For taco night, we love to try to recreate some of our favorite restaurant picks and one of those is carne asada. This recipe for quick carne asada on the Traeger comes together in about 30 minutes, tastes delicious and is a great way to use a cut of beef like tenderloin pieces.
When served in warmed tortillas with a dollop of queso, some fresh tomato salsa and some sauteed peppers and onions, it’s a delicious restaurant-worthy dinner in no time and half the money. It is perfect for a quick weeknight meal and the meat can be used in tacos, burritos, burrito bowls or even on sandwiches.
A RESTAURANT FAVORITE
When we go to our favorite Mexican restaurants, one of the things we often order is carne asada. Usually served as a thin-cut ribeye steak that has been marinated in a flavorful mixture and quick-grilled until just medium-rare, it often comes with beans and rice and a tortilla on the side. Basically make-your-own tacos.
WHAT KIND OF BEEF?
As mentioned, carneasada is usually one bigger piece of marinated beef that has been grilled and is served whole. For an application like that, a thin-cut ribeye steak would be a good piece to use. You could also consider using a skirt steak or flank steak but you’d likely want to slice it before serving so that the diners eat it in the most tender way– against the grain!
For this recipe, we used Snake River Farms’ steak pieces, which are a blend of filet mignon, ribeye and/or New York strip steak pieces. The pieces are usually about the size of a foosball and well-marbled. We trimmed them up a bit before using, and tried to cut them into consistent and somewhat-thin slices for making tacos.
FLAVORS IN THE MARINADE
This recipe includes all the classic flavors of carne asada– orange, lemon and lime, garlic, cumin and a little heat. In addition, we added some apple cider vinegar to this recipe to up the acidity and make the tenderizing that happens during marinade happen a little more quickly. Thus, you can get this meal on the table in under an hour!
HOW LONG TO MARINATE?
Depending on the recipe you use, you could see directions to marinade carne asada for up to two days before cooking. This could certainly work (but be careful of how much acid is in the marinade!) and can yield great results on some of the bigger or tougher cuts of steak.
But with small steak pieces and an acid-focused marinade, you can get quick carne asada with limited effort and nearly no time at all. It truly is quick carne asada on the Traeger. We recommend marinating it for 30 minutes or so.
WHAT TO SERVE QUICK CARNE ASADA WITH
We recommend keeping things pretty simple when making quick carne asada on the Traeger– tacos on flour or corn tortillas will allow you to highlight the flavor and tenderness of the meat the best.
In the tortillas, we added some quickly-sauteed bell peppers and onions, a dollop of storebought queso and a spoonful of homemade tomato salsa. The salsa is super easy– diced tomatoes, a little bit of diced onion, garlic, cumin, salt and pepper, lime juice, olive oil and jalapeno peppers chopped to taste. Stir it together and let it sit while you marinate the steak.
HOW LONG SHOULD IT COOK?
This recipe for quick carne asada emphasizes the quick. An easy cut to prepare, a quick marinade, quick cooking and easy taco assembly.
For these carne asada pieces, we heated up a cast iron griddle in our Traeger Ranger grill until it was screaming hot. Then sprayed it with a quick layer of cooking spray and removed the meat from the marinade. It’s important to put the meat on a paper towel before hitting the grill so the excess moisture from the marinade goes away. You want to sear the steak– not steam it!
Cook the meat about 2 minutes per side on the super hot cast iron. You want to sear it and create some great color and crust without drying it out. I like steak like this cooked to about medium– 140*ish. Pull the pieces when they’re about 135* as the carry-over cook will continue as you bring them inside.
To achieve the maximum sear, you may want to cook this quick carne asada on the Traeger in batches.
PRIMARY INGREDIENTS
- Apple cider vinegar
- Oil (we used almond oil)
- Limes
- Lemons
- Oranges (we used mandarins)
- Garlic (we used frozen pressed cloves)
- Cumin
- Chili powder
- Dried oregano
- Salt and pepper
- Steak pieces, cut into about silver-dollar sized pieces
STEP-BY-STEP
- Defrost the steak pieces and pat dry with a paper towel.
- Using a sharp paring or boning knife, cut into even pieces and remove the sinew as necessary.
- In a bowl, combine the vinegar, oil, citrus juices, garlic, spices and salt and pepper.
- Whisk to blend well.
- Stir in the steak pieces and turn to coat.
- Cover the bowl and allow the meat to marinate about 30 minutes.
- Preheat your Traeger Ranger to 400* with the cast iron plate inside.
- When the grill is hot, spray it lightly with cooking oil.
- Remove the steak from the marinade and pat dry with a paper towel.
- In batches, sear the steak on the heated grill, turning once about 2 minutes per side.
- Remove the steak from the grill and continue cooking in batches until all batches reach about 140* for medium cook.
- Assemble tacos as desired or use in other delicious applications.
SIMILAR TACO RECIPES TO TRY
- Sweet potato and chorizo tacos
- Spicy Texas BBQ shrimp tacos
- Tinga chicken tacos (also found in my cookbook, which you can get here)
Give this recipe for quick carne asada on the Traeger a try and let me know what you think!
If you cook it up, tag me at @thisjewcanque so I can see your results!
Quick Carne Asada on the Traeger
Equipment
- Knife and cutting board
- Bowl and whisk
- Traeger Ranger grill and cast iron plate
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup oil we used almond oil
- 1 lime
- 1 lemon
- 1 orange we used mandarins
- 2 cloves garlic we used frozen pressed cloves
- 1 tbsp cumin
- 1 tbsp chili powder
- 1 tsp oregano
- Salt and pepper
- Steak pieces cut into about silver-dollar sized pieces
Instructions
- Defrost the steak pieces and pat dry with a paper towel.
- Using a sharp paring or boning knife, cut into even pieces and remove the sinew as necessary.
- In a bowl, combine the vinegar, oil, citrus juices, garlic, spices and salt and pepper.
- Whisk to blend well.
- Stir in the steak pieces and turn to coat.
- Cover the bowl and allow the meat to marinate about 30 minutes.
- Preheat your Traeger Ranger to 400* with the cast iron plate inside.
- When the grill is hot, spray it lightly with cooking oil.
- Remove the steak from the marinade and pat dry with a paper towel.
- In batches, sear the steak on the heated grill, turning once about 2 minutes per side.
- Remove the steak from the grill and continue cooking in batches until all batches reach about 140* for medium cook.
- Assemble tacos as desired or use in other delicious applications.
Looks really good. Gonna make it this weekend.