Everyday Steak Tacos | Rick Bayless Taco Manual

Say it’s Friday night and you want to do something a little special. Not “dinner party” or birthday special, but at least a feel-good exclamation point on a finished week. That’s the time for these steak tacos. All meat is special, but the cut I’m calling for here is more accessible than what you’d serve for a big steak cookout.

Even though many grilled steak taquerias in Mexico simply season the meat with salt, there are favorite places across the country that add more flavor. Usually it’s something with a lot of umami like one of the Knorr seasoning products (here I’m using a little Worcestershire and soy), maybe a little tang and spice, almost always a little something sweet. That’s the approach in this topical marinade–the kind you splash on and go right to grilling. Just know that the finished steak-and-onion filling is as delicious from a grill pan as it is from a grill.

I know you’ll balk at the quantity of garlic, but this marinade–very close to the one we’ve used on Frontera’s skirt steak tacos for nearly 4 decades–is just about perfect. We blanch the garlic to take away its harshness and bring out its natural sweetness, then we blend it with the other ingredients to a wonderfully clingy smoothness that coats the meat beautifully. To make this truly “everyday,” buy peeled garlic–just make sure that, for true flavor, your peeled garlic has no preservatives or additives.

00:00 Rick's Intro to Steak Tacos
01:05 Making the Garlic Marinade
05:13 Marinating the Steak
07:40 Grilling the Onion
10:22 Grilling the Steak
12:36 A Note on Grilling Time
13:21 Putting it all Together

[jbthor]

I did something like this 18 years ago. I can't remember where I saw the recipe, but it was from the region of Guadalajara, Mexico. I made a marinade and put the skirt steak in a let it marinade for 1 hour. I through it on my grill. Grilled it for about 4 minutes each side and took it off. I was making fajitas 😋👍

[danielghowell]

Definitely the channel I watch when looking for inspiration and great ideas, better go to than Food Network. Cheers.

[pedroballadares]

Gracias por todas la recetas de comida Mexicana y sobretodo por respetar a México como es ; un gran país y respetado en todo el mundo, gracias de nuevo
Chef Rick !😊👍🏼😌

[ja_Iam]

Thanks Rick !!Can’t wait to try this marinade. Steak tacos are a big hit here.

[SandiSheppard]

My mouth is watering!! Thank you Chef Rick!!🥰

[grailguns]

Thank you! I did this tonight with venison backstrap from my son’s deer. Only change was giving it 45 minutes of smoke before the marinade. OMG! There was none left! Even his girlfriend went back for seconds. He is taking this marinade back to college with his venison. He is going to make solid friends over this meal.

[purleybaker]

Thanks for the ideas, especially the marinade/sauce.

[Kay-rgsq]

Such a great Friday night dinner. Looks so delicious ❤ and I love the oil gun I need to go pick one up 😊

[lisafriend]

My mouth is watering. I will try this recipe.

[nathanjones]

Love this. Thanks, Chef! Will try this tomorrow night.

[josephplischke]

Always fantastic stuff, Rick ! 😀😀😀😀😀

[JandoMorales]

Rick, when are you going to make Sonoran-style carne asada tacos? We grill the meat over mesquite charcoal and serve it on flour tortillas made ideally with Sonora flour and pork lard. 😊

[Moonshine]

Chuck eye steaks are the only steaks I buy. Rib eye steaks are cut from ribs number 12 through 6… Chuck eyes are from the 5th rib, actually cut from the end of the last ribeye. It’s basically a ribeye steak, but for $5.99 instead of $11.99-$14.99

[FirstRoundBye]

I've always used flank steak for tacos but they are so darn expensive ... I'll have to try a chuck steak next time.

[GarrettWease]

*adds chuck eye to grocery list* wowee. thank you chef.

[TVaughan]

Chef - We made this dish tonight (Saturday night). So easy and so tasty! You are right - the correct grill matters; we need a real cast iron grill, rather than the wannabe we have. We paired it with homemade refried beans.

[dallasINtokyo]

Can you teach Skip to be as chill and nice as you are

[davidz]

Made these last night, along with his guac recipe. Delicious. Although the marinate recipe didn’t make a double batch with those amounts.

[Chesirecat]

Looks great, AND it uses readily available ingredients, AND DOESN’t take hours!

[robertarguello]

Hm? … The weekend is upon us. I just might make Sunday Night … steak taco night. 2tbs. of worsteshire sauce. 2tbs. of soy-sauce. 2tbs. of olive oil. An entire clump of garlic 🧄 microwaved in water. 2tbs of salt. 2-4tbs. of ground pepper and, some lime juice.