17 Steak Marinade Recipes to Keep in Your Back Pocket

A balsamic vinaigrette doubles as a marinade here, giving flank steak enormous flavor while it’s marinated overnight. The dressing comes together quickly in a blender with garlic, rosemary, oregano and a touch of mustard. Serve the sliced steak over toasted bread with grilled vegetables or in an epic steak sandwich.

Chef Bill Kim likes to use this spicy, citrus-scented marinade on steak, but it's also great on chicken and shrimp.

In addition to lemons and scallions, this marinade relies on pantry staples like extra-virgin olive oil, bay leaves, and garlic cloves. You’ll want to marinate the steak for 24 hours so the flavors really set in.

The flatiron steak, a.k.a. the top blade steak, is a marbled cut of beef from the shoulder. Uniform in thickness and rectangular in shape (just like an old-fashioned iron), it's easy to butterfly for quick cooking on the grill. Here, Melissa Rubel Jacobson flavors the meat with a bold Southwestern-style marinade made with smoky chipotle and fresh orange juice.

This flavorful marinade is delicious with all kinds of meat, such as chicken breast or skirt steak.

Tender beef, spicy shishito peppers, pungent blue cheese and smoky lemon-dressed salad are incredible together. Chef Dave Beran tailor-made the dish to go with peppery Malbec from Argentina.

Chef and TV personality Judy Joo marinates juicy hanger steak in a potent soy-and-sesame-oil marinade that works in just 15 minutes. The meat needs less than 10 minutes on the grill. 

A quick marinade of soy sauce, garlic and ginger flavors the skirt steak for these super easy tacos.

Chef Chris Shepherd says that after the Korean War, pasta salad became part of Korea’s culinary repertoire. Here, he serves his own version with a spicy-sweet flank steak that his cooks came up with after trying an earthy, fruity Blaufränkisch one night.

In India, this fiery curry is often served with chicken, lamb or vegetables. Chef Meherwan Irani turns it into a thick paste to marinate steak. The meat is terrific on its own or served with naan.

Star chef Alex Guarnaschelli cooks juicy skirt steak with spices until a crust forms, then she spreads a mix of mustard and vinegar on the meat for a delicious tang.

Cookbook author Melissa Clark makes a Cuban-inspired marinade with citrus, oregano, garlic and cumin to infuse her juicy flank steaks with great flavor. She saves a bit of the marinade as a sauce to brighten up the sweet mango served alongside.

This simple grilled dinner is all about fresh summer produce. Herbs and smashed garlic quickly infuse charred sweet peppers, capturing their heat straight from the grill.

Umami-rich koji rice teams up with cane sugar–rich Mexican Coca Cola to tenderize the meat of your choice while grilling up nice and crispy; find koji rice online or at Asian markets.

“On a recent trip to Oaxaca, I was mesmerized with the fruity, smoky pasilla de Oaxaca chiles so much that I brought back a bag of the chiles, as well as a basalt molcajete, in my suitcase,” Andrea Slonecker writes. “The deep flavor the chiles impart to beef is exceptional; if you can’t find them, chipotle morita or chipotle meco chiles are good substitutes.”

Red-wine vinegar and Worcestershire sauce effortlessly infuse quick-cooking flank steak with bold flavor. Pile the thinly sliced steak on crusty rolls for sandwiches, or serve with buttery baked potatoes and a salad of crisp lettuces.

Be sure to preheat the grill when making these skewers; high, even heat will help guarantee strong grill marks and will caramelize the sugars in the marinade.