A good Carne Asada marinade can take a humble piece of beef from good to great in no time. If that piece of beef is a flank steak, then it can go from grill to plate in minutes. If you’ve been hanging out with us here, then you know we love a meal that’s low effort with big payoffs.
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Fine Tuning our Carne Asada Marinade
We posted a Carne Asada recipe on our blog several years ago, but upon recent review, we found that it was just…how can I put it? No bueno. I think we were in a “more is more” phase and had amped up every ingredient in it, to where it was just too much. Too much acid, too much garlic, too much heat. It was not good.
Cut to present day. We’ve learned a thing or two about flavor and we’ve also learned that simple is often the best approach. We’re not trying to cover up anything with this current recipe. We’re just trying to amplify the naturally delicious beefy flavors of the flank steak (or skirt steak, hangar steak, etc).
Blend, don’t Whisk
Whisking the marinade together yields pretty good results. However, if we blend the marinade ingredients in a blender or use a handheld immersion blender, the results are far better. The garlic and onion are evenly distributed throughout the marinade and the olive oil and lime juice completely emulsify. Every bit of the meat is exposed to all of the flavors. Nothing settles and breaks apart.
Carne Asada
Ingredients
- 2-3 lbs flank steak (or skirt steak)
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup fresh lime juice
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 2-3 cloves garlic (roughly chopped)
- 1/2 onion (roughly chopped)
- 2 tbsp AlbuKirky Seasonings Garlapeño Rub
- Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt (to pre-season)
Instructions
- Score both sides of the steaks. A crosshatch pattern allows the salt and marinade to penetrate the meat and looks nice when grilled.
- Generously pre-season both sides of the steaks with Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt. Allow the steaks to sit for 10-15 minutes while the salt dissolves.
- Meanwhile, mix together marinade. Add olive oil, lime juice, soy sauce, garlic, onion and AlbuKirky Seasonings Garlapeño Rub in a blender canister. Blend until pureed and smooth.
- Place steaks into a gallon sized ziplock bag. Pour in marinade. Seal the bag and massage the marinade into both sides of the steaks. Place bag on a sheet pan and refrigerate for a minimum of 4-hours and up to overnight.
- Remove the steaks from the fridge about 1/2 hour before grilling. Remove the meat from ziplock bag and shake off excess marinade. No need to pat dry.
- Since the steak is less than 1 inch thick, cook it hot and fast over a hot grill, flipping every 2-minutes until a nice char has developed on the exterior.
- The steak is done when the thickest part reaches an internal temp of 130° (*see note). Remove the steak from the grill and allow it to rest 10-15 minutes before slicing against the grain and serving.
Notes
- Medium rare is an internal temp of 125 degrees, however, we like it just a tad north of medium rare when grilling steaks to use on salads or tacos.
- Many recipes include fresh jalapeño, cumin, etc, however our Spicy Garlapeño rub takes care of all that by adding a good amount of heat and tons of flavor to the marinade.
Cut this flavorful beef against the grain to ensure maximum tenderness. Pile into fresh homemade flour tortillas, top with your favorite salsa and dinner is ready. Find our recipe for the ultimate Bacon Fat Flour Tortillas HERE.
Grab a bottle of our Spicy Garlapeño Rub HERE. Stock up on our other rubs and sauces at AlbuKirkySeasonings.com and keep up with what we’re cooking on our Facebook and Instagram pages. See you next time!
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