This amazing Chipotle Carne Asada recipe has a delicious blend of sweet and spicy flavor. It is perfect for carne asada fries, tacos, burritos, and nachos and an easy restaurant-quality recipe to make at home.
Your friends and family are going to love this thinly sliced carne asada steak made with a sweet and spicy marinade and served with warm tortillas, avocados, and fresh salsa. It tastes like it came straight from the Chipotle menu.
Chipotle Carne Asada
When there’s a big sale on carne asada at the supermarket, I love to load up on it, make a couple of extra batches of this marinade, and freeze it for later. It’s such a treat to pull this out of the freezer during a busy weeknight. It’s easy peasy and so incredibly delicious!
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This easy beef marinade only takes a few minutes to put together. It ain’t pretty but it does a great job tenderizing the meat and infusing it with so much flavor. This marinade recipe makes quite a bit too. You can add up to another pound of beef in this marinade.
Be sure to watch the attached video in the recipe card on how to make carne asada tacos, they’re so good. You can also use carne asada in Burritos, Nachos, Quesadillas, Burrito bowls, or on fries or salad.
Chipotle Carne Asada Video Tutorial
If you love Chipotle and want more recipes, be sure to try out our Chipotle Chicken Recipe, Carnitas Tacos, Chipotle chicken burrito, Cheddar Queso, and an Easy Guacamole Recipe
What’s The Best Carne Asada Meat?
- Skirt steak–or sometimes referred to as tenderloin steak, has even more intense beefy flavor than flank steak. It does contain more tough muscles than flank steak, though, so it should only be cooked to rare or medium-rare for the most tender texture.
- Flank Steak–is a more lean option and has a great, intense meaty flavor.
- Sirloin Steak–Lean, juicy and moderately tender beef that is very affordable. This steak has no bones and very little fat, making it taste delicious any way it’s cooked. To make Carne asada, cut thin cut strips of sirloin steak. It can be nearly as tender as a filet mignon, making it an excellent value.
The reality is any of these cuts can work great. If your grocery store already has carne asada cut and ready to go, use that. If not, any of these other options will work great.
What to Serve with Carne Asada
- Cilantro lime rice
- Black beans
- Refried Beans
- Ranch Salsa
- Lime Juice (small chunks of fresh lime)
- Pico de Gallo or Fresh Salsa
- Cheese
- Sour cream
- Diced onion
- Guacamole
- Pico de gallo or Fresh Salsa
- Fresh Lime Juice- just a squeeze
Key Ingredients
- Carne Asada– or thinly sliced steak. If you’re slicing your own steak, you can slightly freeze the steak to make it easier to slice.
- Adobo Sauce– scoop it from the can. If you like extra spicy meat, use the -Chipotle peppers in Adobo sauce (you may want to wear gloves if you have sensitive skin. Just scrape the seeds out of the pepper and mince the peppers.
- Lime juice (or the juice of 2 large limes) You can also sub half orange or lemon juice. Some people use soy sauce in their carne asada recipe but this one is more sweet, spicy, and salty.
- Brown Sugar– light brown sugar is great.
- Cilantro– this adds classic flavor, freshness, and a pop of color.
- Chili Powder
How to Make Chipotle Carne Asada
- Marinate the carne asada. In a large ziploc bag, combine the adobo sauce, (chipotle peppers too for extra spice), lime juice, avocado oil, brown sugar, finely chopped cilantro, minced garlic, chili powder, salt, and pepper. Mix and then add the meat. Marinate for about 30 minutes.
- Cook the carne asada. Once ready to cook, heat a large nonstick saucepan or cast iron pan over medium high heat. Add the avocado oil, then remove the meat from the marinade and add to the pan. For medium rare, sear for about 2-3 minutes per side, seasoning with salt and pepper on both sides.
- Rest and serve. Once cooked, transfer the carne asada to a plate and let it rest for about 5 minutes before slicing, tossing with any juices, and serving on tacos, nachos, burritos, fries, and more. Enjoy!
Frequently Asked Questions
Carne Asada is a dish of grilled and sliced beef, usually marinated and then searing to impart a charred flavor.
Carne asada is thinly sliced skirt steak or flank steak. You can achieve similar results with thinly sliced skirt steak, sirloin steak, tenderloin steak, or rib steak.
A good marinade and also pounding (tenderizing) before searing helps make your carne asada more tender.
When planning on how much raw meat to plan per person, plan on 1/3 pound of meat per adult for and 1/4 lb of meat per child.
Carne Asada is beef. The cut of beef you use should be flavorful, but it doesn’t need to be tender. Carne asada is usually made from skirt steak but you can also use flank steak or sirloin steak.
The best way to get tender carne asada is to cook it quickly at a high temperature to break down the fat and seal in the natural juices. A great steak marinade will help to make your steak extra flavorful and juicy but be there’s no need to marinate for more than 24 hours. Don’t over cook the meat. There should be just a little pink in the center.
Tips for Making the Best Carne Asada
- Add the marinade ingredients to a Ziplock bag—No need to get your hands or another dish dirty.
- If your family doesn’t like chunks, add all the marinade ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth before adding it to the meat.
- This is also such a great beef recipe to freeze. If you find a great deal on steak, thinly slice it, make a big batch of this beef marinade and put it into sealable containers or bags and freeze it. I like to divide it up into portions that accommodate my family for a meal. It makes dinner time so easy when you have a freezer meal waiting for a busy night or lazy weekend.
- Be sure not to over-cook your beef. There should be some pink in the middle.
- For best results, make on the stovetop but grilled works ok too.
- I’ve played around with this recipe a lot and have marinated the steak anywhere from 2-24 hours.
Chipotle Carne Asada Recipe
Ingredients
- 2-4 pounds carne asada
- 3 tablespoons adobo sauce, from canned chipotle peppers in adobo
- 1/4 cup lime juice, or about 2 limes
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar
- 1/4 cup avocado oil
- 1/2 cup cilantro, finely chopped
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 medium lime , for serving
Instructions
- In a large ziploc bag, combine the adobo sauce, lime juice, avocado oil, brown sugar, finely chopped cilantro, minced garlic, chili powder, salt, and pepper. Mix and then add the meat. Marinate for about 30 minutes.
- Once ready to cook, heat a large nonstick saucepan or cast iron pan over medium high heat. Add the avocado oil, then remove the meat from the marinade and add to the pan. For medium rare, sear for about 2-3 minutes per side, seasoning with salt and pepper.
- Once cooked, transfer the carne asada to a plate and let it rest for about 5 minutes before slicing, tossing with any juices, and serving on tacos, nachos, burritos, fries, and more. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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This amazing Chipotle Carne Asada Recipe is an easy carne asada marinade recipe. It’s a delicious blend of sweet, spicy and oh, so flavorful! This carne asada recipe is perfect for carne asada fries, tacos, burritos, and nachos. It’s a restaurant-quality recipe made at home.
Categories:
Beef, Dairy-Free, Easy Weeknight Meals, Gluten-Free, Main Dish, Meal Prep, Nut-Free, Tex Mex, Videos,
Have you frozen the meat after cooking or only before? Thinking of using the recipe for a grad party and making in bulk. Any suggestions?
To be honest I haven’t tried freezing it after it’s cooked. Because you’re planning it for a party, maybe try it before the big day. I’d love to know how it goes!
At First I wasn’t sure to use this recipe because it didnt seem to have a marinating time. However, I marinated it for like 3 hours, and the flavor was AMAZING! Best Steak I have made 🙂 Thank you so much!!
I’ll go make the marinating time more visible. Thanks for letting me know. Yes, 3 hours is great. I usually tell people 2-24 hours. It makes such tender and juicy Carne Asada!
I’d love to hear if your family liked this as much as mine!!