Instant Pot Carne Asada

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Instant Pot Carne Asada is tender, juicy and made easy in the pressure cooker with skirt steak and a homemade marinade. Serve it with rice or pile it on tacos or nachos for an easy weeknight meal!

Carne asada is a Mexican beef dish that involves marinated skirt steak or flank steak that’s grilled and thinly sliced before serving.

If you don’t have a grill, you’ll love this Instant Pot version. You just brown your steak on the sauté setting and then cook it on high for 10 minutes!

It’s a spin on traditional carne asada, but I promise, you still get the same tender and juicy results!

What I love most about this Instant Pot carne asada is that it’s fast, mostly hands off and you get consistent results!

If you have a little more time to plan for this meal, you can also try this sous vide carne asada recipe. It takes some extra time, but the results are also consistent and delicious!

Why this recipe works

1. While skirt steak is a little more expensive these days, you can also make carne asada with flank steak or flap steak, which are more budget friendly cuts of beef.
2. This is almost a dump and go recipe. Aside from browning the steak for a few minutes, the rest of the recipe is pretty hands off in the Instant Pot. You don’t need to babysit a steak on the grill!
3. Marinating is essential to great tasting carne asada and the homemade marinade in this recipe has amazing Mexican flavor.

Ingredients

For the full list of ingredients and quantities used, refer to the recipe card at the end of this post.

You’ll need 1 pound of skirt steak for this recipe. Skirt steak is a long, flat cut of beef that’s taken from the plate area of the cow. It has a coarse grain and marbling. You can also use flank steak, which is taken from the flank area, or flap steak, which is taken from the bottom sirloin.

Some of the marinade ingredients include orange juice, lime juice, chipotle pepper, toasted cumin seeds, soy sauce and brown sugar.

As skirt steak has tough connective tissue, the orange juice and lime juice are added as the acid helps to tenderize the beef.

To add a spicy kick, you’ll need 1 chipotle pepper. Make sure you mash it before adding it to the marinade.

For a warm, earthy flavor, you’ll need 1 teaspoon of toasted cumin seeds. All you need to do to toast them is to heat the cumin seeds over medium heat and toss every few minutes until they're fragrant.

One tablespoon of soy sauce adds a salty, umami flavor. You can substitute it with tamari if you prefer.

To add a hint of sweetness and take the edge of the acidic ingredients, you’ll need one tablespoon of brown sugar. You can also use coconut sugar to achieve the same results.

Step by step instructions

STEP 1: Combine all the marinade ingredients in a bowl.

STEP 2: Place the beef in a ziplock bag and add the marinade. Let it sit in the fridge overnight.

STEP 3: Heat the Instant Pot on the sauté setting until hot. Remove the beef from the bag, reserving the marinade.

STEP 4: Add the beef and brown, about 2 minutes per side.

STEP 5: Add the marinade and pressure cook on high for 10 minutes.

STEP 6: Natural release 10 minutes, then use the quick release for any remaining pressure.

STEP 7: Slice against the grain and serve with accoutrements. 

Expert tips

1. For the best flavor, the steak should be marinated overnight. If you’re short on time, I recommend trying to marinate for at least a few hours.
2. Make sure you brown the steak first before pressure cooking as this will add flavor to the carne asada.
3. When browning the steak, just do so for 2 minutes per side. If you over cook it, you may end up with a tough steak.
4. Don’t throw out the marinade. You’ll need it as the cooking liquid in the Instant Pot.
5. If you don’t use liquid when cooking in the Instant Pot, you may get a burn message.
6. To get tender strips of beef, cut the steak against the grain as thinly as possible. If you cut it with the grain, the steak strips will end up tough and chewy. 
7. Make sure you naturally release the pressure for 10 minutes as the steak will continue cooking during this time.
8. While this carne asada takes just 10 minutes on high pressure to cook in the Instant Pot, you’ll need to factor in time for pressure to build and release.

Common questions

Storage instructions

Leftover carne asada tastes amazing the next day, so feel free to use this recipe for meal prepping.

Just store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge and it will last for up to 4 days.

To reheat, you can microwave the steak or reheat it in a skillet on the stovetop over medium heat. Just add a splash of broth or water to ensure it doesn't dry out.

Carne asada can also be frozen. Just let it cool in the fridge, then place in a freezer safe container or bag and store in the freezer for up to 3 months. Let thaw in the fridge before reheating.

Serving options

• Serve carne asada as tacos with corn or flour tortillas or on top of nachos.
• Toppings can include tomato salsa, tomatillo salsa, avocado crema, diced red onions, cilantro and cotija cheese.
• It’s also delicious served in rice bowls with Instant Pot Spanish rice, Instant Pot cilantro lime rice or with Instant Pot black beans and rice.

Did you make this recipe? Leave a comment below and let me know how it turned out!