Perfect Soy-Grilled Steak

Perfect Soy-Grilled Steak
Craig Lee for The New York Times
Total Time
30 minutes
Rating
5(1,616)
Notes
Read community notes

You may think you don't have the time to marinate meat before grilling it, but it's time-consuming only if you think a marinade has to tenderize. As far as I'm concerned, there are only two goals in marinating: to add flavor and to promote browning and crispness. Neither of these requires long soaking, although dunking the meat while the grill heats contributes to a slightly greater penetration of flavor. This marinade of soy sauce, ginger, garlic, honey and lime is ideal for steak, but it works beautifully with any tender meats like burgers, boneless chicken, tuna and swordfish, all of which can be turned in the sauce before putting them on the grill. Longer-cooking meats, like bone-in chicken, should be cooked within 10 minutes of doneness before basting with the sauce.

Featured in: THE MINIMALIST; Magic With Quick Marinades

Learn: How to Make Steak

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings
  • ¼cup soy sauce
  • 1teaspoon peeled and minced ginger
  • ½teaspoon peeled and minced garlic
  • 1tablespoon honey, molasses or hoisin sauce
  • Freshly ground black pepper to taste
  • Juice of ½ lime
  • 116- to 24-ounce boneless steak (rib-eye, skirt or strip), or one 24- to 32-ounce bone-in steak (rib-eye or T-bone)
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)

345 calories; 23 grams fat; 10 grams saturated fat; 1 gram trans fat; 10 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 4 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 1 gram sugars; 30 grams protein; 990 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Start a charcoal or wood fire or heat a gas grill; the fire should be hot and the rack no more than 4 inches from the heat source. Mix together the first 6 ingredients; taste and add more of anything you like. Turn the steak in the sauce once or twice, then let sit in the sauce until the grill is hot.

  2. Step 2

    Turn the steak one more time, then place on the grill; spoon any remaining sauce over it. For rare meat, grill about 3 minutes a side for steaks less than an inch thick. For larger or more done steak, increase the time slightly.

Ratings

5 out of 5
1,616 user ratings
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Cooking Notes

Used this on July 4, 2016 for a rained out cookout using two 2 lbs flank steaks. I used the given soy volume but doubled everything else (using honey) and marinated for 8 hours. Because of the rain, I oven cooked the steaks at 350 degrees for 15 minutes, finished them off under the broiler for 2 minutes, and rested for 5 minutes. Came out medium rare and very delicious.

I usually use a flank steak which I marinate for at least a few hours instead of the few minutes it takes to start a fire. Ideally, I like to warm the meat in a 225° to 250°F oven to an internal temp of about 110-115°F and then put it over a screaching hot fire for about 1 minute per side. Remove from heat, cover with foil, and let rest on a warm plate for at least 10 but no longer than 20 minutes. My theory is that internal temperature is much more accurate than cooking time.

If you wish to go a bit Mediterranean, try olive oil, soy, red balsamic vinegar, dijon, fresh garlic or garlic salt, and herbs of your choosing. works well on beef,veal, pork(use white balsamic) and poultry. For fish substitute fresh lemon juice for the vinegar and omit the garlic and mustard. happy cooking!

I make a marinade like this and I have my hubby put in the smoker and smoke it slow for a few hours until it reached the doneness we like!
I mostly have this done on holidays when we have freinds over, I'm lucky to get any before it's gone! It's comes out soo good!

since many urbanites do not have grills, why don't you add directions for doing either broiling or stove top

I’ve used this marinade (minus honey and often lemon instead of lime) for ~30 years — it’s my family’s fave!! We like longer marinating times, usually overnight, but dilute with water to cut down the salt absorption. I usually will throw garlic, ginger, and lemon/lime into my food processor, use what I need for that day, and freeze the rest in a thin layer. Then, whenever I’m making steak (or chicken), I just break off a piece and throw it in with some soy sauce for an even quicker marinade.

I've made this steak forever! Mostly grilled, but sometimes under the broiler. Use soy sauce, honey, ginger and chopped garlic, and that's about it. Score the steak and marinade it for as long as you can.

What is a bavette?

Delicious, especially with a quality NY steak 3/4' to 1" thick. The Marinade sparkles with the addition of 3-4 cloves garlic, dash of crushed red pepper or teaspoon of hot chili oil and hoisin sauce rather than honey or molasses. I doubled recipe for 3 NY Steaks marinated for 1 hour and then basted with the leftover sauce. Yum.

I've been doing a version of this for years and it's delicious.

Used this on July 4, 2016 for a rained out cookout using two 2 lbs flank steaks. I used the given soy volume but doubled everything else (using honey) and marinated for 8 hours. Because of the rain, I oven cooked the steaks at 350 degrees for 15 minutes, finished them off under the broiler for 2 minutes, and rested for 5 minutes. Came out medium rare and very delicious.
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70This is helpful

made this tonight, using two individual rib eyes. Marinated longer, turned more times, then - because I am a New Yorker - cooked them in the broiler because no grill. DELICIOUS. Added a couple minutes cooking time under the broiler b/c, well, not a great oven; 4-5 minutes per side and we got medium rare. This is a keeper.

In my next life (the one in which I'm married to Sam Sifton) we eat this together all the time. We also love it with skin on chicken thighs. So easy and so delicious.

I marinated a 1.5 lb. flank steak, scored both sides, for 2.5 hours. Served this with Kim Severenson's watermelon-cucumber salad and David Tannis' asparagus-walnut-wok recipe plus a bowl of seasoned brown rice and quinoa. Happy guests and happy chef.

I use Worcestershire instead of soy sauce and it's great too.

Made this tonight and it was delicious. 3/4 pound flank steak about an inch thick. Added two good squirts of Sriracha and some sesame oil to the marinade. Marinated about 15 minutes, and cooked 3 minutes a side on a hot gas grill.

Made as directed using honey and Ninja broiler with a porterhouse. Absolutely delicious.

This also works wonderfully with tofu. I made half chicken and half tofu for the vegetarians at the meal and loved by all!

This recipe is incredible. I used some of the marinate for steak and some for shrimp. It works beautifully for shrimp. Everyone was commenting that it was the best steak/shrimp.

Excellent recipe!! Always delicious!

Don’t need to add all they sauce. Pat dry and dry in cast iron high heat

Used a bavette expired by a few days and about to smell but not rotting. Marinated over one hour room temperature. No grill so broiled in a very hot oven, close to the top. Flip it once. Charred outside and medium/well. Delicious.

Made some “use what you’ve got” substitutions and it still came out perfectly: used powdered ginger instead of fresh (1/2 tsp) and tamari instead of regular soy. Also, I used a hangar steak and now I can’t think of a better use for that cut. Holy butts, it was soooo good!

Used flank steak marinated in the am, added some sesame oil. Good!

I made this a second time. This time it was excellent and Jeff cooked the ribeyes perfectly! ½ cup soy sauce 1 ½ teaspoon peeled and minced ginger 1 ½ teaspoon peeled and minced garlic 2 ½ tablespoon honey, molasses or hoisin sauce Freshly ground black pepper to taste Juice of 1 ½ lime (the second lime was small)

practice makes perfect:)

Interesting to see how others have tweaked this. I did it per terecipe with honey in the marinade on rib eyes. Another time I'll use less soy sauce and marinate longer.

@Paul: I agreed your comment was helpful, as those are nice suggestions if I wanted to make a very different preparation than this recipe.

The marinade didn’t seem to add much to the steak. I followed the recipe and it still needed a lot of seasoning. I would double everything in the marinade and also add salt and pepper.

Used this as a base for a marinade for skirt steak. Used hoisin for the sweet. Added a little brown sugar. I can’t eat garlic so none of that. Added 1 tsp cumin, 1/4 tsp cayenne and 1 tsp chili powder. Juice of 1/2 lemon since I forgot to buy lime. Marinated overnight. Husband grilled to medium rare. It was fantastic! Super tender. Full of flavor.

Add 2 Tbsp siracha

I’ve made this a couple of time, delicious and easy….just made it substituting orange instead of lime (didn’t have limes or lemon) and LOVED it with orange…a bit sweeter, a bit lighter, just super!

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