Korean Beef Tacos (Without Soy Sauce)
My good friend and co-leader for a life group at church, Cathy, was raving about this recipe on Facebook recently and came to church talking about it later that week so I knew I had to try it!! I had to modify the recipe just a tad, so as always, I will share those details with you!
Who doesn’t love tacos? While corn tortillas aren’t quite the same as flour tortillas, I’ve grown accustomed to them over the years. My favorites are Mission White Corn Tortillas. And a word to the wise: I either heat them up on the stove or microwave them briefly with a damp paper towel to help with the “chewiness.” Don’t heat them too long though, or you’ll have a less than desirable texture.
We were “supposed” to have this meal last Thursday and I realized the beef was supposed to be marinated (which I hadn’t done) and it was the night we needed to pack for a weekend trip so we just ended up at a Mexican restaurant… haha. Then, I was supposed to cook it this on Sunday but we didn’t make it back into town in time for dinner. So we finally cooked it either Monday or Tuesday night (this week has been a long one!) and I still didn’t manage to marinate the beef nearly as long as suggested but I think it still turned out great! Are you ever guilty of procrasinating when it comes to marinating food?? Next time, I will make a stronger effort to follow the recipe more closely, at least as far as marinating is concerned because I can see how it would make the beef a little better.
Darrell underwent some allergy testing earlier this spring and while most of the results were just confirmation of allergies he found out about years ago, there’s a possibility of some new allergies and we are waiting for some more testing to learn more. But we know soy in some form is causing some issues and a lot of times soy sauce contains gluten which affects me, so I substituted the soy sauce in this recipe. You can learn more about the alternative I used in the bullet points below the image.
Sesame oil and fresh ginger were new items to make their way into my shopping cart thanks to this recipe. Sesame oil was an ingredient that the author advised against substituting. Ginger is a flavor I am only slightly familiar with just from memories of a great aunt giving my sister and I ginger candy as children and we just weren’t too sure what to think of its flavor back then!! Haha. But I had an open mind about cooking with ginger and it added a nice layer of depth to the beef!
Anyway, this recipe is from Natasha’s Kitchen and was sent to me via my friend Cathy as I mentioned earlier! It was really great for a week night meal. These tacos are packed with flavor and colorful too! See below to find out how I modified this recipe and to find the link.
Sarah’s Modifications:
Corn tortillas instead of flour. Corn tortillas typcially come in just one size (small) but regardless this is more of a “street taco” size portion.
Coconut aminos instead of soy sauce. As I mentioned in the narrative above, this has been an excellent alternative for me avoiding gluten and Darrell as we navigate what it is about soy that is causing him issues. If you’ve been following along for very long, you know I learned about coconut aminos not long ago and it has been a game changer.
I know I have recently purchased flank steak at a grocery store and didn’t have to buy a huge amount, however I couldn’t find any in a portion close to what I needed at Walmart or Kroger so we used some top sirloin instead. The recipe also lists other options for the cut of meat.
Light sour cream. Shaving off a few calories where I can…
Light Miracle Whip. I’m a Miracle Whip over mayo kind of gal. Went for the light option as I did with the sour cream.
I really liked the taco sauce. The tiny amount of Sriracha hot sauce it calls for really gives it a punch but without being too much for people like myself who occasionally don’t mind to turn up the heat a bit on a recipe but really don’t like full on spicy foods. The taco sauce also did a nice job of balancing out the sweeter flavors from the beef. I squeezed a little lime juice on my tacos for a little something extra.
Have you tried this recipe? Or have you cooked with any of the ingredients I mentioned in this blog post? I’m curious to hear your thoughts!