The next time you are in the mood for a San Diego taco shop-style carne asada quesadilla, use this Mexican carne asada seasoning recipe to make authentic taqueria-style carne asada with incredible flavor! The seasoned carne asada comes out perfect no matter how you cook it, just don't boil it!
Would you like to save this recipe?
We'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!
When you're from San Diego, you know what good Mexican food should taste like. Spend some time on my blog and you'll find recipes for smoked carne asada, California burritos, and this carne asada fries recipe.
If you want to make amazing authentic carne asada, this Mexican carne asada seasoning is all you need. Well, that and a lime and some flank steak. The seasoned carne asada can be grilled, smoked, or cooked in a skillet!
If you're looking for a wet marinade, make sure to check out my very popular carne asada marinade recipe! It has a perfect blend of spices, along with orange juice, olive oil, vinegar, lime juice, and soy sauce. Yes, that's not a typo, soy sauce! I know that doesn't sound like a Mexican ingredient, but trust me, it works!
Jump to:
🔖 Ingredients & Substitutions
- Sea salt: I prefer sea salt, but you can use whatever salt you prefer.
- Black pepper: Coarse, fine, or white pepper can be used.
- Onion powder: Besides onion powder, you can use dried minced onion.
- Garlic powder: Make sure you don't accidentally use garlic salt!
- Chili powder: Your favorite chili powder can be used. If you have to, you can substitute smoked paprika.
- Tajin Classico: Tajin Classico is a delicious Mexican spice mix used in Mexican cooking. It has an outstanding chile-lime flavor!
- Cumin powder: If you don't have ground cumin, you can grind toasted cumin seeds. You can also substitute with ground coriander.
- Chipotle pepper: Chipotle pepper will add some spice to the seasoning. If you want a mild flavor, you can substitute smoked paprika or just leave it out.
- Cayenne pepper: Again, the cayenne can be left out, or you can use less if you are concerned about the heat.
- Herbs: If you don't have Mexican oregano, plain dried oregano is fine!
🫙 How to Make Carne Asada Seasoning
Step 1: Measure out the carne asada spices according to the recipe card. If you are sensitive to heat, either leave out the chipotle and cayenne pepper or reduce the amount.
Step 2: Mix the seasoning ingredients until combined.
Step 3: Pour the seasoning mix into a spice jar and store it in a cool, dry location.
If you enjoy making your own spice mixes, check out this easy homemade chicken taco seasoning!
How To Make Authentic Carne Asada
Squeeze some lime juice on both sides of your thawed flank steak. Another cut you can use is skirt steak. Sprinkle carne asada seasoning generously on both sides of the beef. If you have time, refrigerate for up to two hours or until you're ready to grill the carne asada.
Carne Asada Grilling Instructions
To cook the carne asada on an outdoor grill, cook the meat over medium-high heat until charred on the surface but still pink, tender, and juicy in the center. Serve in steak-sized portions or slice into medallions. Another option is to dice the meat into small pieces to serve it in tortillas as carne asada meat tacos!
To smoke carne asada, follow my smoked Traeger carne asada recipe instructions.
Stovetop Carne Asada Instructions
An even easier way to cook the seasoned carne asada (especially if you will be adding it to tacos or burritos) is to dice the meat first, then quickly sear in a hot, oiled cast-iron skillet. Move the meat around in the pan until charred and cooked to medium-rare or to your preference.
🍽 What to Serve With Carne Asada
Carne asada can be served in so many ways! Whether you serve it in steak-sized portions, slice it into fajitas, or dice it into tacos, you can't go wrong with the following sides!
- Mexican rice
- Chunky or creamy guacamole
- Salsa Ranchera
- Mexican pickled carrots
- Pico de Gallo
- Elote in a cup (Mexican street corn)
What our readers are saying...
Excellent mix. I like the purity of the ingredients.
-A.I.R
🤷🏻♀️ Recipe FAQs
Most carne asada seasoning contains salt, black pepper, garlic powder, chili powder, and cumin. Sometimes other spices are also added, including onion powder and citric acid.
Carne asada seasoning is salty, tangy, spicy, and citrusy.
Both carne asada and carne asado are Spanish terms used to describe seasoned barbecued steak. In Spanish, "carne" means "meat" and "asada" (or asado) describes the method in which the meat is cooked, in this case, "roasted or grilled."
👩🏼🍳 Pro Tips
- Store leftover carne asada meat in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Store in the freezer for longer storage.
- Don't marinate the steak in lime juice for longer than a few hours. The acid in the lime juice will begin to break down the meat more than you'd want.
- If you want to keep it really simple, serve the carne asada as a steak with fresh avocados, chopped cilantro, and lime wedges.
- If you make a larger batch of this seasoning, you can freeze some of it to retain its freshness.
If you enjoy making your own spice mixes, be sure to try my corned beef seasoning, shawarma spice, everything but the bagel seasoning, and bezar.
🧂More Spice Recipes
Did you make this recipe?
📖 Recipe
Would you like to save this recipe?
We'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Measure out the carne asada spices according to the recipe card. If you are sensitive to heat either leave out the chipotle and cayenne pepper or reduce the amount.
- Mix the seasoning ingredients until combined. Pour the seasoning mix into a spice jar and store in a cool, dry place.
- Squeeze lime juice on both sides of flank steak then season generously with the carne asada seasoning. Allow to marinate for up to 2 hours, if possible, before grilling the carne asada.
Nutrition
Notes
- Store leftover carne asada meat in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Store in the freezer for longer storage.
- Don't marinate the steak in lime juice longer than a few hours. The acid in the lime juice will begin to break down the meat more than you'd want.
- If you want to keep it really simple, serve the carne asada as a steak with fresh avocados, chopped cilantro, and lime wedges.
- If you make a larger batch of this carne asada seasoning recipe you can freeze some of it to retain its freshness.
tina says
clutch! i wanted to make tacos ina pinch and it is a MUST to have authenticity when i make the seasoning 🙂
Hilda Sterner says
Thanks, Tina, enjoy!
da says
Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Hilda Sterner says
Thank you!
Bill says
prettyy good recipee. Tajin sets it apart. I mde botom round beef jerky with this. Spice combo is spot on.
Hilda Sterner says
Thanks, Bill! I appreciate the review!
A.I.R. says
Excellent mix. i like the purity of the ingredients.
Hilda Sterner says
Thank you!
Tina says
Why are the carb counts so high?
Hilda Sterner says
The nutrition facts are for the entire jar, not for one serving. Just to make sure, I tried calculating the nutrition facts with a different app and got the same results. I hope that answers your question.