Carne Asada Seasoning

By Carine Claudepierre
Published on 05/07/2023

5 from 64 votes

This recipe may contain Amazon or other affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

This Carne Asada Seasoning is an easy, tasty seasoning packed with Mexican flavors and is perfect for seasoning your flank steak and making an authentic carne asada.

I love making my seasoning recipes and marinades. You might have already tried my chicken taco seasoning, which is also packed with authentic Mexican flavors but a bit too spicy for beef.

This is a new spice blend I have to share. The perfect carne asada seasoning adds punch to your meat.

What Is Carne Asada?

Carne Asada is a Mexican dish that translates to roast meat. It’s typically a piece of steak like a flank steak, or skirt steak, grilled or seared after it has been seasoned or marinated.

There are two ways to prepare the meat for a carne asada. First, the meat can be marinated in Mexican spices and an acidic ingredient like orange juice or lime juice.

Or, the meat is simply seasoned and rubbed with a spice mix with lemon notes like tajin and lemon pepper.

How To Make Carne Asada Seasoning

To make this blend you need to pack fresh ground spices to ensure the best flavors.

In a glass mason jar add the dry spices below.

Ingredients

All you need to deliver the best flavor to a carne asada recipe are:

Mexican Chili Powder
Tajin – It has a bright citrus flavor perfect for grilled meat or even dessert!
Ground Cumin
Celery Salt – This contains celery seeds that add a great celery aftertaste. if you can’t find it, use regular sea salt.
Ground Paprika
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
Lemon Pepper or black pepper
Mexican Oregano – It has a more pungent taste than Greek oregano. However, if you can’t find this ingredient, use regular oregano.
Cayenne Pepper

Preparation

Stir all the spices together in a bowl or glass mason jar: Mexican chili powder, tajin, salt, garlic, cumin, paprika, onion powder, lemon pepper, Mexican oregano, and cayenne pepper.

Storage Instructions

Store the spice blend in a cold, dark place like your pantry for up to one year.

You can double or triple the batch if you like.

How To Use Carne Asada Seasoning

There are two ways to use this recipe.

Seasoned Carne Asada

First, you can use this spice blend as a dry rub. Stir 2 tablespoons of olive oil with one tablespoons of seasoning mix in a bowl.

Rub one pound of flank steak with one tablespoon of seasoning. Then, grill the meat on the BBQ.

Carne Asada Marinade

If you are making a marinade, place it in a bowl:

2 tablespoons of lime juice or lemon juice
2 crushed garlic cloves
1/4 cup of orange juice
One tablespoon of carne asada seasoning per pound of flank steak.

Stir everything together, place the flank steak in a zip-lock bag, and pour the marinade.

Close the bag with the marinade in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours.

Discard the marinade after use. It’s not safe to eat marinade where raw meat has been placed.

Dishes To Serve With Carne Asada

Carne Asada refers to grilled beef, which can be served with a very similar side to the one you have on a taco night.

After the meat has been grilled, cut into strips to tender the meat and use it as filling tacos or burritos.

Use your favorite tortillas like corn tortillas or make my easy flour tortillas and add carne asada to it.

Serve them with some fillings like:

Homemade salsa
Coleslaw
Red onion
Sour cream
Cheddar cheese
Lettuce
Guacamole

Vegetarian Seasoning

In a taqueria-style recipe, you can find vegetarian options, where vegetables are oiled and then rubbed with a spice blend to bring out authentic Mexican flavors.

The best vegetable to season with carne asada seasoning and then use as a filling to tacos.

Mushroom slices and make mushroom fajita
Red bell pepper stripes
Jackfruit

Frequently Asked Questions

Here my answers to the most common questions about carne asada.

What is the best meat for carne asada?

Carne asada means ‘roast meat.’ It means the beef is grilled on the BBQ after being seasoned or marinated.
As a result, the best part of beef to grill is chunk beef, especially the top blade part of the chunk, which is tender and contains a large amount of collagen and connective tissue that partially melts during grilling.
Skirt steak and flank steak are the two types of carne asada in most recipes.

What pairs with carne asada?

Carne Asada is great for filling tortillas and making tacos and burritos. It goes well with crunchy vegetables like coleslaw, shredded lettuce, red onion or salsa, and guacamole.

What is carne asada seasoning made of?

The seasoning is made of a blend of Mexican spices, mostly Mexican chili powder, paprika, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, and tajin, to add a citrus flavor.
Some spice blends are spicier than others, using black pepper, cayenne pepper, or red chili flakes.

What makes carne asada tough?

It’s the way you cut the meat that makes it tough. If you cut your steak parallel to the grain, you end up with a large piece of muscle – meaning it’s tough and chewy.
However, if you cut the carne asada perpendicular to the muscles, you have tender meat chunks.

More Seasoning Recipes

If you like to season and marinate your meat or veggies, try some of the following options:

Low Sodium Taco Seasoning

Pork Chop Marinade

Chicken Taco Seasoning

Chicken Marinade

Greek Chicken Marinade

Lemon Pepper Chicken Marinade

3-Ingredient Steak Marinade

About The Author

Carine Claudepierre

Hi, I'm Carine, the food blogger, author, recipe developer, published author of a cookbook and many ebooks, and founder of Sweet As Honey.

I have an Accredited Certificate in Nutrition and Wellness obtained in 2014 from Well College Global (formerly Cadence Health). I'm passionate about sharing all my easy and tasty recipes that are both delicious and healthy. My expertise in the field comes from my background in chemistry and years of following a keto low-carb diet. But I'm also well versed in vegetarian and vegan cooking since my husband is vegan.

I now eat a more balanced diet where I alternate between keto and a Mediterranean Diet

Cooking and Baking is my true passion. In fact, I only share a small portion of my recipes on Sweet As Honey. Most of them are eaten by my husband and my two kids before I have time to take any pictures!

All my recipes are at least triple tested to make sure they work and I take pride in keeping them as accurate as possible.

Browse all my recipes with my Recipe Index.

I hope that you too find the recipes you love on Sweet As Honey!

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Carne Asada Seasoning

What Is Carne Asada?