Who’s up for grilled carne asada? Marinate and grill beef, slice it thinly, then serve warm air fryer carne asada tortillas, avocados, and pico de gallo.

Carne Asada Who’s up for grilled carne asada? Use skirt steak or flank steak for the best carne asada. Elise founded Simply Recipes in 2003 and led the site until 2019. She has an MA in Food Research from Stanford University.

Do you remember that Superbowl ad with the two lions? For months after that aired, I couldn’t say “carne” without rolling the rrrrrrs. Clever of whatever ad agency came up with that campaign to feature two king carnivores talking about carne asada, which translates literally as “beef grilled”. Carne asada is the thinly sliced, grilled beef served so often in tacos and burritos.

Although almost any cut of beef can be butterflied into thin sheets for the carne asada, typically you make it with either flank steak or skirt steak. Flank steak is a lean cut and needs to be cooked rare, and thinly cut across the grain to make it tender. Skirt steak is well marbled with fat, and while it still needs to be cut across the grain, it’s inherently more flavorful and tender, and can be cooked more without suffering. You can make carne asada without a marinade, and just a bit of salt and pepper before grilling, but if you have the time, a good soak in a marinade greatly enhances the flavor. The marinade we are using here has olive oil, soy sauce, lime juice, vinegar, a little sugar for sweetness to balance the acidity of the lime and vinegar, and lots of minced garlic, jalapeño, and cilantro.

Serve it up with tortillas, avocados, and salsa. By definition, carne means meat, but the word is so associated with beef that most people associate carne asada with grilled beef. This recipe calls for flank or skirt steak, but you might also try using flap or chuck cuts of beef. If you’re using the carne asada for tacos, try these additional fixings to top them with. Refrigerate leftover slices of carne asada in a tightly covered container for 3 to 4 days.

Reheat them on the stovetop by heating a little olive oil in a pan. If you don’t have a grill you can use a well-seasoned grill pan or a large cast iron pan on the stove-top. Heat on high to sear and then lower the heat to finish cooking. Make sure to use your stove vent, searing the steak this way can smoke up the kitchen!

If you want, before adding the steak to the marinade, reserve a couple of tablespoons of the marinade to drizzle over the finished carne asada to serve. Rather than using pre-ground cumin, toast and grind whole cumin seeds if you have them. Whisk to combine the olive oil, soy sauce, lime juice, vinegar, sugar, black pepper, and cumin in a large, non-reactive bowl or baking dish. Stir in the minced garlic, jalapeño, and cilantro.

Place the steak in the marinade and turn over a couple of times to coat thoroughly. You’ll know the grill is hot enough when you can hold your hand above the grill grates for no more than one second. You can also use a cast iron grill pan on high heat if cooking on the stovetop. Remove the steak from the marinade.

Place on the hot side of the grill. Once both sides are well seared, move the steak to the cool side of the grill, with any thicker end of the steak nearer to the hot side of the grill. Note that lean flank steak is best cooked rare, while skirt steak can be cooked well without losing moisture or flavor because it has more fat marbling. Place the steak on a cutting board, tent with foil, and let rest for 10 minutes. Notice the direction of the grain of the meat and cut perpendicular to the grain. Angle your knife so that your slices are wide and thin.