All-Purpose Steak Marinade  (2024)

Whip up this quick and simple steak marinade to turn even the toughest cuts of beef into tender,flavorful steakrecipes. This all-purposeeasy marinadeworks great on lean, tough cuts, so you can have ajuicy steakdinner, every time.

We’re not sure about you, but we grew up on steaks marinated in everything from bottled Italian dressing to the infamous A1 sauce, which worked to take cheap cuts that could feed the family into something palatable.

Agood marinadecan take even the toughestcut of beefor any type of steak and help tenderize it and pack it full of rich flavor. And that’s what this all-purpose marinade is for; taking cheap cuts of beef and giving them the pop that makes them steakhouse quality steaks. That bargain ranch steak can give even a hand-trimmedfilet mignona run for the money when helped.

Unlike ourflank steakmarinade, this is an all-purpose marinade withsimple ingredientsand subtle herbal flavors. It’s meant to be used simply to tenderize and add richness without greatly influencing the flavor profile.

Why marinate steak?

The process of marinating meat has two jobs, to tenderize and to infuse richer flavor. The acidity of the marinade helps tenderize the steak while the salt, herbs, and other ingredients soak in and give it richness.This is why we use chicken marinade or a pork chop marinade as well, it works to tenderize all cuts of meat.

Marinades can help to lessen other flavors, like our buttermilk marinated venison steak. The buttermilk helps the deer meat taste less ‘gamey.’ This also works for other cuts of venison, lamb, or goat.

In our pickle-brined chicken wings, a quick bath in vinegary pickle juice helps the wings to stay incredibly tender when cooked.

If you are working withtougher cuts of beef, use thiseasy steak marinade recipebefore cooking and finish it with one of our compound butter ideas while it rests for thebest results.

Ingredients

• Olive oil
• Balsamic Vinegar
• Lemon juice
• Worcestershire Sauce, soy sauce, orcoconut aminos
• Garlic cloves
• Salt and pepper – we use kosher salt and freshly groundblack pepperwhen cooking.
• Fresh Rosemaryor your favorite dried herbs

How to make the best steak marinade

• Smash the garlic.
• Then, simply whisk all of the ingredients together in asmall bowl.

• Pour the marinade over the steaks or into a resealableplastic bagand massage over the steak to coat.
• Let the steak marinate for at least 30 minutes.
• Most standard 3 oz portions of steak can do with aquick marinade,but some need a little longer. 4 to 6 hours is our maximum time for marinating steaks. After that, we find the texture of the beef can become soft and mushy, which is undesirable.

• When ready to cook, remove themarinated steakfrom the liquid and discard the leftovers. Pat the steak dry with paper towels and cook as desired.

Recipe FAQs

This is thebest steak marinade recipefor adapting with whateverpantry staplesyou have on hand for a succulenttender steak. Swap the rosemary forItalian seasoningor other fresh herbs. Usegarlic powderinstead of fresh, and jazz it up with a dash ofcayenne pepper. Don’t overthink it! If you’ve tried this recipe and even added your own spin, be sure to rate the recipe and drop a comment below.