Vaca Frita

Name: Vaca Frita
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 70 min
Total time: 90 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Cuban
Ingredients: 2 lbs flank steak; 1/4 cup lime juice; 1/4 cup sour orange juice; 6 garlic cloves, minced; 1 yellow onion, thinly sliced; 1 tsp ground cumin; 1 tsp dried oregano; 1 tsp kosher salt; 1/2 tsp black pepper, ground; 2 tbsp avocado oil

Crispy shredded flank steak marinated in citrus and garlic, then seared on the stovetop with sliced onions.

90 minMediumServes 4420 cal/serving

CubanDinnerStovetopHigh ProteinLow CarbKetoPaleoWhole30Gluten-FreeNut-FreeDairy-FreeSoy-FreeEgg-FreeShellfish-FreeSesame-FreePork-FreeAlcohol-FreeCorn-Free

Ingredients

2 lbs flank steak
1/4 cup lime juice
1/4 cup sour orange juice
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp black pepper, ground
2 tbsp avocado oil

Instructions

1

Place 2 lbs flank steak in a large pot, cover with water, add half of the 1 tsp kosher salt, and bring to a boil over high heat.
2

Reduce heat to medium low, cover, and simmer for 60 minutes until beef reaches an internal temperature of 205F and shreds easily.
3

Remove beef from pot, let cool slightly, and shred into long thin strands.
4

In a bowl, mix shredded beef with 1/4 cup lime juice, 1/4 cup sour orange juice, 6 minced garlic cloves, 1 tsp ground cumin, 1 tsp dried oregano, 1/2 tsp ground black pepper, and remaining 1 tsp kosher salt.
5

Heat 2 tbsp avocado oil in a large skillet over high heat until shimmering.
6

Add 1 thinly sliced yellow onion and the marinated beef to the skillet in a single layer, searing for 3 to 4 minutes per side until crispy.

Questions

How long does Vaca Frita keep?

Refrigerate leftovers within two hours and eat them within three days. Reheat uncovered in a 400 F oven (or an air fryer) for a few minutes to bring the crust back; the microwave softens it.

Can I halve or double Vaca Frita?

Yes. As written it serves 4. Every ingredient in this entry carries precomputed half and double quantities, and the app's batch dial rewrites them inside each step. When doubling on the stovetop, use your widest pan or work in two batches so the food sears instead of steaming.

Serve it with

Cook this free in the app

Textual Chef is a plain-text cooking reference of 3,876 recipes, free to read and cook from, with no account and no paywall. In the app, this entry scales itself: half, standard, or double batch, every quantity recomputed inside the step that uses it. No ads, no life stories, no photos of somebody else's dinner.

The entries are curated and public-domain sourced, written to a fixed template and checked against it: tested quantities, one closed vocabulary of methods, and precomputed half and double batches on every line. Nothing here is a scraped blog post.

Cook this free in the appNo download needed. It opens in your browser, instantly. The kitchen tools (planner, shopping list, pantry, import) are $5.33 a month billed annually, and the first 30 days are free.