Flank Steak Tacos
Make the best Flank Steak Tacos with a simple chili lime marinade, quick grill and a topping of flavorful cilantro chimichurri sauce! This recipe is easy to make and is sure to make your next Taco Tuesday or weekend BBQ the most delicious one yet!
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Ingredients
Flank steak marinade
- 1 ½ pounds flank steak, approximately ¾ inch thick
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons lime juice, fresh-squeezed
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- ½ tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
Cilantro chimichurri sauce
- 1 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano, or 2 tablespoons fresh oregano leaves
- 2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
For serving
- 12 corn tortillas
- ½ cup cotija cheese, crumbled
- 1 avocado, thinly sliced
- ¼ cup fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
Instructions
Marinate the steak.
- Add the flank steak to a large zipper bag.
- Combine the olive oil, low-sodium soy sauce, lime juice, chili powder, ground cumin, dried oregano and minced garlic cloves in a small bowl.
- Pour the marinade in the bag with the steak and toss to make sure the steak is completely coated in the marinade.
- Place it in the refrigerator and marinate for at least 30 minutes, or up to 8 hours.
While the steak is marinating, prepare the chimichurri sauce.
- Add the cilantro, red wine vinegar, garlic cloves, oregano leaves, red pepper flakes, salt and black pepper to a food processor or blender. Add ¼ cup olive oil. Blend for 15-20 seconds.
- Transfer to a medium bowl and add the remaining ¼ cup olive oil. Stir to combine. Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
Grill the steak.
- Preheat a grill over medium-high heat, between 350-400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Use tongs to remove the flank steak from the marinade and discard the marinade.
- Add the flank steak to the hot grill.
- For a perfect medium rare steak, grill a ¾ inch thick flank steak for 3-4 minutes per side.
- Insert an instant read thermometer into the steak. Remove the steak once it reads 130°F for a medium rare steak. For a medium steak, wait until it reaches 140°F and for a medium well steak, wait until it reaches 150°F.
- Remove the steak from the grill and let it rest for 5-10 minutes. The internal steak temperature will rise approximately 5 degrees during this time.
- Slice the steak thinly, against the grain of the meat.
Assemble the tacos.
- Add 12 corn tortillas to the grill and heat them on each side for 10 seconds. Alternatively you can heat the tortillas in a dry skillet on the stove over high heat.
- Add the grilled steak to the warm tortillas and top with chimichurri sauce, cotija cheese, sliced avocado and fresh chopped cilantro.
Notes
- To cook the steak on the stove:
- Preheat a cast iron skillet, or grill pan, on the stove over medium-high heat. If you don’t have a cast iron skillet or grill pan, use the heaviest skillet you have to cook the steak.
- Add a small amount of oil to the skillet to prevent sticking. Depending on how large the skillet is, 1-2 teaspoons will do.
- Cook the steak the same amount of time, as if you were grilling it.
- Remove the steak from the skillet and let it rest 5-10 minutes before slicing it against the grain and adding it to the tacos.
- I do not recommend marinating the steak for more than 8 hours. The acidity of the marinade will start to break down the proteins in the meat and can cause the steak to become mushy.
- The marinade can be made up to 2 days in advance and stored in the refrigerator until you’re ready to marinate the steak.
- This recipe can be used to marinate up to 2 pounds of steak. You can easily double the marinade ingredients to make 4 pounds of meat to feed a crowd at a party or BBQ.
- This recipe makes 12 tacos, and I recommend 3 tacos per person, making the serving for this recipe 4 people.
- Do not rinse the marinade off of the steak. If you’re grilling the steak, it can go straight from the marinade onto the grill. If you’re cooking the steak in a skillet, I do recommend patting the steak dry before adding it to the skillet. When placing steaks on the grill, any excess marinade will drip through the grill grates. When cooking the steaks in a skillet, the marinade has no where to go, so it will stay in the skillet and you won’t get that beautiful sear on the outside of the steak.
- To make this recipe gluten free, replace the soy sauce with tamari, or coconut aminos. This soy sauce alternative is soy-free, gluten-free and contains much less sodium. For this reason, I do recommend adding 1/2 teaspoon salt to the marinade if you replace the soy sauce with coconut aminos.
- To make a spicy marinade for the steak, add 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or 2 tablespoons hot sauce to the other marinade ingredients.
Nutrition Facts
Calories 289kcal (14%)Carbohydrates 15g (5%)Protein 15g (30%)Fat 19g (29%)Saturated Fat 4g (20%)Polyunsaturated Fat 2gMonounsaturated Fat 12gCholesterol 40mg (13%)Sodium 326mg (14%)Potassium 388mg (11%)Fiber 4g (16%)Sugar 1g (1%)Vitamin A 475mg (10%)Vitamin C 3mg (4%)Calcium 87mg (9%)Iron 2mg (11%)
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