Having a quick, and simple marinade for steak is essential during grilling season. This 3 ingredient steak marinade recipe is made with simple ingredients — olive oil, soy sauce, and balsamic vinegar — and it adds delicious flavor to any cut of steak. 

Do you like a flavorful marinade? Typically, we think a juicy steak is amazing with just a little salt and black pepper. However, when we want to add a little more flavor in an entree, our favorite way to do that is with an easy steak marinade. This flavorful steak marinade recipe is one of our favorites because it uses basic ingredients that we have on hand any time of year. ​

What is a marinade?

A marinade is a way to enhance the flavor of beef. At its basic core, a marinade is a strongly-flavored liquid with fresh herbs and spices that beef is steeped in until it takes on some of the flavors. Marinating steak can take as little as 15 minutes or several hours

What is a steak marinade recipe made of?

A good marinade recipe is usually made of some basic components:

• Salt – Kosher salt, sea salt, or something salty like soy sauce or Worcestershire sauce.
• Oil – Because beef is naturally saturated with water, beef won’t absorb the oil in the marinade.  However, since herbs and spices are oil-soluble, they require the oil to release their full flavor.
• Flavoring – Spices and fresh herbs are your friends and they’ll add a punch of flavor to any marinade.
• Acid – Depending on the desired flavor, many marinades have an acidic ingredient like lemon juice or vinegar. The acid helps flavor the beef, but it does not tenderize it.

What steak cut is best for marinating?

What cuts of beef to use a marinade on is a matter of personal preference and the recipe you’re making.

Generally, marinades should be used on tougher cuts of beef from hard-working muscle groups, like flank steak, hanger steak, and skirt steak.  

If you’re cooking a high-quality, flavorful cut of beef like a ribeye steak, new york strip, or filet mignon, we recommend not marinating it so that the beef’s natural flavor can shine. However, if you want to use a marinade on a ribeye or filet, you can. It’s entirely up to you.

How to Make

• Whisk all the steak marinade ingredients (soy sauce, extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar) together in a small bowl.  
• Add the marinade and steaks of your choice in a sealable bag or a covered shallow glass dish, making sure the marinade covers the raw meat. Don’t use a metal container for the marinade since the acidic ingredients can react with metal.
• For best results, refrigerate for 2-4 hours until it’s time to cook. Do not marinate beef at room temperature for health safety reasons.  Also, remember that the longer you marinade the beef, the stronger the flavor will be. 

How Much Marinade Per Pound of Beef?

Usually, you need ¼ to ½ cup of marinade for each one to two pounds of beef.

Can You Over-Marinate Steak?

Yes! Many marinades have an acidic base, which can toughen beef if it soaks for too long. Never go over 24-hours with a steak marinade.

If using a recipe with tropical fruit like mango, pineapple or kiwi, only marinate for an hour or less or the meat will turn mushy.

In addition, there are food-safety reasons to avoid letting meat over-marinate. Raw beef should only be stored in the refrigerator for  3-5 days according to the Federal Food Safety guidelines. After this, dangerous bacteria can grow and you risk getting sick.

To prevent steak from becoming either tough or mushy from over-marinating, be sure to be mindful of the clock.

Do steak marinade recipes tenderize beef?

The jury is out on if steaks actually tenderize beef. Some famous chefs say marinades make a more tender steak, but others say they do very little, if anything.  Based on our personal experience, we think marinades give a tough cut extra flavor, but they won’t turn a tough cut tender.

What to do with leftover steak marinade?

You’ll want to throw any excess marinade. It’s not safe to save it for future use or serve it as a sauce since raw beef sat in the steak marinade for several hours

Steak Marinade Recipe Tips: 

• Always marinate steaks in the refrigerator, never at room temperature.
• Marinate in a resealable plastic bag or glass container. 
• If you want a deeper flavor, prick the surface of the meat with a fork before marinating.
• Usually, you need ¼ to ½ cup of marinade for each one to two pounds of beef.

How Long to Grill Steaks?

The amount of time you grill steak will depend on the thickness of the steak and desired doneness.  If you’re cooking a steak that’s thinner, the cook time will be less than thicker steaks. If you like a medium-well steak, the cook time will be more than a medium-rare steak.

Although you can try and grill steak by time (see chart below), there’s only one way to get a perfectly cooked steak every time — you have to use an instant-read thermometer. 

When cooking steak, an instant read thermometer is the best way to tell a steak’s doneness, not the color or the “feel” of the steak. If you don’t own an instant read thermometer, please get one right now! You will quickly make back any money you spent by never overcooking another piece of expensive meat again. Here’s our favorite. 

Once you have an instant read thermometer, be sure you’re using it correctly. Insert the thermometer most of the way through the thickest part of the steak, and draw it out slowly. As you do, you’ll see the temperature change as you move the probe through the steak’s temperature gradients. The lowest number you see is the best indication of the internal doneness of that steak. Be sure to pull the steak off the grill about 5°F BEFORE it reaches the target temperature. This allows for carryover cooking.

Can You Tell if Steak is Done by Touch? With Finger Test?

Because steaks muscles widen and relax in the cooking process, the meat gets firmer the more done it is.  This makes it possible to touch the steak and guesstimate its doneness. Touch tests are very subjective, but they’re popular with some cooks. These tests are great when you’re in a pinch, but remember, the only real way to tell a steak’s doneness is by temperature, which requires a thermometer.  Learn 3 types of steak touch tests here. 

Carryover Cooking

Another tip to achieve the perfect steak at home is to be mindful of carryover cooking, which is the rise in the steak’s temperature once it leaves the heat source.

When you take a temperature reading of steak, you’re not looking for the specific number in the chart above. Rather, you want to pull your steaks off at a high enough temperature so that carryover cooking will do the rest of the work and raise the temperature of the steak to your desired doneness. 

This means it’s best to pull your steaks off the heat source when the thermometer reads about 5-10°F lower than the desired doneness.

Let It Rest

It’s very important to let your steak rest for about 5 minutes before slicing. Why? Meat is a muscle and it has two main parts – protein and water.

When meat is raw, it’s about 70-75% water. If you’ve ever cut into raw meat before, you know that you barely lose any liquid.

When steak is cooked, the muscle fibers and connective tissue contract because of the increased temperature. Then, the water is squeezed out of the fibers and the liquid moves towards the center of the steak.

If you cut meat before it rests, the juice goes directly on your plate because the juices haven’t had a chance to be reabsorbed by the meat yet.Here’s what happened when we cut into the steak immediately.  See the juice on the plate.

There are lots of guidelines and studies about how long should steak rest. The three most common guidelines we’re aware of are to let the meat rest for…

1. 5-minutes for every inch of thickness
2. 10-minutes for each pound of meat
3. let meat rest for as long as you cooked the meat

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More Beef Recipes to Try:

• Dry Rub with Brown Sugar Steak Seasoning
• Easy Blue Cheese Compound Butter for Steak
• Garlic Butter Steak Bites
• Cheesecake Factory Hibachi Steak (copycat) Recipe
• Tomatoes and Fresh Herb Steak Topper
• How to Grill the Perfect Steak
• What everybody ought to know about beef cuts
• Homemade dry rub (the secret 8:3:1:1 ratio)
• Defrosting Meat: 4 Safe & Easy Ways
• Slow Cooker Pepper Steak
• Prime Rib Roast with Garlic Herb Butter

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