Carne Asada
This post may contain affiliate links. Please see our privacy policy for details.
Cilantro, olive oil, soy sauce, orange + lime juice, garlic, jalapeno and cumin make for the easiest and most flavorful marinade. SO SO GOOD.
Featured Comment
reasons to make carne asada
- Easy, simple, flavorful marinade
- Juiciest, most tender flank steak
- Great make-ahead recipe, marinating ahead of time
- Has so many uses, perfect as an entree with rice and salsa or stuffing tacos and burritos
what is carne asada
Carne asada, translated to “grilled meat”, is typically made with skirt steak, flap steak or flank steak, marinated in lime juice and then grilled or seared for that charred flavor. Carne asada can be served as a main dish with rice and beans, and can also be served as a filling for burritos, tacos and quesadillas.
tips and tricks for success
- Use a hot cast iron grill pan. When opting to cook indoors, a heavy bottom pan, such as a cast iron grill pan or large cast iron skillet, retains heat much better than a nonstick skillet, allowing for even cooking, a better sear and smoky, caramelized flavors.
- Use reduced sodium soy sauce. Reduced sodium has less sodium and less salt without compromising flavor. The soy sauce will also add flavor, saltiness and umami.
- Use freshly squeezed lime juice. While bottled lime juice can work in a pinch, freshly squeezed is ideal here for its vibrant, stronger flavors.
- Let your meat rest. Let your meat rest for at least 5 minutes prior to serving, allowing the juices to redistribute – this will allow for maximum flavor and juiciness.
- Slice against the grain. This will shorten muscle fibers, leaving you with more tender (less chewy) pieces of meat.
- Double the sauce. Need extra sauce for tacos or burrito bowls? The sauce portion can easily be doubled or tripled for those saucy folks!
freezing and storage
Storage
Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.
Reheating
Reheat in the oven at 250°F, covered in aluminum foil until warmed through.
Freeze before cooking
Transfer the marinated meat to an airtight, resealable freezer bag. Label, date and freeze up to 3 months. To cook, thaw overnight in the fridge and cook as directed, adding a few more minutes of cook time as needed.
Freeze after cooking
Let cool completely. Transfer the meat to an airtight, resealable freezer bag. Label, date and freeze up to 3 months. To reheat, thaw overnight in the fridge, reheating in the oven at 250°F, covered in aluminum foil until warmed through.
what to serve with carne asada
Tools For This Recipe
Cast iron grill pan or large cast iron skillet
Carne Asada: Frequently Asked Questions
Skirt steak, flat iron steak and hanger steak are all great options here.
Patting the steak dry will allow for a better sear and crust. If there is too much moisture (marinade), the meat will steam instead.
No grill, no problem. A cast iron grill pan or a large cast iron skillet will work beautifully here, especially during those winter months when it’s too cold to grill out!
Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.
Carne Asada
Ingredients
- ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
- ⅓ cup olive oil
- ¼ cup reduced sodium soy sauce
- ¼ cup freshly squeezed orange juice
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 jalapeno, seeded and diced
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 ½ pounds flank steak
Equipment
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, combine cilantro, olive oil, soy sauce, orange juice, lime juice, garlic, jalapeno, cumin and 1 teaspoon pepper; set aside 1/2 cup of the mixture in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
- In a gallon size Ziploc bag or large bowl, combine steak and remaining cilantro mixture; marinate for at least 4 hours to overnight, turning the bag occasionally. Drain the steak from the marinade.
- Add steak to grill, and cook, flipping once, until desired doneness, about 6 minutes per side for medium rare. Let rest 5 minutes.
- Thinly slice steak against the grain and serve with reserved 1/2 cup cilantro mixture.
Video
Did you make this recipe?
Tag @damn_delicious on Instagram and hashtag it #damndelicious!
I made this tonight for dinner. OH MY. Just so “dam delicious “!! This is going to be on regular rotation for sure. I marinated overnight. Too cold to grill, so I used my Cast Iron Skillet and broiled. Put the Cast Iron skillet in the oven while the broiler was preheating. Once preheated I put the Flank Steak in the skillet. 6 minutes, then turned for 5 more. Came out medium. I also made two pans of roasted red, yellow, orange peppers, onions and garlic. So so good.
Yumm!! thx for the oven instructions – Im terrible with the grill
OMG!!! This was BY FAR the best carne asada recipe I’ve ever tried!! The meat was better than almost every taco I’ve ever had in California in my life! Thank you so much to whoever came up with this because it is 100% perfect!!!
This was amazing. I used skirt steak and let it marinate for about 8 hours and grilled it at around 450 for 6 min per side like the recipe says… and WOW. One of the best things I’ve ever eaten. I’ve tried making carne asada at home before and nothing has compared to this. I served it at a party and it was gone so fast, people couldn’t stop raving.
Made this at the firehouse for holiday dinner, compliments came from all quarters. But, when the chief steward called me this morning to ask, “can you send me the recipe?” It confirmed what I already knew; this is a keeper!
I didn’t have cilantro. Can I use parsley as a substitute?
You shouldn’t. Cilantro has a ‘bite’ to it that no amount of parsley will ever match.
You can use coriander as a substitute but dear god no parsley.
Coriander is just another name for cilantro 🙂
Coriander is the seed of the cilantro plant. Cilantro refers to the plant/leaves/stems.
Cilantro is the leaves and the stems of the plant, coriander is the seeds. Both have the somewhat citrusy flavor, but are not interchangeable.
Coriander like someone else said is just another name for cilantro. People mistake for the seed because in the US we label the seeds and ground seeds coriander but they are called “coriander seeds”. The flavor of the seeds is not the same as cilantro.
Incredibly tender and flavourful, next time I will add more jalapeños as we like it spicy. Recipe was easy to follow. New addition to our favourite list,
I have not made this yet but plan to. I have a quick question, i do not have a grill to make this on so what would i do to get this to turn out great using the oven. I do have a cast iron skillet i can use, will that work just fine as well?
Absolutely! Bring your meat close to room temperature. Preheat cast iron skillet under the broiler for about 5 minutes. Add meat and broil until done. Probably 6-9 minutes. Love broiling these in the oven!
I’m looking to try this but wondering it if would be good in a stir fry?
I love to make recipes by order to try to start with and then after that I like to tweak them how I like them and that’s with any good chef
you can make things a certain way as they’re expected to be made or you can put your own twist
Absolutely delicious! Our new go-to steak recipe! We simply served it on warm corn tortillas with sliced avocado and used the reserve marinade as “taco sauce”, drizzling a little on each one. Yum!
Thank you for this! I have taken this recipe and adjusted it to my personal taste several (I mean several) times over ie: when a recipe calls for 4 cloves of garlic, I’ll do 8. Kidding.. kind of 🙂 I few tips for this amazing carne recipe.
1. Meat matters. Flank steak or a cut of meat that has some good marbling (fat) throughout. Fat is flavor people, sorry! I’ve used Wagyu steak and it was BOMB. Just make sure you cut it in thin slices before you marinate.
2. DON’T let it marinade for an extremely long time. Damn Delicious isn’t lying when they say the citrus will ruin the fiesta! Four hours is good but, I find 6-8 to be optimal.
3. DON’T skip patting the steak down with paper towels before tossing it on the grill. Seriously, oil + fire = I’m lucky I still have eyebrows 😉
Such an outstanding recipe thank you so much again. Pair your carne with a good pico de Gallo and let the good times roll!
I plan on making this tomorrow after the steak marinates overnight. I’m skeptical that it will taste like the Carne Asada I had in Austin Texas when I lived there in the 80s. There was an old Mexican man that had a stand next to where I worked. He had a line of people there all day getting his homemade carne asada and he opened at 6am. Great memories of great food that I’m hoping this recipe tastes like!! The sauce will be the key!!
Using the marinade with the raw meat juice in it is a no no . Can be used if cooked, however.
I’ve been to the grocery store and bought the ingredients. I’ll marinate it overnight and have it for supper tomorrow night. I’m reminded of another wonderful flank steak recipe. With this other recipe you score the steak on both sides before marinating it. Not too deep, mind you. I thought this might be helpful. I’ll post a review, most likely Thursday.
I made this tonight for Cinco de Mayo. I was very skeptical of the good reviews. Surely it couldn’t be THAT great. I’ve been burned by recipes with 5 star reviews before. Holy cow it was really that good!!!! The juiciest steak I have ever had. We live in a major metropolitan area and frequently go out for Mexican. This carne asada was as good or better than any I’ve had in a Mexican restaurant. I followed the recipe exactly as written and grilled it over charcoal. Perfection. The only negative was that there was none left for leftovers tomorrow. We ate every last bit in under 10 minutes. My 8 year old daughter who eats like a bird had three large helpings. Trust me, you want to make this!
Simply the best! The flavors work. We grilled in our Ninja Foodi and used in tacos. Only regret was not slicing the meat small enough. Great recipe. Thanks for sharing! We marinated for 24 hrs.
Love this! I made this last night for my house and everyone loved it! I was in somewhat of a time crunch and used the cooked steak we had the night before, orange extract, and was able to let it sit for about 15 min but it still turned out wonderful. I’m definitely going to make this again along with your other recipes (pan sheet tacos tomorrow!!!).
Everyone loved this made tacos followed recipe exactly and it’s incredible !!! Will definitely made again. Now bookmarked for future. Damn delicious never disappoints. Thanks for the yummy recipes
My family loves this recipe and we have it a couple times a month minimum. It always comes out perfect, even if I don’t have orange juice or cilantro, I just make it without and still comes out amazing. We’ve made it for both of our families and everyone always asks for the recipe! Super easy and so delicious, won’t be looking for another carne asada recipe ever again.
I made this on a cold and snowy Valentines night in Vancouver. It was delicious. So fresh and tasty, but tender and flavorful.
It made Spring seem closer. Something about it really raised my spirits.
Thank you for making my day in the midst of this difficult lockdown!
Way too salty for my taste. I will try again but a lot less soy sauce. Even for low sodium it was still too salty. I did not salt the meat either.
Same here – I think I will need to use half the soy sauce since I prefer it not to heavy on the seasoning. Nevertheless a great recipe!
I made this for dinner this week, and it brought such a bright, fresh, summery flavor to a cold winter night! I also doubled the recipe and popped a second cut of beef with the marinade into the freezer. We can’t wait to have it again soon — delicious!!