Step that steak up a few notches with an excellent marinade that will add tons of flavor and tenderness. Easy to do and all your friends will want the recipe.
Editor's Note: Originally Published June 14, 2013. Updated with expanded discussion and updated photos.
Marinades are to add flavor to meat but also when made with acid ingredients, like lemon juice here, they will also tenderize some.
The inspiration is a very popular recipe around the internet on blogs and recipe sites. The original (I think) is known as "Best Steak Marinade in Existence" on Allrecipes.com.
Only a few changes to simplify the technique and some minor changes to make it friendly for smaller amounts.
My Rating:
A 5 minus. The minus is due to only being a marinade.
Recipe Notes for The Best Steak Marinade
I don't frequently marinade steak, but this is good enough to start doing it a lot more. My wife felt it was the best strip steak she has had in years.
The acids, in this case the lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce will help tenderize.
The oil will help carry any fat-solvable flavors into the meat.
Run through a blender if you want but it doesn't seem necessary to me.
Use black pepper if you don't have white.
Add a pinch of crushed red pepper or a hot or pepper sauce if you want.
In a 1 gallon zip lock bag 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 dry parsley flakes and ½ teaspoon white pepper.
Trim your steaks of extra fat. Here are two strip steaks about 12 oz each.
Add the steaks to the bag, squeeze out the air and mush the steaks around to get them coated well. Refrigerate for 2 to 8 hours. Longer should be fine.
Remove from the marinade and discard the marinade. Grill as usual. You can also pan sear. See my post at https://www.101cookingfortwo.com/pan-seared-oven-roasted-strip-steak/.
Allow to rest for 5 minutes or so before cutting.
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The Best Steak Marinade
Ingredients
- 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 white pepper - or black if you don’t have it
Instructions
- In a 1 gallon zip lock bag 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 dry parsley flakes and ½ teaspoon white pepper.
- Trim your steaks of extra fat. Add the steaks to the bag, squeeze out the air and push the steaks around to get them coated well. Refrigerate for 2 to 8 hours. Longer should be okay.
- Remove from the marinade and discard the marinade. Do not rinse or pat off. Grill or cook as usual.
Recipe Notes
Recipe Notes:
- As little as 60 minutes will give some results. The recommended time is 2-8 hours, but up to 24 hours should be fine.
- Fresh garlic is a good substitute.
- I really like the white pepper here but if you don't have it, use black.
- This is probably not for the steak purest. They just want plain steak.
- I especially use this on strip steak but should be great on sirloin or other cheaper cuts.
Nutrition
Originally Published June 14, 2013.
Ellen
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!
Philip Dally
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.
Rosalie
I used this marinade for my top sirloin and it was absolutely tasty and tender, I will use this again, Thank you !!
Jaime
This really is a fantastic marinade. Used it for steak kabobs and they were delicious.
Katherine Asher
I really loved this marinated for the steak I did. My family really enjoyed them to..
DrDan
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
Patricia Henry
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!
DrDan
I've one it twice in the last 2 weeks... so it is now my "go to" also
Dan
Brian
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?
neftaly
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.
DrDan
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.
Phil
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.
DrDan
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
Pam
This sounds great and looks delicious; I want to try it. I don't think I've ever marinated a steak. Thanks!
Dan Mikesell
Definitely try it.
David Romano
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
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
Chris
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.
Dan Mikesell
It did turn out great... I'm sure yours did also.