This recipe for southwest steak frites is the best! Skirt steak piled high on crispy thick cut russet potato fries. Topped with lots of monterey jack cheese and homemade guacamole.
If you like these then you will love this recipe for sheet pan steak totchos (tater tot nachos).
These steak frites are better than at a restaurant! The southwest spin on this classic dish gives it so much flavor from the lime juice, cumin and chili powder.
The steak is tender, the frites are crispy and baked and the guacamole is an easy homemade recipe that takes minutes to make.
Sometimes the most simple concepts make for the best repeat dinners.
This is such a great transitional meal as we head in to fall. Steak and potatoes with a southwest twist.
What Are Steak Frites
Frite is the french word for fries. Steak frites is simple steak fries.
Wondering how to pronounce frite? 'Free-t'.
They can be served with sauce, so for us today the guacamole is acting like our steak frite sauce.
In trying to make this healthy, the fries (frites) in this recipe are baked, not fried. I used russet potatoes and cut them into wedges, drizzled with olive oil and baked them in the oven.
No frying today.
How To Make Steak Frites
You'll start by marinating a skirt steak.
For the marinade you will need lime juice, oil, cumin, chili powder, salt, and minced garlic cloves.
4-8 hours should be the perfect amount of time for the flavor to absorb into the steak. However, you don't want it to marinade longer than 24 hours because the acid in the lime juice will start to break apart the meat.
For this recipe you'll make a really basic guacamole. That's just avocado, lime and lemon juice, onion, cilantro and salt. I use the same basic guacamole in this recipe for chicken street tacos and these piled high carnitas nachos.
When it comes time to cook the potato wedges go in to the oven to bake until crispy, about 40 minutes. The steak gets grilled.
It's important to let the steak rest before cutting in to it, wait 10 minutes, covered with foil so it stays warm.
Then you can add all the steak and jack cheese on to the fries, back in the oven it will go just until the cheese is melted. Once it's out top with your guacamole.
Fork, no fork, the outcome is the same and that's a really good and easy steak frites.
FAQ
- Can I use another potato besides a russet? Yes, you could also use a yukon gold or even some red potatoes if you are in a crunch. I've found that russets get the crispiest on the outside and softest in the middle though.
- Can I use store bought guacamole? Of course you can
- I can't get skirt steak, what is an alternative? You could get ribeye, flat iron steak, flank steak, most steaks will work with this recipe. Especially since you'll be marinating so it will give the steak time to get tender.
More Southwest Recipes
- Skillet Chicken Jalapeño Cream Cheese Enchiladas – A bit quicker than rolled up enchiladas
- Crock Pot Chicken Enchiladas With Elote (Mexican Street Corn) – These are seriously amazing, the Mexican street corn is out of this world
- Short Rib Enchiladas With Tomatillo Sauce – The tomatillo sauce is so easy to make, or you can use a jar if you want
- Freezer Friendly Chicken Tortilla Soup – the best freezer friendly chicken tortilla soup, this stuff is amazing
- Baked Elote Chicken Taquitos – Mexican street corn (elote) and juicy chicken all in a baked taquito, you have to try these!
Easy Steak Frites and Guacamole
This recipe for southwest steak frites is the best! Skirt steak piled high on crispy thick cut russet potato fries. Topped with lots of monterey jack cheese and homemade guacamole.
Ingredients
steak
- 3 tbsp oil
- ½ lime, zested and juiced
- ½ tsp cumin
- ½ tsp chili powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 3 large garlic cloves, smashed
- 1 ½ lb skirt steak
wedge fries
- 2 russet potatoes
- ¼ tsp cumin
- ¼ tsp chili powder
- ¼ tsp garlic powder
- ¼ tsp onion powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 tbsp avocado oil, or any oil on hand, I just like the taste with this meal
- 3 oz jack cheese, grated
guacamole
- 2 avocados
- 2 tbsp cilantro, chopped
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 tbsp white onion
- 1 tsp lime juice
- 1 tsp lemon juice
Instructions
- In a large ziploc bag combine all of the "steak" ingredients; oil, lime zest and juice, cumin, chili powder, salt, garlic cloves and the skirt steak
- Let this marinate in the fridge for 4-8 hours
- Preheat your oven to 400
- Wash the potatoes thoroughly, leaving the skin on
- Cut the potatoes into wedges, keeping in mind the thicker you make them the longer they will need to cook
- I tend to do 12 wedges per potato, so you would cut the potato in half lengthwise, then cut each half into another half, then each half into thirds and that should be 12 total
- Let these soak in water until the oven has pre-heated
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper {foil tends to stick to the potatoes}
- Dry the potatoes off on a kitchen towel and empty the bowl of any water
- To the bowl add from the "wedge fries" ingredients; cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and oil
- Add the potatoes back to the bowl and toss it around to coat evenly
- Lay the potatoes on the parchment paper so they are not touching
- Bake in the oven for 40 minutes or until they are crispy on the outside and a fork easily pierces the skin
- Turn the potatoes half way through cooking
- Mash together all of the guacamole ingredients in a bowl, add the *pits of the avocados back to the bowl, cover and let it chill in the fridge.
- Remove the steak from the fridge (ideally do this step when you begin the potatoes so the meat won't be super cold when it hits the hot pan)
- Heat up a grill pan (or a saute pan) over medium high heat
- Drizzle the pan with a little bit of oil
- Add the steak to the pan, cooking for 4-7 minutes on each side depending on the doneness you would like
- *Remove the steak from the pan and let it rest at least 10 minutes
- Slice the steak against the grain.
- Grate the jack cheese
- Pull the potatoes out of the oven, push them together to make a little pile, sprinkle the grated jack cheese over the top
- Put it back in the oven until the cheese has melted
- Pull the baking sheet out of the oven, top it with the steak and the guacamole on top
- Serve it right on the baking sheet for easy cleanup!
Notes
*Adding the pit of the avocado prevents it from turning brown
**Allowing your meat to sit after cooking will prevent the juice from spilling out
Nutrition Information:
Serving Size: 1 gramsAmount Per Serving: Unsaturated Fat: 0g
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