These tacos use minced flank steak marinated in barbecue sauce, hoisin, sesame oil, and garlic, then served in corn tortillas with a sesame-lime slaw. The real reason to make them: the steak and slaw both keep well in the fridge for several days, so one cooking session covers multiple quick meals. Thirty minutes of active work, and you’re set.
Ingredient notes
- Hoisin sauce: Found in the Asian foods aisle of most supermarkets. Lee Kum Kee and Kikkoman are widely available. It’s thick and sweet, so don’t substitute oyster sauce — the flavor profile is different enough to matter.
- Rice wine vinegar: Milder than white vinegar or apple cider vinegar. If you substitute either of those, use about half the quantity and taste as you go.
- Coleslaw mix: The bagged kind works fine here and holds up better over several days in the fridge than freshly shredded cabbage, which goes watery faster.
- Flank steak: Skirt steak is the closest swap if flank isn’t available — same grain structure, similar marinade absorption. Avoid sirloin; it doesn’t mince as cleanly after cooking.
- Sesame oil: Use toasted (dark) sesame oil, not the light refined kind. It’s used in both the marinade and the slaw dressing, so one bottle covers both.
The technique that matters
Two things make or break this recipe. First, the marinade time — eight hours minimum is not a suggestion. Flank steak is a dense, lean cut, and the hoisin-barbecue mixture needs that time to penetrate past the surface. A two-hour marinade gives you a coated steak; an overnight marinade gives you flavor through the whole slice. Second, mincing the cooked steak across the grain is what keeps it tender rather than chewy. Flank has long, visible muscle fibers running lengthwise — cut perpendicular to those fibers into small pieces. If you cut with the grain, even a perfectly cooked steak will feel tough in the taco. Cook the steak to your preferred doneness, but keep in mind that well-done flank steak minces more cleanly and holds up better when reheated from the fridge later in the week.
Common problems and fixes
- Slaw turns soggy by day two: Store the dressing and the cabbage mix separately, then combine only what you’ll eat that day. The vinaigrette keeps in a jar in the fridge for the full week.
- Marinade burns on the pan before the steak is cooked through: The sugars in both barbecue sauce and hoisin scorch quickly over high heat. Use medium-high rather than high, and pat the surface of the steak lightly with a paper towel before searing to remove excess marinade — then baste with the reserved portion toward the end of cooking.
- Minced steak dries out when reheating: Add a splash of water or a small spoonful of hoisin to the pan when reheating, and cover it for the first minute. This steams the meat back to a usable texture instead of frying it dry.
- Tortillas crack when folding: Corn tortillas need heat to become pliable. If they’re cracking, they weren’t warmed long enough — 30 seconds per side in a dry skillet, or wrapped in a damp paper towel in the microwave for 45 seconds. Skip the garnish of extra sesame seeds on the finished taco — not worth the extra dish when the slaw already has them built in.
- Filling is too wet and breaks the tortilla: Let the minced steak rest on a plate or cutting board for a minute after cooking so surface juices settle before you load it into the tortilla. The slaw should also be lightly shaken in a strainer if it’s been sitting in dressing for a while.
Juicy Asian Steak Tacos
Ingredients
Tacos Ingredients
½ cup BBQ sauce (barbecue sauce)
½ cup Hoisin sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 cloves garlic - minced
2 tablespoons green onions (scallions or green shallots) - sliced- 1 ½ pound steak - flank, minved
8 medium corn tortillas
Slaw Ingredients
- 9 ounces coleslaw mix - shredded
- ¼ cup radish - julienned
½ tablespoon cilantro (coriander) - chopped- 2 tablespoons green onions (scallions or green shallots) - sliced
2 ½ teaspoon sesame seeds- 1 ½ tablespoon rice wine vinegar
- 1 ½ tablespoon sesame oil
1 ½ teaspoon soy sauce
1 medium lime juice
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
Instructions
- In a container, combine barbecue and hoisin sauces, sesame oil, garlic and steak. Mix thoroughly; refrigerate for 8 hours to overnight.
- For the slaw, whisk wet ingredients together in a bowl until a loose vinaigrette is formed. Adjust with salt and pepper. Add cabbage mix, radish, cilantro, scallion, and sesame seed. Stir ingredients until vinaigrette evenly coats the cabbage.
- Grill or pan-sear the flank steak, basting with excess marinade. Cook to desired doneness. Meanwhile, steam or toast your corn tortillas and reserve.
- Mince the flank steak across the grain. Brush a bit of hoisin inside the tortilla for each taco, and add steak and slaw. Serve.
Nutrition
FAQ
How long can I store the marinated steak before cooking it?
Up to 48 hours in the fridge is safe for raw flank steak in this marinade. Beyond that, the acidic and salty components start to break down the texture of the meat noticeably, and you’ll get a mushier result after cooking.
Can I cook the steak ahead and keep it in the fridge for the week?
Yes — cooked, minced flank steak keeps well for up to four days in an airtight container in the fridge. Reheat only the portion you need each time rather than the whole batch, which helps it stay moist.
What internal temperature should the steak reach?
Flank steak is whole beef, not ground, so standard steak doneness guidelines apply — medium-rare is around 130–135°F (54–57°C), medium is 140–145°F (60–63°C). If you plan to refrigerate and reheat the meat over several days, cooking to medium makes reheating easier without the steak going tough.
Can I use ground beef instead of sliced flank steak?
Ground beef works, though the texture is different — looser and softer rather than the chewier mince you get from slicing cooked flank. If you go that route, cook ground beef to 160°F (71°C) throughout, and reduce the marinade time to 30 minutes since ground meat absorbs flavor much faster and can turn mushy if left too long.
Try these next
- Savory Pork Noodle Stir-Fry
- Authentic Szechuan Dan Dan
- Japanese Pork Lettuce Cups
- Beef Fusion Sushi Rolls
