Carne asada is one of my favorite Mexican recipes. I love turning all things taco, fajita or burrito inside out and making it into a bowl. The combination of flavors, textures and colors in a bowl-style meal is sure to feed your soul. In this Chipotle Carne Asada Bowl recipe, the tender, flavorful, grilled steak maintains its rightful place as the centerpiece of the meal. It’s marinated in a chipotle style marinade, grilled and sliced thin, then layered on top of brown or white rice, corn and black bean salad, sliced avocado and fresh cilantro. Additional topping options include cotija cheese and a sriracha lime cream sauce if you’re feeling it.

This chipotle steak also makes the best carne asada tacos if you’re in more of a taco mood than a bowl mood. Bowls or tacos – with this chipotle carne asada recipe, you simply cannot go wrong with either one. You will love the end result – it rivals the restaurant version by leaps and bounds (in my humble opinion).

What is carne asada?

Translated, carne asada literally means grilled meat or roasted meat.

Although this chipotle carne asada recipe uses a non-traditional cut of meat, I can tell you it just might be the most tender, flavorful carne asada you’ve tried. This is due in part to three reasons:

1 – the cut of beef I used – a flat iron steak as opposed to skirt steak or flank steak

2 – the quality of the cut of beef (from Crowd Cow)

3- the flavor of the marinade

A few simple ingredients and some dry spices combined with a tender cut of high quality beef and you will have mouthwatering carne asada steak.

Although traditional carne asada typically calls for skirt steak or flank steak as the most popular choices, I chose to use a flat iron steak in this recipe, and let me tell you I’m so glad I did. You really can’t go wrong with this cut of meat.

What’s the difference between a flank steak, skirt steak and a flat iron steak?

Flank Steak

A flank steak is from the abdominal area of the cow and contains a lot of muscle. It’s typically thicker and wider than a skirt steak. Because this cut of meat is from the stomach area of the cow, it contains muscle fibers that can be tough. Tenderizing this type of steak is important. It has good flavor and accepts marinades well.

Skirt Steak

A skirt steak is from the diaphragm area of the cow and is thinner and less wide than a flank steak. It has good flavor but also contains significant muscle fibers, making this cut of meat even more tough than the flank steak.  This cut also accepts marinades well. Since this cut of meat can be tough and is also usually thin, it’s important to tenderize it and cook it quickly over high heat.

Flat Iron Steak

A flat iron steak comes from the shoulder of the steer. Specifically, it comes from the chuck region of the cow. Flat iron steaks are extremely tender and have some marbling in them and therefore are also full of flavor. It is thicker and more dense and due to the marbling, it is not as lean as the flank steak or skirt steak. It does not require tenderizing, but you should marinade it for 2-4 hours to absorb the flavors of the chipotle marinade. Based on the tenderness and flavor in a flat iron steak, it makes a great choice for a carne asada recipe.

Chipotle Carne Asada Bowl

Crowd Cow

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I’m going to give a lot of credit for the wow factor of this dish to Crowd Cow for the high quality beef from their company. The best aspect of purchasing meat and seafood from Crowd Cow is they source their products directly from farmers they know and trust.

Sure, could you get your beef from the grocery store? Of course you can. I assure you, it will not be the level of quality purchased from Crowd Cow and you will likely have no idea what farm it came from.

Here are a few things you should know about Crowd Cow.

Crowd Cow believes in making a meaningful connection between the consumer and the food we eat. They value high-quality, great taste and transparency and believe we should know where our food comes from. They only partner with ethical farms and fisheries and in fact the source of the meat or seafood is printed on each product package. There is a listing on their website of each farm they partner with so you can learn about the practices of that specific farm.

Knowing Your Farm

The meat from Crowd Cow that I used in this recipe came from Royal Ranch Farms and Broadleaf Farms. If you purchase from Crowd Cow, you can feel good about knowing exactly where your food came from and if this is important to you, you can learn about their farming practices. I read each farm’s website and felt really great about using these products to feed my family.

Caring About the Environment

Crowd Cow seeks out and finds the best-in-class producers and connects those farmers and fisheries to consumers. They care about sustainability and ethical practices. Crowd Cow values practices that are good for the animals, good for the consumers and good for the planet, from the farming to the processing, packaging and shipping. The products themselves are packaged in fully recyclable and compostable materials, minimizing waste. They also seek to offset the carbon emissions of each order. Read all about Crowd Cow’s practices to keep their orders carbon neutral here.

If you care about the quality of the food you eat, the practices of the sourcing farms, as well as the environment, this is a feel-good company to check out.

Becoming a Crowd Cow Member

You can become a Crowd Cow member for free. Becoming a member provides discounts on the products whether you choose to buy products individually or on a recurring subscription. You can customize the box to select the products that you want and you can cancel, reschedule or modify your order at any time.

Give a one month subscription a try or simply order a couple flat iron steaks for this recipe.

New Members Get $8 OFF first orders PLUS $100 of Free Meat PLUS Free Shipping from Crowd Cow! Use Promo Code SAVE108 at Checkout.

Now onto our Chipotle Carne Asada Bowl – let’s do this.

Carne Asada Ingredients:

• 2 – .5 lb flat iron steaks
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
• 1 tbsp honey mustard (I know not a traditional carne asada ingredient, but trust me)
• 2 cloves smashed garlic
• 1/8 cup orange juice, no pulp
• 1/8 cup of fresh lime juice (1/2 a lime)
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp chipotle powder
• ¼ tsp coarse salt
• Fresh cracked black pepper

Black Bean and Corn Salad Ingredients:

• ½ of a 10-ounce bag of frozen organic non-GMO corn
• 15.5 ounce can organic black beans, rinsed
• 4 small or 3 large plum tomatoes, diced
• ½ jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced
• 2 green onions chopped
• 1/8 cup fresh cilantro chopped
• ½ of a lime juiced
• 1/8 teaspoon sea salt
• Fresh ground black pepper

Bowl Ingredients:

• Brown Rice, cooked according to package directions
• Avocado, sliced
• Green onions, sliced
• Cotija cheese (optional)

Sriracha Lime Cream (optional):

• 1 cup sour cream
• 2 tbsp sriracha
• 1 tbsp fresh lime juice
• 1/8 tsp sea salt

Directions for the Chipotle Carne Asada:

In a large bowl, combine all the marinade ingredients except for the salt. First combine the wet ingredients and then add the dry spices.

Pour the combined marinade over the beef. Using a fork or meat tenderizer, poke a few holes in each steak. You do not need to overdo the tenderizing process with a flat iron steak though, as it is already a very tender cut of meat.

Marinade your steak for a minimum of 1 hour, but for best results, marinate 2-4 hours. However, based on the acid from the citrus, do not marinate for longer than 4 hours.

Bring your steak to room temperature before grilling.

When the steak is ready to gril, prepare your outdoor grill to medium high heat. Season the steaks with coarse salt.

Grill your steak on a hot grill to your desired internal temperature.

As a general rule of thumb, see below.

Internal temperatures:

Rare – cook to an internal temperature of 125 °F or 52 °C

Medium rare – cook to an internal temperature of 135 °F or 57 °C

Medium – cook to an internal temperature of 145 °F or 63 °C

Medium well – cook to an internal temperature of 150 °F or 66 °C

Well done – cook to an internal temperature of 160 °F or 71 °C

Let the steak rest for 5-10 minutes on a cutting board before slicing.

Slice the steak against the grain into thin strips.

Directions for the Black Bean and Corn Salad:

Steam the corn in a steaming basket for 5 minutes.

Rinse and drain the black beans.

Combine the cooked corn, rinsed black beans, seeded and diced tomatoes, seeded and diced jalapenos and sliced green onions.

Squeeze the lime juice over the salad, top with the fresh cilantro and season with salt and pepper.

Give it a good stir and there you have it!

Assemble the Chipotle Carne Asada Bowl:

Layer the thin slices of carne asada steak onto brown rice and top with the Black Bean and Corn Salad and sliced avocado. Sprinkle with sliced green onions, fresh cilantro and cotija cheese (if using). Drizzle with the Sriracha Lime Cream if you prefer an added shot of flavor.

Enjoy your meal! Love your people, cook them healthy food!

If you like bowl recipes, you may also like our Greek Chicken Bowl with Tzatziki Sauce.

Chipotle Carne Asada Bowl

In this Chipotle Carne Asada Bowl recipe, the tender, flavorful, grilled steak maintains its rightful place as the centerpiece of the meal. It's marinated in a chipotle style marinade, grilled and sliced thin, then layered on top of brown or white rice, corn and black bean salad, sliced avocado and fresh cilantro.

5 from 3 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 2 hours hrs

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Total Time 2 hours hrs 20 minutes mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine Mexican

Servings 4

Calories 855 kcal

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

Carne Asada Ingredients:

• 2 - .5 lb flat iron steaks
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
• 1 tbsp honey mustard I know not a traditional carne asada ingredient, but trust me
• 2 cloves smashed garlic
• 1/8 cup orange juice no pulp
• 1/8 cup of fresh lime juice 1/2 a lime
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp chipotle powder
• ¼ tsp coarse salt
• Fresh cracked black pepper

Black Bean and Corn Salad Ingredients:

• 5 ounce bag of frozen organic non-GMO corn (half a bag)
• 15.5 ounce can organic black beans rinsed
• 4 small or 3 large plum tomatoes diced
• ½ jalapeno pepper seeded and diced
• 2 green onions chopped
• 1/8 cup fresh cilantro chopped
• ½ of a lime, juiced
• 1/8 teaspoon sea salt
• Fresh ground black pepper

Bowl Ingredients:

• Brown Rice cooked according to package directions
• Avocado sliced
• Green onions sliced
• Cotija cheese optional

Sriracha Lime Cream (optional):

• 1 cup sour cream
• 2 tbsp sriracha
• 1 tbsp fresh lime juice
• 1/8 tsp sea salt

Instructions

 

Directions for the Chipotle Carne Asada:

• In a large bowl, combine all the marinade ingredients except for the salt. First combine the wet ingredients and then add the dry spices.
• Pour the combined marinade. over the beef. Using a fork or meat tenderizer, poke some holes in the steak. You do not need to overdo the tenderizing process with a flat iron steak though, as it is already a very tender cut of meat.
• Marinade your steak for a minimum of 1 hour, but for best results, marinate 2-4 hours. However, based on the acid from the citrus, do not marinate for longer than 4 hours.
• Bring your steak to room temperature before grilling.
• While the steak is marinating, prepare your outdoor grill to medium high heat. When ready to grill, season the steaks with the 1/4 teaspoon salt.
• Grill your steak on a hot grill to your desired internal temperature.
• As a general rule of thumb, see below.

  Rare - cook to an internal temperature of 125 °F or 52 °C

  Medium rare - cook to an internal temperature of 135 °F or 57 °C

  Medium - cook to an internal temperature of 145 °F or 63 °C

  Medium well - cook to an internal temperature of 150 °F or 66 °C

  Well done - cook to an internal temperature of 160 °F or 71 °C
• Let the steak rest for 5-10 minutes on a cutting board before slicing.
• Slice the steak against the grain into thin slices.

Directions for the Black Bean and Corn Salad:

• Steam the corn in a steaming basket for 5 minutes.
• Rinse and drain the black beans.
• Combine the cooked corn, rinsed black beans, seeded and diced tomatoes, seeded and diced jalapenos and sliced green onions.
• Squeeze the lime juice over the salad, top with the fresh cilantro and season with salt and pepper.
• Give it a good stir and there you have it!

Assemble the Chipotle Carne Asada Bowl:

• Layer the thin slices of carne asada steak onto brown rice and top with the Black Bean and Corn Salad and sliced avocado.
• Sprinkle with sliced green onions, fresh cilantro and cotija cheese (if using).
• If making the Srirache Lime Cream dressing, mix the sour cream, sriracha sauce, lime juice and sea salt together. Drizzle the sauce on top of the bowl ingredients if you prefer an added shot of flavor.

Notes

Nutritional facts are estimates only and provided for your convenience.

Nutrition Facts

Chipotle Carne Asada Bowl

Amount per Serving

Calories

855

% Daily Value*

Fat

 

37

g

57

%

Saturated Fat

 

13

g

81

%

Trans Fat

 

1

g

Polyunsaturated Fat

 

3

g

Monounsaturated Fat

 

16

g

Cholesterol

 

105

mg

35

%

Sodium

 

1198

mg

52

%

Potassium

 

1580

mg

45

%

Carbohydrates

 

95

g

32

%

Fiber

 

16

g

67

%

Sugar

 

6

g

7

%

Protein

 

38

g

76

%

Vitamin A

 

1463

IU

29

%

Vitamin C

 

38

mg

46

%

Calcium

 

170

mg

17

%

Iron

 

8

mg

44

%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.