How to Make The Best Grilled Carne Asada

This grilled carne asada recipe is perfect for tacos, burritos, or even salads.

A great carne asada starts with selecting the right cuts of beef, then you have to marinate the steak and then grill over high heat, preferably charcoal.

What steak to use for carne asada?

Carne asada loosely translates to “grilled meat“, which isn’t terribly specific. In most situations, carne asana refers to beef that’s been marinated and then grilled.

Carne asada meat is typically thin-cut like flank or skirt steak, these both have a very heavy-grained texture and strong beefy flavor that is nice and bold and perfect for this dish.

I used both skirt and flank steak from Vermont Wagu for this carne asada recipe. Both are long and thin and have relatively the same characteristics as each other.

You can stick with skirt steak or just flank steak, or use a combination like I did. If you can’t find either you can also use sirloin steak.

How to make grilled carne asada

To make carne asada you need to marinate the steak for at least a few hours, before grilling over high eat.

1. Marinate the steak

For carne asada, the marinade is there to add extra flavor, and moisture and it helps tenderize the meat.

The basics of the carne asada marinade are oil, lime juice, chili powder, salt, black pepper, cumin, fresh garlic, and oregano. I also like to add orange juice and soy sauce to mine.

If you want to be a little more adventurous you can ditch the chili powder and use whole dried chilis instead. Get your hands on any combination of guajillo, pasilla, ancho, or chipotle chiles, toast them and then include in the blender.

Add all the marinade ingredients to a food processor and give it a blitz. You want a slightly chunky texture, not a puree.

Add the meat and marinade (reserve some for serving) to a non-reactive bowl giving it a good mix.

Pop it in the fridge, and marinate for at least a couple of hours, but to get the best out of the marinade, overnight is the way to go.

2. Grill over charcoal (if you can)

If you want the best carne asada you can’t beat the smoky charred taste from grilling over hot charcoal.

I chose to use my Burch Barrel smoker with some Fogo charcoal. We cover the Burch Barrel in more detail in our round up of the best fire pits you can cook on. You can use any charcoal grill, or gas will taste almost as good.

When you cook over hot coals, especially with meat that has been marinated, the juices fall down and hit the hot coals creating puffs of smoke that come up and lick the meat, giving it a flavor that cannot be recreated in a frypan.

Charring food is all part of the Maillard reaction, where there is a chemical reaction between amino acids and the reducing sugars that give browned food its very distinctive flavor. Let’s not confuse burning, we are talking about charring up the meat slightly.

I filled a chimney starter with lump charcoal and got it lit. Once it was fully ashed over, I dumped the charcoal into the basket to create the perfect grilling area for the steaks.

Once the grill is hot enough put the meat on and sear on both sides. You will get a lot of smoke and some flare-ups due to the oil in the marinade, so just keep flipping the steaks.

Remember we want some charring but not burnt steaks.

This will take between 6-10 minutes, depending on the thickness of the steaks and how hot your coals are.

Once the internal temperature of the steak has reached 130°F, it’s time to take them off the smoker and rest for 5-10 minutes. Use a good meat thermometer for best results, and be sure to test the temperature at a few points as the steak is so thin it can be hard to get an accurate reading.

This allows the steak fibers to relax and the juices to redistribute throughout the steak.

The end result is so much better and the steak will not go cold, it is effectively still cooking when it comes off the grill.

3. Slice and serve

Once the grilled beef has finished resting, slice it across the grain. Flank and skirt steak has long, lean fibers so you want to check which way these are running and then cut against the grains.

This way the carne asada meat will taste nice and tender.

I like to keep it simple when it comes time to serve carne asada. Throw a few tortillas on the grill to warm up and serve the meat in these with a drizzle of the reserved marinade, sliced jalapeño, a squeeze of lime juice, and a few cilantro leaves.

Carne Asada Recipe