Quick and Easy Meals: Summer Steak Tacos 

One of my favorite meals in summer are tacos. You can throw anything on the grill and turn it into a delicious taco. While steak tacos usually call to mind carne asada, these steak tacos use flank steak marinated in a chipotle lime marinade and then cut thinly into strips. 

This marinade can be adapted for other meats as well, or for fish or shrimp to make seafood tacos. And although the recipe says to marinate for a minimum of 4 hours, I confess I’ve slapped this together last minute plenty of times. 

If your family likes spice, you can up the amount of chipotle. And if they don’t like spice, cut the chipotle down to one. 

You can also mix up the flavors. Use an Asian marinade and dressing and make Asian tacos!  Instead of the chipotle, add soy sauce, plenty of fresh ginger, and a dash of toasted sesame oil. Serve it with flour tortillas or lettuce cups with chopped fresh herbs like mint, cilantro, and basil, and chopped scallions, and an Asian inspired dressing. 

How do you know when the steak is done? We recommend grilling it for 3-4 minutes per side, depending on the thickness of  the steak and on whether you like your beef on the rare/medium-rare side or not. Make sure the coals (or fire) is close enough to give a good sear to the outside. You can always use a meat thermometer to check that the temperature is around 125-130 degrees for medium rare. (Remember the temperature will continue to rise as the steak rests).

You can learn to make amazing tacos and other Mexican foods on our Mexican cooking vacations. We offer a variety of choices that are sure to suit every foodie!

Summer Steak Tacos

Serves: 4 to 6
Prep time: 4 hours
Cook time: 10 minutes
Cook method: grill

Ingredients:

For the marinade:

• 2 chipotle peppers, minced, and 1 heaping spoonful of the adobo sauce they are in
• 1 Tbsp honey
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup lime juice
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• pepper to taste

For the tacos:

• 1 flank steak (2 lbs or so)
• corn or flour tortillas
• cilantro
• onion
• avocado
• salsa
• lime wedges

Preparation:

1. Make the marinade, then put it in a long baking dish with the meat and set in the refrigerator to marinate at least 4 hours, or overnight.

2. In the meantime, prep the garnish. I like cilantro and onion, my husband likes sliced avocado, my younger son likes sour cream – you can use any or all of these!

3. Prep the grill to medium-high When the grill is hot, grill the meat for 5 minutes on each side. Set it aside to rest for 8 minutes before slicing. Make sure to slice it as thinly.

4. Serve with warmed corn or flour tortillas and the garnishes of your choice.

While you have the grill on, throw on some veggies too. These make a great substitute for any vegetarians at the table, or can be sliced to use as garnish.

What is your favorite type of summer taco?

By Peg Kern

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