A 1.5 to 2 pound grilled flank steak provides the two of us with 3, sometimes 4 meals. We’ll usually make at least two meals from the steak before freezing the leftovers for another week. However, sometimes none of the steak makes it to the freezer. So how do we make 2 to 4 exciting meals from one flank steak in one week? I use the perfect marinade that allows the steak to be used in many, many ways.
Several years ago I came up with a marinade of ruby port, soy sauce and some herbs. Since then, the majority of the flank steaks we’ve grilled have been seasoned with this marinade. Talk about an old standby. Once marinated and grilled, this flank can be used in fajitas, steak and eggs, steak tacos, steak salad, stir fry, or just sliced with a couple of complementary sides. See Kitchen Notes for some of our favorites.
An extremely flavorful marinade for grilled flank steak. After grilling, slice the steak thin and served with a salad. Leftovers can be used for tacos, fajitas and variety of meals. See the end of this post for meal suggestions.
“*” See Kitchen Notes for more information or links to special ingredients.
- 1 ½ to 2 pound flank steak
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- ¼ cup ruby port
- 1 Tbsp. peanut oil
- 1 tsp. dried thyme
- 1 tsp. dried oregano
- At least 8 hours or the day before grilling, whisk together the soy sauce, port, peanut oil and herbs.
- Place the steak in a large zip lock and pour the marinade into the bag. Seal. Gently shake to cover the whole steak with the marinade. Press the air from the bag and reseal.
- Place in the refrigerator for 8 to 24 hours. Flip the bag over about halfway through the marinating time.
Prepare the grill. Start with a high heat and let the grill heat about 15 minutes. Right before placing the steak on the grill, reduce to medium. (We use a gas grill.)
- Remove the flank from the marinade and place on the hot grill.
Grill 6 to 8 minutes per side depending on the thickness of the flank. We like it medium rare so we shoot for 6 to 7 minutes*.
- Let rest 5 minutes before slicing.
- You can discard the marinade or add 1/4 cup beef broth and reduce the marinade in a small sauce pan to use as a sauce. Normally, I discard the marinade because this steak doesn’t need any sauce. However, if I am going to use the flank in fajitas or in a stir fry, I might use the reduced sauce.
Grilling time – Because we know that we’ll have leftovers, we cook the meat so that the thicker section is a little rarer than we normally like it. For the first meal, we use the two ends of the steak which are cooked perfect. This way, when we reheat the steak for the next meal, we don’t overcook it and it doesn’t get tough. (Overcooked flank steak is tough so we always shoot for medium rare.)
To store the leftover steak, place in a covered glass dish.
To reheat, move the container from the fridge to the microwave and cook on high for 2 minutes.
Meal suggestions
Meal 1: Sliced flank steak, creamy polenta and Aarti Sequeira’s Massaged Kale Salad (an awesome salad) or my Strawberry, Coconut, and Pinon Salad or any other of these delicious salads.
Meal 2: Flank steak fajitas with sizzling onion and bell peppers, pica de gallo (chopped tomatoes, onions, fresh cilantro, and minced jalapeno), sour cream and guacamole. OR leave out the pica de gallo and smother the fajita with red chile sauce.
Meal 3: Flank steak stir fry of onion, bell pepper, leftover flank steak, and chopped fresh tomatoes. Season with a little ground mustard, paprika, garam masala, salt and pepper and serve over rice. We like this stir fry with brown rice.
Meal 4: Steak salad – Lettuce, cucumber, bell pepper, a touch of thinly sliced onion, toasted sunflower seeds, sliced flank, dried cranberries, feta cheese, and a roasted garlic dressing (mash two cloves of roasted garlic and whisk with 1 tsp. Dijon mustard, 1 tsp. honey, 1 Tbsp. white wine vinegar and 2 Tbsp. olive oil) or make up your own dressing.
Meal 5: For a Hot Summer’s Day – Grilled flank steak, Red Chile Spiced grilled corn (see link below), and caprese salad with homegrown tomatoes.
Meal 6: Top the steak with Chimichurri and serve sauteed squash as a side.
Pingback: Green Beans and Potatoes with Deconstructed Pesto | MJ's Kitchen
Pingback: Mango and Jicama Salad Recipe | MJ's Kitchen
Yum! Thanks for bringing this on over to the BBQ, MJ. Cheers
I love the marinade, MJ! And the meal option number 2 sounds particularly appealing to me with the guac and pica de gallo… Mixing the red wine with soy sauce sounds delicious and I really should try this as I’m such a novice with steaks…
Pingback: Gluten-Free Wednesdays 8-29-12 | Elite Daily Diet and Fitness
Pingback: Hunk of Meat Monday: Easy Beer Marinade
This looks delicious MJ! Thanks so much for sharing at the Weekend Potluck! Have a wonderful holiday weekend!
I was just thinking about what to make for memorial day! This steak looks absolutely fabulous, and I’m loving all the flavors here. I can’t wait to use up the leftovers for tacos and salads!
I’m going to try this one for sure. I always have ruby port on hand because I do a ruby port sauce for beef that is to die for. I also always have a flank steak in the freezer so I’m good to go. Love a good marinade!
Try a maranade of Taquila 1/2 cup, juice from one lime, fajitas spices, Italian dressing or Catalina dressing for a sweeter steak. Maranade for no longer than 30 minutes or it will fall apart when grilled. Pour your maranade over the onions and peppers as they cook. It’s a take off of the King Ranch Fajita.
lol, lnl
Thanks for the recipe.
This sounds terrific and seems easy enough to do even without a kitchen. 🙂 We’ve been grilling a bit lately, as you know.
Definitely can be done without a kitchen! Throw some asparagus and corn on the grill with it and you have your complete meal. Or wrap up some sliced onion and bell pepper in aluminum foil and cook them on the grill for fajitas. Add your favorite salsa and guacamole. Enjoy!
MJ and Bob fixed meal #1 for us on a visit a few months back. OMG – the four of us wiped out the entire steak at one sitting. Not to mention the polenta and kale salad too. The meat was so tender and flavorful. It was hard not to just hold each bite in your mouth and let the flavor swim all over your tastebuds.
The kale salad she mentions is now a family favorite at my house. Granted it is not one of her originals, but you will be forever grateful that she introduced you to it. (Haven’t made the other salad because we can’t eat coconut, but otherwise, it sounds really good.)
Thanks Nads! I remember that meal. It’s amazing that we got any eating done with all of the chatting, but the four of us did manage to put away a lot of food that night!
Flank steak fajitas are one of our favorite meals. Your sauce sounds terrific!
Thanks! I hope you get to try it.