9 Marinades for Grilled Steak

All steaks can benefit from a good marinade, but when grilling less marbled or chewier cuts, like flank or skirt, a marinade can take your meat to another level.

All steaks can benefit from a good marinade, but when grilling less marbled or chewier cuts, like flank or skirt, a marinade can take your meat to another level. Depending on the ingredients, it might help tenderize it to boot.

1. Balsamic. A basic balsamic vinaigrette is a no-think marinade that is always a good choice for steak, especially when you serve the meat in a salad.

2. Lemon-garlic. For an even simpler Mediterranean-style marinade, toss the steak with herbs, garlic and olive oil, then top with lemon slices for subtle flavor.

3. Soy sauce. For a grilled steak you could add to a number of different Asian-style dishes, toss the meat with soy sauce, sesame oil and sugar.

4. Korean-style. Koreans love bulgogi, which is usually made with short ribs, but there’s no reason you can’t use that sweet-savory marinade on steak.

5. Southeast Asian-style. For a steak that will hit a lot of spots on the tongue, bathe it in a blend of herbs, garlic, chile sauce and fish sauce.

6. Mojo. Think of this citrusy, cumin-spiced sauce as vinaigrette, Cuban-style. It works beautifully as a marinade for steak because the sugars in the citrus juice caramelize on the grill. Or keep the Latin marinade even simpler and just use tequila, lime juice and garlic.

7. Chipotle. The adobo sauce that comes in a can of chipotles? It’s a brilliant, richly flavored marinade for steak. Just blend it with garlic, orange juice and olive oil before you rub it on your meat.

8. Papaya skins. If tenderizing steak is your goal, use this trick they use in many parts of the world: Rub your steak with a simple marinade and then cover it with papaya skins, which contain an enzyme that breaks down tough meat fibers.

9. Cola. Cola (yep, the soda) is another meat tenderizer; plus its sugars caramelize nicely on the grill.

Kristin Donnelly is a former Food & Wine editor and author of the forthcoming The Modern Potluck (Clarkson Potter, 2016). She is also the cofounder of Stewart & Claire, an all-natural line of lip balms made in Brooklyn.

Steak Marinade and Rub Recipes

These zesty concoctions tenderize meat while infusing it with flavor. Place the steak and the marinade in a shallow bowl and let sit for 30 minutes or up to overnight in the refrigerator.

If you don't have rosemary on hand, fresh thyme or marjoram will work just as well.

Balsamic-Soy Marinade

Give steak a salty-sweet kick with an Asian-inspired marinade.

All-Purpose Steak Rub

Want to add a kick to steak and simultaneously seal in succulent juices? Use a rub, pressing gently to help it adhere. Apply just before cooking.

All-Purpose Steak Rub

This rub can be kept for up to 2 weeks in an airtight container at room temperature.

Lemon, Thyme, and Pepper Rub

To add more heat to his citrusy rub, use crushed black pepper (sometimes called butcher’s grind) in place of ground pepper.

Steak Marinade

Recipe by LuuvBunny

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Steak Marinade

SERVES:

Ingredients Nutrition

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar or 1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon yellow mustard
1 tablespoon soy sauce
pepper

Directions

Mix all ingredients together and place steaks into freezer bag with marinade, preferably overnight.
The original recipe used balsamic vinegar.Seems I never had that on hand so I just used white and listed that in the recipe, but balsamic is definitely better.

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Nutrition Info

Serving Size: 1 (24 g)

Servings Per Recipe: 3

Amt. Per Serving % Daily Value Calories 55.1 Calories from Fat 41 75% Total Fat 4.6 g 7% Saturated Fat 0.6 g 3% Cholesterol 0 mg 0% Sodium 411.1 mg 17% Total Carbohydrate 2.8 g 0% Dietary Fiber 0.1 g 0% Sugars 1.5 g 5% Protein 0.8 g 1%

The Best Steak Marinade

June 14, 2013 By DrDan 13 Comments

Step that steak up a few notches with an excellent marinade. Easy to do and all your friends will want the recipe.

The inspiration is a very popular recipe around the internet on blogs and recipe sites. The original (I think) is known as “Best Steak Marinade in Existence” on Allrecipes.com. Only a few changes to simplify and some rounding for a smaller (Cooking For Two) amount. Plus I didn’t bother with running a blender, though.

I buy very good beef, so a marinade just seems wrong on a filet or porterhouse. Just some salt, pepper and a little garlic, please. Strip steaks have just not been our favorites over the years, but the best-looking steaks at the market were the strips. I had just read Simple Steak Marinade by Chris at Nibble Me This and a marinade seem great, but I’m not a “beer person” so Google was my friend again. If you’re a beer person, check out Chris’ post.

A 5 minus. I don’t frequently marinade steak, but this is good enough to start doing it a lot more. My wife felt it was the best strip steak she has had in years.

Notes: Run through a blender if you want but it doesn’t seem necessary to me. Use black pepper if you don’t have white. Add a pinch of crushed red pepper or a hot or pepper sauce if you want.

In a 1 gallon zip lock bag combine: 3 T soy sauce, 4 T olive oil, 3 T lemon juice, 2 T Worcestershire sauce, 2 t garlic powder, 1 1/2 T dry basil, 2 t dry parsley flakes and 1/2 t white pepper.

Trim your steaks of extra fat. Here are two strip steaks about 12 oz each. (I do not want to hear about not doing this to a strip steak)

Add the steaks to the bag, squeeze out the air and mush the steaks around to get them coated well. Refrigerate for 2 to 8 hours. Longer should be fine.

Remove from the marinade and discard the marinade. Grill as usual. You can also pan sear. See my post at https://www.101cookingfortwo.com/pan-seared-oven-roasted-strip-steak/.

Allow to rest for 5 minutes or so before cutting.

Course Seasoning
Cuisine American

Course Seasoning
Cuisine American

3 tablespoons soy sauce
4 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 1/2 tablespoon dry basil
2 teaspoons dry parsley flakes
1/2 teaspoon white pepper or black if you don’t have it

Nutritional information is for entire recipe which can do 3-4 steaks and only a small amount stays on the meat.

All nutritional information are estimates and may vary from your actual results. This is home cooking, and there are many variables. To taste ingredients such as salt will be my estimate of the average used.

If you like this recipe or find it useful, the pleasure of a nice 4 or 5 rating would be greatly appreciated. Rating is done by clicking on the stars above.

Reader Interactions

It’s funny because I thought about that same recipe when I posted my variation of Troy’s. I’ve had that “best steak marinade in existence” on my try queue forever, but it’s just so rare that I marinate steaks. Your looks like it turned out great.

It did turn out great… I’m sure yours did also.

This sounds great and looks delicious; I want to try it. I don’t think I’ve ever marinated a steak. Thanks!

Definitely try it.

Excellent. I love to cook but a good steak was never in my grasp until now.

I do not like rare beef but strips just get tough when overcooked.

This marinade gave me incredible flavor and remained very tender

and juicy at the medium to medium well stage. Very good. I can make steak now!

Made the smashed potatoes and honey grilled carrots. Also very good.

Thanks for the note David. You might want to try my post on how to grill a t-bone or porterhouse at https://www.101cookingfortwo.com/how-to-grill-t-bone-or-porterhouse/ . It will make you look like an expert.

As for rare… most expert would say I over cook my beef. An excellent filet can have a little blood but only a little pink for a strip or porterhouse.

All of the ingredients sound fine except for the lemon juice. Lemon juice will cook the meat and should NEVER be used in any marinade where the meat, or fish for that matter, will be in it for more than a few minutes. Also, lemon has NO place in flavoring a steak.

Well I will disagree. A marinade needs an acid to denature the proteins of the meat. The usual ones used are lemon or lime juice or vinegar. If by “cook” you mean to denature or break down some of the proteins then yes…but that is a big exaggeration of the word. This allows the other components to penetrate better and usually will tenderize some. So NEVER is wrong… As for the taste, I couldn’t taste it but do what you want.

Good ingredients my wife loved the steak but I usually like my steaks medium. 15 minute’s it came out well done. Maybe they should put the different types of minutes for rare, medium or wealt done.

Thanks for the note. .This post was about the marinade. I have a separate post on cooking strip steaks at https://www.101cookingfortwo.com/pan-seared-oven-roasted-strip-steak/

PS I’m changing this post to point to those instructions.

This turned out great on a flank steak. I’m not a fan of lemon and was worried the lemon juice would be overpowering, but I couldn’t taste it at all. Due to available ingredients, I substituted peanut oil for the olive oil. Have you tried different oils (vegetable, olive, peanut, etc.) and what would be your opinion on why you choose a certain one over the other?

This marinade is my new “go to” marinade. I have never liked beef let alone steak, but got two Omaha Strips as a customer appreciation gift. I was so proud of how these turned out that I wanted to go out and buy a beef! This is going in my private collection. Thanks for perfecting and sharing it!

I’ve one it twice in the last 2 weeks… so it is now my “go to” also

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Delicious Steak Marinade

Today’s recipe is another tasty way to enjoy a steak on the grill. The marinade makes more than enough for the 6 steaks, so if you need to do more than that then you can. I made it using petite sirloins – my favorite kind of steaks to do at home. They are the perfect portion and turn out juicy and tender. Nothing else to say – short, sweet, and to the point! Keep grilling while you can.

⅓ cup soy sauce
½ cup olive oil
⅓ cup lemon juice
¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
1½ tablespoons garlic powder
3 tablespoons dried basil
1½ tablespoons dried parsley flakes
1 teaspoon ground pepper
1 teaspoon minced garlic
6 petite sirloin steaks

In a gallon sized zipper bag, combine all of the above ingredients.
Seal the bag and carefully knead to combine the marinade and coat the steaks.
Allow to marinate for 4 hours. (I just place it in the fridge in the morning for dinner that night)
Grill steaks and enjoy.

Recipe adapted from ZipList.

8 comments on “ Delicious Steak Marinade ”

This is a top notch tenderizing marinade, the whole family loved the flavor. We all agreed to skip the store bought bottles and packets and use this marinade from now on. One nibble and you’re hooked.

This is excellent! Simply delicious!!

This is excellent. Really delicious!!

This is the best steak marinade I’ve ever tried! It did make the petite sirloins much more tender than they usually are, and I loved the combination of basil & lemon. I’ll definitely keep this recipe and use it again!

Sounds great, can’t wait to try it this weekend!

15 Tasty Steak Marinade Recipes To Try

Here’s a Hit List that is primed for the grilling season and features over a dozen tasty steak marinade recipes to try. In my home experimenting with new ingredients is almost a sport where my husband and I like to compete and sneak in a “secret” twist (may the best cook win!).

The ideas below are easy to prepare, many with simple ingredients while others offer something a little more fancy to try. Enjoy!

Bock Beer: A bottle of Shiner Bock beer (or your favorite dark beer), garlic, diced red onion, Worcestershire, Tabasco, juice of 2 limes, packed brown sugar, coarse brown mustard, olive oil and salt. From Texas Beef Council.
Easy & Perfect: Italian salad dressing, Worcestershire, BBQ sauce, garlic pepper seasoning. From CurvyGirl Guide.
Chimichurri: Red wine vinegar, Kosher salt, garlic cloves, finely chopped shallot, Fresno chile or red jalapeno, minced fresh cilantro, flat-leaf parsley, fresh oregano, extra-virgin olive oil. From Epicurious.
Weidner’s: Soy sauce, Worcestershire, olive oil, honey, Dijon mustard, freshly minced ginger, garlic, crushed red pepper and coffee grounds. From Bev Cooks.
Gluten-Free: Balsamic vinaigrette, Worcestershire, extra virgin olive oil, minced garlic. From The Peaceful Mom.
White Wine: Dijon mustard, white wine, olive oil, sliced shallot and fat-free, lower-sodium beef broth. From MyRecipes.
With Garlic & Ginger Puree: Ingredients include rice vinegar, oyster sauce, soy sauce, mirin, garlic puree, ginger puree and honey. From Tired & Inspired.
Seasoned: Sweet Italian Seasoning dressing, salad or canola oil, garlic, Heinz 57, Worcestershire, seasoned salt, balsamic vinegar, lemon pepper, Italian parsley, red onion (sliced thin), fresh thyme, basil, oregano and chives. From Virtually Cooks.
Southwestern: Garlic cloves, chipotle puree, a large handful of cilantro, olive oil, Kosher or sea salt, minced fresh rosemary, zest and juice of lime, rosemary, orange juice, fresh cracked pepper, minced shallots. From The Meat And Potatoes Foodie.
Tastiest: Soy sauce, sesame oil, green onions, sugar, minced garlic, sesame seeds, dry mustard, white vinegar, ground pepper. From Elra.
Beer & Brown Sugar: Seasoned salt, black pepper, garlic powder, dark beer, teriyaki sauce, brown sugar. From Food & Garden Dailies.
Ginger-Soy: Roughly chopped garlic cloves, red onion, ginger, olive oil, dark soy sauce, red wine vinegar, red chile flakes and a handful of parsley. From New York Cork Report.
Best: Vegetable oil, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, Worcestershire, brown mustard, ground black pepper, garlic powder, sliced onions. From A Pookie Pantry.
Garlic-Thyme: Olive oil, smashed and coarsely chopped garlic, fresh thyme leaves, coarse salt and pepper. From Martha Stewart.

Here’s one that I previously posted on Tipnut and moved here for better organization…

1 1/2 cups salad oil

3/4 cup soya sauce

1/3 cup lemon juice (fresh)

1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

2 TBS crushed garlic cloves

2 TBS dry mustard

1 1/2 tsp parsley flakes (dry)

Directions: Mix all ingredients together and use. Keep refrigerated.

Freezing Tip: When partitioning up bulk meat buys to stash in the freezer, store some meal-sized portions in ziploc bags, pour your favorite marinade over the meat then freeze. Try to stack them flat and even in the freezer so that as they thaw, the marinade is able to cover the meat evenly.

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Published: March 25, 2010

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14 Tantalizing Ways To Make Flank Steak:
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14 Tasty Ways To Make Coleslaw

What Readers Are Saying:

LOL – I love this ‘competition’ between you and your husband. Marinades are the best! Thanks for mentioning my southwest marinade and my blog. Really appreciate it!

Our favorite is equal parts coke, ketchup, and barbecue sauce! Usually I do a cup of each for an average size steak. You should try it! 🙂

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Classic Steak Marinade

10 mins
Prep: 10 mins,
Cook: 0 mins
Yield: Makes 3/4 cup (serves 4-6)

A high-quality steak doesn't need any help. A not so great steak can definitely benefit from a good marinade. If you are grilling a steak, particularly leaner steaks like flat-iron, skirt, or flank steak, then it is wise to marinade them first. This steak marinade provides just enough acid to help tenderize the steak but also infuses the outer layer with delicious flavor.

What You'll Need

1/4 cup/60 mL olive or avocado oil
1/4 cup/60 mL red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons/30mL Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tablespoon/7.5 mL sea salt
2 teaspoons/10 mL fresh oregano, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon/2.5 mL black pepper
1/2 teaspoon/2.5 mL fresh thyme
1/4 teaspoon/1.75 mL onion powder or granulated onion
1-2 cloves garlic, minced

How to Make It

1. Place vinegar and Worcestershire sauce in a bowl. Slowly whisk in oil until well combined. Add remaining ingredients and stir through. Let mixture stand for 5 or so minutes before using.

2. See Marinating Beef to get the right time for your steak.

3. Place steak in a resealable plastic bag and pour the marinade over top, making sure all surfaces are coated well. Seal bag and place in the refrigerator for 2-12 hours.

4. Once you have it marinated it is time to grill it right, see Grilling Steak - Step by Step.

5. If making ahead of time, store in an air tight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days after preparation. Double or triple recipe if you are preparing many steaks. This recipe will marinate up to 3 medium steaks or one larger flat steak (skirt, flat iron, flank, or hanger steaks).