The Best Steak Marinade
Make the most delicious steak with this Best Steak Marinade and Steakhouse Butter. Make a restaurant style meal at home! Plus, learn how to grill a perfect steak!
A FLAVORFUL MARINADE FOR GRILLED STEAK
Sometimes steaks need a little extra love. Just a small boost of flavor. Sometimes it’s because it’s a cheaper cut of meat and sometimes it’s because there isn’t a whole lot of fat on them (and fat = flavor!) So, when that is the case, I break out my special marinade.
MARINADE INGREDIENTS: (FULL PRINTABLE RECIPE DOWN BELOW)
- extra virgin olive oil
- red wine vinegar
- steak seasoning
- minced garlic
- kosher salt
- pepper
- bone-in (or boneless) NY strip steaks
- gallon-size ziploc bag
Note: Use your preferred steak seasoning brand. Montreal Steak seasoning or 21 Seasoning Salute (from Trader Joes) are my two favorites. If you don’t have red wine vinegar, just go with a regular white, distilled vinegar. Also, I just use the store-bought minced garlic. It works great for this and is a time saver!
HOW TO MAKE THE BEST STEAK MARINADE:
Measure all the ingredients into the ziploc bag. Seal the bag and squish all the ingredients around until combine.
Place both steaks into the bag and smooth it down to get most of the air out. Squish the steaks around in the marinade to make sure they are both fully coated. Pop the sealed bag into the fridge to marinade overnight or for at least an hour.
STEAKHOUSE GARLIC HERB BUTTER
Next up: Steakhouse Butter! It is full of fresh herbs and garlic. It not only works great on grilled steaks but it’s perfect for grilled chicken too! Just slice and put on top of a warm steak and it melts and then you can scoop up the flavor with each slice. So, so yummy!
STEAKHOUSE BUTTER INGREDIENTS: (FULL PRINTABLE RECIPE DOWN BELOW)
- salted butter, softened to room temp.
- minced garlic
- fresh chives
- fresh rosemary (or thyme)
- lemon juice
- kosher salt
- freshly ground black pepper
HOW TO MAKE STEAKHOUSE BUTTER:
Chop up the thyme leaves (not the stem part) and the chives. (I recently planted some herbs and have them in pots just outside my kitchen. This is one of the many things I love about spring and summer – fresh herbs!) You want them diced finely. Mix together the softened butter with the fresh herbs.
Add in minced garlic, lemon juice, salt & pepper. Stir really well.
Add butter mixture (the professionals call this a compound butter) onto some plastic wrap.
Wrap it up into a log. Then pop it into the fridge.
HOW TO GRILL THE PERFECT STEAK:
First, I put about 100 charcoal briquets (I like Kingsford brand) into a chimney starter. You don’t need any lighter fluid and it takes about 10-15 minutes for the coals to get ready.
Put a balled up piece of newspaper into the bottom of the chimney and then light the newspaper in several spots. The chimney and coals will do the rest. I have a half propane/half charcoal grill. So I use the gas side to light up my chimney. Once the fire reaches the top of the briquets, they are ready! This is a good time to prep your steaks. Take them out of the fridge and let them come to room temperature.
Carefully pour the coals onto one side of the grill (this will create two zones: one for direct cooking and one for indirect cooking.)
This two zone heating is perfect for any flareups (you can just move the meat over to get it off the high heat) but it also helps create those pretty grill marks!
Time to put the steaks on! Grill each side for about 2-3 minutes each. Then place them onto the opposite side of the grill where you didn’t place any coals.
At this point, I take the temperature of the steaks. 145F degrees is a medium-cooked steak. If you like them more well-done, then allow them to cook over the indirect heat for a few more minutes until the desired temperature is reached.
Take the steaks off the grill and allow them to rest for about 5 minutes. Pop a slice of your homemade steak butter on top and allow it to melt as the steak rests. Then serve it up with my favorite Potato Packets and a Caesar Salad.
CRAVING MORE RECIPES?
The Best Steak Marinade
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 Tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 1 Tablespoon steak seasoning
- 1 Tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 pounds bone-in NY strip steaks
Instructions
- Measure all the ingredients into the ziploc bag.
- Seal the bag and squish all the ingredients around until combine.
- Place both steaks into the bag and smooth it down to get most of the air out.
- Squish the steaks around in the marinade to make sure they are both fully coated.
- Pop the sealed bag into the fridge to marinade overnight or for at least an hour.
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
“The Country Cook” is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and other nutritional values can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
Steakhouse Butter
Ingredients
- 1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter softened to room temp.
- ½ Tablespoon minced garlic
- 2 Tablespoons fresh chives
- 1 Tablespoon fresh rosemary or thyme
- ½ Tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Chop up the rosemary (or thyme) leaves (not the stem part) and the chives. You want them diced finely.
- Mix together the softened butter with the fresh herbs.
- Add in minced garlic, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Stir really well.
- Place butter mixture onto some plastic wrap. Wrap it up into a log.
- Then pop it into the fridge.
Notes
- Slice the butter into round slices and place onto grilled steaks and allow butter to melt.
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
“The Country Cook” is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and other nutritional values can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
Originally published: May 2016
Updated & republished: May 2019
Fabulous! I used sirloin, because that is what I had, but did everything else as stated in the recipe and it was so flavorful! Loved it!
Yay! Thats so great to hear – thank you Amy!
Your pictures for the butter show rosemary, not thyme… Looks like rosemary chopped in the next picture as well. Did you mean rosemary instead of thyme???
Sorry Tom, it was meant to say “rosemary OR thyme” – they both work really well in this recipe so you can’t go wrong. 🙂
Looks like an amazing .tasting meal. Can’t wait to try it .
I have made this several times! Wonderful! Tonight it is on grilled pork! Yummy!
I made this yesterday evening because sirloin steak was on sale. Didn’t have thyme, so used fresh rosemary instead. My wife and I both loved it. The marinade really tenderizes the meat well. This one goes in the recipe rotation permanently.
I’m all about grilling this time of year so I’ll have to try your marinade the next time I grill steaks! It sounds delicious!
Hope you love it Val!
OMG! Made the marinade and butter tonight and it was stand-out delicious.
If I have some of the leftover log, can I freeze it?
Hi Abbie! You sure can!
When do you add lemon juice to steakhouse butter. It is listed in inged but not in mixture. All ingreds together?
Hi Jerri, sorry about that. It is added in when you add the garlic, salt and pepper. I updated the recipe. Thanks for catching that!
Your butter recipe calls for thyme but per the photo it looks like you used rosemary. Do they both work?
Oh my gosh, are there really no other replies? This looks so good! I have been torturing myself by looking at recipes on your site while hungry! Not a good idea! 😉 Your website is cute! Pinned alot of stuff!
Oh wow – thank you Nancy!! You are so sweet! Hope you love everything you try!