Sauce · Marinade for grill and pan
Steak marinade
A steak marinade is a seasoned liquid of oil, an acid such as lime juice or vinegar, salt from soy or fish sauce, garlic and sugar, in which thin, coarse steaks like skirt and flank soak for 1–12 hours in the refrigerator; it flavours mainly the surface, penetrating only millimetres.
At a glance
- Base
- Oil, soy sauce, lime or vinegar, garlic, sugar
- For
- 800 g / 28 oz of skirt, flank or hanger
- Time
- 2–12 h (soy) · 1–8 h (citrus)
- Penetrates
- A few millimetres; salt goes deepest
- Always
- In the refrigerator; dry the steak before cooking
What it is
A marinade is a seasoned liquid in which meat is soaked before cooking. Most steak marinades combine the same parts, each with its own job. Salt, from soy sauce, fish sauce or salt itself, is the part that moves into the meat and changes it: it dissolves some of the muscle proteins near the surface, which then hold more water during cooking, as in salting or brining. Acid, from citrus, vinegar, wine or yoghurt, brightens the flavour and loosens the surface. Oil carries fat-soluble aromas from garlic, herbs and spices and helps the marinade coat the meat. Sugar or honey browns quickly on a hot grill.
Marinades suit thin steaks with a coarse, open grain and plenty of flavour: skirt, flank, hanger, flat iron, and beef sliced thin for the grill or the wok. Thick, tender steaks such as ribeye or tenderloin gain little: the marinade cannot reach their centre, and plain salt does more for them. How a marinated steak is cooked afterwards is in how to cook steak.
Ingredients
| Ingredient | Amount | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Skirt, flank or hanger steak | 800 g / 28 oz | 1–2 cm / ½–¾ in thick |
| Neutral oil | 60 ml / 2 fl oz | or olive oil |
| Soy sauce | 60 ml / 2 fl oz | supplies the salt: no more is added |
| Lime juice or red-wine vinegar | 30 ml / 1 fl oz | 2 tbsp |
| Garlic | 3 cloves | grated or crushed |
| Brown sugar or honey | 15 g / ½ oz | 1 tbsp |
| Worcestershire sauce | 15 ml / ½ fl oz | optional |
| Black pepper | 2 g / 1 tsp | coarsely ground |
| Chilli flakes or fresh chilli | to taste | optional |
Your steak: time and temperature
Set the thickness, the doneness and the method: the minutes, the temperature to pull it at and the rest change with them. The same numbers as the tables of Steakpedia.
Estimates to plan with, not a guarantee: every piece, butcher and grill is different. Nothing you type leaves this page. The full calculator, with a timer and a start-time planner →
Method
- Whisk the oil, soy sauce, lime juice or vinegar, garlic, sugar, Worcestershire sauce, pepper and chilli together. If some is wanted as a sauce, set it aside now, before it touches raw meat.
- Put the steak in a zip bag or a glass, stainless-steel or plastic dish; acid reacts with aluminium and copper. Pour the marinade over, turn the meat to coat it and press the air out of the bag.
- Refrigerate for the time in the table below, turning the meat once. Marinating at room temperature is not safe.
- Take the steak out and discard the used marinade. Pat the meat very dry with paper towels: a wet surface steams instead of browning, and sugar left on it burns.
- Grill or sear it over high heat. A skirt or flank steak 1.5 cm / ½–¾ in thick takes 3–5 minutes in total for medium-rare and comes off at 53 °C / 127 °F.
- Rest it for 2–3 minutes, then slice it thinly across the grain.
How long to marinate
The time depends more on the acid and the enzymes in the marinade than on the cut. Low-acid marinades based on soy or fish sauce can stay on for a day; strongly acidic or enzyme-rich ones work on the surface quickly and then start to spoil its texture.
| Marinade | Examples | Time in the refrigerator | If longer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Soy or fish sauce, little acid | The basic recipe above; bò lúc lắc | 2–12 h | Saltier surface, firmer texture |
| Citrus or vinegar | Carne asada, arrachera, anticuchos | 1–8 h | Surface turns pale, soft and mealy |
| With fresh pineapple, papaya, kiwi or ginger | Tropical and some Asian marinades | 30 min–2 h | Surface turns mushy |
| Thin slices, 2–3 mm | Bulgogi | 30 min–4 h | Slices lose their bite |
What a marinade can and cannot do
A marinade works almost only on the surface. Meat is mostly water held in a dense network of proteins, and dissolved substances move through it slowly: over a day, most of a marinade reaches only a few millimetres. Salt, a small ion, travels furthest and fastest; acids and the larger aroma molecules of garlic, herbs and spices stay near the outside, and oil does not penetrate at all. This is why marinades work on thin steaks, where the surface is a large part of every bite, and why a 4 cm steak is no more flavoured at the centre after two days than after two hours.
Acids and enzymes tenderise only the outer layer. Acid weakens the proteins of the surface but, given time, turns them pale and soft, as if partly cooked, without reaching the tough fibres inside. The protein-digesting enzymes of fresh pineapple (bromelain), papaya (papain), kiwi (actinidin) and ginger act faster and further, and turn the surface to paste if left too long; heat speeds them up until it destroys them. Canned pineapple juice, heated during canning, has lost its enzyme. For real tenderness, the cut, slicing across the grain and not overcooking matter more; see why steak is tough.
Marinades around the world
| Dish | Where | Typical marinade | Cut |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carne asada, arrachera | Northern Mexico | Lime and orange juice, garlic, onion, cilantro, chilli | Skirt, flank |
| Bulgogi | Korea | Soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, garlic, grated pear | Beef sliced 2–3 mm |
| Galbi | Korea | Soy sauce and pear, or salt only | Short ribs, cut thin |
| Bò lúc lắc | Vietnam | Oyster sauce, soy and fish sauce, garlic, sugar | Tender beef, cubed |
| Anticuchos | Peru | Ají panca chilli, vinegar, cumin, garlic | Beef heart |
| Asado | Argentina, Uruguay | None: coarse salt only; chimichurri at the table | Every cut |
Food safety
Food-safety agencies such as the USDA advise marinating meat in the refrigerator, never on the counter, and not reusing a marinade that has held raw meat as a sauce unless it is first brought to a boil; a portion set aside before marinating can be used freely. Marinated steaks are cooked like any other steak: the safe minimum the USDA gives for whole beef steaks is 63 °C / 145 °F with a 3-minute rest, while medium-rare is 52–56 °C / 126–133 °F (see steak temperatures).
Frequently asked questions
How long should you marinate steak?
Thin steaks such as skirt or flank: 2–12 hours in a soy-based marinade, 1–8 hours in a citrus or vinegar one, and no more than 2 hours if it contains fresh pineapple, papaya, kiwi or ginger. Always in the refrigerator.
Does marinating steak make it tender?
Only at the surface. Acids and enzymes reach a few millimetres, and too long makes that layer mushy rather than tender. Choosing the cut, cooking it to medium-rare and slicing across the grain matter more.
Can you marinate steak overnight?
Yes, in a low-acid marinade based on soy or fish sauce. Citrus and vinegar marinades left overnight start to turn the surface pale and mealy.
Can you reuse steak marinade?
Not as it is. A marinade that has held raw meat should be discarded, or boiled before being used as a sauce. Setting part aside before adding the meat avoids the problem.
Should you dry a steak after marinating?
Yes, very well, with paper towels. A wet surface steams instead of browning, and sugar in the marinade burns on a hot grill. It is not rinsed.
Keep reading
- Cut · Diaphragm, open grainSkirt steakThe diaphragm: thin, coarse-grained and deeply flavoured. Cooked hot and fast, sliced across the grain.
- Cut · Flank, long-grainedFlank steakThe flat belly muscle of fajitas, London broil and phở: never past medium-rare, always cut across the grain.
- Main course · Mexico, mesquiteCarne asadaNorthern Mexico's grilled beef: skirt or flank, lime and orange, cooked fast over hot mesquite, in flour tortillas.
- Cooking · The methodHow to cook steakCut, thickness, heat and temperature: times for every thickness and method, and a calculator for your steak.
Sources
4
- McGee, Harold. On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen, rev. ed. New York: Scribner, 2004.
- Myhrvold, Nathan; Young, Chris; Bilet, Maxime. Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking. Bellevue: The Cooking Lab, 2011.
- USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service. Safe Minimum Internal Temperature Chart. 2023. www.fsis.usda.gov/food-safety/safe-food-handling-and-preparation/food-safety-basics/safe-temperature-chart
- López-Alt, J. Kenji. The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science. New York: W. W. Norton, 2015.