Weeknight Carne Asada Tacos with a homemade Salsa Verde. Cilantro lime marinated flank steak char-grilled until rich and juicy and thinly sliced and stuffed into warmed tortillas for super tasty Mexican styled tacos.  Serve each taco with a charred sweet corn, onion, and cilantro relish along with grilled salsa verde. 

Tender citrus and herb marinated steak soaked in fresh lime juice, olive oil, orange juice, salt, pepper, ground cumin, garlic and loads of finely chopped cilantro. Allow the steak to sit in the juices for at least 2 hours. The marinade adds bright punchy flavors and helps tenderize the meat so that it can be enjoyed better in tacos. The meat should be buttery and slice easily when cutting across the grain with a knife.  Allow the steak to sit in its juices for 10 minutes before cutting. 

STEAK DETAILS 

To make Carne Asada use a large thin marinating steak such as flank or skirt. Typically made with beef and cooked by grilling on medium to high heat so that the steak gets a slight char on the outside and cooks soft and juicy on the inside. All the flavour comes from marinating the steak before hand. Because the mixture contains acidity it should only be sitting in the juices no more than a few hours, ideally only 2 hours. After that, the citrus juices begin to alter the texture and brown the meat. It’s not ideal, but you can still cook the steak if you’ve left it sitting too long. What can happen in this case is the opposite. Your steak would be dry and tougher. 

SALSA VERDE

We like to make most of our sauces from scratch. That way we can control the amount of salt or sugar that get added. Of course store bought salsa verde will save some time, especially if you are having trouble finding tomatillos. They can be tricky to find and are only available here in Ottawa in the summer and not all grocers carry them which makes it tricky. Lucky, every summer I can grab some at Farm Boy nearby so I was able to make the sauce from scratch.

What I like to do is warm the BBQ and place all the ingredients on a baking sheet for the salsa and I throw on the corn that needs to be charred for the second taco toppings. On the tray I add the tomatillos, a whole white onion quartered, whole garlic cloves and the serrano peppers or jalapenos if you can’t get your hands on them. All of this gets grilled until they begin to char and the tomatillos are almost blistering. In the meantime i take the steak out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature. Once the corn and the salsa ingredients are ready to come off the grill it’s time to cook the steak. Throw the hot vegetables for the salsa straight in the blender hot and blend until the mixture is thin. 

We like to top these with some charred sweet corn tossed together with finely chopped white onion, and lots of fresh cilantro and finish them off with a squeeze of lime. You could top these with any toppings of your choosing. Fresh avocado, some cheese, diced tomatoes, honestly whatever works best for you! 

For similar tacos check out these! 

We hope you enjoy this recipe! If you give this recipe a try, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it (once you’ve tried it), and take a picture and tag it on Instagram! We love to see what you come up with. #thecommunalfeast Follow along our social media account on instagram for quick videos on how our recipes come together!

Print Recipe

carne asada tacos with salsa verde

Flank steak marinated in fresh cilantro, orange juice, lime juice, garlic and spices that's char grilled until rich and juicy and served with grilled sweet corn relish and a homemade salsa verde.

Prep Time20 minutes mins

Cook Time30 minutes mins

Additional Time2 hours hrs

Total Time2 hours hrs 50 minutes mins

Course: Mains

Servings: 10

Author: the communal feast

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lb flank steak
• 1 cup orange juice
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• juice of 2 limes
• 4 cloves garlic minced
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground chili powder
• salt and pepper to season
• 2 ears of corn
• 1/3 cup white onion finely chopped
• 1/3 cup fresh cilantro finely chopped
• 10 corn tortillas
• Salsa Verde:
• 6 to matillos removed from husk
• 1 medium sized white onion
• 4 cloves garlic
• 2 serano chilies
• 1/2 cup green onions roughly chopped
• 1 tsp round cumin
• 1/2 tsp salt

Instructions

• 1. To make the marinate: combine orange juice, olive oil, lime juice, minced garlic, ground cumin, and chili powder in a container that will allow the steak to sit flat and fully submerged or in a ziplock bag. Mix until just combined. Season the steak on both sides with some salt and pepper and cover with the mixture. Add the whole juiced limes to sit in with the steak afterwards. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.
• 2. Preheat the grill to 400 degrees F. Remove the steak from the fridge and allow to come to room temperature. On a baking tray coated with a bit of cooking spray, place the corn removed from the husk, the tomatillos, garlic cloves, serano peppers and the white onion halved. Grill until the corn is charred all over and the tomatoes are blackened but not blistering. Flip once or twice to evenly cook. Remove from the BBQ and allow to cool. Once these are all done, leave the grill on and cook the steak. Place the steak directly on the grill and drizzle a bit of marinate overtop. Cook to preferred doneness, flipping once. For medium rare cook 5-6 minutes per side. If using a thermometer it should read 135 degrees. Once the steak is done remove from the grill and let rest 10 minutes to allow the juices to redistribute. Thinly slice the steak against the grain and cut strips into smaller bites for serving. (as pictured)
• 3. To make the salsa verde: in a blender or food processor combine the grilled tomatillos, onion, garlic, and serano chilies. Add the green onions and ground cumin and salt. Blend until well combined and mixture resembles a thin salsa.
• 4. To make the corn topping: once the corn has cooled a bit and you can easily touch it with your hands. Use a sharp knife to chop the kernels. Toss together with the 1/3 cup of white onion and 1/3 cup of cilantro.
• 5. To serve: Warm the corn tortillas 10 second each. Layer the steak, corn topping, and finish with salsa verde. Serve with extra lime on the side. Enjoy!