Marinade for Grilled Flank Steak is a sweet and savory marinade loaded with garlic. Use it to grill tender and juicy flank steak every time. Serve on fresh greens, in steak fajitas, tacos, or even a sandwich.
🐄Ingredients
Marinade for flank steak—olive oil, garlic, red wine vinegar, soy sauce, honey, black pepper
Flank steak
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We love grilled beef, and flank steak screams flavor but needs a nice marinade to add the flavors and tenderness you need for a great meal.
This simple recipe uses everyday ingredients. As little as 2 hours will give you good flavor, but a 6-8 hour minimum is needed for the tenderness you want, and overnight is better.
The nature of flank steak is that it is loaded with flavor but will be tough if not marinated, cooked, and served correctly. You will be rewarded for your attention with a wonderfully flavorful meal with some char from a Maillard reaction.
👨🍳How to marinade and grill flank steak
Start by trimming the flank steak of any visible fat.
Mix marinade in a 1-gallon ZipLock bag or non-reactive container. Add steak and refrigerate—marinade for a minimum of 2 hours for flavor. For tenderness, you want 6-8 hours minimum, but up to 12 hours is best.
Preheat a gas or charcoal grill to high. You want a surface temp of 550°-600°—clean and oil grill grates. Move meat from the marinade directly to the grill. Discard the marinade.
Grill for 5-6 minutes per side to an internal temp of 125° to 130°. Do not overcook this meat. Remove and allow to rest for 5-10 minutes.
Cut cross-grain about ¼ inch thick. Serve hot over greens, in steak fajitas, or tacos.
Use on a salad, in a taco, or fajitas.
For more details, keep reading. See the Recipe Card below for complete instructions and to print.
✔️Tips
- Due to the vinegar, the maximum marinade is 12 hours, or the meat may be mushy from over-marinading.
- Flank steak needs to be cooked to a rare or medium-rare level and no higher than 135°. If you want your beef not to be red, don't buy flank steak.
- You must use an instant-read or meat thermometer to not overcook the flank steak.
- Be sure to let the steak rest for 5-10 minutes after grilling before cutting.
- Cutting cross-grain is a must, or you will be chewing a lot. Slice to a thickness of ¼ inch.
- You need about ⅓ pound of meat per serving.
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🥣About Marinades
Marinades are used for two things: to add flavors to the meat. But more importantly, the acid in the marinade will break down the meat's muscle fibers, giving more tender results even for tougher lean beef, like flank steak.
A marinade will add flavor to the surface of the meat, and the salt will help pull fluid with it to add great flavor to the meat. Water-soluble flavors like garlic and soy work exceptionally well for this. Other flavors like ginger and rosemary can also be added.
Sugars like honey or brown sugar frequently will help intensify the browning of the meat, adding a Maillard reaction for even more flavors.
Related recipes
For other ways to flavor steaks, check out simple beef kabob marinade or the more complex Steak Kabob Marinade. And don't miss the change of pace coffee steak rub.
Check out other grilled steak recipes, like Grilled NY Strip Steaks, Grilled Porterhouse Steaks, Grilled Filet, and Grilled Ribeye.
🍴How to Serve Marinaded Grilled Flank Steak
This is great on a salad due to the intense flavor. Serving with fries, potato salad, or pasta like mac and cheese are popular choices. But also grilled side dishes, like Grilled Mixed Vegetables, Grilled Baked Potatoes with No Foil, and Grilled Pineapple.
If used for Mexican, like fajitas or tacos, serve with fresh cilantro, some lime juice
What to do with leftover flank steak
Store leftovers in an airtight container and refrigerate for 4 days or freeze for 3 months. Reheat in the oven on a tray covered with aluminum foil.
❓FAQs
This flank steak recipe can be cooked with a traditional sear-and-bake method.
After marinading, shake off the marinade and sear both sides of the steak in an oven-safe or cast-iron skillet with oil over medium-high heat. Then place in a preheated 400° oven until the internal temperature is 130° to 135°—it will rise a few degrees after being removed from the oven.
🐄About Flank Steak
Flank steak is located on the belly of the cow near the rear legs. The skirt steak is located just in front of the flank. The flank is leaner and has a finer grain than the skirt steak. While often confused, they are not the same. Flank steak is also occasionally called “London Broil.”
Flank is a very lean cut of meat and is generally used for grilling, roasting, or broiling. It can become tough rapidly if overcooked and should never be cooked more than medium.
It is usually cooked by searing at high temperatures to rare or slightly more and cut across the grain to help tenderness. If cooked correctly, it is a tender and delicious cut of beef.
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📖The Recipe Card
Marinade for Grilled Flank Steak
Ingredients
- 1 ½ - 2 pounds flank steak
- ⅓ cups olive oil
- 4 cloves garlic - minced or crushed
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- ⅓ cups soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons honey
- ½ teaspoon pepper
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Start by trimming the flank steak of any visible fat.
- Mix marinade in a 1-gallon ZipLock bag or non-reactive container. Add steak and refrigerate—marinade for a minimum of 2 hours for flavor. For tenderness, you want 6-8 hours minimum, but up to 12 hours is best.
- Preheat a gas or charcoal grill to high. You want a surface temp of 550°-600°—clean and oil grill grates. Move meat from the marinade directly to the grill. Discard the marinade.
- Grill for 5-6 minutes per side to an internal temp of 125° to 130°. Do not overcook this meat. Remove and allow to rest for 5-10 minutes.
- Cut cross-grain about ¼ inch thick. Serve hot over greens, in steak fajitas, or tacos.
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips
- A flank steak will be about 1 ½ to 2 pounds, give or take a bit. Plan on ⅓ pound per serving.
- Marinade for a minimum of 2 hours for flavor. For tenderness, you want 6-8 hours minimum, but up to 12 hours is best.
- The marinade adds a lot of taste, and a bit can be added at serving. To do this, reserve about ¼ cup of the marinade before adding the meat.
- Use a very hot grill; only about 5 minutes per side will usually do it.
- Never overcook a flank steak. About 130° to 135° will be a good target temperature to remove from heat, and it will rise a few degrees after removal from the grill. If you don't like redness in your beef, you should cook something else.
- Be sure to rest the meat for 5-10 minutes before cutting.
- Cut thin across the grain of the meat.
- Oven instructions are in the recipe post.
Your Own Private Notes
To adjust the recipe size:
You can adjust the number of servings above; however, only the amount in the ingredient list is adjusted, not the instructions.
Nutrition Estimate (may vary)
Editor's Note: Originally Published September 3, 2016. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.
The model recipe is Grilled Marinated Flank Steak at SimpleRecipe.com, but with more garlic and less honey.
Sandra says
This is how we cook flank . It's great for a crowd because you can get a pile of slices out of one steak. We buy ours at Costco. I usually buy my marinade in a package in the spice aisle but I will try yours next time. Home made is always better.
Pat Monahan says
This has to do w your retirement,, not the recipe, which I know will be excellent.
Congrats on your window into a new world. And thank you for all of your kind
And informative info. And YUM. I am so happy that you will still be around for
Those of us who only need a little bit of something to cook, to cheer us..
Very best wishes for a healthy and happy retirement!