Easy Steak Tacos
A quick, easy weeknight dinner.
Equipment
- Cast-iron skillet or large frying pan
- Large saucepan
Ingredients
- 8-12 flour or corn tortillas
- 4 beef steaks ideally something inexpensive such as flank, bavette, skirt or rump – marinate for 1-2 hours if using flank, bavette or skirt)
- 1 small brown onion
- 1 small red onion
- 1 red bell pepper
- 1 green bell pepper
- ½ tbsp smoked paprika
- ½ tbsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp chilli flakes I like ancho, arbol, or pasilla
- 1 tsp dried oregano ideally Mexican oregano
- 1 lime juice only
- 2 tsp sugar
- Salt
- Neutral cooking oil such as vegetable or rapeseed oil
- Fresh coriander to garnish
- Optional toppings such as sliced avocado, guacamole, sour cream, salsa, cheese, or refried beans
Instructions
- To begin, add the steaks to a large plate or mixing bowl and add the smoked paprika, ground cumin, chilli, dried oregano, and a generous pinch of salt. Rub all over the steaks, then add a healthy splash of cooking oil and the lime juice. Rub again and leave to marinate for 20-30 minutes.
- While the steak is marinating, roughly slice the onions and de-seed the peppers and cut into strips.
- Heat a cast-iron skillet or large frying pan until screaming hot and add the onions. Cook for 2-3 minutes, turning often, until lightly coloured, then transfer to a large saucepan and continue to cook over low heat, stirring often.
- Add the peppers, skin-side down, to the hot skillet and cook over high heat until the skin blisters. This should take 2-3 minutes. Turn the peppers over and continue to cook for a minute or two.
- Add the peppers to the saucepan with the onions and add 2 teaspoons of sugar. Increase the heat and stir often for a minute until the sugar dissolves and the onions and peppers begin to caramelise. Add a splash of water to deglaze the pan and continue to cook on high heat until the water dissolves. Once dissolved, reduce the heat to its lowest setting.
- While the water is dissolving, add the steak to the hot skillet and cook over high heat for around 2-3 minutes on each side, or to your liking. Remove from the pan and rest for 5-10 minutes before slicing into approx. 8-10mm strips.
- While the steak rests, return the peppers and onions to the skillet. Decrease the heat to the lowest possible and continue to cook while you warm the tortillas.
- In a separate pan, warm the tortillas for 15-20 seconds on each side then eat as quickly as possible, filling the tortillas with the steak slices, onion-peppers mixture and optional toppings such as sliced avocado, guacamole, sour cream, salsa, cheese, refried beans, and a good pinch of fresh coriander.