Asada Burrito Recipe

Stuffed with golden rice, creamy pinto beans, char-grilled marinated skirt steak, and the works, San Francisco's Mission burrito is a Cal-Mex classic.

Kiano Moju is a Los Angeles-based culinary producer, food writer, recipe developer, and on-screen personality who contributes to Serious Eats. She is the founder of Jikoni, a creative culinary studio, site, educational platform, and YouTube channel focused on showcasing African culture and people through the lens of food.   

The mission burrito is well known for its comical size and heft, stuffed with things like grilled meat, rice, beans, and an array of condiments. Though it comes from San Francisco's Mission District, this taqueria burrito is consumed all over the Bay Area and beyond via taqueria-inspired chain restaurants like Chipotle.

Carne Asada Breakfast Burrito (freezer Friendly) Kroll's Korner

Many of my high school years in the San Francisco Bay Area were spent persuading my mom to stop by our local taqueria, El Balazo, for dinner so I could order a steak burrito,

. For a couple dollars extra, the mountain of burrito got slathered with extra guacamole, cheese, and a blanket of sour cream. There was always something joyful about watching my overstuffed burrito get tightly wrapped, most of the time with two sheets of foil to keep it from bursting at the seams.

El Balazo's burritos weren't just a hit with me, they were a popular choice for much of my Kenyan family. Living in California and with no Kenyan restaurants nearby, we really only had two choices when we wanted familiar food: Indian or Mexican, two cuisines that share a lot of flavors with Kenyan cuisine. When my grandfather, a very picky eater, visited the US for the first time, the only food he enjoyed was from the taqueria, specifically the carne asada—marinated and grilled beef.

How To Make Carne Asada Burritos

In this recipe, I've recreated the Mission-style carne asada burrito he loves so much. The beef is marinated in a flavorful mix of orange and lime juices, garlic, cilantro, cumin, and chipotle powder. It's a bit more streamlined than Kenji's carne asada recipe, a deliberate choice since the burrito has so many other components that will both take more of your time to prepare, and also will cover up some of the finer points of his marinade. That said, his recipe can be used here if you prefer.

The beef is preferably cooked on a grill, as explained in the recipe below, but it can also be cooked indoors in a cast iron skillet. Just be sure to keep the windows open and your fan on, since a good sear (and all the smoke that comes with it) is what you're after.

To cook the steak in a skillet, lightly grease a large cast iron skillet and heat over high heat until just starting to smoke. Working in batches if necessary and re-greasing the skillet between batches, cook skirt steak, flipping every 30 seconds, until well browned on both sides and the steaks register 120°F (50°C) on an instant-read thermometer, 5 to 10 minutes.

California Burrito • The Candid Cooks

The beans can be made up to three days in advance and refrigerated in an airtight container; rewarm gently before using, loosening with a small amount of water, if needed.

*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2, 000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

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Carne Asada Burrito

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It’s what you miss most about San Diego besides the weather when you leave. It’s the first place you go when you get back.

For me, it’s the carne asada burrito or torta. I’ve been trying to recreate it for years now that we live on the east coast. I’ve gotten pretty close here with this recipe. I’ve made it slightly more elaborate than you’d get in a taco shop, but not much. Carne asada translates to “grilled steak.” I’m not grilling it here. I’m cooking it in a cast iron pan. In a taco shop, they’d cook it on the flat top. You can use a variety of cuts. I always use steak tips or “flap steak” It’s a nice tender, marbled steak. You need a bit of fat in the steak.

Healthy Carne Asada Burrito Recipe— Eat This Not That

Chop the steak and add the garlic salt, soy and olive oil. Let sit for 15 minutes or so or place in the fridge until you’re ready to cook.

Heat a cast iron pan on high. Once the pan is hot, cook the steak in batches. Don’t crowd the pan and don’t stir the steak much. Place it in the pan and let it sit for a couple minutes. Stir and let it cook another minute or two. You should have a bit of charred steak here and there. That’s what you want.

On a griddle, at 300º, place a tortilla and cook for 30 seconds or so. Flip and add a small handful of shredded cheese and a pinch of the scallions. Cook for another 30 seconds or so until the cheese begins to melt. Remove to a plate. In the center of the tortilla add steak, guacamole, pico de gallo, queso fresco, and chipolte mayo. Fold burrito. Pull in the left and right side and meet in the middle. Push down a little. Pull the tortilla end closest to you to the opposite side and tuck. Tuck in the left and the right side to round out and roll forward to finish.

San Diego's Famous Carne Asada California Burrito Recipe

Now I wouldn’t normally tell someone how to eat something, but there is a special way to eat this burrito. Each bite needs a little hot sauce. I like Valentina, Cholupa, or El Yucateco. Or you can make your own using this recipe. It’s what you’d get in a taco shop.My favorite Carne Asada Burrito recipe is simply a warmed tortilla slathered with creamy refried beans and topped with succulent slices of carne asada, jack cheese, buttery avocado, spicy pico de gallo, and rich sour cream (or Mexican crema). Carne Asada Burritos make a seriously satisfying meal and are a hearty and delicious way to feed a hungry group!

There are a couple of things I love about Carne Asada Burritos and Carne Asada Tacos, beyond the fact that I love to eat them! One, they stretch the steak, which tends to be the expensive part of the meal, without compromising flavor. Two, they’re such a versatile crowd pleaser – serve tortillas and toppings family style and let everyone assemble their own exactly the way they like it. A fun and festive meal with the bonus of being less work for the hosts!

In Mexico, it’s not uncommon to find burritos made with just refried beans and meat wrapped in a flour tortilla. But here in the US, they vary widely and are often loaded with ingredients like: Spanish or regular rice, lettuce, salsa, cheese, guacamole, sour cream, grilled onions, etc. Some even include French fries, like the ‘mythical’ California Burrito.

Carne Asada Super Burrito From The Neighborhood Taco Truck

I have to admit that rice (or Spanish rice) is the one ingredient that I avoid when ordering a burrito. To me it just seems like filler and distracts from the burrito’s superstar ingredients, i.e., everything else! I may be in the minority on this since it’s such a common component, so feel free to add it here. And if you’re serving these to a group, it doesn’t hurt to have rice available as a topping (I typically do).

To wrap a burrito: layer the bottom center of a large flour tortilla with your desired ingredients, leaving a generous border on all sides and taking care not to overstuff. Fold the edge of the tortilla nearest you over the filling, using your fingers to enclose the filling. Fold tortilla edges toward the center and continue rolling until you have a tightly wrapped cylinder.

You can assemble Carne Asada Burritos with steak fresh off of the grill (or Carne Asada made in the oven), but it’s also

Baja Style Carne Asada Burritos