Crock Pot Carne Asada style slow cooker beef recipe is an easy to make Mexican food main dish that’s perfect for Taco Tuesday, nachos, fajitas, street tacos, chili, burritos, or any other fun dinners!
It’s a simple and delicious way to make a weeknight meal into a taco bar party.
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Please let me know if you have any questions about this recipe. I read all the comments myself and I try to help as soon as I can. I have readers from all levels of comfort and experience in the kitchen on my site, and I’ve tried to answer some of your questions already in the post. But if I’ve missed anything, please feel free to leave a comment and ask. The comments can be easily found using the orange circle on the lower left, then Join the discussion!
Taco Tuesday
This tender delicious beef recipe reminds me of a taco truck recipe, and it fits nicely into a budget, because you can use inexpensive stew meat.
Serve it with guacamole, sour cream, pico de gallo, salsa, chopped white onions, and cilantro.
Everything you love about carne asada but easier, because it’s made in a crock pot!
It may not be 100% authentic, but you’ll love how easy it is, and how delicious it is.
Perfect for taco bar parties. This is one of my favorite dishes to serve while watching the game.
October is Tailgating Snacks Month
Welcome to October is Tailgating Snacks Month 2016! The 3rd annual! With an awesome recipe for Slow Cooker Carne Asada.
Wow! Some of my favorite recipes have come from this month! Want to check them all out? I have links lower in this post!
I’m very excited to start this month off with a BANG!
Wow factor
It’s so easy to make too!
If you can’t get out to the grill (maybe it’s too hot outside or maybe it snows where you live), you can still have great Mexican Carne Asada from the crock pot or slow cooker!
This Slow Cooker Carne Asada is super easy to make and was a HUGE hit in my house.
We made it into tacos, sandwiches, served it on a taco bar (a hint for something I’ll be sharing later in the month), made it into tostadas, you get the idea!
Check out my tips and tricks for How to Host a Taco Bar Party.
And this crockpot dish smells Ahhhh-MaZe-ing as it cooks!
Marinade
Our new Crock Pot Carne Asada recipe is based on our Carne Asada Marinade.
The short story of that marinade is that we were looking to be able to make our own carne asada at home, and this marinade was suggested by a friend.
It’s so delicious, so we wondered how it would come out if the beef cooked in the marinade in the crock pot.
Well, this crock pot version is fabulous!
everyone loved it! It makes great tacos, sandwiches, and lots of leftovers. Perfect for parties.
Is this recipe authentic?
No, I realize that this crock pot version isn’t authentic. But, like I said, it was based off the marinade that’s super delicious, and we do cook that version on the grill.
“Carne Asada” translates as “grilled meat”. And, clearly this crock pot version isn’t grilled.
But, like I said, we wanted to see how it would work in the slow cooker, and it’s great. Please understand that the recipe is simply another way to cook this delicious food.
How to serve
- in tacos for Taco Tuesday or any day
- on top of rice for a bowl
- on nachos
- in a burrito
- in chili
- as fajitas
- in a sandwich
- as a slider
- in a tostada
Cooking Guide
I wanted you to be able to see what I meant in the recipe by “The beef should be mostly submerged in the cooking liquid”.
You can see some of the beef chunks, but they are mostly covered. Here the liquid is starting to boil and smell divine!
The Carne after cooking. We just shredded this by pressing on it with a spoon, and it’s so tender that it falls apart on its own.
Hungry for more?
Be sure to check out these other great game day recipes that the gang will love! Carnitas Sliders, Pulled Pork Sliders, and Smokehouse Slow Cooker Beef.
Be sure to watch our video on how to make this dish
Recipe
Crock Pot Carne Asada
Ingredients
- 3 pounds stew beef cut into 2-inch cubes
- 1 cup water
- 2/3 cup low sodium soy sauce
- 4 scallions finely chopped
- Juice of 1 Meyer lemon or 2 limes
- 6 tablespoons dark brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1-2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Instructions
- Working in batches so as not to crowd the pan, brown the cubes of beef in a large skillet, cooking until well browned on all sides, about 10-20 minutes per batch. Remove beef from pan once it is browned and place it in the crock pot.
- Add 1/3 cup water to the pan, and deglaze the pan, scraping the browned bits up from the bottom of the pan. Pour the deglazing water into the crock pot.
- In a medium bowl, mix all remaining ingredients with a whisk until thoroughly combined, and pour over the beef. The beef should be mostly submerged in the cooking liquid, if it isn’t add a little more water to the pot.
- Turn crock-pot on high, and cook, covered, for about 4 hours or until beef is easily shredded.
- Serve Carne Asada in tacos, burritos, nachos, sandwiches, anywhere you want tasty Mexican food.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations, and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary based on brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes, and more.
Dawn, I haven’t done this particular recipe with pork, though I’m sure it would work just fine. I do have a couple of pork shoulder recipes that are done in the crock pot. Pulled pork: https://lifecurrentsblog.com/pulled-pork-sliders-with-ranch-coleslaw/ and Carnitas: https://lifecurrentsblog.com/carnitas-sliders/ Both of these are great as tacos, sandwiches, or just with mashed potatoes. Use the servings slider to adjust the recipe to 6 pounds rather than 8 if you want. Though a little more or a little less of the spices and such won’t really matter. Enjoy!
This recipe was suggested as a nacho bar topping a few years ago and I’ll admit I didn’t get to taste it. So, when we decided to have a taco party last night I searched for Debi’s Taco Bar post and looked specifically for the Crock Pot Carne Asada recipe. I made a half portion and it was delicious. We had a little left over and I woke up this morning super excited for another carne asada taco… for breakfast! And, I’m on Weight Watchers and this recipe came in at 2pts per serving when I added to my recipe builder!!! Double win and this will for sure be added to the dinner rotation more often in our home!
It says brown for 10-20 minutes, is that supposed to be 1-2 minutes?
Lindsy, brown the cubes of beef, cooking until well browned on all sides, about 10-20 minutes per batch. That’s a total time. So, if it took about 2 minutes per side and there are 6 sides on the cube, that would be about 12 minutes. Now, if you have a super powerful range that browns the cubes in a couple minutes, that’s great. The main point is that you’re trying to get a nice brown Maillard reaction on all sides of the cube of beef.
Made this dish without the soy sauce and reduced the amount of brown sugar and it was amazing. Will definitely be making this again.
The flavors were great, just too sweet for our liking. Will definitely make this again but with 1/2 of the sugar next time;)