Easy Steak Marinade

There is nothing more satisfying than a hot steak fresh from the grill. But what about your steak marinade? A steak’s preparation before hitting the grill is instrumental to your final result! A well composed steak marinade will add TONS of flavor to your steak, as well as help tenderize the meat to give you that “melt in your mouth” texture. 

This quick and easy steak marinade utilizes ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen!  In no time, you will have a tender, flavorful steak off the grill or cast-iron skillet!

Steak Marinade Ingredients

Throwing together an easy steak marinade takes no time at all! And the great thing about steak marinade, is that most of the ingredients you need are probably already in your kitchen. A steak marinade is essentially made up of four components:

1. Acid (for tenderizing your meat)
2. Oil (for emulsifying your marinade and cooking your meat)
3. Dry and Wet Spices and Seasonings (for FLAVOR!)
4. Salt (to further tenderize and retain moisture in the meat)

For this recipe, I used balsamic vinegar as my acid component and olive oil as my oil base. You can go wild with your flavoring choices! Raid your spice cabinet and refrigerator sauce drawers to find ingredients that you think will work well together. I grabbed the parsley, black pepper, dried rosemary, and onion powder from my spice cabinet. I also threw in some fresh garlic, but garlic powder works well too! As far as condiments, I like to utilize Worcestershire and Dijon mustard. For my salt component, I decided to forgo the salt shaker and go with soy sauce. Soy sauce also adds another flavor dimension that works really well with the meat. For my final ingredient, I threw in some honey to counter-balance the saltiness of the soy sauce.

Steak Preparation

To prepare your marinade, whisk all of your ingredients in a mixing bowl, then transfer to a large, gallon-sized Ziploc bag containing your steaks. Plan to make 1/2 cup steak marinade per 1-2lbs of meat.

Keep your steaks in the refrigerator to marinate. The length of marinating time will depend on your cut of beef. If you are working with a tender cut of meat, aim for 30min to 2hrs of marinating time to infuse your meat with extra flavor. If you desire to tenderize your meat, aim for 6hrs of marinating time, but no more than 24hrs. Marinating your steaks for too long will cause the acid to break down your steak proteins. And no one want mushy steak!

Be sure to remove your steak from the refrigerator 20 minutes before you are ready to grill. This allows the meat time to be brought up to room temperature. And this, in turn will result in a juicer steak!

You will want to cook your steaks at a high temperature (between 450-500 degrees) to reach desired doneness. Using a meat thermometer is the easiest way to make sure your internal temperature is not too high or too low. When they are halfway through cooking, make sure to give those babies a flip!

Internal Temperatures

Here are the standard internal temperatures to keep in mind when preparing your steak:

1. Rare Steak: 120-130 degrees
2. Medium-Rare Steak: 130-135 degrees
3. Medium Steak: 135-145 degrees
4. Medium-Well Steak: 145-144 degrees
5. Well Done Steak: 155-165 degrees

Remove your steaks from heat when their internal temperature reads 5 degrees LOWER than your desired doneness. The heat from the steaks will continue cooking them even after they are removed from their heat source.

Before serving, let your steaks rest on a cutting board for five minutes to let the juices re-distribute through the meat. Now, your perfectly marinated and grilled steaks are ready to enjoy!

I used this steak marinade as part of our Goofy Movie Themed Dinner Night. Check out the menu HERE!

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