Carne asada marinade and meal prep

Published in

Little Monster Eats

4 min readMar 26, 2021

So when it comes to cooking beef, I’m not going to lie, but I am pretty bad at it. I don’t know what it is. Most of the time I cook it too long cuz I get worried that it’s not cooked all the way through. But beef is expensive! So why would I want to risk spending the money and not get it right? Then I was introduced to the different cuts of beef and how it makes such a huge difference when you use the right kind for the right recipes. How did I not know that? Well growing up my mom used mostly one kind and it was the top round kind. We barely ate steak because we couldn’t afford to and my mom was more of a chicken gal lol.

Well as I explored new ways of cooking recipes, and this carne asada is definitely one that I am comfortable making and would love to share with you all. It’s a really simple marinade and using the right cut of beef, which in my opinion is flank steak, you will get flavorful slices to add to tortillas, rice or salads or on its own with some grilled veggies. Plus you can cook it to the temp you prefer, which I prefer a little more on the rare side, but my son not so much…so we try to meet in the middle.

Grocery list:

CARNE ASADA
1 1/2 pounds of steak (flank preferred)
3–5 garlic cloves, minced
1/3 cup of olive oil
1 tsp of cumin
1/2 tsp of chili powder
1/2 tsp of salt
a pinch of ground black pepper
1–2 limes juiced (~1/4 cup)
1/2 cup of cilantro, chopped

CILANTRO LIME RICE
1 cup cooked long grain rice
1 lime juiced (2 tbsp)
1/4 tsp of salt
1/4 cup chopped cilantro (based on preference)

Making the marinade:

In a small mixing bowl, add minced garlic, oil, seasonings, lime juice and cilantro and stir until combined.
Place meat in a deep large dish or ziplocked bag and add marinade to meat, making sure to coat all sides of the meat well.
Store marinated meat in the refrigerator for at least an hour, up to 6 hours. The longer the better so the meat can absorb all those flavors!

Cooking the meat:

Heat up a large grill pan or skillet to medium high heat. And add a tbsp of olive oil to the pan.
Once pan is hot, add the meat shaking off any excess marinade.
Cook on one side for 4 minutes until the outside is charred and browns up. Do not mess with it too much as this will not get you the color you want. Adjust temperatures of your grill to not burn, nor steam the meat.
Flip over the meat and cook an additional 3–6 minutes, depending on your preferred cook of meat. Don’t forget that the ends of the meat will tend to be more cooked than the inner parts of the steak.

rare 125 degrees
medium rare 130 degrees
medium 140 degrees
medium well 150 degrees
well done 160 degrees

5. Once cooked to your liking, take meat off the heat and let it rest for 10 minutes on a plate or cutting board. DO NOT slice immediately as you will lose the juices and allowing it to rest will help the juices redistribute into the meat. Serve immediately along with your choice of sides.