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World’s Best Steak Marinade adds so much flavor to your juicy steak. It helps to tenderize and infuse the steak with flavor and creates the best steak ever!

Steak isn’t just for fancy meals, you can have it any time of the week. Pair it with a Salad, Potatoes, and Asparagus for a meal that is restaurant-worthy, but better!

Cut steak with steak marinade in a skillet with two slices of lemon.

Steak Marinade Recipe

Today I am sharing with you the BEST steak marinade! My mouth is watering just thinking about it! Steak can be a little intimidating to cook, it used to be for me. I think it was because steak is usually so spendy and I never wanted to mess it up. We all know that when steak is done right, it is insanely delicious. With this marinade, I have created a foolproof way of guaranteeing your steak will taste heavenly. It is the perfect blend of spices and herbs that enhances the natural flavor of steak without being overpowering.

If you do not have an air fryer to cook your steak then cooking steak in the skillet is the way to go! It puts that perfect sear on the outside and then you can watch it carefully and let it cook to your desired doneness. Adding butter at the end just adds that extra touch that is crazy luscious. This marinade is perfect for grilled steaks too, and I love grilling as much as the next person, but this way I can cook it all year long, even when it is too cold outside to grill. You have to try this marinade and cooking it in a skillet too!

What Do you Use to Marinate a Steak?

This steak marinade is packed with dried herbs, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, olive oil, lemon juice, and garlic. These ingredients all come together to give you such amazing flavor and the perfectly cooked juicy steak!

  • Soy sauce: Adds a bit of salty and tons of flavor.
  • Lemon juice: Adds acidity to tenderize and flavor.
  • Olive oil: Help seal in juiciness.
  • Worcestershire sauce: One of the best umami flavors for beef.
  • Minced garlic: Use fresh for the best tasting.
  • Italian seasoning: A go-to combination of outstanding herbs.
  • Pepper and Salt: To taste, but do not leave it out.
  • Red pepper: Adds a bit of spice.
  • Steaks: I used rib eye, New York is also great
  • Butter: Butter is truly the best thing to cook steak in! Hands down!
  • Chopped Parsley: Adds a pop of color.

Let’s Marinate Some Steak!

The aroma this mix gives off before you add the meat is insane. You know it’s going to be incredible just from by the smell of it. Mix in a small bowl, whisk together soy sauce, lemon juice, olive oil, Worcestershire sauce, minced garlic, Italian seasoning, pepper, salt, and a pinch of red pepper. Add steaks to a resealable zip lock bag or large bowl and pour the marinade on top. Marinate for 2 hours or overnight.

To Make the Steaks in a Skillet

  1. Cook it: Turn the skillet to high heat. Add the steaks. Cook on each side for 3 minutes or until outside is browned. Reduce heat to medium-high. Cook the steaks to the desired doneness. Mine took about 10 minutes flipping 3 times to get a medium-well.
  2. Top it: Top with butter and garnish with fresh parsley if desired.
World's Best Steak Marinade mixed in a clear bowl.

How Do you Make a Steak Tender?

There are two ways that I use to make a steak tender. Acidic tenderizers are a great way to get a tender steak. I include lemon juice in my marinade to help to soften the steak. it breaks down the tough fibers in the meat. If you are starting out with an already tough cut of meat, I will also break down the fibers by pounding the meat before I cook it.

Why is my Steak Tough and Chewy?

The muscle fibers in meat have to be broken down and the proteins turned into gelatin in order to make meat tender. This happens very quickly over high heat with tender cuts of steak like filet mignon, but tougher cuts of meat require slow cooking, usually in some sort of liquid to keep them from drying out.

Uncooked steak in a Ziplock bag with the steak marinade.

How Long do you Marinate Steak?

As soon as your marinade is ready to go you add your steaks and let them soak up all of that delicious flavor. It also tenderizes as it marinates. The minimum to let these steaks marinate is 2 hours, but can also be marinated overnight. The flavor is seriously out of this world!

How Do you Know your Steak is Done?

Everyone loves their steak done to different degrees and using a thermometer is the way to go to make sure you cook it just right. Remember too, when your steak is taken off the heat it will continue to cook for a minute or two, raising the temperature about 2-4 degrees more. I often remove my meat right before it reaches that perfect temp.

Steak DonenessInternal TemperatureCenter Color
Medium Rare130-135 ยฐFPink
Medium135-145 ยฐFSome Pink
Well145-155 ยฐFSliver of Light Pink
Well Done155-165 ยฐFMostly Brown
Cooked steak in a skillet with marinade, lemons and garnish on top.

Cooking Steak in a Skillet Tips

I love to cook my steaks in a skillet. It only takes minutes to get that crispy brown edge and medium cooked inside. But you can also use this recipe to grill. It is perfect for both. It is going to give your steaks the very best flavor!

  • Cast Iron: The best skillet to use is a cast-iron skillet. It distributes the heat evenly and browns steak beautifully.
  • Heat it up: Use the largest burner on your stove and heat up the cast iron before placing the steaks in. This will ensure I good crusty sear. The oil in the pan should be shimmering almost to the smoking point.
  • Dab the Steak: With a paper towel, gently dab the steaks dry. Do not worry you will not take off marinade that is already saturated into the meat. When the meat is dry it will make sure there is a good sear, creating that incredible flavorful crust. When they are moist, they tend to steam instead of sear, which will cause them to be soft.
  • Add The Butter Last: Place the butter in the pan right before you are ready to take them out. You do not want your butter to burn, which it can easily with the high heat.
  • Let it rest: However you cook your steak be sure to let it rest 5-15 minutes for the juices to redistribute throughout the steak. This way you won’t end up with all the good flavor on your plate instead of inside the meat.
Marinated and cooked steak with cooked potatoes, green beans and sliced lemons on a white plate.

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World’s Best Steak Marinade

4.86 from 117 votes
By: Alyssa Rivers
World’s Best Steak Marinade adds so much flavor to your juicy steak. It helps to tenderize and infuse the steak with flavor and creates the best steak ever!
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 2 hours 10 minutes
Servings: 6 steaks

Ingredients 

Instructions 

  • In a small bowl, whisk together soy sauce, lemon juice, olive oil, Worcestershire sauce, minced garlic, Italian seasoning, pepper, salt, and a pinch of red pepper.
  • Add steaks to a resealable zip lock bag or large bowl and pour the marinade on top. Marinate for 2 hours or overnight.

To make the steaks in a skillet:

  • Turn the skillet to high heat. Add the steaks. Cook on each side for 3 minutes or until outside is browned. Reduce heat to medium-high. Cook the steaks to the desired doneness. Mine took about 10 minutes flipping 3 times to get a medium well.
  • Top with butter and garnish with fresh parsley if desired.

Video

Notes

Updated on May 10, 2021
Originally Posted on January 28, 2018

Nutrition

Calories: 548kcalCarbohydrates: 7gProtein: 30gFat: 46gSaturated Fat: 14gCholesterol: 95mgSodium: 1344mgPotassium: 561mgFiber: 1gSugar: 2gVitamin A: 205IUVitamin C: 9mgCalcium: 65mgIron: 4mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Main Course
Cuisine: American
Tried this recipe?Mention @alyssa_therecipecritic or tag #therecipecritic!

About Alyssa Rivers

Alyssa Rivers is the author of 'The Tried and True Cookbook', a professional food photographer and experienced recipe-developer. Having a passion for cooking, her tried and true recipes have been featured on Good Morning America, Today Food, Buzzfeed and more.

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Recipe Rating




302 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    Really nice marinade. We’d just bought a large pork tenderloin & beef tenderloin to slice and portion out with vacuum sealing. Not wanting to risk an internet recipe on the entire lot, I tried the marinade on 4 sliced pork tenderloin steaks (overnight – ziplock) while fresh and I also marinated a package of 4 beef steaks before vacuum sealing, then freezing. Those fresh pork tenderloin steaks were so tasty! We really enjoyed them and now look forward to fridge thawing the beef steaks to enjoy same at our next outdoor BBQ. I used bottled lemon juice with on hand ingredients and it was great. Will use fresh lemons when I have them. We both said it’s a definite make again. Thanks for the recipe. Enjoyed it a lot.

  2. I used the marinade on my New Strip today, marinated for six hours, and even though I overcooked the steak it was so flavorful I was not upset, it was absolutely delicious. This is a must save…thanks for sharing

  3. 5 stars
    I used your marinade on a flank steak. It was fantastic. Marinated for 2 hours. Cut into strips and cooked as directed. Easy. Perfect. Delicious. Thank you!

  4. 5 stars
    Stumbled on this marinade, didnโ€™t have what I needed for mine as Iโ€™ve always cooked awesome steaks, let me just say PERFECT. I cooked ribeyes in the air fryer with some port mushrooms. Family complimented me for a week after way more than before! Thank you.

  5. Hi,
    I tried your recipe left it overnight to marinate, Omg was the best steak I ever had in years I mean that from the heart thank you for sharing this with us.

  6. 5 stars
    I only wish I could attach the picture of last night’s steaks. This treatment for steaks is all that you said, and more! I chose Fillet Mignon, and the infused flavors turned the fillet into something so flavor filled, which is typically not the definition of a fillet….yes, fillets— always tender, but maybe not so flavor filled. So here is the ridiculous part of this easy to throw together marinade….this morning when typing out the recipe for future cooks, I realized that I completely forgot the garlic. This will not happen next time, but just saying that the marinade was still fabulous. Thank you Alyssa for sharing.

  7. 5 stars
    I am an average cook but using this marinade made me look like Julia Child! Unbelievably delicious results.

  8. 5 stars
    This is seriously delish, but I changed one ingredient.
    I always been told To follow up the original recipe first and then tweak it to your liking. But when I bought all the ingredients that I didnโ€™t have I forgot to collect The Italian herb.

    I didnโ€™t have time to go and get it so I substituted this with a spice that I had to hand at the time!

    I used Ras El Hanout itโ€™s a Moroccan spice blend thatโ€™s widely available in most large supermarkets.

    I think that Sumac will also work as well and may try that as well.

    Anyway it was so good that the pepper sauce that I also served went mainly untouched.

    Are you still havenโ€™t tried it with the Italian herb but the second time I made it for my family I just couldnโ€™t take the chance Iโ€™m risking that delicious marinade that I accidentally stumbled upon.

    Just like to say thank you for your beautiful recipe it was a perfect 10.

  9. 5 stars
    Will definitely make again. Used on a cut of meat I had bought on sale that was a little tough first time I cooked it so second time I made it, I decided to try this marinade and steak was delicious. Will definitely keep this on stand by. No teriyaki flavor-just good basic flavors.

    1. 5 stars
      Will definitely do this again. Made this on a whim to marinade some steak for kabobs. I put it in the fridge for 24 hours and it was amazing. My family could not stop raving about it.

  10. This is the best marinade I have ever had. My husband says please never use anything but this recipe from now on. Can this be used with chicken as well?

    1. Yes, it can be! That is so nice of your husband. I am glad that you have found something that you both love!