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    🏠Home » Recipes » Sauces, Rubs, and Seasonings Recipes

    The Best Steak Marinade

    Jul 5, 2023 by Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan · Last modified: Jul 5, 2023 · 24 Comments

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    4.16 from 160 votes

    This easy, mouth-watering Steak Marinade adds delicious flavors and tenderness to any steak in as little as 30 minutes—perfect for strip steaks.

    grilled marinaded strip steak ona white plate.
    Jump To:
    • 🐄Ingredients
    • 👨‍🍳How to Make and Use Steak Marinade
    • ⏰How long to marinate steak?
    • 🐄How to cook steaks
    • ✔️Tips
    • ❓FAQs
    • 🍴What to serve with marinaded steak
    • Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
    • 📖 Recipe
    • The Best Steak Marinade
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    This homemade steak marinades can add lots of flavor to meat, taking a good steak to world-class best steaks. And with acidic ingredients, like lemon juice, the marinade will also tenderize, which will help that bit of toughness in New Youk Strip and T-bone steaks.

    This quick and easy recipe uses soy sauce, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, and a few other pantry ingredients to have the best juicy steak at home in less than an hour.

    While perfect for grilled striploin steaks, it is also an excellent marinade for any beef steak. We frequently use this marinade with New York strip steaks for company meals.

    I primarily use this marinade for Grilled Strip Steak. And sometimes for Pan Seared Oven Roasted Strip Steak. Other grilled steak recipes for this beef marinade are Grilled T-bone Steak, Grilled Ribeye Steak, Grilled Sirloin Steak, and Grill Filet. But you can also use this steak marinade for Flank Steak and Steak Kabobs.

    The inspiration recipe is "Best Steak Marinade in Existence" on Allrecipes.com.  Simplified with a few changes to the technique and some minor changes to make it friendly for smaller uses.

    🐄Ingredients

    • Soy sauce
    • Olive oil
    • Lemon juice
    • Worcestershire sauce
    • Dry pantry ingredients—garlic powder, dry basil, parsley flakes, pepper (black or white)

    👨‍🍳How to Make and Use Steak Marinade

    1. In a 1-gallon zip lock bag or airtight container, combine soy sauce, olive oil, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, and other spices.
    2. Add the steaks to the bag, squeeze the air out of the bake, seal, and coat well. Refrigerate for 30 minutes, but 2 to 8 hours should be fine.
    3. Remove from the marinade and discard the marinade. Do not rinse or pat off.
    4. Steaks are ready to grill or for stovetop searing and oven baking.

    ⏰How long to marinate steak?

    As little as 20 to 30 minutes will transfer lots of taste to your steaks, and two hours will get most of the flavor and tenderness effect.

    Up to 8 hours is fine; some recommend up to 24 hours. But the lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce with vinegar can affect the texture if marinaded for over 8 hours.

    Don't forget to refrigerate for food safety.

    🐄How to cook steaks

    While you can use this marinade with almost any cooking method, it is outstanding with grilled steaks.

    General Grilling Instructions for marinaded steaks

    1. Clean and oil grates. Preheat the grill to high for most steaks but 450° for filets or ribeye steaks.
    2. Grill and flip every 5 minutes until you reach your desired internal temperature. Generally, it takes about 10 minutes to get medium-rare. The exact time varies by thickness and the grill.
    3. Please see the specific recipes for each type of steak listed above.

    How to Pan-Seared Oven Baked Steaks

    1. Sear the steaks in an oven-safe pan for 2-3 minutes per side to get to the desired final color. This creates a Maillard reaction for great flavor.
    2. Transfer the pan with steaks to a 400° preheated oven and bake until a few degrees less than your desired final temperature to allow for the temperature to rise after removing from heat. Depending on thickness, medium-rare will take 8-10 minutes.
    3. Please see the specific recipes for each type of steak listed above.

    ✔️Tips

    • Trim the steak well before adding to the marinade so you won't need to manipulate the meat before cooking and provide more surface area for marinating.
    • The acids, lemon juice, and Worcestershire sauce will help tenderize. This will be better if you marinate for a few hours.
    • Acid and heat are bad for cast iron. So if cooking with pan searing, do not use cast iron.
    • The oil will help carry fat-solvable flavors into the meat. This will occur pretty quickly. So, don't skip the oil.
    • Run through a blender if you want, but it seems unnecessary.
    • Use black pepper if you don't have white. I prefer white for this marinade.
    • Add a pinch of crushed red pepper or a hot sauce if you want.

    ❓FAQs

    Why discard remain marinade?

    Once used, any marinade liquid is considered contaminated and should be discarded.

    If you want to use a marinade later during the cooking process, some of the marinade should be reserved for later use before adding the meat.

    Should you refrigerate during marinating?

    Good food safety should always be followed, and if the marinade is at room temperature for 2 hours or more, it and any meat should be discarded. So, please refrigerate even for a short marinade.

    🍴What to serve with marinaded steak

    Start with a nice salad, French onion soup, and some French Bread. Serve with Crispy Parmesan Baked Potatoes, Green Beans with Bacon, or Grilled Asparagus. And finish the meal with Berry Crisp for Two, or Flourless Chocolate Cake.

    Choose a red wine like Merlot, pinot noir, or Cabernet for a wine pairing.

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    ↑Jump to Table of Contents

    This recipe is listed in these categories. See them for more similar recipes.

    Beef Recipes, Sauces, Rubs, and Seasonings Recipes
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    Step-by-Step Photo Instructions

    steak marinade ingredients.

    In a 1-gallon zip lock bag or airtight container, combine 3 tablespoons soy sauce, 4 tablespoons olive oil, 3 tablespoons lemon juice, 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce, 2 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 ½ tablespoons dry basil, 2 teaspoons dried parsley flakes, and ½ teaspoon white or black pepper.

    two trimmed New York Strip steaks on a red board.

    Trim your steaks of extra fat.

    steaks marinating in a bag.

    Add the steaks to the bag, squeeze out the air, and push them around to get them coated well. Refrigerate and marinate for as little as 30 minutes, but 2 to 8 hours is better.

    marinade steak cooking on the grill.

    Remove from the marinade and discard the marinade. Grill or pan-sear and bake as usual.

    ↑Jump to Table of Contents

    📖 Recipe

    grilled marinaded strip steak ona white plate

    The Best Steak Marinade

    From Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
    This easy, mouth-watering Steak Marinade adds delicious flavors and tenderness to any steak in as little as 30 minutes—perfect for strip steaks.
    Tap to leave a Rating
    4.16 from 160 votes
    Print Email CollectionCollected
    Prep Time: 5 minutes minutes
    Cook Time: 30 minutes minutes
    Total Time: 35 minutes minutes
    Servings #/Adjust if desired 2 servings

    Ingredients

    US Customary - Convert to Metric
    • 3 tablespoons soy sauce
    • 4 tablespoons olive oil
    • 3 tablespoons lemon juice
    • 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
    • 2 teaspoons garlic powder
    • 1 ½ tablespoon dry basil
    • 2 teaspoons dry parsley flakes
    • ½ teaspoon black or white pepper - white preferred
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    Instructions

    • In a 1-gallon zip lock bag or airtight container, combine 3 tablespoons soy sauce, 4 tablespoons olive oil, 3 tablespoons lemon juice, 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce, 2 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 ½ tablespoons dry basil, 2 teaspoons dried parsley flakes, and ½ teaspoon white or black pepper.
      steak marinade ingredients.
    • Trim your steaks of extra fat.
      two trimmed New York Strip steaks on a red board.
    • Add the steaks to the bag, squeeze out the air, and push them around to get them coated well. Refrigerate and marinate for as little as 30 minutes, but 2 to 8 hours is better.
      steaks marinating in a bag.
    • Remove from the marinade and discard the marinade. Do not rinse off the marinade. Grill or pan-sear and bake as usual.
      marinade steak cooking on the grill.
    See the step-by-step photos in the post. Some recipes have an option to display the photos here with a switch above these instructions but the photos DO NOT print.

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    Recipe Notes

    Pro Tips

    1. As little as 30 minutes will give some results. The recommended time is 2-8 hours.
    2. Fresh garlic is a good substitute.
    3. I really like the white pepper here, but if you don't have it, use black pepper.
    4. Trim the steak well before adding to the marinade.
    5. I especially use this on strip steak, but it is for any beef steak.
    Nutritional information: The entire recipe can do 3-4 steaks, and only a small amount stays on the meat. Nutrition is assuming 10% of the marinade is absorbed.
    How to Grill a Strip Steak on a Gas Grill
    Pan Seared Oven Roasted Strip Steak

    To adjust the recipe size:

    You may adjust the number of servings in this recipe card under servings. This does the math for the ingredients for you. BUT it does NOT adjust the text of the instructions. So you need to do that yourself.

    Nutrition Estimate

    Calories : 71.7 kcal (4%)Carbohydrates : 4.7 g (2%)Protein : 1.8 g (4%)Fat : 5.8 g (9%)Saturated Fat : 0.9 g (5%)Polyunsaturated Fat : 0.6 gMonounsaturated Fat : 4.2 gSodium : 198.4 mg (8%)Potassium : 205.5 mg (6%)Fiber : 2.4 g (10%)Sugar : 0.6 g (1%)Vitamin A : 47.6 IU (1%)Vitamin C : 2.2 mg (3%)Calcium : 139.7 mg (14%)Iron : 5.7 mg (32%)
    Serving size is my estimate of a normal size unless stated otherwise. The number of servings per recipe is stated above. This is home cooking, and there are many variables. All nutritional information are estimates and may vary from your actual results. To taste ingredients such as salt will be my estimate of the average used.
    Course : Seasoning
    Cuisine : American

    © 101 Cooking for Two, LLC. All content and photographs are copyright protected by us or our vendors. While we appreciate your sharing our recipes, please realize copying, pasting, or duplicating full recipes to any social media, website, or electronic/printed media is strictly prohibited and a violation of our copyrights.

    This recipe is featured in Mother's Day Recipes, Father's Day Steak Recipes, and Valentine Day Recipes roundups.

    Editor's Note: Originally Published June 14, 2013. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.

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    1. Emma

      May 30, 2022 at 4:41 pm

      Just used it for grilling today, with sirloin steaks and veal chops. Absolutely delicious

      Reply
    2. Menolly

      February 02, 2022 at 1:00 pm

      This looks intriguing, and I will try it. I have another marinade for duck breast that also has soy. Which leads me to my question : what does the soy do? You've explained the Worcestershire and the lemon, but not the soy, and now I want to know what the soy does, as well. 😏

      Reply
      • Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan

        February 02, 2022 at 5:51 pm

        From what I remember... first, it adds a ton of flavor—the main effect. Second, if there is acid (vinegar, etc) soy helps the proteins react to that and brown better. There may be more, I don't believe it is a tenderizer.
        Dan

      • Ralph

        June 26, 2022 at 8:27 am

        Tried this recipe yesterday it is the best steak that I ever ate so did my company I will definitely keep this recipet

    3. Ted

      August 11, 2021 at 1:25 pm

      5 stars
      Wow tried this recipe with company last night
      Don’t think I have had a better steak in years
      One person had extensive high end restaurant experience and she was passing thw zip lock bag around for everyone to smell
      Think one of the keys was grilling the steak 4 mins per side on 550 grill
      Thank you for a great recipe

      Reply
    4. Ellen

      April 19, 2020 at 1:46 am

      5 stars
      This marinade is spectacular. I had a nice strip loin from the farmer's market, marinated it in a glass dish (try to avoid plastic anything) for about six hours, then pan-grilled. The flavor is incredible! It didn't disguise the good beef flavor; rather it enhanced it. Thank you!

      Reply
    5. Philip Dally

      June 16, 2019 at 4:18 pm

      5 stars
      Sounds really good! I'll give this a try soon. Sounds like if you make it once might as well double up for the next go around. Looks like it would store well in the fridge for awhile.

      Reply
    6. Rosalie

      June 12, 2019 at 11:01 pm

      I used this marinade for my top sirloin and it was absolutely tasty and tender, I will use this again, Thank you !!

      Reply
    7. Jaime

      June 11, 2019 at 11:28 am

      5 stars
      This really is a fantastic marinade. Used it for steak kabobs and they were delicious.

      Reply
    8. Katherine Asher

      February 03, 2019 at 11:47 pm

      I really loved this marinated for the steak I did. My family really enjoyed them to..

      Reply
      • DrDan

        February 04, 2019 at 5:24 pm

        Hi Katherine,
        Welcome to the blog.
        I use this frequently with strip steaks to "kick them up a notch" for company and special dinners.
        Thanks for the note.
        Dan

    9. Patricia Henry

      June 24, 2016 at 8:57 pm

      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!

      Reply
      • DrDan

        June 24, 2016 at 10:08 pm

        I've one it twice in the last 2 weeks... so it is now my "go to" also
        Dan

    10. Brian

      June 07, 2016 at 1:01 am

      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?

      Reply
    11. neftaly

      April 15, 2015 at 10:56 pm

      4 stars
      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.

      Reply
      • DrDan

        April 16, 2015 at 7:27 am

        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/
        DrDan
        PS I'm changing this post to point to those instructions.

    12. Phil

      August 14, 2014 at 11:08 am

      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.

      Reply
      • DrDan

        August 14, 2014 at 9:15 pm

        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.
        DrDan

    13. Pam

      June 16, 2013 at 2:51 pm

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

      Reply
      • Dan Mikesell

        June 21, 2013 at 8:24 am

        Definitely try it.

      • David Romano

        September 12, 2014 at 8:32 pm

        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.

      • DrDan

        September 13, 2014 at 8:23 am

        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.

        DrDan

    14. Chris

      June 16, 2013 at 8:31 am

      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.

      Reply
      • Dan Mikesell

        June 21, 2013 at 8:23 am

        It did turn out great... I'm sure yours did also.

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