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Grilled skirt steak sliced into tender strips after cooking in a flavorful balsamic soy marinade

Best Ever Skirt Steak Marinade Recipe

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  • Author: Erica Baty
  • Prep Time: 10 minutes + 2-24 hours to marinate
  • Cook Time: 4-5 minutes
  • Total Time: 2 hours 15 minutes
  • Yield: 4 servings 1x
  • Category: Beef, Dinner, Entertaining
  • Method: Grilling
  • Cuisine: American
  • Diet: Dairy-Free

Description

This skirt steak marinade makes tender, juicy, flavorful steak with just 10 minutes of prep. Learn how to marinate, grill, and slice skirt steak for an easy weeknight dinner, taco night, or bowl topper situation.


Ingredients

Units Scale
  • 1 1/2 lb skirt steak
  • 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon garlic, minced or paste
  • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
  • 1 teaspoon cumin
  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar

Instructions

  1. Place skirt steak on a cutting board and use kitchen scissors to trim away as much of the visible silver skin and fat as possible. Use a meat mallet and whack it a few times all over to tenderize. Pat dry with a paper towel. Place steak in a shallow dish or large Ziploc bag.
  2. In a small bowl or jar, whisk together ¼ cup balsamic vinegar, ¼ cup olive oil, 1 teaspoon minced garlic, 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce, 2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce, ½ teaspoon kosher salt, ½ teaspoon black pepper, 2 teaspoons smoked paprika, 1 teaspoon cumin and 2 tablespoons brown sugar.
  3. Pour marinade all over the steak, making sure to flip the steak around or smoosh it in the bag so that the marinade is coating every nook and cranny.
  4. Let marinate in the fridge for 2-24 hours. Pull out the steak and let sit at room temperature 30 minutes before cooking.
  5. Preheat grill to 500°F. Oil the grill grates. Use tongs to let excess marinade drip off the steak, then place it on the flaming-hot grill. Grill for 1 minute, then rotate the steak 90 degrees for 1 more minute; this will give you those nice grill marks.
  6. Flip the skirt steak and grill for another 1-2 minutes, for a total of 3-4 minutes for medium-rare steak. Caution my friends, do not overcook! You can throw the steak back on the grill for another several seconds if needed, but you can’t uncook it. Err on the side of under. I cooked mine exactly 4 minutes (you can see the doneness in the photos). If using a meat thermometer, aim for an internal temperature of 125°F for rare, 130-135°F for medium rare, 140°F for medium and 150-155°F for medium well. For skirt steak, I don’t recommend anything more than medium rare, but you do you boo.
  7. Remove the steak and let rest for 10 minutes before slicing against the grain.* See note. Drizzle with extra juices/marinade. Ta-da! Perfection.

Serve straight up, in tacos, on salads, rice bowls, eggs or anything your heart desires.


Notes

Slicing against the grain: Skirt steak has long, visible muscle fibers that run in one direction, that’s the grain. If you look closely at the raw or cooked steak, you’ll see parallel lines running across it. Against the grain means cutting perpendicular to those lines, so your knife is essentially cutting the fibers short rather than leaving them long. Short fibers = tender, easy to chew. Long fibers = tough and stringy. Refer to my photo above for what it looks like when you cook with/against the grain. This means you’ll be slicing the skirt steak in quite long pieces. I cut my skirt steak in half once with the grain, and then sliced those two smaller pieces against the grain, for shorter, thinner pieces of steak.

Types of steak: You can also use this marinade recipe for flank steak, flat iron steak or hanger steak, but you will need to adjust the cook time based on the thickness of your steak (all of those cuts are thicker than skirt steak).

Stovetop instructions: Heat a cast-iron skillet or grill pan over high heat until very hot, about 2-3 minutes. Add a swish of high smoke-point oil like avocado or vegetable oil and swirl to coat. Use tongs to let excess marinade drip off the steak, then carefully lay it away from you into the pan. Sear for 2 minutes. Flip and cook another 1-2 minutes for a total of 3-4 minutes for medium-rare. Aim for an internal temperature of 130-135°F.

Refer to the above blog post for step-by-step instructions, ingredient information and answers to frequently asked questions.

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Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 5oz cooked steak
  • Calories: 282
  • Sugar: 7.7 g
  • Sodium: 510.4 mg
  • Fat: 8.8 g
  • Carbohydrates: 10.6 g
  • Fiber: 0.6 g
  • Protein: 37.5 g
  • Cholesterol: 102 mg