let it marinate. Long enough. Next time I’ll go for a full 4 hours! very tasty.
Excellent!
Bro! I did your recipe and holy crap that was delicious. I will definitely be making this again for sure. Every taco Tuesday
Making steak and chicken tonight, both ate marinating in the fridge. So excited to try them!
I’ve been making these for a year. They’re addicting and never have had someone disagree. I substitute beef for chicken more tender. I add a cup of orange juice to marinade. I marinade an hour shaking up half way though in a bowl with lid in fridge.I substitute in olive oil for canola. I add green onions to cilantro and red onions. Also I add ground avocado, salsa, and sour cream as topping and spritz with lime as suggested. Also I fry corn tortillas in butter until browned and crunchy…
So, basically a whole new recipe.
Seriously. I never understand why people do this on a recipe website.
I totally agree. If you like this recipe, Fine. If you don’t, Fine. Go ahead and say so. BUT if you want to post a whole new recipe, post it somewhere else.
Dee, Mark, and Dawn,
This is not a whole new recipe! Jeffrey substituted chicken for beef and olive oil for canola oil which may be related to dietary restrictions or personal preference. That could be helpful to those folks who don’t eat beef or find it to be too tough. Canola oil is also unacceptable for a lot of people. Many people also add orange juice to steak tacos…again, it’s not unusual. He added green onions and red onions as a topping and described other toppings he used. This is not unusual nor is it recreating the recipe. I appreciate comments that may suggest different toppings or helpful substitutions that can be used if you don’t have all of the exact ingredients when you decide to make a recipe.
Most of the comments made on a blog are not made by someone who has their own food blog so your comments about putting the “new” recipe on their own blog are irrelevant and unnecessary.
Lastly, who made you guys the blog police??? Your responses to Jeffrey’s posting were unnecessary and rude. You offend not only Jeffrey and other posters for posting some ideas that they hope might be helpful but also those of us who appreciate the suggestions.
Thanks for sharing your experience with this recipe. I’m not too familiar with my way around cooking and it’s nice to have an idea of how flexible you can be, say if you didn’t have all the ingredients on hand, or to get more ideas for the creativity it takes to be well versed in the kitchen.
I love this recipe and so does everyone who samples it. I do have a question though, why do you say 4 hours or at least 1 hour to marinate? Would it be a problem to start marinating in the morning and then cook at night? So like 8 hours marinating. Thanks!
Sometimes if you marinade meat too long when it has something acidic in it like lime juice, it can actually start to break down the meat fibers and the meat will become mushy!
Absolutely amazing, not too hard to make and delicious
This is my go-to taco marinade. So versatile and awesome just as it is.
Made it for my family twice and the first time was nice but second time was absolutely delicious! Did use chicken instead of steak but the spice mix is delicious and very flavorsome.
We’ve used this recipe at least a dozen times now and will continue to use it. The marinade is perfect, although I typically double the amount of marinade to meat. Thanks for a great recipe.
These are the ONLY street tacos that my husband will eat! I have tried MANY different marinades and this one is the keeper. Thank you for sharing your recipe 🙂
Do you serve in two shells?
I do…easier to handle