In this post, you can find a recipe for an easy Homemade Salvadoran-style carne asada marinade.
This burst of beautiful weather that we are getting this week in Maryland has inspired me to get out some of our favorite spring and summer recipes.
This week I am going to post our delicious Carne Asada Tacos. Since we use the same marinade for our tacos in other recipes, I wanted to create this post to use as a reference for future posts. So here is a quick guide on how to make an easy Salvadoran-styled Carne Asada marinade.
To add some context: the majority of this blog’s content focuses on Bilingual Beginnings—tips on raising bilingual children and resources on raising kids in Spanish. One advice I always reiterate throughout my posts about raising kids in a target language is that it is VERY important to introduce kids to the target CULTURE!
I make sure to include the Salvadoran culture into every aspect of my son Lennox’s life through music, history, literature, and most definitely through FOOD!
Lennox gets exposed to Salvadoran food daily, and I can only give thanks to his Papi, Carlos, for this exposure. Carlos was born in El Salvador and is a chef—a GREAT ONE at that.
Enough with the nonsense. Let me get you the short and straightforward recipe for this delicious marinade which will leave your palate begging for MÁS!
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Prepping the carne asada marinade
Prepping the carne asada marinade takes about 5-10 minutes, depending on how long it takes you to cut the vegetables.
When I prepare the ingredients, it takes closer to 10 minutes. On the other hand, Carlos has been making this marinade his entire life, so he can basically do it in his sleep. Okay, that’s an exaggeration, but he can definitely cut the ingredients pretty quick!
The quantity of marinade here is approximately what we would use to yield two pounds of carne asada meat, but there is no harm in having too much.
Sometimes, we have leftover marinade and store it in a storage container if we decide to roast any more meat for the week.
Here is a list of items you will need for your homemade carne asada marinade
- Two tablespoons of Mustard
- Two tablespoons of Mayonnaise
- 1 1/2 cup of Mojo Criollo
- 1 pack of Goya Sazón Con Culantro y Achiote
- 3/4 cup of diced red onion
- 1/3 cup of chopped fresh cilantro leaves
- For even more flavor, you can add a clove or two of minced garlic
- Salt to taste
How to prepare your marinade
- Dice the onions and chop the cilantro and place them in a medium-sized mixing bowl.
- If using garlic, mince the garlic and add to the bowl.
- Add in the Mojo Criollo, mustard, mayo, and Goya Sazón packet and salt to taste.
- Mix.
For some recipes, such as the Carne Asada Tacos, Carlos will take all of these ingredients, put them into the blender, and blend them until smooth. This technique combines the flavors beautifully and allows for even coverage of the meat.
We use this technique more for recipes in which we are cutting the meat before cooking it, such as tacos, over recipes where we leave the meat in flanks, such as carne asada.
Once your marinade is ready, add your meat.
You can either let your meat sit in the marinade for a few hours, even overnight, but we find the meat to be just as enjoyable after only a few minutes in the marinade!
You can let me know how you like it best by leaving us a comment in the comment section below!
We hope you enjoy this easy carne asada marinade. It goes well on so many recipes, especially on roasted chicken!
¡Hasta la próxima!
Check out some recipes:
- Step By Step Salvadoran Pescado Frito
- Typical Salvadoran Shrimp Ceviche
- How to Make Salvadoran Carne Asada Tacos
