This carne asada marinade infuses so much flavor into the skirt steak and tenderizes the meat for a few hours. After grilling the marinated skirt steak, you're left with a tender and juicy carne asada steak, which is perfect for tacos! The best carne asada marinade.
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Instructions
You're going to add all the marinade ingredients to a bowl or ziplock bag. Skirt steaks can be pretty long, so depending on your grill size, you can cut it in half before marinating. Marinate for minimum 2 hours.
Remove the skirt steak from marinade and you can prepare either on the grill or in a cast iron pan.
For the grill: Set temperature to 450F. Grill the steak for 3-5 minutes on each side. Skirt steak is best enjoyed rare or medium rare. For medium rare, using a thermometer, you want to pull the steak off at 125F because it will still cook while resting. Remove from the grill and allow to rest for 5 minutes before cutting.
Cast iron: Remove the steak from the marinade and allow it to come to temperature for 15 minutes. In a seasoned cast iron skillet over high heat, cook on each side for 2-3 minutes, remove and allow to rest before cutting. (Using the cast iron will be very smokey in the house, so crack a window open and turn hood vent on)
After letting the skirt steak rest, cut into slices. There are muscle fibers that create lines in the steak, you want to cut against those or else the meat will eat tough. This is called "cutting against the grain".
You can enjoy the carne asada on it's own, or my favorite way to enjoy it is in a taco! Assemble the tacos using your favorite toppings and ingredients. Enjoy!
Notes
Can't find skirt steak? You can substitute flank steak or flap steak. Since they are thicker cuts compared to the skirt steak, they will take a little longer to marinate and the cooking time will be longer for both of those alternate cuts.
If the skirt steak is extremely long, you can cut it in half to make flipping on the grill easier.
Also, be careful not to marinate for too long, or the citrus will toughen the meat. I would not marinate it longer than overnight unless you're using a thicker cut of meat.
Skirt steak is best enjoyed rare or medium-rare. Anything more leaves you with a tough chew.