Marinated Grilled Flank Steak

One of our favorites of all time, this Marinated Grilled Flank Steak is so easy and delicious; try it at your next outdoor event.

I don’t think there is a more versatile piece of beef than flank steak. It’s lean, takes on a variety of flavors depending on how it’s marinated; it’s easy to cook and great by itself. This Marinated Grilled Flank Steak is one of my absolute favorites to prepare outside on our grill.

I’ll serve it as our main protein with sides, use it for fajitas or tacos, or for a fabulous company dish, I like to serve this layered Flank Steak with Pesto, Mashed Potatoes, and Salad.

The key to enjoying a flank steak lies in knowing how to prepare it before grilling and how to cut if after…both make a big difference. Without knowing those, it would be easy to toss it aside as a tough, unforgiving cut of beef and that would be a shame.

Allowing the meat time in a marinade which includes something acidic (lemon juice, vinegar, etc) will help to soften those tough fibers and infuse the meat with flavor.

Then, after grilling, letting it rest and slicing it thinly across the grain is key. You don’t want to slice from across the short side but take your knife and cut at an angle on the longer side which is against the grain in order to get wider and more tender slices.

Done correctly, it is divine. Once you’ve mastered it, the flavor options are huge…you can revise a basic marinade to have a Mexican influence with chiles (coming soon!) or go Asian with a variety of spices.

This recipe is my basic go-to and is especially perfect when I crave something simple and for me, that’s a whole bunch of grilled mushrooms and onions. Add some veggies, a baked potato, a nice salad, and it’s our favorite summertime feast.

You would see tomatoes in these photos if I had any yet… the first part of July is too early for Colorado; heck we’re lucky to have garden tomatoes 30 days from now!

No grill? No problem. Simply prepare this Flank Steak using a hot cast iron pan; a grill pan is even better.

Want something a bit fancier…this Flank Steak with Bernaise Butter is out of this world, but more of a company dish. The butter is flavored with tarragon, shallots, and white wine and I love it too, but I make this simple recipe more often. It was my first foray into flank steak and will always remain my favorite.

I lived in North Carolina for ten years when my kids were young; we moved to Colorado when they were one and five. I don’t remember ever having flank steak in North Carolina but I’ll never forget the first time I had it here in Denver.

We had only been here a day or two, we were getting settled into temporary housing waiting for our new home to be finished, and I was exhausted from the altitude change so we opted to head to a local favorite for dinner, Chili’s.

I’ll never forget seeing that sizzling platter that the waitress walked to a table and the scent was delicious . I asked what it was, she said it was their fajitas, and I was sold. Minus the green bell pepper and jalapeno.

Funny…that first foray had me love the meat but picking out the ubiquitous peppers. Today I would probably ask for double the jalapeno…times do change (but no matter my age or experience…no green bell peppers!).

I didn’t forget that meal so when I bought my first cookbook in Colorado, ‘Colorado Cache’ from the Junior League of Denver, the first thing I looked for was flank steak and I was pleased to find this recipe…score! Chuckling, this was before the internet; it wasn’t as easy as a quick search online!

An even bigger score was how inexpensive flank steak was…sadly no more. I have friends who can source the less expensive hangar steak but I’ve not found those easy to come by so I stick with flank steak. All things considered, especially the lack of fat or bone, and I’m good with paying a bit more. Check your shops though…Sprouts was 50% more than Costco!

I’ve actually had this recipe for Marinated Grilled Flank Steak on this blog since 2008. Yes, 2008…sadly so far lost in Archives it was invisible. That was wrong and today I hope to fix that mistake. I was pretty happy to find it; and some new photos made all the difference.

You’ll notice that this meat is cooked to medium rare. I might go medium at someone’s behest but honestly, since it is a piece of meat with very little fat, don’t choose flank steak if you like your grilled meat to be medium well or well done; it’s simply not well suited and will be dry and tough.

I’ve still got the cookbook with the recipe but it needs to be here too…for my family, my friends and you…my extended friends who read this blog and try these recipes. Thanks by the way!

I actually prepared two steaks this week; look for a new recipe soon with a citrus marinade and jalapeno peppers which I used to make delicious Carne Asado Tacos with an accompanying sauce; like I said, SO versatile!

Still, this well used recipe is my standard preparation when I want to enjoy one like we did this week; piled high with mushrooms and/or grilled onions. The grilled onion part of this dish was minimal…trust me, I couldn’t believe I only had one little onion either.

But no matter, I had a big box of mushrooms and made all of them! Still if mushrooms are not your thing, add some grilled onions, or peppers, or nothing if you prefer, the steak is great on it’s own. Makes a wonderful sandwich too; lettuce, tomato and a horseradish mayo are my choice of condiments.

I don’t know about you but my preference for mushrooms is to cook them until they just turn a bit brown…no long sautéing here. They’re simple too…a bit of butter, some salt and pepper, and just enough time in a skillet for them to turn light brown and they are ready in minutes.

If you want to combine them with grilled onions, cook the onions first until they start to brown and then add the mushrooms with some additional butter to cook up quickly at the end.

Maybe the perfect meal? How can you go wrong with a piece of flavorful, lean, and tender beef smothered in mushroom and onions and accompanied by fresh green beans and a well buttered potato? Hmm, you can’t !

A friend of mine recently shared an amazing mustard sauce from Senegal; meant to be served on lamb, I decided to try it on this flank steak. Absolutely fabulous. If you love mustard like I love mustard? Watch for this recipe too.

The meat is marinated in a combination of mustards, olive oil, lemon and red wine and then drizzled with a sauce made with similar components. I’ll save the marinade step for when I have another flank steak but I LOVE mustard so I made the sauce and I’ll admit, I’m drizzling this stuff everywhere. Avocados? Yes. Eggs? Those too; it’s awesome. I’ll post it as soon as I can…mostly because I want to eat more of it. You will too.

More Delicious Flank Steak!

• Flank Steak with Bearnaise Sauce
• Flank Steak Salad with Pesto and Mashed Potatoes

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