If you're making carne asada tacos, you'll want tasty and tender steak. Skirt steak and flank steak stand out for their balance of affordability, quality, and taste.

These cuts can be grilled with or without a marinade and chopped into bite-sized pieces. You can even find them pre-marinated or pre-sliced specifically for tacos.

Skirt steak, cut from the beef plate, is ideal for tacos like carne asada due to its higher fat content and natural flavor, especially when minimally seasoned.

It comes cut normally or butterflied. A butterflied cut adds more grooves to the steak, which can help it pick up more marinade and create more charred bits as it's grilled.

Flank steak is leaner and thicker, requiring longer cooking times. It benefits from an overnight marinade, which allows it to soak up extra flavor.

Despite its lower fat content, marinades with acidic ingredients like orange or lime juice effectively tenderize flank steak. Like skirt steak, flank steak can be butterflied.