25 Simple Arrachera Recipes You NEED To Try

For those unfamiliar with Mexican cuisine, traditional arrachera is skirt steak that is marinated, thinly sliced, and served with seasonings.

You can create some truly strong flavors by marinating the meat for a few hours.

Simply grill the pieces of steak and then serve on warmed tortillas with your choice of taco toppings. That could be cilantro, onion, hot sauce, cheese or whatever you like.

1. Traditional Arrachera

For traditional arrachera, layer steak in a casserole dish then sprinkle on sazon, lime juice, adobo seasoning, and chopped onion. Pour beer on top, cover, and leave in the refrigerator for between one and 24 hours.

Discard the marinade and then grill the steak until slightly tender in the center for medium doneness, then serve.

2. Arrachera Borracha Tacos

Season some skinless skirt steak with seasoning, place in a Ziploc bag with the beer then seal.

This marinade only needs to be given a couple of hours in the fridge so make it ahead. Once it is time to eat, grill the meat until it hits an internal temperature of 145°F, leave to rest and slice thinly. 

3. Steak Arrachera

For this recipe, create a marinade in a Ziploc bag from red wine, onion slices, Worcestershire sauce, and ground coriander.

As well as the steak, marinade pepper pieces for around 48 hours. You only need to grill the pepper for a few minutes and then grill the meat just how you like it.

4. Tex-Mex Arrachera Fajitas

This recipe includes a more complex marinade yet the method largely remains the same.

Simply blitz together a quartered onion, minced garlic cloves, lime juice, soy sauce, grapeseed oil, dried guajillo chilies, ground cumin, smoked paprika, unbleached cane sugar, and beef bouillon powder. 

5. Arrachera Tacos

This marinade reverts back to using lager beer in the marinade alongside soy sauce, the zest, and lime juice, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and garlic powder. Around four hours should be enough time for the steak to marinade. 

Meanwhile, pickle some chopped onion with salt and lime juice. Pat the meat dry, rub oil over, sear it, leave to rest, and then slice across the grain.

6. Mexican Arrachera

For a coarse marinade, grind together cilantro, ground cumin, lemon juice, paprika, and salt. Leave the steak to marinade for a couple of hours then grill at a high heat until you have some tasty grill marks. 

7. Arrachera With A Spicy Citrus Marinade

For a potent marinade, combine the juice of a lime and an orange with garlic cloves, cilantro, de-stemmed jalapeños, Mexican oregano, ground cumin, soy sauce, olive oil, and black pepper.

Merely half an hour may be enough to leave the steak to marinade then you only need a couple of minutes grilling time (for more minute steak recipes, read here). 

8. Authentic Arrachera

You can create a simple marinade from lime juice, jalapeños, minced garlic cloves, and salt. Leave the marinade in a Ziploc bag and seal in the steak to refrigerate for over eight hours.

Turn the steak occasionally then drain the marinade and leave the meat to sit at room temperature for close to an hour before grilling. 

9. Arrachera Fajitas With A Root Salad

 You will want your steak to marinade for at least two hours in olive oil, honey, white wine vinegar, garlic, and pepper.

While the steak is marinating, create a single salad from grated carrots and beets with finely chopped parsley. Even the dressing is simple enough to toss with the salad of apple vinegar, yogurt, olive oil, salt and pepper.

10. Arrachera With Chimichurri

Marinade your steak in olive oil, freshly squeezed orange and lime juice, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, apple cider vinegar, and garlic cloves. That’s simple enough, so is the grilling.

The Chimichurri sauce requires a blender to blitz together fresh parsley, cilantro, olive oil, onion, garlic cloves, freshly squeezed lime juice, red wine vinegar, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. Simply drizzle the Chimichurri over the steak and serve, ideally in a taco. 

11. Pan-Fried Skirt Steak

Arrachera can simply be pan-fried skirt steak which is pat-dried and then seasoned generously. Just ensure that it reaches an internal temperature of at least 130°F before resting and slicing. 

12. Brazilian Skirt Steak

You will need a saucepan as well as a grill for this recipe. In the saucepan, melt butter and cook garlic over a low heat until golden then add paprika and remove from the heat when fragrant.

Stir in lemon juice and salt then keep warm while you grill seasoned skirt steaks. Let the steak rest and then slice across the green and spoon the paprika butter on top.  

13. Gochujang-Marinated Skirt Steak

For an Asian take on skirt steak, create a marinade from olive oil, Korean hot pepper paste, rice vinegar, grated red onion, and Kosher salt.

You can leave the steak for up to 12 hours with the marinade before pickling onion slices in salt and rice vinegar before quickly grilling the marinated steak. Serve with the pickled onion, tortillas, and even more gochujang.

14. Balsamic Skirt Steak

With only a few ingredients, this is a really simple, tasty recipe. Create a marinade from balsamic vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, dark brown sugar, and minced garlic.

Leave the steak to marinade at room temperature for 25 minutes and then grill the steak over a medium-high heat. 

15. Carne Asada Nachos

For possibly the best nachos, make a sauce from soy sauce, freshly squeezed lime juice, minced garlic, chili powder, ground cumin, and oregano.

Cook the steak with the sauce until the mixture has reduced then place on top of a layer of tortilla chips on a baking sheet. Add cheese and pico de gallo then bake until the cheese is melted then top with jalapeño, avocado, cilantro, and queso blanco. 

16. Carne Asada

This Carne Asada recipe uses orange juice, lime juice, white wine vinegar and Ancho chili powder to give the steak a deliciously tangy heat (for some simple ancho paste recipes, read here). 

17. Authentic Carne Asada

Similarly, this Carne Asada recipe uses orange and lime juice, with malt vinegar to give it a punch.

18. Carne Asada Bean Soup

You do not have to wrap up your arrachera as you can simply use the prepared meat for bean soup.

Simply prepare the skirt steak as you would then create the soup from onion, peppers, tomatoes, garlic, and beans before adding chicken stock, heavy cream, and cheese. 

19. Borracha-Marinated Skirt Steak

This marinade is a little more lengthy yet is wonderfully complex. Grind together onions, garlic, and serrano peppers with salt then add a few other ingredients.

These include juices from a lemon, an orange, and a lime with chopped cilantro, smoked paprika, Ancho powder, ground cumin, oregano, pepper, and Mexican pepper.

Marinate the steak for at least six hours then grill until it reaches your desired doneness. 

20. Chilaquiles

You can create several meals with some marinated skirt steak. For Chilaquiles, fry eggs and prepare a tomato and tomatillo sauce with chiles.

To assemble, place corn totopos on a baking sheet, spoon over the sauce, add cream, and then arrange the steak strips and fried eggs. Top with your favorite toppings including tomato, red onion, or avocado. 

21. Bite-Sized Skirt Steak

Cooking skirt steak over charcoal should give a wonderful flavor. Try to help it along by creating a marinade from soy sauce, oil, scallions, lime juice, garlic, cumin, and red pepper.

Blow away the ash and cook the skirt steak directly on the coals, leave to rest and then slice it up. 

22. Healthy Carne Asada

With white vinegar, coconut aminos, as well as lime and orange juice, you can create this delicious Carne Asada marinade for your skirt steak.

23. Carne Asada For One

If you just have a single tortilla, you can create a simple meal and you only need a few cupboard ingredients for the marinade including olive oil, soy sauce, and apple cider vinegar. 

24. Carne Asada Fries

You can serve the Carne Asada however you like, but a layer of French fries with melted cheese and pico de gallo on top is truly decadent.

25. Carne Asada Tacos

Then there are Carne Asada Tacos which still involve a vinegar and lime juice marinade. The key difference is the Lime Crema which is Mexican sour cream mixed with lime zest and lime juice.

Bonus Section: Wrapped Arrachera

Arguably the best way to serve grilled skirt steak is wrapped, either in a burrito or tacos.

Arrachera Steak Burrito

This marinade uses lager, Ancho chili powder, Achiote seasoning, salt, and pepper. Once the steak has marinated for at least two hours, grill it over a medium heat.

Plate up with a warmed tortilla, black beans, rice, sliced steak, and cheese then wrap up in a burrito. 

Double Decker Tacos

Of course, if we are talking about wrapping arrachera then a tortilla is the traditional place for it.

Simply create a batch of seasoned skirt steak, leave it to rest, slice it up and then layer it with refried beans and Monterey Jack cheese. You can also add further toppings like sour cream, salsa, lime juice, cilantro, and avocado.  

Tacos de Arrachera

Beef is King in Mexico so treat it with respect. Brown some spring onions then pan-fry strips of skirt steak with plenty of salt. Once brown, serve on a warm tortilla with the spring onions and lime slices.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Flank Steak The Same As Skirt Steak?

Skirt and flank steak are easily confused yet they are different cuts. Flank is shorter, wider, and an overall thicker cut of meat. Both skirt and flank steak come from the same area of the cow yet flank steak should have a little less fat than skirt steak. 

Why Is Marinating Skirt Steak So Important?

Skirt steak is known to be a tough cut of beef and it typically takes longer to cook to reach a tender stage. This is where marinating comes in as the enzymes can break down the meat and make it quicker to grill. 

Final Thoughts

If you do decide to head to a Mexican grocery store for your arrachera, request that you have it run through the machine. This should mean it is tenderized so the seasonings and marinade can get into the meat better.