Carne Asada packs a punch with a marinade full of bright citrus, fresh chilies, and garlic. This marinade not only gives the skirt steak a powerful flavor, but makes it buttery and tender! Great for Taco Tuesday!
PIN THIS CARNE ASADA RECIPE IN YOUR DINNER, CINCO DE MAYO, TACO TUESDAY, AND STEAK RECIPE BOARDS ON PINTEREST. AND FOLLOW SWEET TEA & THYME ON PINTEREST FOR MORE TIPS, HACKS, AND TASTY RECIPES!
We are a house full of carnivores.
Well, omnivores. But you know what I mean. I’ve been chomping on steak ever since I can remember, and let me tell you about the time I fell over but my plate of barbecue never dropped! I saved those ribs, honey!
We are some serious meat eaters in here. It wasn’t always that way. Until Greyson turned two he was basically a vegetarian. I had no idea what to do, haha.
But things have changed, and steak is on in our household!
You guys know we live in Miami again, and I lived here throughout my teenage years. Latin cooking is something I grew up around, even though my mama is a southern black woman. So I got to grow up in two amazing flavor-worlds, you know? Carne asada was something Brian and I would get on date nights at this Mexican restaurant that was in our town (the family who owned it got divorced so it’s no longer around. Sucks.) and we’d get it with tortillas, their amazing refried beans, and salsa and all the fixins, and since we couldn’t go to the restaurant anymore, I started making it at home.
You guys know I love to bring you guys easy recipes. This takes time (to marinate) but it’s super easy to make. This carne asada marinade is fantastic. Serious flavor-bomb.
While we do use mojo criollo in this recipe (mix orange and lime juice together if you don’t have sour orange or bottled mojo in your stores) this marinade also uses fresh chilies, chipotle, and…soy sauce! The soy sauce not only helps bring out a deeper, umami flavor to the marinade, but it helps the salt break down the tougher proteins in the skirt steak. That helps the meat become more tender AND become better penetrated by the marinade.
Lots of brightness from the citrus, good spice from the chilies, garlicky goodness, I mean you will probably binge on carne asada. Buy a couple extra skirt steaks because you might just eat an entire steak yourself in fifteen tacos in a matter of two days.
I really know what I’m talking about. This is a judge free zone, remember? I won’t say anything about your eating of too many tacos if you don’t say anything about mine.
Carne asada is great to pan sear in-house (with the windows open, y’all!) and especially to grill on high heat outdoors when you get ready to grill outside again. Sorry, rest of the country. I know y’all are cold in winter and spring, but just keep this in your grilling arsenal for Memorial Day weekend, 4th of July, Labor Day weekend, your next cookout/BBQ.
But honestly, I know you aren’t waiting for spring to come back. Taco Tuesday waits for no season! Just follow this recipe to pan sear your skirt steak and have carne asada tacos all year long.
Get your taco tuesday on with these recipes:
cuban black beans
refried beans
cilantro lime rice
Sugar Baby Margarita
churrasco
don’t forget to pin this recipe!
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Carne Asada
Carne Asada packs a punch with a marinade full of bright citrus, fresh chilies, and garlic. This marinade not only gives the skirt steak a powerful flavor, but makes it buttery and tender! Great for Taco Tuesday!
Ingredients
Marinade:
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 2 cups sour orange juice or bottled mojo
- OR Juice of 2 oranges and 3 limes
- 1/4 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tbsp ground chipotle
- 2 serrano chilies, minced
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1.4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
- 3 tbsp minced garlic
- 2 tbsp white wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp salt
- 2 tsp black pepper
Steak:
- 2 lbs skirt steak, excess fat trimmed
- 1/2 tbsp kosher salt and black pepper
To Serve:
- Cilantro, tortillas, limes, salsa, refried beans, black beans, rice, avocado/guacamole, cheeses, etc.
Instructions
- In a medium sized bowl, whisk together all marinade ingredients. Place steak in a large zip top bag and pour marinade over steak into the bag. Make sure the marinade coats and covers every piece of the meat. Let marinate from 4 hours to overnight.
- Discard your marinade and gently pat steaks with paper towels to dry them off and let meat rest for 30 minutes to come to room temperature. Cold protein seizes up in high heat.
- Heat a grill pan or large skillet over medium-high to high heat. Season steaks evenly with 1/2 tbsp kosher salt and black pepper. Cook steak 7-8 minutes per side for medium rare, 10-15 minutes for medium to medium-well.
- Remove steak and let rest on a plate, covered with foil very loosely, for ten minutes. Slice thinly against the grain, on a bias (on a diagonal).
Nutrition Information:
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 427

Eden Westbrook is the recipe developer, writer, and photographer behind Sweet Tea and Thyme. A classically trained chef, Eden has inspired home cooks into the kitchen with cultural comfort foods, easy family-friendly eats and sweets, and glorious spreads for date night and entertaining since 2015.
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